chuckGS350

Still wondering why there is not a lot of black soot at the tailpipe.
Before the valve spring recall done and oil consumption, more black soot at the tailpipe.

i8thesun

I did a lot of research before buying my uber-pampered '07 GS350, both on the car and the 1GR-FSE. Never did I read about this engine consuming oil. I've just done another search, not finding this as a problem for this engine. Toyo certainly knew about the carbon scoring the cylinder walls, the too-light piston rings, the lack of fuel lubricating and cleaning the intake valves, etc, and this engine was a huge improvement over almost anything on the market, to overcome those problems. Dual injection, port and direct, is absurdly more challenging than the direct-injection engines this replaces, and they did it for a reason. After 30+ years as an automotive engineer, I'm stunned by all Toyota did on this engine, it is a marvel and a masterpiece, and well deserves the many awards it received. It certainly may have flaws, and I'm reading and listening and waiting for any clue that this engine is flawed, I really want to know.

Has anyone done compression tests or boroscoped to see if there are problems with their cylinder walls? That's a pretty simple and obvious check if this is really a problem. Has anyone had one of these engines torn down for this and confirmed the problem? Has anyone with this problem changed out their PCV valve to see if that is the problem? They do go bad and oil consumption is a symptom. On most cars it is a cheap and easy task, something that should be done every few years.

Are there other threads here where owners have made some effort to find out what is going on? What am I missing?

chuckGS350

Changed the PCV valve. The oil consumption still happens.
Coincident or not, noticed the oil consumption after having the valve recall done.
And after 35K miles later the consumption rate remains the same.
No miss-firing or high idle RPM. Just top off 3/4QT every 1500 miles.

Gotcha350

Don't twist what I said...I asked you to show me all the threads that you were claiming. All engines have the possibility of oil consumption and as long as it's within the manufactures specs then it's reasonable. What I also said what that when you look at the numbers 07-12 of 3.5L vs one year of 06 3.0L...if the sky was falling like you claim then you would see a hell of a lot more 3.5L threads than you would 3.0L. High compression engines along with these low tension low friction rings leads to the possibility of more oil consumption issues for all cars going forward but the 3.5L is leaps and bounds a better designed engine than the 3.0L...but yeah woe to all the 3.5L 2GR-FSE out there...that's still being used in the 4th Gen GS...

LexusLive

Well, here's another thread. While the 3.5 may be better designed, and while you may get a few more thousand miles before it starts chugging the Mobil 1 like a frat boy chugs beer, it sounds like GS350 owners are starting to run into the same problem.

Yeah I wish I had the 350, not the 300. It annoys me that Lexus chose to release the weak sauce 3.0 with only 245 hp, then just one year later build it with the engine they should have had in the first place.

pman6

I've never even checked oil levels.

Sounds like I should

LexusLive

A lot more often than you should have to on a $50,000 luxury car. Mine were always perfect until about the 80K mark. YMMV.

burny

My wife's just hit 100,000 miles. I may have to add half a quart between the 4,000 oil change interval I use, I run about 3 ounces of Redline Si-1 every fill-up. This is great stuff and keeps carbon build up in check.

pman6

it's only worth $12000 now.


This engine has both port and direct inject. Shouldn't have to worry about carbon build up ?

BinaryJay

That's easy, they stopped testing emissions at the tailpipe years ago... at least here. It's ridiculous, it basically amounts to if the OBDII monitors are ready and you have no error codes you pass emissions.

LexusLive

Do it. Now. Don't even type one more character here. Do it before the low oil light comes on and you have officially fried the engine.

i8thesun

Does anyone know when it uses direct, port, or both injectors? I've been wondering if it only uses direct injection for certain conditions, and if you happen to drive mostly in those conditions, would you end up with carbon problems? I've driven several cars over 200k almost exclusively on the highway. If these engines run in direct-injection only on the highway, they might not last well under that condition.

BinaryJay

I don't recall the conditions but you are correct the port injectors are not active all the time. Even cars with no direct injection at all can suffer from buildup though, so having the port injectors is not a panacea.

Byprodrive

iTrader: (1)

This spec is nearly identical to similar year Porsches

LexusLive

yeah, because it's known on the used car market as an oil burning, creaking, rattling pig.
But I sure as hell didn't pay only $12K for it. What difference does it make what it's worth now?