RACER-X

What is a good oil to use? I drive my IS very hard i.e. off the line, quick accelaration driving etc. . Theres also a lot of stop and go's where I drive, and the temperature has been pretty hot lately here in california. Should I go with synthetic or traditional, what are the good brands. I was also thinking off refilling my transmission with a better grade or quality fluid. Suggestions/comments from anyone...thanx

WannaIS300

Synthetic is the way to go. It just plain won't break down, which is especially nice if you stray over 3,000 per oil change. I think 3-5000 miles is a reasonable interval. I think any of the synthetics are OK, but Mobil One has a lot of devotees.

Charles

dclarke

mobil 1. no doubt.

RealMarty

We've had lengthly discussions on the site about standard vs. synthetic. Both have strong proponents. See if you can search the site to find the thread.

Bottom line. You pays your money and you takes your choice. No evidence that synthetic is better if you change standard oil and use a Lexus filter every 5,000 miles.

One member on the forum has a relative that was involved in developing synthetic oil and he says it's not necessary. Others swear they'll use nothing else.

If you want to pay the extra $$ and you think it's worth it, by all means go with synthetic.

WannaIS300

I agree that standard oil is ok but you you can't argue with synthetic if you miss occasional changes, take your car to the track or drive it hard, or just want the ultimate. While all oil will get dirty over time, it is nice to eliminate the break down factor from the equation.

Charles

mjdart

The oil changes my Lexus dealer does include a Toyota filter and Castrol GTX oil. I change my own and do so every 3K so I'm not crazy about synthetic for this interval. If I followed the Lexus 5K to 7K mileage intervals I'd go with the synthetic oils.:eek:

mjdart

Not really too bad, but harder than alot of cars. The first thing is lowering down the aero panel about 6 screws (10 mm). Then you can easily reach the oil filter. Also with out lowering the panel the oil from the drain plug will probably at first get up on the underside of the aero panel. The previous Lexus Tech had the filter on very tight which is usually the case. I had to loosen it with a filter wrench. Then I began to spin it off by hand. When I got close I slipped a baggie around it (advice from this board) and the baggie caught the oil which would have dripped all over. Previous Lexus Techs had dumped oil and it took me some time to wipe up the frame and engine area using rags and degreaser. I filled the new filter about half way with fresh oil before I spun it on. Any more and it would have spilled because of the angle the filter sits at. Also the oil filler on top of the valve cover does not allow a funnel to be put in. There is a sheet metal piece covering the opening. I believe this is done to reduce engine noise and would also prevent objects from getting into the valve train. I then added 5.7 total quarts of 5W-30 oil and I was done. While I had it up on jacks I inspected and cleaned the underneath. Interestingly the IS uses 2 seperate drive shafts with a universal joint in-between (reduce vibration?). The whole underneath is also covered with plastic aero panels. I cleaned the panels and applied Armor All to them. I also took the time to wipe down the steering linkage rubber boots and apply silicone to them and the other rubber components. "A clean car is a happy car"

JstADreme

Im farther north then you so im not sure if it applies to you but i have 230k miles using 2050 and the motor is still like a brand new sewing maching no tick no knock no noise it ideas a bit high compared to my buddies is300 but only by 250 i gues to make up for the heavier oil great on cold start and we ars warm today so ill see how it goes. For an update also going traditional when the car cam out i dont believe there was any synthetic around if there was we could not affor2 it well i couldnt. So i stick with traditional

Benoit

What I like, is that those threads never officially die. They always come back, like a good zombie in a Z movie.

So, if I read you right, Mobil 1 oil, synthetic, in 20w-50. Is it normal that this oil is usually called "V Twin oil" ?

Also, it seem that the old owner did conventional mineral oil in the car before. Wouldn't be adding synthetic oil not be generating some crumbles in the engine ? Do I need to purge the engine before ?

JstADreme

I have to tell you the truth I don't know if you would need to purge the engine before trying the new oil I'm not an expert but if you would like to I guess you could but don't quote me because I don't know I'm new to this i recently went to the spot near me and had them put conventinal 20w50 cause i was low on funds but the previous owner prior to the person i bought it from was using high milage 20w50 and the reason for it was to help keep everything well lubricated. One of the techs told me the owner could have been doing this to help prevent unwanted wear and tear on parts and also prevent the asmuch friction. I recently put about 275 miles on it with thw old oil and it runs like a sewing maching did my oil change this morning sofar its running good. Only problem of us running rhis 20w5o mix is that we need to---> wait for the car to warm up naturally with out giving it any gas due to it being a heavier oil if we stress it on start up it could cause problems rod knocking and valves to go out of spec and cause the infamous ticking.<--- This is what one of the techs told me in the arrows im in the north side of the states and it takes be about 30-45 mins to be up to fully operational temps .. This is my first lexus ever and first ever car running 20w50 . so this is new to me aswell. .

And no im on Castrol gtx conventional because i didnt have money to go with thw high milage which would have been an extra 10 or 20 $ . im low on funds now but ill be going to mobil one high milage next oil change

Stuis01

My car has been happy with extended performance Mobil 1

No leaks just oil burning from lead foot vvti 😁

bmwteaser

Mobil 1 or Royal Purple

Almasy

if its high mileage 10-40 synthetic, its not a great idea to switch oils when your motors been used to something specific but if I didn't crank my car for a few days it would knock for a few minutes, 10-40 changed that and even slowed my oil leak.

bmwteaser

Do you guys every have your engines cleaned out? We have thin rings, and debris can get on the edge, and cause loss/burning of oil. Get em drained, flushed good, and new oil does a body good.

daddystop

This is EXACTLY why social media sucks IMO. I'll be happy when the world "upgrades back" to forums with long form discussion that is basically never lost.

I use cheap *** 20w50 in my DSMs and haven't seen any bearing failures so far. I use cheap *** 5w30 in my IS300, although now that it's turbo I will probably use a thicker oil in it. I live in Texas so cold thick oil isn't really a thing even in the "winter months". It just protects the engine better. The only problem I could foresee is high oil pressure causing a seal to break...... but I think that might be kinda far fetched. Anyone willing to use a mechanical oil pressure gauge could do a before/after test and see if the change in pressure seems "extreme". I doubt it is, but i've never tested it either..... and, as mentioned, I live in hot *** Texas.