Fizzboy7

Always follow your owners manual for service methods. The Lexus factory and engineers have spent millions of miles and a decade testing out these engines. *They know best.* People have to get over the break-in fear and 3k miles/change oil regime. It's simply old-fashioned, outdated, and a waste of time and money. Dealers not explaining the above and encouraging premature service does not help this problem either. A dealer is in the business of making money, not giving truthful answers.

355F1

Um...the owner's manual states that the oil should be changed every 10k miles now???

Aren't these the same exact engines in the previous IS???

Lexus told me that the Toyota filters themselves weren't recommended for over 5k miles; Did Toyota introduce new filters and can we use these filters on our 2nd-Gen IS's...???

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

it might be 10k with synthetic oil?

SW17LS

Yes, its the same engine but they now run 0W20 fully synthetic oil from the factory, previously it was always dino oil.

mattding

Glad I found this thread. I was planning on taking my car in to get the oil changed at 1000 miles just to ensure all debris is gone, etc. Call me old school or paranoid, but would rather pay a little extra than worry. So the dealer told me that they would do this oil change as the complimentary one I should get at 5k miles, and that I'd just pay at 5k miles instead. My long term plan was going to be 1k, 5k, 15k, etc.

Then I reviewed the maintenance schedule on lexus.com, which talks about the free 5k and 10k services. It lists what is performed at each, and does not have the oil being changed at 5k, but at 10k instead. Now I'm confused based on what the dealership told me about a 5k mile oil change, and I'm also concerned about switching out my 1k mile oil change with the complimentary visit since there are other items (tire cross rotation, etc) that I would not want to pay for at that time.

I'm thinking of just paying for this 1k mile oil change out of pocket, and moving forward with the free services at 5k and 10k as outlined, but I'm still confused why the dealer wanted to change the oil at 5k when the manual says 10k - any recommendations or experience out there? I can always just cancel my appointment and go forward with the recommended services, but I'm concerned that the service manager's talk track didn't match lexus.com.

SW17LS

What I did was pay for the oil change at 5k along with the normal complimentary 5k services, then Lexus picked up the tab for the 10k. I'm going to do it every 10k as normal now.

IS350S2K

I would not change the initial oil and would wait. I recall reading in another car forum that the oil is a different formulation to help with engine break-in. However, if the car has a rear differential, I'd recommend changing that oil sooner than the mfr recommendation.

mmims2000

Through lots of research, I've confirmed that the IS does NOT come with any special break-in-oil. It is regular 0W-20 Toyota-branded synthetic motor oil from the factory - identical to what they use at the dealership for oil changes. Break-in oils were used by manufacturers many years ago in some vehicles, but all modern cars do not use a break-in oil anymore.

My personal preference is to use Mobil 1 in my cars, and I prefer the peace of mind of changing the oil at 1000K even if there is absolutely no need to....and after lots of research, I'm 99.9% convinced there is no need to. But for peace of mind for $50 + the cost of oil, I had mine swapped out anyways.

The maintenance interval is every 10k miles unless driven under certain, harsh conditions (frequent, short drives in cold weather, dusty roads, etc). In that case its every 5k. So, the 5k maintenance would not normally include an oil change (only tire rotation and other checks), but the 10k would. Whether or not I plan on changing my oil every 5k or every 10k in the future.. I haven't decided yet.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

if you want to be truly sure send in your oil to blackstone labs with a TBN test. They can find out the oils life and suggest an oil interval. I did one on our family's 06 Pilot and they said it can go easily 10k miles on synthetic

CtSFox

Yeah, I will probably pay to have my oil changed at 5k as well. It will be tough for me to break old habits of a synthetic oil change every 5k rather than every 10k. On the side of extending the interval, the IS does not have an oil shearing turbocharger.