TRM04

So here's the deal; I bought this 1997 LS400 with roughly 80,000 miles 2 months ago with a oil change recently done. The window sticker equates to having the next oil change in 6,000 miles. I have never owned a car that requires a change in that long of a duration. All my previous cars have had a 3,000 mile requirement. Well 2 days ago I had put roughly 4,900 miles on this oil and checked the dip stick to see the quality of the oil and what do i find to my amazment...not only is the oil full (it hasn't burned a drop) but it's CLEAN! After 4,900 miles it STILL looks brand new! I was so shocked to see this and was in doubt the entire time. Again, I have never owned a car that needs a change every 6,000 miles and especially a car that is getting into the higher miles. I figure since it has 80,000 on it, I should change it every 3,000 just how I've been used to. So I'm here looking to see what you oil changing expierences have been...how many miles before you change the oil? Is my car abnormal? I'm still in so much denial..

Thanks!

Sooner

every 6 months or 5k will be just fine

wwest

That was exactly my brother's (77?) reaction when he first checked his used (100k) 91 LS400's oil after 4k. How do they do that, he asked.

tn52

Checking the cleaness or color of the oil via the oil dip stick is generally misleading. It's only good to check oil level. You never can tell how clean you oil is until you drain them out. The "round" cable/stick in my car even make it harder to see the oil. I think the newer Lexus/Toyota stated that oil change is 5,000 for hard condition and 7,500 for normal driving. When I was using regular mineral oil, I changed mine every 3,000 miles, since I switched to full synthetic oil, I now change mine every 5,000 miles. I am lucky so far as none of my cars uses any oil in between the changes. Even this fact may or may not be true because there is a small amount of fuel/gas that crossed over the oil ring during the combustion (this is normal) and added to the oil in the crank case - you will see full oil all the times.

wwest

Well, there goes 50 years of motor vehicle operation and maintenance experience down the drain!

Engine oil is specifically formulated to maintain particulates in suspension, condition of the oil on the dipstick is a very good indication of overall oil "condition".

But it does help if you run the engine for a few minutes to stir things up a bit before looking at the oil condition on the dipstick.

tn52: and you are how old?

tn52

Not considering the law of physic yet, how much of the "true" oil characteristics and properties to you expect to see from the dip stick after you drag it for a feet or two in the oil tube? As I said, it only good to check your oil level. Let say the lab just requires ONE DROP of oil to test your oil. You have a choice either to pull your dip stick out and drip a drop from there or get a drop from your drained oil. Which way would you do - would you just take it from your stick since it's a good indication as you said? Talking about color of oil is worst, just get a piece of white paper and collect 2 drops of oil from each of the stated methods - please don't tell me that the color of those two drops are the same.

I am 50, love to work on cars, got my first car at 17 and have been working on them since then. I do respect your 50 years of experience in vehicle maintenance and operation but let us put it this way: how many hundred years we believed that the earth was flat? and just recently the tried and true Einstein's law E=mc2 is now in question and open up for a review.

wwest

Are you really sure about that??!!

Look, all I can tell you is that the first time I checked the oil in my very first Lexus, a new 92 LS400, I was mildly surprised to see how clear it was. It now has about 80k and with 6k between changes it's still clear, on the dipstick that is.

In addition, while the circumstance you describe, "dirt" lining the dipstick tube, was always very common on all my Fords, I have yet to encounter that circumstance in a Lexus.

Maybe in another 100K or so.

Born in TN in 52?

Wife and I are off to the Memphis Blues Ball the 28 of Sept.

tn52

Due to the narrow cable type design, the surface area of our oil stick have less of an oil film to show no matter which way you look at it - therefore you may think that your oil is clean. There is NO such thing as clean oil after 6,000 miles, not an a Lexus, Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, or what ever make you can think of. On a more common FLAT type stick, the surface is like 3 to 4 times wider, there will be more and thicker oil retention on the surface so you will see more of the color. Since the day that I got my car, I learned NOT to depend on the stick to tell how clean is my oil.

Obviously you did not change the oil yourself because if you do, I don't think this clear/clean oil issue did arise at all. Peace.

wwest

Maybe my eyes are better than most but I don't have any trouble at all discerning that the oil on my cable type dipstick is always much cleaner and clearer than I ever remember it being on any previous vehicle, mostly Fords. Or even my current Ford, a 93 Ranger PU.

With my first Lexus I tended to change the oil every 3 to 4k as I always had before. As I became more comfortable with the fact that it still appeared to be clean and clear I moved closer and closer to the factory recommendation of 7500 miles.

But I do always use Mobil 1 and I always use the Lexus oil filter, in some sense to have the purchase reciept just in case.

The fact that I knew to run the engine a bit before checking the oil via the dipstick (and before draining the old oil out) should have been enough clue to you that I know what I'm doing. And yes, I do change my own oil, buy the shop manuals for every vehicle I own/purchase and do almost all of my own work.

Other than shadetree modifications my own work in the case of Lexus has consisted solely of changing out the left front oxygen sensor on the 92 LS.

tn52

This will be my last response for this thread.
1. You DO NOT run the engine for checking your oil. On a Lexus V8 engine, due it 4.0L size, you will find yoursef at least HALF a quart short!
2. One of the common problems from those quick lube places is the overfill of oil. They change the oil, start the engine, check for leak (you're lucky if they do check this), stop the engine, check for oil level, see that it's low -> add some. The whole thing lasts 15 mins (remember those guaranted 15 min job?). You take your car home and find out the next day that you got > quart overfill.
3. You DO run & warm the engine when you plan to drain the oil.

wwest

So sue me, I forgot to mention that I wait a "few" minutes after running the engine before I check the dipstick level.