underway

Tired of giving the dealership $75 to change the oil. Is it the same as a standard oil change. I change the oil on my Moms Chevy all the time.... Can the filtre be accessed from the bottom of the car? How many quarts generally go in with a filter change?

speedemon

If you use synthetic it will run about $40-$50 (Mobil 1 is about $7.50 a quart at Advanced Auto around here prices went up recently) just for oil and filter depending on the type of oil and filter you use, also depending on how many changes the drain plug washer has seen you may want to replace it, it has a little rubber seal that seals it up against the threads and pan. The oil filter is on the bottom there is an access panel that you have to take a couple of the 10mm bolts out of the belly pan to swing the panel down to access.

With filter I think the manual says 4.6 quarts with the oil cooler 4.8 or something like that, the dipstick reads a little lower at least it does on mine, I think on mine it was about 5 quarts to have it on the full side, I usually buy the case of Mobil 1 which is 6 quarts. As long as you don't over fill it by more than a half quart you should be fine.

AlexusAnja

Do you want to fill to "full" line, or to the middle of the hash between low and full. To the middle, with filter change is 5 quarts. Add .5 qts to the full. I'm a daredevil, since the car is not leaking oil, I use a 5 qt. jug full.

Mobil 1 5w30 at WalMart is $25 for 5 qt. jug, OEM filter at Irontoad.com is $5, drain plug $1, so about $34 incl. tax and you're done. Can't beat that price anywhere for the parts.

As for procedure, I do not know any car that is not just "drain", remove filter, replace filter, fill and done. Only the drain part is different. On the LS430, you drain from the pan on bottom of engine by removing the drain plug. I know on some European vehicles, you "drain" by using suction through the filler tube. The LS430 bottom is fully covered like on the top, with plastic covers. Where the engine drain and filter are, is a "door" you can open. Once opened, you'll see the plug and the filter immediately. The filter sides right in the front, sitting sideways.

Anyway, easy job using either a floor jack (with jack stands) or a drive up ramp. I use a ramp, so it's on, done, off in about 30 minutes. I let it drain like 20 minutes, but if you just let if drain until it a trickle, then you'll be done in 10 minutes total.

Good luck... you'll enjoy the job well done.

underway

Will it hurt anything going from conventional to synthetic?

Boomer01

Don't think so. I think it's more of a personal choice. You can probably get about 5,000-7,500 out of synthetic where as you get 3,000-5,000 out of conventional. I have always just used conventional oil and got it done at a local Firestone usually for around $20.

speedemon

I would never put 5000 miles on conventional oil personally, I don't even like doing it with synthetic unless it's in the Porsche (takes about 10 quarts) since it's got so much oil there is a lot more oil to get to the saturation point of filth, dirt, carbon, fuel and whatever. Due to the extended service on these cars and others and companies paying for engines and re-writing their service recommendations (Audi) due to sludge build up, and upper valve train starvation prior to 100k, I think there has been mention of multiple manufacturers with similar issues, even with synthetic. Car companies want the car to last 100k miles after that it's a whole sale car that they don't need to worry about.

I say
synthetic with 5 quarts or less no more than 4000 mi
conventional with 5 quarts or less no more than 3000 mi

I also live outside of DC where there is a lot of stop and go traffic, if you were doing nothing but Highway driving at a constant 70mph then you could extend the mileage. You could also have a company analyze your oil at various points during your next oil change interval to find out when saturation happens for your driving/oil/vehicle and adjust accordingly, synthetic is better able to trap the contaminants and doesn't get as dirty as fast.

Also if you change it a little more frequently it might clean out due to the detergents in the oil some of the accumulated minor sludge in the engine from the previous owners.

And not to bust on Firestone but all those $20 oil changes regardless of where you go use generic filters and Bulk Conventional Oil which is sometimes even recycled oil or even the wrong weight for your car depending on what it takes, I wouldn't go much more than 2000-2500 miles on their oil and filter.

Budhah

Since my nearest Lexus dealer is a 250 mile trip. I asked the service tech if it would be ok for Toyota to do the 5000 mile changes and still be in warranty coverage. He told me it is fine, but that the 15,000 mile intervals should be done at the Lexus shop. My 30k service this week cost $559. Pretty high, but as I just bought the '06 LS430 I wanted to have everything checked out. He also told me that they use the synthetic oil blend. As a side note, I did get a free car wash and vacuum. LOL

blacksc400

iTrader: (4)

I changed my oil using Mobil 1 about 4 month ago, but I only have put 1100 miles on the car, should I still do an oil change?

underway

Whats the difference between the two oils? The dealership says they use 5w20 but the manual says to use 5w30. What oil should I use?

AlexusAnja

I don't ever remember reading it, but has it even been scientifically proven that synthetic oil actually "lasts" longer in terms of protecting in the engine than conventional. I know it lubricates better, but doesn't after x-miles the two contain the same amount of contaminants and such? I think the "myth" of synthetic being able to last longer stems from that it's more expensive, so either users or the manufacturers have let the myth continue so that people will invest in synthetic because the "extra time" they can use it will offset the additional cost.

Personally for me, I change my oil at 4000 miles, no more than 4500.

speedemon

I'd say no, I'd say 9-12 months with synthetic or so but it all depends on the type of driving that 1100 miles were, if you only drive short trips to the store and back home and turn it off where the oil never gets to operating temp every so often (closed loop) over the course of 6 months or longer the moisture created on startup and condensation etc will get in the oil and not get burned off or dried out if that makes sense. Moisture in oil is bad and it only gets worse if it never gets hot enough to clean it out of there, and only gets worse if it goes much longer. I wouldn't worry about 4 months.

I'm no oil expert but short drives that don't get the car up to temp is the reason why old schoolers say 3 months or 3000 miles, but synthetics have changed that a bit they can go longer because of the synthetics suspension ability.

speedemon

I wouldn't use 5w20 if recommended weight is 5w30, the reason they are using it is because they probably got a better discount on that weight oil because they use more of it with other vehicles. They don't stock all types of bulk oil because of cost.

They both start off as 5 weight oil, the 20 has less viscosity improvers then the 30, the viscosity improvers change the behaviour when the 5 weight gets hot, it makes the 5 weight flow like a straight 20 or 30 weight would when hot. So if your cars recommendation is 30 stick with 30 because when it is hot it will flow like a thicker oil at temp and provide better protection for a hot engine.

speedemon

I've read enough about it and oil "experts" that are in the industry write ups and posts and yes after X number of miles they have the same amount of contaminants up to a point, the benefit of the synthetic is it's ability to suspend more contaminants. Conventional oil gets saturated sooner than Synthetic, and will cause more wear from those contaminants that can no longer be suspended. Really the only way to know is to have an analysis done to check it at multiple times during your change interval, but synthetic will last longer.

DNC

I bought my car used. I switched it to Mobil One synthetic and the Mobil Synthetic oil filter. The Mobil filter filters out smaller particles than the OEM. When I first switched to Mobil One I changed the oil every 3,000 miles for the first two changes. Now I do it every 5,000. By the second change the oil was coming out very clear. I am sure I am doing overkill but that's just my sickness. A Mobil tech once told me if you don't put many miles on a car be sure you are changing the oil every 6 months due to moisture. I put enough miles on a car I don't have to live by the 6 month rule. Since changing to Mobil One my car's gas mileage has improved by 3 mpg on average.
I find my 06 LS to be one of the easiest cars to change the oil that I have ever owned.

AlexusAnja

Totally agree. The ease of a change all depends on where the filter is. Most cars, the filter is hidden in the middle somewhere, some times beyond eye sight so you have to search for it. The LS is just sitting right there looking at you when you go under the car.

With that said... not all Lexus are build the same, the RX300's filter is located in the cr*ppiest position, where when the engine is hot, you really can't change the filter.