Michaeldc

every 5k with synthetic oil

lextout

Pennzoil is garbage and it causes sludge in motors,castrol is the only way to go,plus the dealer uses it and its what lexus recommends.

Jabberwock

Modern day name brand oils are pretty good these days. That is because most of them certified to well established and well published requirements that are standard across the industry. So check the container and if its SN certified you can expect it to act like any other SN certified oil. The additive packages are what makes one oil different from another - these vary in some ingredients but mostly are marketing related variations ...if you know what I mean.

Those who want to delve into more detail can check out the popular BITIG forum. Amazing amounts of information and also real life data/rest results on current oils from folks that regularly send their oil to Blackstone labs ....serious oil weenies on the site.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums...Board=1&page=1

warminwisc

Bob's 2010 test results....Pennzoil, Mobil 1, Valvoine, Castrol not sure why we see posts that pennzoil is akin to the Brea Tar Pits. Long time ago there was some commotion about Pennzoil

Change intervals depend alot on city Hwy driving.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

For those interested, you can back up your intervals by having an oil analysis done and testing the TBN (total base number) for the additive package left in the oil.

V8_Fan

8K-10K on synthetic. It all depends how you drive. My driving is 20 mi on the interstate + 2 mi in the city each way, so I could easily go 10K+ on M1 0w40. If your driving is mostly short distance, you might consider changing earlier, especially if using dino. 3K is a scam unless you're using dino and taking short trips all the time, or if you're unfortunate to have one of those engines reputed to sludge up if you don't change every 3K mi. It takes about 8 miles to warm up the engine/oil to the point that the water in the exhaust evaporates (thus not using up the additives).

StanVanDam

I do a DIY no-jack oil change every 8000km. This is the service interval specified in the 2002 guide. I do a lot short drives, and I never idle the car after starting (even in the cold Canadian winters), so this may be considered a severe duty cycle. Therefore, I won't extend drain intervals until I confirm it's OK via used oil analyses with a TBN.

The 2002 LS430 specification is 5W-30, API SJ or higher, ILSAC GF-4 or higher. The latest API is SN, latest ILSAC is GF-5.

http://www.oilspecifications.org/api_eolcs.php
http://www.oilspecifications.org/ilsac.php

Lexus dealerships have been advised to use 5W-20 and to quote the reasons "increased fuel efficiency" and "increased power". However, I think these increases are negligible and come at a cost of increased engine wear. Protecting the engine from wear is a higher priority for me, since I plan on keeping the car for a very long time. Therefore, I'll follow what their engineers specified originally - 5W-30.

My personal choice is a synthetic 5W-30 with the cheapest on-sale price that meets API SN, ILSAC GF-5, ACEA A1/A5/B1/B5, and GM dexos1. So far, the choices were Castrol EDGE with Syntec and Mobil 1.

A non-synthetic oil meeting these criteria would be probably be perfectly fine, and I'll consider that after running some UOAs.

I've recently changed out Castrol EDGE with Syntec and will send a sample off to Blackstone Labs for a UOA. I filled with Mobil 1 this time around, and will get another UOA at the next oil change to see if Mobil 1 does anything differently.

fensterlip

I think the recommendation to get a Used Oil Analysis after 5K miles is a good recommendation. You'll probably find there is a lot of like left if your using a true synthetic. I have a good friend who is a fleet manager for a large defense conglomerate and he uses dino in Chrysler cars every 5K and the cars lasted forever.
Look at the bobistheoilguy web page for more than you ever want to know. I know they tested a Camaro some time back and went up to 18K miles before the oil started losing the additives. They put in a quart of added fresh oil (pulling out a quart, I presume to make space but it may have burned it) and the oil bounced right back. I would never do this but if you want to be reasonable I suspect 10K on synthetic is unlikely to hurt anything. Do 5K or 7500 is OK for a fallback position even as you know the oil is still doing it's job. The 3K number is total overkill. This made sense on old oils in old cars when the oil broke down and carburetors ran richer leaving all kinds of burned petroleum for the oil to pick up. The shops still sell that number to gin up business and protect themselves from the lawyers IMHO.

toyo

Fenster, You and I think a lot alike for sure. BITOG is a great site with a wealth of knowledge. Here is another take or reason to run an oil analysis. We want to create what is a called a base-line. Every time you run an oil test you want it to be the same, per say. It's when of the levels starts to climb or has a large spike.
The Silicon is a very simple one. Your air filter is starting to lose it's function as the numbers start to climb. A rise in the Iron could be a bearing, etc. It is such a neat and interesting thing to do.

I use www.blackstone-labs.com

imherenow

WOw didnt know about this test. Thanks for sharing. I think now on many cars (or all new cars) will increase their engine oil service interval. My Volvo says 7,500 and i follow that since the engine is designed that way and stick with what they recommend. That is , Castrol

ls430lover

buy mobil 1 extended performance not the regular mobil one thru my research it has double the amount of synflo the cleaning agents also i found compared to mobil 1 regular my ls400 it would not break down over time like the regular mobil 1.. if you use mobil 1 synthetic oil filter and the mobil 1 extended performance u can change at 10k religiously with no issues.
i know there will be 100 other people talking about penzoil and castro but do the research on the las vegas field study with cabs everyone thinks its regular mobil 1 it wasnt ..
you can buy a 5 quart jug in walmart for 29$
happy motoring

TSA1

5k+ with conventional and I usually do over 7500 with Synthetic. The biggest issue seems to be oil filters not the actual oil needing changing. BMW does 15k miles or 1 year on their service intervals, I've seen many threads on BMW forums where the oil is fine, but the filter is about to go at that mileage.

I have some Mobil 1 0w-40 european car forumla. It is the only Mobil oil to met BMW-LL01, VW and Mercedes Benz oil standards and is factory fill on Porsche. Castrol 5w-30 syntec with the Gold Cap is also good, just look on the back and make sure it says Made in Germany much better than the BP made Castrol.

Kira X

iTrader: (24)

What is the part number on that Mobil1 synthetic filter? Amazon had a big sale on them a few days ago but I wasn't sure what the correct number was for the filter.

ipwn

10k, just because we're generally pretty normal here in the UK.

sdbmw

10 k. 3k or even 5k is a waste of money and oil.