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I asked the Lexus dealer (Lexus of Clear Lake) to check out the car last week and specifically asked them to check the oil control valves to the exhaust cams. I also asked them to perform the oil system cleaning and an oil change with 0W-20.
I spoke with the diagnostic technician (Frank) for quite a while as we test drove the car afterward. He said he inspected and tested both the intake and exhaust cam VVTI components and didn't find any issues with them. He also drove the car on four separate occasions with the TechStream hooked up and there was no unusual behavior noted at all (and he had previously tested a car that did have the knock value issue - they solved it for that car with the ECU update). The technician also had heard that LS engines are particularly sensitive to the type of oil used and they will only put 0W-20 (Toyota, obviously) in them. He remarked that when the corporate guys told them that, the technicians found it unusual and unintuitive...
I'll stop rambling...
Bottom line: The dealer performed the oil system cleaning and changed the oil. During our test drive the car drove great. Sunday, the car drove great. Today, Monday, the car drove great. I am going to wait a little longer to pass judgment, but this was not my experience after my previous three oil changes, so my optimism is all amped up.
If this really has been an oil properties issue like RoadFrog and DevH have been preaching, I will owe them some serious, sincere gratitude. I have been pretty close to trading her in on a number of occasions and it costs a small fortune to switch cars...
I asked the Lexus dealer (Lexus of Clear Lake) to check out the car last week and specifically asked them to check the oil control valves to the exhaust cams. I also asked them to perform the oil system cleaning and an oil change with 0W-20.
I spoke with the diagnostic technician (Frank) for quite a while as we test drove the car afterward. He said he inspected and tested both the intake and exhaust cam VVTI components and didn't find any issues with them. He also drove the car on four separate occasions with the TechStream hooked up and there was no unusual behavior noted at all (and he had previously tested a car that did have the knock value issue - they solved it for that car with the ECU update). The technician also had heard that LS engines are particularly sensitive to the type of oil used and they will only put 0W-20 (Toyota, obviously) in them. He remarked that when the corporate guys told them that, the technicians found it unusual and unintuitive...
I'll stop rambling...
Bottom line: The dealer performed the oil system cleaning and changed the oil. During our test drive the car drove great. Sunday, the car drove great. Today, Monday, the car drove great. I am going to wait a little longer to pass judgment, but this was not my experience after my previous three oil changes, so my optimism is all amped up.
If this really has been an oil properties issue like RoadFrog and DevH have been preaching, I will owe them some serious, sincere gratitude. I have been pretty close to trading her in on a number of occasions and it costs a small fortune to switch cars...
That is good news my friend! If your experience is anything like mine, you'll never have the hesitation again. Also, you'll find the acceleration smoother and more linear. It's been about a year since my issue was remedied (about 25k miles). Bliss!!
I asked the Lexus dealer (Lexus of Clear Lake) to check out the car last week and specifically asked them to check the oil control valves to the exhaust cams. I also asked them to perform the oil system cleaning and an oil change with 0W-20.
I spoke with the diagnostic technician (Frank) for quite a while as we test drove the car afterward. He said he inspected and tested both the intake and exhaust cam VVTI components and didn't find any issues with them. He also drove the car on four separate occasions with the TechStream hooked up and there was no unusual behavior noted at all (and he had previously tested a car that did have the knock value issue - they solved it for that car with the ECU update). The technician also had heard that LS engines are particularly sensitive to the type of oil used and they will only put 0W-20 (Toyota, obviously) in them. He remarked that when the corporate guys told them that, the technicians found it unusual and unintuitive...
I'll stop rambling...
Bottom line: The dealer performed the oil system cleaning and changed the oil. During our test drive the car drove great. Sunday, the car drove great. Today, Monday, the car drove great. I am going to wait a little longer to pass judgment, but this was not my experience after my previous three oil changes, so my optimism is all amped up.
If this really has been an oil properties issue like RoadFrog and DevH have been preaching, I will owe them some serious, sincere gratitude. I have been pretty close to trading her in on a number of occasions and it costs a small fortune to switch cars...
Good to hear !! In post #153 you stated that you used Pennzoil Ultra 0w-20 and still had hesitation intermittently for 5000 miles.Then you just changed your oil with Toyota 0w-20 and had the flush done and its running perfect ?? Wow!! That flush must be strong stuff for it to work that fast. I'm gonna have to try it because I'm running the same oil and still have intermittent hesitation. I have 700 miles on the change. Did they add the flush to your old oil, run for 5 minutes then dump it ??
Good to hear !! In post #153 you stated that you used Pennzoil Ultra 0w-20 and still had hesitation intermittently for 5000 miles.Then you just changed your oil with Toyota 0w-20 and had the flush done and its running perfect ?? Wow!! That flush must be strong stuff for it to work that fast. I'm gonna have to try it because I'm running the same oil and still have intermittent hesitation. I have 700 miles on the change. Did they add the flush to your old oil, run for 5 minutes then dump it ??
I know you addressed this to Trumpanche, but 'll chime in with what I did in my case. The flush (Toyota product) I used involves bringing the engine up to operating temperatures and then adding the bottle of cleaner/flush to the old oil. You then allow the engine to idle for 15 mins and then drain the oil. Sounds like Trumpanche had Toyota do the service, but one would assume they did the same thing and in accordance with the instructions on the bottle.
I know you addressed this to Trumpanche, but 'll chime in with what I did in my case. The flush (Toyota product) I used involves bringing the engine up to operating temperatures and then adding the bottle of cleaner/flush to the old oil. You then allow the engine to idle for 15 mins and then drain the oil. Sounds like Trumpanche had Toyota do the service, but one would assume they did the same thing and in accordance with the instructions on the bottle.
Great to hear, thank you. It has to be the flush? I doubt that Toyota oil has magical properties over the Pennzoil I'm using. It does have excellent cleaning properties. I'll keep reading everything here and put up with hesitation then in 5000 miles I'll go with the flush and fresh oil and hopefully that'll do it.
Great to hear, thank you. It has to be the flush? I doubt that Toyota oil has magical properties over the Pennzoil I'm using. It does have excellent cleaning properties. I'll keep reading everything here and put up with hesitation then in 5000 miles I'll go with the flush and fresh oil and hopefully that'll do it.
No idea, but the Pennzoil I used had hesitation like Trumpanche experienced. The cure and remedy explanations are still in their infancy here at CL. The bigger consensus is that switching to a synthetic cleans the VVT-I system and causes initial problems that go away after a while if one were using dino oils beforehand. Regardless, my hesitation has never returned since I used Toyota Oil System Cleaner and TGMO 0w20. Prior to that, all of my previous oil changes resulted in hesitation.
Good news is, it's relatively inexpensive to give it a shot. The bottle of cleaner at the Toyota dealer is about 25 bucks. I buy the TGMO from them as well in bulk for about 6 bucks/qt.
At the risk of repeating myself, I'll also add that, my oil consumption has dropped to almost zero between changes. Before, I was adding about a qt per 1500 miles or so.
At the risk of repeating myself, I'll also add that, my oil consumption has dropped to almost zero between changes. Before, I was adding about a qt per 1500 miles or so.
A quart per 1500 miles ? That seems like a lot ?! What would cause the oil consumption to go away ?
No idea, but the Pennzoil I used had hesitation like Trumpanche experienced. The cure and remedy explanations are still in their infancy here at CL. The bigger consensus is that switching to a synthetic cleans the VVT-I system and causes initial problems that go away after a while if one were using dino oils beforehand. Regardless, my hesitation has never returned since I used Toyota Oil System Cleaner and TGMO 0w20. Prior to that, all of my previous oil changes resulted in hesitation.
Good news is, it's relatively inexpensive to give it a shot. The bottle of cleaner at the Toyota dealer is about 25 bucks. I buy the TGMO from them as well in bulk for about 6 bucks/qt.
Did you use synthetic Pennzoil (Ultra or Ultra Platinum) and later synthetic Toyota oil?.
Did you use synthetic Pennzoil (Ultra or Ultra Platinum) and later synthetic Toyota oil?.
I used Ultra (synthetic) but can't remember if it was the Platinum or not, but I believe it was and it was on sale at the time. Based on the reviews at BITOG, is why I went with it.
Yes I used (and currently use) TGMO synthetic 0w20
It does SEEM like a lot, yet Lexus considers even 1 qt per per 1k miles as well within normal range.
As for why the consumption dropped, I have no idea.
I can tell you from my own experience with oil consumption issues either by inheriting the issue from a previous owner who ran conventional oil or my own use from the beginning (in the case of my Honda) that it does create deposits on the oil control rings. Once they are cleaned out by synthetic oil or by a product called AutoRX the consumption goes down tremendously. This is not to say that all consumption issues are related to running conventional oil but it is one of the many reasons why.
For instance my 2004 Honda after 50k miles running the recommended 5W-20 started consuming oil which at the time I thought was too light and it's getting past the rings so I bumped up to 5W-30 conventional oil which helped curtail the consumption. At around 60k miles after seeing the varnish accumulation of conventional oil I started using Synthetic but at the same 5W-30 weight oil. On my last oil change I had left over 0W-20 oil from a friend who stores his oil over my house when he comes over to change his oil and I used it in a pinch thinking that it may consume but I will just add make up oil. To my surprise the oil holding up so far with no make up oil.
Quick update: I had 6 trips (20-30 minutes long each) in the car today. All flawless.
Jfattibe,
I used 0W-20 Pennzoil Ultra Platinum for my most recent oil change before this one based on the BITOG reviews (sort of like RoadFrog did). Before that, it was barrel 5W-20 from a Jiffy Lube and before that was whatever CarMax dumped in. Before those three changes, the Lexus service history shows that every service was done on time at the dealer.
For $90 bucks you can get the work done I did and have a chance at a perfect engine for the rest of your 5k miles. I'd say totally worth a trip in to your closest Lexus or Toyota dealer. I totally admit that I was as skeptical as you about RoadFrog's experience, but two points make a line haha :-)
Also - if the dealer hasn't previously done the ECU or Transmission computer updates, I recommend those as well; I think they're about 125 bucks each; maybe less if they do both at one time. The diagnostic tech I spoke with said the ECU update fixed a hesitation problem on one LS he had worked on previously.
I used Ultra (synthetic) but can't remember if it was the Platinum or not, but I believe it was and it was on sale at the time. Based on the reviews at BITOG, is why I went with it.
Yes I used (and currently use) TGMO synthetic 0w20
One possible reason could be Pennzoil Syn and Toyota cleaner might have cleaned the engine to run smoother. Only way test this theory is to return to Pennzoil syn and see if the hesitation comes back.
BTW, Pennzoil Platinum and Ultra Platinum are completely two different product lines with different build process/agents.
One possible reason could be Pennzoil Syn and Toyota cleaner might have cleaned the engine to run smoother. Only way test this theory is to return to Pennzoil syn and see if the hesitation comes back.
BTW, Pennzoil Ultra and Pennzoil Ultra Platinum are completely two different product lines with different build process/agents.
That would be a great way to test what actually happened.
I'm willing to bet that going back to conventional oil for one oil change will not cause this problem either.
08-03-15, 08:48 PM
Another premature celebration?
