gebo

I just purchased an 05 LS430 that has been serviced at the dealership every 5K. I purchased it in FL and drove it back to VA this past weekend. After letting it sit overnight, I checked the oil level on the dipstick. (I had checked it prior to leaving and knew it had more than enough)

Well, it is at least 1 inch over the fill line. I have been reading and have noticed there has been a lot of discussion over the capacity of our engines. My old 98 LS400 took 6 qts with a filter at changing. It seems weird that this engine would take less oil...

Anyway, I got out some of the service records from the dealership and every time they changed the oil the previous owner was charged for 6 qts. From my limited knowledge the oil level seems to be about 1 qt over the "full" mark. Does the dealership know something that is not in the manual?

I'm curious if anyone has noticed the same oil level readings after the dealership changed the oil? In one place on one forum I read that it is perfectly fine to add 6.5 qts of oil in this engine. Hey, I'm all about longevity and it sure seems to me more oil (without damaging the engine of course) would be a better way to go.

Quipper

Funny you should ask, b/c I just got an answer to at least part of your question.

I've always gotten my oil changed at Lexus of Orlando, and last month happened to ask what type of oil they give me, and how much. The answer was 5.4 quarts of conventional 5W-30 for my 2003 LS 430.

Hope that helps!

BCrews

Conventional ? Not synthetic? Their website says they use synthetic...
https://secure.drivers.lexus.com/lex...ownersguide.do

Unless that's only for newer cars. $100+ is a lot to charge for conventional...

Quipper

I don't really know; that's what they told me.... And they charge $33.50 for it.

toddmorr

they charge you for 6 qts because the proper fill takes somewhere between 5 and 6 qts and they are rounding up????? ha.
I've filled this engine many times and its never taken a full 6 qts.....closer to 5 qts.

gebo

At Brumos in Jacksonville where the car was serviced they used 10W-30 for the first 65K. The last oil change they did at 65K they used 0w-20 synthetic per the service records.

I'm more interested in why the stick shows oil about an inch over the "Full" mark.

Tom57

The dealer buys oil in bulk and dispenses it into car with hose and metered volume measurement (similar to gasoline pump). You don't see them opening individual quarts and pouring oil in with all the time that would take. Some pumps have settings for volume of oil, others you have to watch the volume meter. I suspect the dealer put too much oil in this way. They have a pre-set price charge based on what they decide to charge for LS430 oil changes.

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

5.5 qt is what I put it. Does not burn anything either. Just like the 400. Great engine.

heathervb

Last oil change I did myself and the oil change before that was done at the dealership. I let the oil drain for about 2 hours and in the bucket the level was somewhere between the 5 and 6 qt mark, but I couldn't be sure how much they put in originally because I'm guessing some of it was still in the old filter and not entirely drained into the bucket. So I filled it with a full 6 qts and also noticed after that the dip stick was about an inch above the marks. Took my car for a two hour road trip after that so hope I didn't cause any damage by possibly adding too much...

airchomper

I think the oil pan is grossly non-linear. I put in 5 quarts of Toyota 0w-20 and the oil level reads just barely above the low line. And if I put in an additional .5 quarts, it reads about halfway between high and low. But it seems an additional .5 quart would make it read too high.

I wish our cars had oil pressure gauges or something. Apparently some owners manuals say we should put in fewer than 5 quarts, but that's wrong.

Oil is such an arcane art. I've been reading about it for three years or so, and I think I'm just coming to terms with the basic concepts. It doesn't help that the Yamaha/Toyota engine paradigm isn't widely used outside Toyota/Yamaha and most enthusiast knowledge is hidden around the web.

I think our engines use slightly less oil than the 1UZ VVTI because the 3UZ has a different oil filter housing. I think the cold oil level is supposed to be just below the oil filter housing but I could be wrong. I think the oil level is also below the crankshaft, and the oil pump sprays oil on to the crank shaft and up into the head. But this is speculation. There's an explanation of it in a GS430 document somewhere.

I wish we had oil pressure gauges because it'd be easy to tell if we had too much oil or the wrong viscosity - if the oil level was so high that the crankshaft was immersed in the oil, the pressure would be sky high.

The only penalty to higher oil volumes (while still at a safe level for the engine) is that you spend less time below operating temperature. Ideally, an engine would have oil bath that's thin like water below operating temperature and would have the bare volume of oil to pump around until the oil reached operating tempature, then it'd be ideal to have an infinite reservoir of warm but not hot oil.

In my freeze-your-butt-off winter, where I park my car outside for 10 hours a day while I work, I use Toyota's 0w-20 since its one of the thinnest oils in the world at 0 degrees, and it's a synthetic so it's probably fine when it heats up. I only run 5 quarts so the oil heats up marginally quicker.

I run 5.5 quarts in the summer. I don't know what I'll be running though. One part of me wants to do a 2k oci with Rotella t6 to clean everything out. But another part of me just wants to run redline 0w-20 or 0w-30 and change it once a year since I spend most of the warm months riding my motorcycle.

gebo

OK, thanks. What you are saying matches up exactly with what I am seeing and what the dealership said they added. By the way, I don't believe .5 qt extra oil will do any damage at all. At least that would be my take from reading a lot of posts on another "oil" forum.

gebo

What you are saying makes perfect sense and would explain the "abnormally" high reading on my stick. If the dealership did add 6 qts it may only be .5 qt more but read an inch high. I'm gonna change it and do a little experimenting myself. Thanks! I feel better. I was thinking the dealership way too much oil.

jayclapp

The manual states 4.8 qt with a filter change. I'll go with that every time. It also states, "Avoid overfilling,or the engine could be damaged".

XJSFan

Our engines have NOT been approved/back specd by Toyota for using 0W20... I think it has something to do with the VVT-I...

gebo

I know 0W-20 is not on the approved list. Why would the dealership do it? That's one reason I started this thread. I got a copy of the service records from the service dept and they plainly state 0W-20 synthetic was put in at 65K.

I'm gonna call the dealership and ask them. I'll let you know what they tell me.