EBMCS03

I dont think our cars come with synthetic... I specifically asked that when I bought the car and he said no they're still regular oil but if I want I can pay more to get syntehtic.


My dealer is large enough that they have toyota on one side and Lexus on the other I dont think they'll be too happy if I went up to the toyota side and asked for a oil change....

Oum'sIS

My Lexus maintenence advisor said that its fine to get a oil change at a Toyota dealership and almost insisted on it since its cheaper. However, he said that maintenence procedures should be left to the Lexus dealer. I've never heard that I could get maintenence done on the IS at a Toyota dealership other than an oil change.

EBMCS03

Well at evey 5K miles isnt it all "maintence" tighten this bolt... tighten that bolt...

kensteele

Does anyone see any value in going to the Lexus dealership and paying a little bit more but in exchange building some sort of relationship with that dealership? Real world....honestly?

casey225

My dealer will pick up your car for service and leave you a loaner (within a 50-60 mile radius). Gotta pay a little extra for that kind of service, but worth it for the most part, IMHO.

EBMCS03

I do. But it still depends on how good their service is... first visit... LPS settings... ummm 50/50. Didnt like their attitude defiently didnt like the service managers attitude... We'll see how the 5K free service is then I'll decide from there.

CVsIS250

If I don't feel like changing the oil, I go out and buy synthetic and drop it off with my car at Lexus. They use my oil.

CV

Ingram4868

I always have the tires rotated when I get my 2005 Avalon serviced at Toyota so the Lexus service comes out to be about $20.00 more. I find that acceptable considering that the Lexus dealership is such an enjoyable experience. Loaner vehicles if they expect to take more than 30 minutes, leather chairs in the waiting room, coffee bar, fresh baked cookies, pastries. Some of the local golf country clubs are not as nice.

dshahs420

Most high end cars nowadays come with factory filled synthetic oil, its true that if you follow a religious regimen of changing the oil every 5,000 miles then you dont need to use synthetic oil but one advantage of using synthetic oil from the beginning is that you wont have a sludge problems later on in the life cycle of your lexus. Now if you go ask mechanics they tell you not to use synthetic oil in your cars atleast until you reach 10,000 miles because they are afraid of your engine not "sealing" properly but this to me is BS otherwise why would all the real expensive cars(over $100,000) come factory filled with synthetic oil. If you are worried about sludge then use synthetic oil but first do a couple of auto-rx cycles to clean the engine.

dawg.

Tammy

Not going to reload this debate again, what's the use? Use what oil you can afford to throw away.

It's pretty simple ... Change the oil, any oil (except recycled), and the filters on a regular basis and no sludge...ever.

Synthetic oil is not a necessity ... The savings in fuel doesn't meet the additional oil cost.

What "expensive" cars? What "high end" cars? How does this relate to the Lexus you're referencing to? Their engines are designed and build differently. Seals are made differently.

I believe it's the European cars that have a need for the synthetic oil... it their privilage.

dshahs420

all i was saying was if expensive cars come equipped with synthetic oil then what mechanics say about not putting synthetic oil until after 10,000 miles cant be right.....expensive cars as in bentleys, maybachs, rolls etc.....but you are right it is beating a dead horse.....its all a wash if you change your oil regularly.

Dawg.

shaloo

Believe all Mercedes Benz automobiles come from the factory with Mobil 1 Synthetic oil, even the cheap ones, ie the C class.

When MB had trouble with sludge in their engines, it was because the oil management system change oil interval was too long for some driving conditions. When I told the service rep that I changed my dino oil at 3K mile intervals, he said I would never have a problem with sludge. But I changed to synthetic anyway, but not Mobil 1 because they didn't offer a 15W-40 synthetic oil. So the point is that the perception that synthetic oil should not be used until after a certain number of miles just can't be a fact, and the Corvette also has synthetic oil from the factory.

EBMCS03

BMW MINI Merceds all use synthetic oil straight from the factory. I was suprised that the IS didnt...

TunedRX300

Like you, I don't want to spark a debate, but just share reason I like synthetic:

1) I am not sure dealer doesn't use recycled bulk oil, if you search, you will find members of this forum complaining Lexus using recycled oil. In fact, you can not be sure what oil Lexus uses from one change to the next since it changes suppliers as often as women change clothes.

2) Higher flash point protection, Toyota reported one of the causes of 1mzfe sludge is "narrow coolant passage", which means certain part of engine runs hotter than normal, which require engine oil to endure higher temperature than dino oil.
from Mobil Clean 5000 and Mobil 1 data sheet for the same 5w30 multi-weight oil
http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lub...Clean_5000.asp
http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lub...bil1_5W-30.asp
Flash point is 200 °C vs. 230°C, synthetic clearly offers better protection

3) Extended drain, Mobil 1 5w30 is tested good for 12K,
http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/mobil1.html
$5 a quart of Mobil 1 for 12K is a better value than $3.5 a quart of Mobil Clean 5000 for 5K. Plus I avoided the trouble of doing one oil change, and saved 4-5 quarts of used oil to be recycled or dumped.

My $0.02. Again, my intention is not to start a dino vs. synthetic debate, use whatever one feel comfortable. But for me it is a no brainer: synthetic clearly offers better protection, more value, and lower maintenace cost and less work.