Purdy99

I have a '99 RX 4WD with about 130,000 KMs. Dealer serviced since new, oil changes with Mobil 1 5W-30 every 8000Kms.

Today, I got my truck back from its regular maintenance, and the service manager at my dealership said everything checked out fine. BUT, they noticed that I was burning "a bit of oil", and so moved my next oil change to 6000Km instead of the usual 8K. He also mentioned that I should probably check the oil level in 3 months since I might need to top it up with 1/2 litre. He also mentioned that I might want to switch to 10w30 next time.

I asked if this was normal, and he got a non-committal "its not unusual".

Of course, I know about the oil gelling issue, and I'm just wondering if its actually normal to burn 1/2 litre of oil at approx. 4000km, and if switching to 10w30 sounds like a resonable thing to do. (i.e. Has anyone else done this?)

Any information you guys could provide would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

TunedRX300

Check for leaks, see if there is any visible oil spot on the drive way, look under the engine. If there is no leak, I don't believe going to a thicker oil will solve the cause, it may merely cover the root cause up.
Sudden oil consumption w/o any change of driving style and condition needs to be investigated, not covered up.
Lexmex experienced some oil burning with Mobil 1 but his condition and driving style is tougher on the oil than 99% of us.
Check your RX's original purchase date, if your car is still under 8 year sludge warranty, may I suggest you to ask the Lexus dealer to pull valve cover for sludge inspection, let us know what you found out.

Lexmex

TunedRX300 is right, I have had some consumption issues and keep in mind I push my lil RX300 pretty hard.

I use a combinaton of Mobil 1 5W30(extended drain)/0W40 along with Liqui Moly friction modifiers and a 4 cylinder version of Restore.

Since adding the 5W30 to my equation, I have experienced consumption issues that I did not experience with a straight 0W40. I have been topping it off for the time being with M1 5W50. Other than that no driveability issues.

My father uses M1 10W30 in his 2 MB 190Es and has been getting some consumption issues with that and is also thinking about switching over to Amsoil 5W40 or moving up to a M1 0W40.

0W40 M1 appears to have been the best for me of the M1s in terms of on track performance, MPG and consumption (have tried 5W30 by itself along with 10W30, 0W40 of course, 5W50 and 15W50)

ElitistK

iTrader: (4)

it's normal for japanese engines to burn oil.

My gs3 with a 2jz barely eats oil and it has 108k miles. My Corolla has a 1zz at 146k miles and it eats about a quart every 3k miles; but then again, I WOT on that car all the time.

If your car is eating 1qt. every week, then you have a big problem. The previous 1zz in my corolla had a bad main bearing, and it was drinking oil like water. I thought it was the oiler cooler, but my engine started to hesitate more and more, and finally, loss of power and studdering.

salimshah

I have owned 5 Japanese vehicles (30 total years in all) and none of them leaked or consumed oil. One American always marked its territory. Sure, one can't apply one persons experience to all.


Dealerships will never make a statement as to how much oil if burnt is ok. This would expose them to lot of warranty work. A close friend of mine who bought 740il same time I purchased GS had to add 1/2 a qt almost every month and the dealer insisted it is normal. You may be hearing similar thing from Lexus dealership (even if this is not a warranty issue)

Salim

HarrierAWD

My RX300 just topped 88,000 miles today. Never burnt and dripped a drop of oil.

All my previous American cars started burning oil at half that mileage. And yeah, started "marking the territory" at this mileage.

HarrierAWD

Actually, it's never normal for any engine to burn oil. When an engine starts burning oil, either something is wrong or the tolerance isn't as tight as new. It's just not worth it to spend $1,000+ to fix an issue that $1 per quart motor oil can resolve. So all carmakers call it normal.

Lexmex

Actually, Mazda RX-7s burn oil with impunity. Had a friend with a 93 RX7 (that one shown on one of my pages on my homepage below) that was burning Castrol GTX like no tomorrow. He had tried Redline (not as bad), but ended up having to use a Liqui Moly 10W60 weight at this altitude.

However, true vehicles should not burn oil, but inevitably they will with age or time...how much depends on many factors.

I guess the way we should be talking about this is how much is normal in terms of oil consumption.

salimshah

Based on Lexmex's advice, how about restating the question as (as it applies to burning and not dripping). The dip stick is there to check some thing

Should your engine need additional oil in between oil-change, if fill was done to max level? [at next oil change the level should not fall below min]

a) 3000 miles between change
b) 4000 miles
c)7500 miles

Salim

Purdy99

Well, my owner's manual indicates that the Min to Max level on the dip stick equates to 1.8L. Right now, since I just got it back from service, its right up to the Max dot.

So, when should I start to be concerned? If it goes down to half way in 4000KM? (That'd be almost a 1L loss.)

Is it worth it to shell out $300 to have the dealer remove the valve covers? (That's the quote I got for removing both the front and the rear.) Is there any additional benefit to doing so? (As in, they could clean out some sludge even if they found only a tiny bit?)

My 8 year warrantee expires Sept. of this year.

parula

Wow, FWIW I'd be disappointed if my car burned a lot of oil, so far my baby doesn't need any oil added over 5k miles with 5w30 Mobil1.

salimshah

Does the 300 change to 0 if sludge is found? Should be!
I would have thought a compression check + plug inspection would be appropriate to find oil loss source.
Oil leak around the valve stem may be found by removing cover.

More knowledgeable folks can guide you better.

Salim

HarrierAWD

Good point. I personally think one quart between oil change is acceptable.

Fern

I just felt I had to add my $.02

I'm not saying this is the case in every circumstance, however, I have seen people overfill the crankcase with too much oil and when they check it.... say after 3000 miles, they find it is much lower than when oil was put in.

The car has a natural tendency to bring the oil level to the middle of the high and low level on the dipstick... I'm not sure on the RX what quantity in litres is for the range between the 2 points specifically.

However, if your overfilling by say 1/2 litre and if the car brings it down to the middle level of high and low, then in essence you might be reading 1 litre of consumption (on a 1 litre range between high and low), which is actually wrong. The car is actually not consuming at all, just performing how it is intended to...

The best way to monitor the level is on a 6000km distance check the level every 1000km (while monitoring the level in relation to the mid point between high and low) obviously never letting it get below mid point.

Hopefully we all understand that the best way to measure the oil level is on a flat surface first thing in the morning before you start the car.

Just something to think about.

GWELEX

From what I've been told by my dealership's cheif Lexus technician the RX shouldn't use any oil between recomended changes. Using 1 qt. between changes is unacceptable, unless you drive something lthat leaks or burns it. As for the RX compensating all by itself for a slight overfill, well....., this simply isn't true. It has no idea if it's overfilled or right on the money. The wife's RX rarely used more than 1/4 qt. of oil between changes and it has 106K miles. Now, once the sludge appeared that's a different story entirely.