jclayto

It is time for the 60k on my wife's rx350. Lexus is quoting me $545 for the service which seems a bit high, based on other threads on this forum. One thing I've noticed, is that both Lexus and another independent mechanic who specializes in Lexus included a fuel system cleaning in the quote. A third shop that I know to be reputable and honest quoted me $200ish for the same service without the fuel injection cleaning. The third shop tells me that he's happy to do it, but honestly feels that it is not necessary.

My question - is the fuel injection, or top engine cleaning as Lexus calls it necessary? I see that it is not on the Lexus provided maintenance schedule. I am by no means trying to cheap out. I want to do what is best for the longevity of this car, however, I don't want to spend unnecessary money.

My only concern is that we do run mid grade 89 octane gas instead of premium 91 octane. I am not sure if this makes a difference or not.

Is there validity in over paying Lexus for scheduled maintenance while the car is under CPO warranty?

Cruiter

If you're buying a top tier gas consistently, then you're already cleaning your system and injectors with the additives. However spending more would make your service writers pay check a little bit happier . But if you've just been buying the cheapest gas you could find then it could be a beneficial service.

jclayto

Thanks Cruiter - we buy 89 octane which is "mid grade" in SC. We occasionally run a tank of premium which is 91 octane here. Do you think this is sufficient?

vlad_a

We do not have direct injection. In fact, most Toyota vehicles have port injection. No need to do a top cleaning to remove carbon deposits.

charley95

Well said! One should never go with cheap gas from the cut rate stations. It can end up to bite you in the long run. I always worry when traveling having to buy good name brand gas from independent foreign owned stations. I have never had to get a fuel system cleaned because I always buy the better brand gas.

azinn

TOP TIER Gasoline Retailers:
USA
76 Stations
Aloha Petroleum
ARCO
Beacon
BP
Chevron
Conoco
Costco Wholesale
CountryMark
Diamond Shamrock
Entec Stations
Express Convenience Centers
Exxon
Hawaii Fueling Network (HFN)
Holiday Stationstores
Kwik Trip / Kwik Star
MFA Oil Co.
Mobil
Ohana Fuels
Phillips 66
QuikTrip
Road Ranger
Shamrock
Shell
Sinclair
Suncor Energy Inc
SuperAmerica
Texaco
Tri-Par Oil Co.
Valero

Canada
Chevron Canada
CO-OP
Costco Wholesale
Esso
Petro-Canada
Shell Canada
Tempo

Puerto Rico
Puma Energy Caribe, LLC
Shell



More info here > http://www.toptiergas.com/retailers.html

jclayto

Wow, thank you so much for the list! I mainly use quicktrip or costco. Good to know that they made the cut. I am glad that i found this forum and the valuable information here.

Lastly, is there any valid reason to use the dealer for routine service? My wife is worried that they will try to void or CPO warranty, or at least be less helpful if warranty work is needed, if we use a non dealer service center.

vlad_a

Not performing maintenance service at the dealer will not void your warranty. I never had any issues in the past. In fact, I even had the corporate replace HVAC plastic cover 2 years past warranty on my IS300.
Thing with Lexus or Toyota, it is hard to say how the warranty claims would be - I virtually never needed to make one.

jclayto

Thanks Vlad. The only thing that has ever impressed me with the local dealer (besides the coffee and cookies lol) is that they found that her rear shocks were bad and replaced under warranty last oil change. This was without me complaining about them and I thought that was a nice gesture. I think I am going to go with the other guy this go around and see how it goes. He's been taking care of my coworkers mercedes for years and I have several friends that use and recommend the shop.

mkeeney

There is no difference in cleanliness among different octanes of gasoline. If anything, premium and mid-grade fuels are likely to have more water in them because they have lower sales volumes and are likely to remain in the storage tank longer. There is virtually no reason to ever use mid-grade gasoline in a modern vehicle. Either your car requires premium or it doesn't, so using mid-grade is just throwing money away. Back before knock sensors and computer-controlled ignition timing, people would move up to a mid-grade gasoline if their engine started knocking, and if that didn't cure it they would move up to premium. If that didn't cure it they started replacing ignition components - points, plugs, distributor, etc., or cleaning out carbon deposits. Remember that the octane rating is purely a measure of how difficult it is to ignite - the higher the number the more difficult. It has nothing to do with the quality or cleanliness of the fuel, contrary to what gasoline retailers would like you to believe. In higher compression engines it needs to be more difficult to ignite so that it won't detonate before the spark plug fires.

If you run 87 octane and floor it, the engine will adjust the timing and you'll get 270 hp from it the same as the 2012-2015 RX's vs. the 275 hp your 2010 is rated at with premium. Note that both engines have the same compression ratio of 10.8:1. The only reason Lexus changed the "recommended" fuel is because so many people were complaining about buying more expensive premium. It's very likely that they didn't even change the timing as it was already programmed to adjust if it sensed knocking. It will still adjust the timing if it senses knocking while running premium gasoline. The only reason they "recommended" premium to begin with is that it allowed them to publish higher horsepower figures.

Our 2010 RX has 105,000 miles on it now and most of that has been on 87 octane gas in GA. It gets a little bit better mileage with 87 vs. premium. And to answer your original question, I don't think a fuel system cleaning is necessary, and it doesn't matter who does your maintenance. If you don't do it yourself, a local trusted mechanic is best in my opinion.

Clutchless

Although it never hurts to pour a bottle of Techron fuel system cleaner in the gas tank once or twice a year to assist in water & deposit removal & help keep the injectors clean. Use the bigger size bottle. It is often on sale at the big auto parts chains.

jrfiero

You also have the option of going to a Toyota dealer, where they're familiar with the drivetrain, have all necessary parts, and are almost always cheaper. Pastries are likely not as good or even available.

Or go to the Lexus dealer and decline their generous offer of top end cleaning. You can specify that you only want what's listed in the manual.

raylor4

McKeeney, Are you saying you get better mileage with regular vs. premium? I thought it would be the other way around. That's the way it is with our '11 RX. Engine seems to run quieter and smoother with premium and we get more cruising range miles over time.

Cruiter

Ray, that can depend on the model year. Ours were designed to run on premium, they made the change to Regular I think in 2013 and like my 2003 RX did, they may run better on regular.

hovbuild

Jim my 12 takes regular, I think the change was in 12 but I could be wrong.

Bill