Mariusz232

Hey guys, so im new to the GS 350 and I have a question about how to check the oil. Not really a car guy either. I finally found the wand that was to the left of the engine. Cleaned it off and i put it back into its whole and then i pulled it out.. I could not see the oil very well so i moved under a light... there are two dots one is about an inch or so above the first.. I vaguely saw a film of oil covering both dots and maybe a quater inch above the higher dot? is there an issue?

pqn628

The oil should be at or slightly above the top dot so you should be fine. Is the oil black or still golden? If its black, get it changed

Mariusz232

Hey thanks for the reply... it looks golden .I put it up to the light and its a litle above the top dot... I got it changed on wednesday and jsut making sure everything is okay.

moose66

Golden oil on the dipstick is good! Another thing you may want to keep an eye on after after having your oil changed is the ground underneath the car. This hasn't happened to me, but I have heard of instances where the oil plug wasn't replaced correctly (tight enough or even mis-threaded), or the original washer was worn and should have been replaced. This causes a small oil leak which normally occurs when the car is cold and everything has had a chance to contract after heating up. Nothing to be alarmed about. Just something to keep an eye on.

Mariusz232

Thanks well the reason this is all being brought up is because. When I bought the car the dealershpi said with every used car they sell they do an oil change. Then a few drives later my low engine oil light turned on. I brought it to lexus and they said the car had nearly NO OIL.. Now im afraid it may be buring engine oil. So im checking it as much as I can. Can it burn the engine oil veryyy slowly or is it usually at a very fast pace?

moose66

My experience is that if all is well with the car, it burns oil at a normal pace. Meaning you should not have to add oil to the car between the routine change intervals. If you find you are adding oil on a regular basis, you may have an issue. Also you don't want to put too much oil in the car. Overfiling is not a good thing either.

Did you buy the car from a Lexus dealership? Sounds weird to have an oil issue with a car purchased directly from Lexus. Not normally how the car or the dealership performs.

samsonn25

This engine burning 1 to 1.2 quarts every 3-5k miles is normal.

Its easy for the auto shop to under fill the oil during an oil change where a low engine oil light does not trigger yet, then after a few hundred or thousand miles the light comes on.

Most people say the difference between the bottom hole and the top hole on the dipstick is 1 quart.

I have noticed the low oil light comes on about 1.5 quarts low from FULL

RHicksjr

I had the same issue recently. My near-vision isn't that great but after the dealer oil change, I couldn't tell if there was oil on the dipstick for a bit.. The thinnest of oil marking was on the stick. I had to re-insert and check it a couple times and finally, I guess I see it.. really hard to tell!

MX73

I think it's mostly Toyota and Lexus products that I have issues reading the dipstick. For whatever reason, it's two different readings if you flip the dipstick over. haha. I haven't had that issues on my Mazda, Honda or Volvo.

Thing is, check the dipstick when the car hasn't been driven around. Maybe the next morning, when the car had its beauty sleep. It should fall in between the two dots. Anything below is low, and above is too much.