My dealer claims that I should bring the car in every 5k between oil changes for a "safety check." opinion anyone?

 

Is the safety check free. Then why not. If there is a fee involved I'll pass. Initially the first 5000 mile check and 10 mile service is free I believe.

 

I think the main reason for the 5k service is tire rotation. With the cost of these tires, its worth it to rotate them every 5k.

 

If you have the RWD FS, there is no tire rotation. I think every 10k is fine for a modern car unless you operate in more extreme conditions. For 99.9% that won't apply.

I think this is a money maker for the dealer, charge you $200 for checking out the car. No thanks.

 

The poor finance guy at Lexus looked like he was getting seasick as he went through his pre-paid maintenance plan spiel. I pointed out to him there were only max of 4 oil changes involved during the warranty period, not the 9 he used to sell. He said "Yup" and put his little brochure back in the drawer. I bet those guys hate synthetic!

 

...for all we know, we don't know what oil they *really* put into our cars. It could very well be a syn-blend and not 100% full synthetic.

 

What's that saying, "Ignorance is bliss."? If I'm going to have the dealer do the oil changes I guess I'm going to just have to trust them that they are doing the right thing. Heck, even when I had my IS-F and brought the 10 quarts of Mobil 1 I just purchased at K-Mart, I trusted them that they were putting that into the car and not something they had in a 50-gallon barrel.

 

FYI as there doesn't seem to be any Canadians posting in this thread. In Canada (at least in Ontario), the service intervals are 8000km (5k miles). This is pretty standard for most cars I've seen/experienced, not just Lexus. The only exception was when Mercedes included service for the duration of the lease. During that time, my dad's E-Class (his '99 I believe) required service every 16,000km (10k miles). I love how when they pay for the service, the intervals are longer.

To be honest, I do the 8000km service to just play it safe. In addition to that, I do relatively low mileage (I'll be at about 9000 miles on my year anniversary), so doing the service as required by mileage makes sense.

M

 

I doubt that. On my service paperwork it specifies the EXACT oil used - Pennzoil Platinum 0W-20. They would really be in a fix using something else when such documentation exists. Plus the fact that the consumer/auto service business is an area very closely regulated by government and covered by media. I think you're probably pretty safe at the Lexus dealership.

 

Yeah if you have a RWD F and can't rotate, I'd skip the in between stops.

I would be very surprised if Lexus dealers were lying and using cheaper oil

 

I agree they would be in a fix is it was shown or could be proven they were using something other than was correct for the car. Also it's interesting that your dealer uses Pennzoil Platinum. My dealer showed me the Lexus-branded motor oil that they use and they claim it is rebranded Mobil 1.

 

Will skipping the 5,000 mile services affect the warantee? If not I'lll skip them. Seems like a waste of my time and
money.

 

You can bring your own oil and have them put the oil you wish to have in the car.

 

You can send an oil sample to Blackstone to have it analyzed if you are really having doubts about the kind of oil the dealer is putting in. There are a ton of threads about this at bob the oil guy and toyota nation and I'm sure others.