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2015 GS350 F Sport.
I have been changing the oil every time my maintenance needed light comes on. It seems to come on every 5,000 miles. I use 0W-20 synthetic. It seems people are saying every 10,000 is the right interval. Why is the light coming on every 5,000? Does the maintenance needed light take into account driving conditions on this model?
I want to take good care of the engine but if I am changing oil too often I am screwing up the earth. What do you all do? 75% of my miles are highway.
Last edited by flycast; Aug 7, 2021 at 12:10 PM.
Reason: Wrong year on initial post
It’s a maintenance light, not an oil change light. Lexus recommends service every 5k miles (inspections, check fluids, etc.) and oil changes every 10k.
Opinions differ, but yes, I’d say you are changing your oil too frequently.
It's not an indicator to change the engine oil and filter. It's a maintenance reminder, which you can use as a reminder to do anything you wish. i use mine as a reminder to go to Discount Tire to have my tires rotated. You might want to use it to tweak your tire's air pressure or to check the spare tire's air pressure, or to vacuum out the car, or to wax the car, or whatever maintenance you may like to do every 5,000 miles.
That's reminding you to rotate your tires and check fluid levels every 5K miles. Fully synthetic oil doesn't need to be changed for 10K miles for normal driving. Unless you are taking your car to the track every month and/or driving your car extremely hard until extreme conditions, an oil change every 5K miles is excessive.
Originally Posted by flycast
2015 GS350 F Sport.
I have been changing the oil every time my maintenance needed light comes on. It seems to come on every 5,000 miles. I use 0W-20 synthetic. It seems people are saying every 10,000 is the right interval. Why is the light coming on every 5,000? Does the maintenance needed light take into account driving conditions on this model?
I want to take good care of the engine but if I am changing oil too often I am screwing up the earth. What do you all do? 75% of my miles are highway.
From: changed to satisfy admins nagging and crying
which maintenance reminder are you referring to? there's the oil, oil filter, tire rotation, trans, etc in the vehicle maintenance info center. you can always change the settings yourself. and i wouldn't worry too much about the earth just because you are doing more oil changes. i change my oil & filter every 3500 miles with mobil 1. i drained and filled the trans with mobil 1 atf at about 27k. i really don't understand how it will damage the earth if i keep my car in tip top shape. it's not like i'm dumping the old fluid in the sewer or ocean. it's the cheap bas tards of the world that don't maintain their vehicles that causes excess pollution from the tail pipe or with oil and coolant leaks on the roadway.
Originally Posted by flycast
2015 GS350 F Sport.
I have been changing the oil every time my maintenance needed light comes on. It seems to come on every 5,000 miles. I use 0W-20 synthetic. It seems people are saying every 10,000 is the right interval. Why is the light coming on every 5,000? Does the maintenance needed light take into account driving conditions on this model?
I want to take good care of the engine but if I am changing oil too often I am screwing up the earth. What do you all do? 75% of my miles are highway.
75% highway miles? Then there is absolutely no reason to change your full synthetic oil more than every 10K miles. Highway miles are MUCH easier on an engine than stop and go. Even then today's full synthetic oils are designed to last 10K miles no matter what.
Originally Posted by flycast
2015 GS350 F Sport.
I have been changing the oil every time my maintenance needed light comes on. It seems to come on every 5,000 miles. I use 0W-20 synthetic. It seems people are saying every 10,000 is the right interval. Why is the light coming on every 5,000? Does the maintenance needed light take into account driving conditions on this model?
I want to take good care of the engine but if I am changing oil too often I am screwing up the earth. What do you all do? 75% of my miles are highway.
There are many reasons to change before 10k. Like 6k - 7.5k. Regardless of how far along Oils have come in technology, internal metals, and outside contaminates have not changed in all these years. Tire manufactures rate tires for wear ratings also. They make the tires. Does not mean you are going to get 50k of wear use if rated for 50k.
I called 2 Oil analysis test companies and asked some of the professional in tech support about their thoughts on 10k oil changes, don't want to say the names but everyone uses them to send their oil in for a report. They said its not a major problem doing 10k oil changes in most cases. But...........when I asked them if they do 10k Oil changes on their cars that also have recommended 10k interval from the manufactures, they all said NO. 6k- 7k was their specific change interval with all the different ones I spoke with. LOL!
It is your car to save pennies on, so you can do what you want. I don't go any further than 7k myself. I also keep a very clean Air Filter also, many don't realize your best Oil filter is your Air filter.
This reminds me when I bought a 96 Buick back in 2010 with 18k miles on it. It was the typical story of an older lady going into the nursing home and not driving anymore. The car had every service record with it and she had the oil changed every 1,000 miles from new. She must've been fixated on doing so. The daughter gave me the keys to it but couldn't give me the key fobs cause her mother insisted on keeping them hoping to drive again.
I’ve always gone 5000 miles for an oil change with synthetic, that’s what my dealership recommends. I’m sure you could push it farther and be fine but I have heard lots of stories of people with Toyotas they changed every 10k, then when they got higher miles they started burning oil, oil is cheap, I’d rather just be safe since I plan on keeping mine for at least a few years.
Oil is cheap. I just do 5k to feel good. Oil change 5k IS better than 10k. More expensive, but better for your engine. It's up to you to make that call.
Anecdotal stories. Nothing like some real world empirical experience. My 2002 Toyota Sequoia with 340K miles, actually extended the intervals to 8-10K using synthetic blends after seeing how well it did with just about any oil. Recommended interval is 5K miles / 6 months, 5W30. If so inclined, you can go read all about these UOAs at bobistheoilguy.com. The shorter intervals were done because of time not miles... 12-18 months is kinda stretching it between changes (my comfort zone and peace of mind).
As a side note to Anecdotal stories........ The 4th Gen GS V6 is the 2013 - 2015 - 2GR-FSE & 2016 - 2020 2GR-FKS engine. The Sequoia is the V8 2UZ-FE. Not even referencing the same engine, and the 2UZ-FE V8 has world wide known reliability. There is even a known and Toyota stated reliability difference anyone can research between the 2 slightly different V6 2GR-FSE & 2GR-FKS engines let alone referencing the V8 2UZ-FE here no less.
Mentioning Oil data on a different motor is nice to see, but that's Oil data. When you talk about specifics and again anecdotal stories to the V6 2GR-FSE & 2GR-FKS engines. More significant would have been a leak down and compression test result of the 4th Gen GS3650 engine from 29k miles to 340k miles. Just my 2 cents.
Like I said it's a owners choice, but at $19.99 for premium oil at Walmart and a $8 bucks Toyota filter? Changing the oil yourself for $30 vs paying to have it done from $50 - $100 is where the real value is? I like the more oil changes (7k) and larger savings myself ($0 labor). Real Anecdotal.
When did Toyota go to 10k oil changes? Was it when 0w-20 oil came along? There are enough cars for enough years on 10k intervals that if it was going to show widespread engine failure you would have all ready heard about it. If I was still doing my own oil changes I would probably do it earlier than 10k. But I don't and I'm doing 10k between changes.
When did Toyota go to 10k oil changes? Was it when 0w-20 oil came along? There are enough cars for enough years on 10k intervals that if it was going to show widespread engine failure you would have all ready heard about it. If I was still doing my own oil changes I would probably do it earlier than 10k. But I don't and I'm doing 10k between changes.
Again there is nothing wrong either way. It a matter of personal choice. The problems would likely not occur if, until much later down the road.
Frankly, I would go with whatever the manufacturer recommends. If Toyota recommends 10k miles before an oil change, follow that. I will echo what folks have mentioned on this forum in different threads, Toyota made this car, so if they say do a certain service at certain interval, they must have a reason for it. As far as the debate goes for higher mileage oil changes, VW have been recommending oil changes at 10k miles for years now, longer than Toyota switched to 10k, and their engines are not more reliable than the Toyotas. I mean, Toyota got the Hilux... what does VW have?!
But seriously, to answer the OP's question, the tire/wheel rotation is every 5k miles, and oil and oil filter change is every 10k miles, recommended by Toyota in the car bible aka manual. But you are free to not follow the manual and choose whatever interval for whatever service you want. After all, its your money, your car and your time.
Oil change interval
