As titled. I know our 13 rxh uses 0w20 but do you guys stick to factory oil or 3rd party's? I've been using the mobil-1 advanced fuel economy one as it lables itself for Toyota/Honda vehicles. Not sure if I should use any others or go back to factory(and pay more). Would it be bad for the engine if I don't use Toyota oil? I don't want to pay $10k to fix a bad engine down the road.

 

According to the book, any oil that meets the specs outlined by Lexus is fine. However you probably should still use the recommended Toyota/Lexus filter. And while you're buying that, do you save so much money buying another brand of oil over what you can buy it for at a Toyota store that you're realizing real savings? I saved 'real' money by using Toyota to do routine maintenance (same parts & oil) over Lexus but never considered using other than OEM material/supplies. But that's just me and I don't have a home lift so....

All that said, I'm aware Mobile-1 is great oil and may switch my C7 Stingray to it once the free service from GM is done. If it meets the specs, you should be fine. Keep your receipts too. You can even enter your own service into your online records.

 

You can at least cut that in 1/2 (nearly) if you don't do really hard miles requiring it. Normal oil and filter changes are at 10,000 mile intervals.

 

I'm a believer in Royal Purple motor oil, but I think the oil filter is at least equally important when you go 10K miles between changes. I actually think you could consider a filter change without oil (except to replace what was in the filter) at 3 to 5K.

 

Just to add on this oil change thread. I take my RXh to Toyota. I get an oil oil change and tire rotation for $66 out the door. And they use Toyota 0w20 syn.

 

I just have purchase a new 2015 RX 450h, so I have a ways to go before I do an oil change. However, when I do change my oil it will be Amsoil as I have been a dealer for the past 13 years and have had tremendous sucess with mulitiple vehicles. Amsoil has the oil and filter to keep this Toyota engine in top shape.

 

NateJG, You ask some good questions. I think we would agree that Toyota make outstanding vehicles that have proven themselves over time. However, I am assuming that they don't develop and make their own oil, but put it out for bids and pick the lowest bidder. Just guessing here. Amsoil has been around since 1972 and all they do is synthetic products for multiple applications. My own personal experience is I bought a new 2009 Silverado H-D 2500 with a diesel engine. After the break in period I install a dual by-pass filter system and started doing oil samples every 7,000 miles. The second time I change my oil I had 37,000 on the oil. The next time I changed oil the oil had 50,000 on it and it was four years later. I have oil reports to back up my claim. I still have the truck and it is approaching 98,000. Now in the future with the Lexus I will be using Amsoil 0W-20 and their filter. You can go to the Amsoil web-site and do some research. I could give you my web-site but I believe I am not allowed to advs or sell anything until I have been a member of ClubLexus for a longer period.

 

Jerry61, thank you for sharing your personal experience with Amsoil. Just want to clarify, you have to be a CL vendor to advertise or sell products from your website.

 

Kitlz, Thank you for keeping me straight, as being a new member to this forum I don't want to violate any of the rules. Just love talking about my new Lexus and gathering research on how to enjoy it for many years. What is the process in becoming a CL vendor and the cost?

 

Using this at the moment in Australia:
https://www.castrol.com/en_au/austra...art-5w-30.html



Seeing as the engine starts and stops all the time, this oil might have some added benefit.

 

Unless something is different down under, 5W30 is not the correct oil.

 

 

I checked the Australian owners manual and 5W-30 is an acceptable oil viscosity, along with 0W-20.

See Page 680 and 681 from this online owners manual for Australia:

http://lexusmanuals.com.au/docs/rx-2...mar-12-aug-13/

Of course, the lighter 0W-20 will yield better fuel economy, but its never on sale, whereas I can get fully synthetic 5W-30 oil on sale all the time.

 

Finally managed to find 0W-20 oil on sale. So now I am trying this oil.



I am hoping that this will yield better fuel economy than the 5W-30 that I've been using previously.

The USA owners manual seems to mandate only using 0W-20:
Page 950 of this document: https://drivers.lexus.com/t3Portal/d...f/OM48C02U.pdf



Strange that the Australian owners manual specifies 0W-20, 5W-20 and 5W-30 are all recommended. This is what the Australian owner's manual says:



I wouldn't have expected Australian vehicles to be much different to those in USA or Canada. I suspect it's because Australia does not have the extreme cold conditions that parts of USA and Canada experience.

 

0W-20 should make a difference and certainly is better for your engine, regardless of brand. That being said, I use AMSoil Signature Series 0W-20. It's been in any vehicle I've used, and I've found it to have less evaporative loss than other oils and perform well for extended oil changes. Project Farm did a whole series analyzing popular engine oils and testing them against each other for evaporative loss, protective film strength, and flow rate under cold temperatures. He also breaks down the additive package. Check it out
His testing is pretty rigorous and a lot more thorough than all the oil fanboying out there. Realistically, changing your oil regularly is a bigger factor than anything else. The testing is really just to determine what the best product is under extreme (less than ideal) conditions. God forbid you have the degree of wear he subjects those bearings to.