peeon

I just talked to my dealer service tech. He said the techs recommend to change the stock oil with the synthetic oil only at 10k and not at 5k. He said the engine needs more breaking in. The interesting bit is my 5k oil change is free, while my 10k is not. I think it is all BS to force me to pay for their 10k service later. Am i correct?

IS-SV

Once you start using the synthetic oil, what's the dealer recommending for oil change intervals (miles)?

EJC

I use synthetic in the cars I own.
I use regular in the leased vehicle.

In theory at least, if you want synthetic at 5K miles they should be able to adjust the fee. If you're not sure of the adjustment being fair go w/ the free service and do synthetic @ 10Kmi

someboy

iTrader: (6)

you can just buy synthetic oil and change yourself or get a local oil change shop to change for you. i use mobil 1 advanced fuel economy 0w-30, cost about 50 bucks for 7 bottles. and another 20 bucks for a shop to change for me, so cost about 70 bucks, still way cheaper than the price the dealer charges.

last time my family car RX350 went to the dealer for an oil change, they changed us 300 dollars.... BS...

peeon

I believe they said every 7k.

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

Which is honestly a touch soon to do conventional oil changes on the ISx50 based on all the UOAs posted for it.


My advice-

Take the free change at 5k with whatever is free to put in it.

Then, assuming you do normal driving rather than severe duty (ie no short trips, no excessive idling)... drive that till 12.5k... then do your own change with Amsoil, and after that just change it once a year regardless of mileage (well, up to 25k/yr anyway).

You'll still wanna change the filter every 6 months though since they don't offer a synthetic media one yet far as I know.

BigA_IS-F

I would put syn in at 5k but thats me. The quicker you get the syn in there the better off you are for not having the bad leak problems with switching. I see that at the 1k mark they look at the car but dont change the oil which i think is crazy that is the time when all the metal shavings and crap comes out of the motor. Personally i would do the syn the motor isn't going to break in much after that anyways.

jkeifer3

At 5k, I went to Walmart and bought two 5-quart containers of Mobil 1, took it to the dealer, and they installed it and an oil filter for $42. Much cheaper than what they wanted for their quoted price of $176.

Weapon F

Was at my dealer on Friday having pedal recall done on my IS350 and oil change. I have always used synthetic oil they charged me $49.00 for parts and labor (gasket and filter) and I paid $40.00 for royal purple synthetic oil total cost $89.00. Head mechanic and service manger both told that their Dealership is switching over to full synthetic for all of there vehicles and are recommending every 10K for oil changes.

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

First: "switching" doesn't cause leaks. (though it can find them if they're already there- but when you switch won't change that, and certainly doesn't "cause" the leak)

Second, folks have run their original factory oil for over 10k miles and UOA has shown it was still ok even then.

These motors are very, very easy on oil.


Only reason I suggest going to syn at 10k though (well, 12.5k really since the 5k change will be fine to 7500 more miles) is the 5k change is free. Why spend $50 you don't have to?

peeon

Very true. And when I do the 10k service, I can go to a cheaper (non-dealer) place to get the synthetic oil done. I just thought it might be better get synthetic oil in as quick as possible. Doubtful I will get an improvement in MPG with it?

BigA_IS-F

To clear this up I didn't say it "causes" leaks... it is a good rule of thumb to do this early due to the fact that older motors have fine pin leaks that are covered up by oil junk building up that acts like a plug. The syn usually cleans out the motor and creeps into the cracks (usually seals) that have been covered up by the conventional oil puts off. But as for making a hole and squirting out oil NO! It has a lot to due with the seals expand with conventional oil and syn oil just doesn't expand the gaskets and seals the same. So the shrinking of the seals makes for premature oil leaks.

flektone

iTrader: (1)

I don't really buy into the sythetic hype. I had an 02 jetta which I just got rid of. Put 5W30 in it every 5k for the past 8 years. It now has 180k and still runs great. I just stick to what the manual says

IS-SV

About time, I hope to see the day when my local Lexus dealer says the same thing.

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

And assuming normal driving if you had put a good synthetic into it you would have only had to change it 7 times in your entire ownership instead of the 35 times you've changed it.

Imagine how much time and trouble you'd have saved that way in addition to potentially slight better overall mileage.