2009 Lexus IS Oil Change Advice for a NEWB
 

All,

Thanks for reading this post! I have driven beaters my whole life and finally got a nice car I can appreciate.

I recently purchased a 2009 Lexus IS 250 and I would like to get an oil change for it.

I have read some advice here and feel buying Amsoil synthetic oil and bringing it with me to the oil change place would be ideal, but getting any synthetic oil would work as well.

I live in the Northwest Chicago Suburbs and would like some advice on where to bring my car for an oil change. I cannot change it myself due to not having a driveway or garage and car maintenance is forbidden in the shared parking lot. Also, I I do not have the skill.

I also would like the oil change/car maintenance to show up on the Carfax report to keep a record of how I treat the car if I want to sell it.

I heard the dealership can charge $140-170 dollars!?!?

I drive around 80 miles a week as everything is very close to where I live. Would I be able to get 10,000 to 15,000 miles between oil changes?

Thanks for any advice you may have! I appreciate it!

Oil changes for our car are usually 5-8k depending on driving habits. Remember to buy an oil filter as well before going to the shop. The dealership usually sells for around $10 for the oil filter.

No point having car fax show oil change, if you are planning to sell privately in the future, just have all receipts as documentation.

Amsoil should be good for 10k miles if you buy the good stuff (not racing). I think manufacturers are finally coming around to understand that the improvements in full synthetic oils are worthy of longer change intervals, but the local oil change shop won' tell you that. I use amsoil, but I still change after 12 mo. even if I don't put on 10k mi. In research, I honestly couldn't find any information on WHY you should change oil based on time interval rather than just mileage. A good full synthetic oil doesn't break down with time, but the additives might. The additives are things that, for example, will buffer the acidic change that normally happens with aging oil. If your oil were old enough that that buffer was used up, even if the oil itself were still fine, you wouldn't want to leave it in the car for long, because the acid would start to work on the metal.
Which is a long way of saying I think you should change your oil every year anyway, even if you are only putting on 5k mi. per.

FYI, most oils that say synthetic are still dino, not synthetic. I think those that say FULL SYNTHETIC are actually real synthetic. Amsoil should all be real synthetic whether they say so or not.

As to the other about carfax, yeah, with a 2009 I wouldn't worry about oil changes showing up. You can keep receipts, if you like, but unless you plan on flipping the car pretty soon, I don't know if the next potential owner will care that much.

i go to an independent small shop, the guy uses full synthetic guranteed for 10K miles. He changes my oil every 10K. no probs so fa.

I signed up at Lexus.com as an owner and added my car right there. You can add all service records there. I show oil changes, windshield wipers, brake jobs, tires, etc.

Thanks for all this advice!

Interesting about Lexus.com. It let's you append your own maintenance record to the car show it will show up when the VIN changes hands in the future? I saw all the Lexus dealership maintenance when I put in my VIN, so if I append my own info to the site, and that info stays with the VIN and not just my account?