This is exactly what I'm struggling with. You'd be getting your oil changed every 2000 miles. Maybe I'm naïve and stupid, but that seems like such a waste of money to me. I'm trying to figure this out too. Ultimately I want what's best for the car.

 

I have a 2021 and I haven't seen a 1k mile service for my 2021. So, if true, they introduced the 1k service for 2022.

I am trying to check Lexus Drivers, but it just spins for me and never fully loads the page.

 

I'm with you. I tend to do my maintenances based off time, not mileage. One thing that might be helpful to you all, in the headunit, under settings, vehicle settings, there is a maintenance tab where you can set up the vehicle to remind you for maintenances at certain time and mileage intervals. I have mine set up to remind me that one. One thing to note, when setting this up, the mileage tab is not at what mileage you want it to remind you, but rather in how many miles you want it to remind you. So whip out your calculator. If you're at 800 miles, and you want it to remind you at 5000, then you would input 4200 in the miles tab.

 

Its there. But interestingly, its the not first maintenance interval that it defaults to. it defaults to the 5k, 6 month service. That just reiterates how that 1k service isn't really recognized by lexus.

 

Thanks again. That's good insight. However, reading around other forums on ClubLexus I'm finding that the consensus is that for cars that aren't driven much (won't hit 5000 miles in 6 months), changing the oil once per year is a good mark. Apparently the 6 month thing is just a gimmick to get the customer into the dealership service dept? Thoughts on this?

 

I also do all of mine based on time since, even though its my daily, I only do about 4500 miles a year. I only drive like 3 miles to work

I follow the manual for time requirements. My ES was 10k miles or 1 year so I got yearly oil changes. If this car recommends oil changes at 5k or 6 months then I guess I'm getting oil changes every 6 months with 2k miles on the oil.

 

I'm completely shooting in the dark on this one, with 0 facts, and hopefully Papa Joe will correct me. But I think the reasoning for the 2UR requiring oil at 5k versus 10k is a mixture of the engine being designed over a decade ago when full synthetic oils were just starting to become the norm (conventional oils were generally changed at 5k), and the assumption that a 2UR entails spirited driving so they assume you will automatically fall under the special driving conditions which even on a 300 or 350 would require getting an oil change at 5k instead of the 10k

 

Looks like my reply didn't get moved from the other thread, but this is one of the few things you can get hard data yourself rather easily.

I changed the oil 1x a year on a modern, high strung performance DI turbo engine and oil analysis showed it was perfectly fine with about 4-5k miles a year. I plan to get the oil analysis as I do on every vehicle. Blackstone Labs can tell you whether the oil is good to a specific mileage and time interval. As long as your driving habits remain consistent (i.e. no crazy track or spirited driving 5x a week).

 

I agree with you on the lab and intervals, but dealers can deny powertrain warranty coverage if oil changes aren't done according to the manual. I don't personally know anybody with a Lexus, but my good friend missed an oil change by a month or two with a Ford Fusion, motor blew up, and warranty coverage was denied.

 

Since learning the oil in the IS500 is currently 5W-30, this has me a bit more nervous about waiting a year between changes. What about this (and I think this is what Tonio was saying): Maybe I should drive the car a lot now to hit 5000 miles within 6 months, and 10000 miles within a year. Then after my 2 free services are up, switch to synthetic and change once per year (assuming I drive <5000 miles/year after the first year).

This does put a wrinkle in my car usage plans though. Does conventional 5W-30 really turn into sludge between 6 months to a year if I've only driven 2000 miles?

Again this is all a battle between keeping my car miles low, taking good care of my car, and saving money. Is there a way to do all 3??

 

The oil in the car is synthetic. It is not conventional. And you don't have to hit 5000 or 10000. What I'm saying is to take it in at 6 months and 12 months, regardless of miles. If you have 1500 miles, then so be. But don't let free services go to waste. Doing too many oil changes will never hurt anything. Just your wallet, and in this case, not even that

 

ok. I agree with that.

can you confirm where you found that the IS500 doesn’t deliver with conventional oil though?

 

I stand corrected. Thanks for correcting the mistake.

I checked at https://drivers.lexus.com/lexusdrive...ance-schedules and indeed the site says oil change every 5k miles.

 

If you take it at 6 months and the oil change is not required the dealer will charge you for it, even on a complementary visit. It has happened to me a few times.

 

Perhaps your dealer would do that. But my old dealer back in KC never charged me on the complimentary visits.