My 500 is closing in on 1000 miles so I decided to do the "1000" mile or one month inspection my dealer recommended. Rather than take it in I decided to do it myself and include a differential oil change.
Over the years I've built a lot of differentials, mostly for off road use. Every new set of gears I've bought or installed the gear manufacturer recommends replacing the gear oil after the wear in period, usually around 500 miles. So I figured I'd share my findings after 950 miles. And ask a few questions about break in services.

Here's the drain plug

A few small shards found amongst that muck, nothing out of the ordinary here.

Question number 1, can anyone answer why the fluid was a redish, similar to a redline branded gear oil?

My other thoughts are around the transmission and engine oil. Engine builders and automatic transmission builders I've worked with or installed products for say the same for the oils, replace them after a break in period, mileage varies but it's generally around 1-2k for engines and ~5k for transmissions.
I won't be changing the transmission oil prematurely but I don't know that I'll go the 5k on engine recommended by manufacturer and 10k per dealers service interval.
I've read a lot of posts here on the forum about laboratory oil analysis with the findings of a break in additive package being suspected or analyzed in the first oil change on these engines. (All reports I've read were for F cars)

Second question who here will be changing their engine oil before the 5k mark? Would the engine benefit from going 5k on the factory oil assuming it does contain a break I additive package? At any rate I'll likely do mine between 2000 and 2500 miles.

 

Can’t answer all of your questions but I had the initial oil change done at about 1500 miles at the dealer since it was no charge.

 

Thanks for sharing. Quality content post!

Agree the diff drain plug looks typical. Probably ok to run it for the service interval but doesn’t hurt to change. What diff/gear oil did you use?

The transmission has a filter, it’s probably ok to leave it for the service interval. The fluid exchange process is a pain but also not necessarily a bad thing to change (seems to be the theme here).

I was a 1K mile oil change person. The good news is the oil looks and tested good. Unlike other motors I’ve tested, it’s surprisingly clean out of the box. Additives? Not really sold on that. Seeing my data I would have been comfortable to run it for 5K miles.

Here’s my analysis:

 

I agree, the 10s of millions of cars they sell every year go at least 50k between changes and rarely do I see a problem. that goes for most manufactures.

I used amsoil 75w90 gl5 no other additives

Here's some recent carnage from my LX470, I let the front leak while I sorted cv axle stuff (considering a part time conversion) and after more than a year of a drop a day and top off every once in a while, it decided to dump oil over night without my knowledge.


Good point about the filter, I will likely put it on a drain and fill regimen as this car won't see 10k a year.

This is always a subjective topic especially when the word lifetime gets thrown. My interpretation of lifetime fluid is viewed by the vehicles power train warranty. (and is labeled as such to reduce the cost of ownership reported to JD power. All oils oxidize and should be replaced, no unit is "sealed" and will be exposed to oxygen. I recommend and practice a 3 year rule on all oils.

Seeing your data there (is500 I assume) I'd agree not looking like any additive packages are being used this may be to increase wear in by not using friction modifiers? The only thing I see that has me thinking about changing early is the copper, being a soft metal, theory would lead to believe it could become embedded on high friction areas. Thanks for sharing.

 

1. Thanks, very typical Toyota/Lexus gear oil.
2. Wow I had to dig into the owners and maintenance manuals again to verify there's no recommended service interval for the trans. This is bogus for sure - 5 years or 60K miles would be my service interval, to match my GR86 interval (screenshot below).
3. Yes the blackstone oil analysis report is from my IS500. Doesn't hurt to change it, aside from a bit of time/labor/cost.

 

This is great info. I was curious if other Toyota/Lexus vehicles had a service interval. I think most of us realize "lifetime fluid" is not a good motto to live by with transmission fluid. Failing the presence of a recommended interval on another vehicle, I was planning to do every 50k.

I see the rear diff fluid is supposed to be replaced at 60k miles per the Lexus schedule. Does that seem sufficient?

 

On the GR86 there is no rear differential service interval (funny how this is flipped between the two cars).
I've done 12 track days in a year with the GR86 in hot temps, including skidpad time. A handful of my peers, some who track way more than I do, I agree that car could go 2 HPDE seasons (here in NorCal) between diff fluid changes. Only the factory fill was nasty and had a gunked up magnetic plug (similar or a bit worse than the one OP shared for the IS500).

Without oil analysis and/or more people doing drain and fills frequently on the IS500, we won't have much data. I suspect 60K will be OK for the rear diff if, like the OP, you do an initial change to get the break-in gunk outta there.

Something to consider, the IS500 Powertrain Warranty is 72 months/70,000 miles (USA). The service interval is 72 months / 60K miles; so if you're a higher-mileage driver, you'll be under warranty for 10K miles after the service at 60K.
I just don't think it'll fail that soon if driven hard (but not in an abusive manner). That's my long $0.02 anyways.

 

I just got back from my 1,000-mile service. The service advisor loved the car. She said she had fun just driving it around the building.

They didn't do much other than quickly look over the car for leaks, tire issues like flat-spotting or nails, and that's about it. They vacuumed the carpets, but, as requested, did not wash the car. Good.

My service advisor stated that she had to look up the OP code for a 1k-mile service, since they only really do them on LC 500s and IS 500s these days, which they don't see that often.

 

That's what I followed on the misses 4runner, did 3 consecutive drain and fills from 45-55 at each engine oil change.

I'll be changing the engine oil here soon, just gotta decide on what oil to use. Leaning on the ole reliable penzoil.

 

50k is more than fine, but consider time it breaks down oil too, oxygen oxidizes everything! Like Gcmak is saying though if you push the car hard consider more often changes. I personally preach 3 years or 30k to our customers and for my vehicles. I definitely wouldn't push past 5 years regardless of mileage.

 

@CplClegg Interesting post. I plan to do the same initial diff fluid change. Did you need to replace the crush washer on the differential drain and fill plug? And do you remember what size was the plug (M14 or something else)?

 

I can confirm Monday they're a M17 or 18 I believe same as most toyota differentials. I used a solid aluminum crush, the factory used a hollow style.



Edit: m18 for drain and fill

 

Can you share what the grade of diff fluid is? Thinking of doing the initial fluid changes myself as well and I'm not sure which diff fluid to buy. Thanks in advance!

 

It is good to know that a dealer OP code exists for the 500s!

I'm also taking mine in for 1k oil change, mainly to replace the engine oil filter that's likely holding some metal shavings.
The service advisor actually recommended adding a sign on the dash that reads "NO WASH" just to be 100% sure.

The plan is to just use conventional Toyota oil at 1k, then switch to synthetic at 5k.

 

Thought I'd share my lab results from my first oil change.
About 1200 miles, no filter change. Only reason I used this lab was because it was free for me I'll post up results from next oil change.

As I expected elevated amounts of copper, molybdenum and silicon. Copper is the only one I can't explain and is the reason for the premature oil change. I put penzoil platinum back in it will do again with filter at 5k. Any gurus have some input on what the copper is from? I've bounced the question to guys around the shop, curious what anyone else has to say. The only other thing that was interesting to me is the weight of the oil, closer to a 20 weight? I'd hope this is intentional and not some mixup like the early owners manual printing errors?