Engine Oil Flush
05-13-15, 09:33 AM
#1
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Engine Oil Flush
My Lexus LS400 98 has 317915 miles on it
I did the oil change when I bought it. Should I do an engine flush on the next oil change? As I don’t have the past history of oil change.
I did the oil change when I bought it. Should I do an engine flush on the next oil change? As I don’t have the past history of oil change.
05-13-15, 12:06 PM
#4
Perhaps obvious, but I'll say it anyway ...
The concern here is that the flush will dissolve/remove some of the ancient gunk that is plugging leaks.
If you follow the instructions, you won't immediately damage the engine, but you might be faced with new leaks to deal with.
If you bought the car with plans to tear the engine apart and get another 300k miles out of it - timing belt, fix some known issues, etc., I'd say the engine flush and even a pressure wash would be good to do. I think the pressure wash is similar in that it should cause no harm to an engine with no weak points, but is likely to reveal borderline components. This way you'll uncover all the problems and can fix them when you tear the thing apart.
On the other hand, if you bought it and want to keep it rolling for a few more years with minimal extra maintenance, and the engine is running fine now, I would be cautious and NOT do the engine flush.
The concern here is that the flush will dissolve/remove some of the ancient gunk that is plugging leaks.
If you follow the instructions, you won't immediately damage the engine, but you might be faced with new leaks to deal with.
If you bought the car with plans to tear the engine apart and get another 300k miles out of it - timing belt, fix some known issues, etc., I'd say the engine flush and even a pressure wash would be good to do. I think the pressure wash is similar in that it should cause no harm to an engine with no weak points, but is likely to reveal borderline components. This way you'll uncover all the problems and can fix them when you tear the thing apart.
On the other hand, if you bought it and want to keep it rolling for a few more years with minimal extra maintenance, and the engine is running fine now, I would be cautious and NOT do the engine flush.
05-13-15, 12:15 PM
#5
If the oil change intervals were severely neglected there may be residues to deal with. The modern oils have cleaning agents within so an oil flush is not necessary. A quality synthetic is more than sufficient.
Other clues to how the car is cared for can be visually seen by the interior, exterior etc. A car that reaches 300K is going to take due care to make it that far. Neglect shows up often in other ways to give you ideas how the past owner was. Not always though yet the signs will be there when you look.
Other clues to how the car is cared for can be visually seen by the interior, exterior etc. A car that reaches 300K is going to take due care to make it that far. Neglect shows up often in other ways to give you ideas how the past owner was. Not always though yet the signs will be there when you look.
05-16-15, 04:25 AM
#7
If the oil change intervals were severely neglected there may be residues to deal with. The modern oils have cleaning agents within so an oil flush is not necessary. A quality synthetic is more than sufficient.
Other clues to how the car is cared for can be visually seen by the interior, exterior etc. A car that reaches 300K is going to take due care to make it that far. Neglect shows up often in other ways to give you ideas how the past owner was. Not always though yet the signs will be there when you look.
Other clues to how the car is cared for can be visually seen by the interior, exterior etc. A car that reaches 300K is going to take due care to make it that far. Neglect shows up often in other ways to give you ideas how the past owner was. Not always though yet the signs will be there when you look.
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05-16-15, 12:51 PM
#8
... Other clues to how the car is cared for can be visually seen by the interior, exterior etc. A car that reaches 300K is going to take due care to make it that far. Neglect shows up often in other ways to give you ideas how the past owner was. Not always though yet the signs will be there when you look.
Remember that some (many?) owners (like the guy I recently bought my X5 from) might be interested/fanatical about cosmetic appearance, but not really understand the mechanical aspects and do the bare minimum there.
The guy I bought that X5 from had $12k in dealer repair receipts from the previous two years and seemed to think he was maintaining it well. But upon closer inspection after I bought, I found that he would basically wait until something breaks and then pay the dealer $$$ to fix it, with minimal routine maintenance other than that.
05-16-15, 05:16 PM
#9
With Lexus and these LS400's there are common issues we see at 60-100, 100-200K miles and beyond if there is neglect. With the basic fluids being changed, the longevity of these main components is well into the 200K+ mile ranges. Most are simple fixes yet even as well designed and built they may be, accumulated ignored issues are the downfall. That applies to any device that requires regular maintenance service, some tend to present less issues. The ECU capacitors would be my pick for poor long term engineering among this excellent generation of LS's.
One of our friend's with a 2010 335 just had a slew of parts replaced before the warranty ended: injectors, alternator, fuel pump, ECU re-flash, suspension bushings, battery among the items I can recall. That was shocking because we didn't have those type of discussions here at 50K miles
If yours is an X5 that shares in the ECU-HPFP issue hopefully it was fixed with the service advisory BMW issued a spell back. This wasn't anything that an owner could have prevented though. And same with the N63 V8 issues, just their engineering integration. 
Anyway...got side tracked. 
One of our friend's with a 2010 335 just had a slew of parts replaced before the warranty ended: injectors, alternator, fuel pump, ECU re-flash, suspension bushings, battery among the items I can recall. That was shocking because we didn't have those type of discussions here at 50K miles
If yours is an X5 that shares in the ECU-HPFP issue hopefully it was fixed with the service advisory BMW issued a spell back. This wasn't anything that an owner could have prevented though. And same with the N63 V8 issues, just their engineering integration. Anyway...got side tracked.
05-16-15, 05:35 PM
#10
My comment was more an observation and caution on the important task of evaluating the previous owner. Nothing specific to BMW or Lexus really.
But since you bring it up ... I am still shocked at BMW's window regulator problems that seem to be throughout every car they ever sold. I had honestly never even heard the term "window regulator" despite owning and fixing multiple cars over the years. On the BMWs they seem to last 50k - and the BMW guys advise to be sure and replace with OEM parts. Ha! Anything but OEM could not possibly be worse.
The driver's window was not working when I bought it - probably saved me $800 on the purchase price right there. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ima...ilies/woot.gif
But since you bring it up ... I am still shocked at BMW's window regulator problems that seem to be throughout every car they ever sold. I had honestly never even heard the term "window regulator" despite owning and fixing multiple cars over the years. On the BMWs they seem to last 50k - and the BMW guys advise to be sure and replace with OEM parts. Ha! Anything but OEM could not possibly be worse.
The driver's window was not working when I bought it - probably saved me $800 on the purchase price right there. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ima...ilies/woot.gif
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