jpf5911

I have a 2008, LS460 with 130,000 miles. The car runs great and has been maintained at all service levels.

About 10,000 miles ago, it displayed the "Add Engine Oil" light and since then I've figured out that the thing is consuming oil at a rate of about one quart per 1,200 miles. It is not leaking oil. The engine is clean and there is no oil on my garage floor. I guess it is "burning" oil, although there are no blue clouds of smoke coming from the tail pipe.

So, the dealer would be happy to fix it (replace the rings?) for the low, low price of $3,500. But, there is nothing else wrong with it and I could buy a lot of quarts of oil for $3,500. I may only keep it another year or so, but I also may sell it at that time to my son who would drive it until the wheels fell off. Because of that, I'm seriously thinking about having the work done, but I thought I would ask you guys first.

Opinions?

Thanks,

J

roadfrog

Many of our LS's consume an amount of oil. How much is varied. My LS consumes about 1 qt per 4k miles. What kind of oil are you using and what viscosity? Many vehicle manufacturers consider a qt per 1k miles as "normal". I know that sounds ridiculous, but there it is. So...the decision lies with you on where to go from here. Since you don;t intend to keep the car much longer, I'd just top up as needed. Has the valve spring recall been done on your car?

dnthrtme1

Where did they quote you $3500 to rebuild the engine and replace the piston rings? One local shop near me (not a dealer so their labor is cheaper) quoted me $13,000 to rebuild and replace the engine! Mine seems to burn about 1 quart every 4k, I used lucas additive and that has seemed to help but this was my first oil change since I had bought it, 90k miles.

roadfrog

I know this question was directed at the OP, but he was referring to the valve stem seals. That is far less invasive and cheaper than doing rings, etc. 3500 is about right. An indy shop would be even cheaper.

Doublebase

Personally I'd just try moving up to a heavier weight oil, have you tried that? Also I'd try switching brands...fool around with this stuff for a bit and see if there's improvement. I wouldn't rebuild the engine, hell I know people with BMW's that are burning through a quart every 500 miles. I'd try a 5w30.

Bimmer32

Lexus NA engines are not known to burn oil like the forced induced engines. For $3500 fix is about right for valve steam seal, but for piston, it's in the 5 digits teens.

roadfrog

But the oil is going somewhere. There are many of us with LS's that are "consuming" oil. If you do a search here at CL, you'll see many posts and threads about this phenomenon. Just Google (or search) "LS460 oil burning/consumption".

Kennyr44

5-30 and live with it.

Junglequac

If this is happening on a naturally aspirated Lexus V8, I wonder how a twin turbo charged V6 is going to be about oil consumption? Especially after a decent number of miles. While I know Toyota/Lexus spent billions in R&D and most likely went places as varied as Death Valley (almost all manufacturers do), Alaska, Australia, and heaven knows where else, I will only say that I am interested to read in the near future how these engines are holding up.

roadfrog

Several of us already tried that with little change. I'm currently at 5k miles on 5W30 synthetic (Castrol) and still had to add a qt at about 4k miles. I'll be going back to TGMO 0W20 and not worry about it. I've yet to hear anyone having to rebuild their engine (or valve seals). I believe it's just the nature of the beast. I currently have 125k miles on my engine and it still purrs like a kitten.

jpf5911

Thanks for that feedback. I am topping it off with 0w-20 synthetic, which is what the dealer recommended. What weight should I try next?

The valve spring recall was done on the car a long time ago. After your feedback, I think I'll just let it go and top it off from time to time. Then, if I sell it to my son, urge him to be diligent about that. The engine runs great, so why take it all apart and risk screwing up something else, not to mention the cost.

roadfrog

You could try 5W30, but as I said earlier, it likely won't make any difference. Personally I'd stick with TGMO 0W20, because it's a great oil with a ton of Moly in it, which is good for our engines.

Oliver Enterprises

1 quart every 1,200 miles = 9 quarts every 10,800 miles. 9.1 quarts is the capacity for a RWD. You could look at it this way. Every 10,000 miles change the filter. No need to change the oil, it's doing that automatically. Do an oil analysis on the oil drained out of the filter, I bet it would be OK. The only problem is, you'll never have a sump full of brand new oil. I'm sure this is bad advice, but it is one way of looking at it.

I had an ole 1st gen RX-7. During the course of my ownership it used about a quart every 500 miles. It was about 50-50 leaking versus consuming. Suffice it to say, I NEVER DID AN OIL CHANGE. Just changed the filter. It was actually quite convenient. I parked on a gravel driveway so the mess was minimal. And the car ran just fine.

Doublebase

Lol! I actually was thinking the same thing but didn't want to post it. I've seen more than a few videos on YouTube where people claim they haven't changed their oil in over 50,000 miles figuring it uses so much of it that they are actually changing it as they go. As long as you change the filter? Who knows what will happen. The additive pack is being replenished consistently, but I'd be worried there'd be too many contaminants stuck in that engine, even with regular filter changes. But I love hearing stories of people trying different things with cars.

I had three extra quarts of Mobil 1 laying around so I tried something a little different... at the 4,000 mile mark I extracted three quarts out of the pan through the dipstick tube and replenished with the oil I had laying around. The oil does look cleaner than before and I'm going to extend my oil change interval out another 1,500 miles. Crazy idea I know, but hey I'm only trying it once.

Doublebase

​​​​​​​Believe it or not some people actually consider burning oil somewhat of a good thing (depending on how much you're burning), because they feel oil escaping past the rings is lubricating the cylinder better throuout the entire range of the wall. I kind of agree with that a little bit.