I have a 2014 LS460 AWD (base) with 8,500 miles that I got as a CPO recently. I was told to get service at 13,000 miles and each 5,000 miles after that.
1. Should Synthetic Oil be used for oil changes (even if I have to pay extra)?
2. Is the recommended service interval 5000 miles/6 months whichever comes first? (I was just told it was 5,000 miles, nothing about the time interval. If 6 months go by at less than 5000 miles, should I still bring it in?)
3. I bought the free-maintenance contract (it's for 30,000 miles). Should I ask for anything in particular to be checked/replaced/etc. at the dealership when I get each service?
4. Anything else to keep an eye on?
Thanks in advance.

 

1. I would recommend full synthetic, but be careful about how much extra they charge you for it.

2. Unless it takes you more than a year to go 5000 miles, I would just stick to the mileage interval and forget about the time interval.

3. I would just make sure they check everything that is scheduled to be checked for that particular mileage interval.

4. The big smile you see when you look in the mirror!

 

Thanks for all that. I appreciate it. CL is a great forum and thanks for all the great work I see in this space. I've already received lots of good advice from the members in the short time I've been here.

 

Congrats on the car!

Lexus recommends synthetic 0W20 on this generation LS460, changed every 10,000 miles. I would only use that, using non synthetic oil is asking for problems if you ever do have a warranty issue. Service is done every 5k, but that service is basically just a tire rotation...oil changes are every 10k.

Because of a recent conversation with my mechanic, I have decided to start changing the oil every 5k. He feels that with the direct injection and the timing chain Lexus' decision to go to 10k intervals wasn't wise, and he recommended to me that because I may decide to keep this car for the long haul it was worth the additional expense to change the oil every 5k. I did 10k changes until the service I had done last week (35k) where I changed the oil again despite having it changed at 30k.

 

First, does anyone have experience with the free-maintenance for 30,000 miles Lexus offers (that you have to pay for of course)?

So thanks SW15ls!
Actually, I was surprised reading the 2014 LS manual (P. 842) that it does not ask for synthetic oil. I don't see where Lexus recommends synthetic. I'll try looking online to see if they changed this.
It just says "Toyota Genuine Motor Oil" or SAE0W20 (or 5W20 if 0W20 isn't available). The oil type is "ILSAC GF-5 multigrade motor oil." on page 916.
My Benzes in the past required synthetic.
I have always used Mobil 1 in all my cars back to Toyotas/GM cars and thought for sure the LS would require it. But apparently not.
So I guess I have to try and insist that they use it.
5,000 miles is the recommended oil-change interval, but I guess that's because they assume conventional-motor-oil use.
I absolutely would like 5000 mile intervals AND Mobil 1, and I have to see if my free-maintenance agreement would handle that (an extra charge that's not too big I hope).

 

0W20 oil is ALWAYS synthetic is what it is. There is no non synthetic 0W20 available. So without saying that it has to be synthetic, they're saying it has to be synthetic by requiring the 0W20 oil.

Your owners manual says 5,000 miles is the recommended oil change interval? My 2015 (same car) says 10k. I think if you look at your maintenance schedule it will show oil changes every 10k miles.

I would recommend buying your oil at Walmart. I hate Walmart, BR nobody is cheaper than them for oil. I buy 5qt jugs of Mobil 1 there for $25.

 

OK, I sit corrected. I can't believe I didn't google 0W20 before I posted that. Thanks for the clarification yet again.

 

No problem. I believe any 0W oil is fully synthetic,

 

Many oils are labeled as "full synthetic" in the US when they are really just a refined Group 3 synthetic blend.

 

Yes but I don't believe that's the case with 0W oils, especially 0W20. Google it and see what you find...

 

Ive been saying this for two years on this forum, the 10,000 mile oil change with a direct injected car and large timing chain is pushing things a little too far. Those timing chains are ripping through that oil, and those direct injectors can wash down the oil a little bit more with byproducts of combustion, fuel and carbon. Why risk it? Plus carbon deposits get in between the rollers on chains, swearing them out and causing them to stretch. One of the main goals an owner should have with a timing chain engine is making sure they do everything they can to keep it from failing prematurely, because it's a huge repair.

Of course everything I wrote can be debated (and is debated regularly on oil change forums), but I've seen what long oil change intervals can do to chains...and I've seen how manufacturers have jumped on the "free maintenance" or free oil changes for three years, bandwagon. And I've read about CAFE regulations that manufacturer's worry about, it all adds up to pushing these intervals further and further out (and why would they care, their warranties will run out way before anyone will ever see any issues).

 

Yeah good luck with that, it'd be easier to find who made the universe.

The problem with finding out if it's a group 3 or 4 is that these oil companies lie. They don't want to tell you. To keep costs at a point where they can sell it at Walmart and compete with each other they blend base stocks to get it to perform at a certain level, so a "good oil" may have 3 and 4...then the company will run tests and show the results (and I wouldn't trust that either).

But out from what I've read a true 4 base stock will do well in the NOAK test (a test to measure evaporation under temp). It should perform better than a group 3 and not evaporate as much - but then again they could be blending 3 and 4 together to get results, they're not going to tell you...and you'll have to believe their biased test results. The other test that supposedly will indicate if it's a group 4 base stock is the high temperature/high shear test. A group 4 won't shear as easily under high temp, BUT the low viscosity weight oil that is used in the LS (or most cars) shears quicker than say a 5w30, or something higher. The low viscosity weight oils shear. So that too needs to be factored when they do these little tests, like what weight are they actually testing? Because the weight that you're buying may not be what they are showing test results for, and it could be far different.

Just buy a name brand and change it regularly. From my research it looks like Mobil 1 Extended Performance may have more group 4 base stocks than some. Amsoil may have more group 4. And the German oil formulations may have more. But who really knows? They all lie. But the ability for the 0w20 to flow at low temps would lead one to believe that there are some group 4 base stocks in it, how much is anyone's guess.

 

I think all you really can do is buy a brand you trust and go from there. Mobil 1, the Toyota genuine oil (which is made by Mobil but has a different additive package), etc.

 

Being as the LS's sump holds NINE quarts of the slippery stuff, I'm going, initially, with 12K mile changes.

First change will be in about 9K more miles, and I'll send it off to Blackstone labs to see what kind of condition its condition is in.

My wife's RX300 has been on 10K changes using Mobil 1 since we bought with about 32K miles on it. Has 142K, now, uses not a drop over said interval.

I've used "extended" intervals on all my vehicles for 30 years, now, all on synthetic, never an oil-related issue...ever. Held on to a few of them until they had more than 200K on 'em, too.

Depending on what Blackstone's tests show, that 9 quarts might be good for 20K miles. I'm okay with this.

 

My understanding, after reading extensively on this, is that there are NO full synthetic oils any longer - they are all blends. This is because of the FTC rules governing definitions of "synthetic". If an oil contains more than a certain amount of synthetic, it can be called full synthetic (a bit like "bonded leather" - if vinyl contains more than 17% shredded leather, it's called "bonded leather" which most people don't understand is 87% vinyl).

When I get my Toyotas' oil changed, they call it "Toyota Synthetic Blend". When I get my Lexus oil changed, it's 0W20. Go figure!