We were on a long journey to my in-laws house, about 250 miles, when I saw my oil light flash on. I generally check the oil every couple of weeks, but the Lexus doesn't really burn oil... so it had been over a month. I didn't have time to change the oil before we left and the car was a little over the 3k mark since the last time I changed it. Anyway... back to the light. I don't even know what it means, but it prompted me to check the oil. When I checked it, it was a quart low?!?

I don't think it has burned oil before, but is this normal for a 12 year old car with 128k on the clock, lol. I also noticed that the oil seemed blacker than normal.

For those with cars that have comparable milage... what does the oil look like when you change it? Is it relatively clear, moderately blackened, or black and nasty?

Thank you.

 

145K and my oil looks fairly good when it comes out. no worse than any other cars. or i should say better than most cars with 145K miles.

 

No additions needed during 5k! With synthetic oil is dark amber/brown, when I used dino it was scungy black imo. I'm going to save some on the next change at home and put it in my mower. Honda is just starting to burn a little though.

 

Your equating dark oil to buning oil, so the topic and poll is a little off.

I have an '98 es300 with 72k and with synthetic, at 5k intervals, it is dark//dark amber neglible oil loss. Over the winter, where I put 7.25K, it was black. No makeup oil on the 5k, I would say a little under a 1/4 quart of makeup oil over the 7.5k over 5-6 months.

 

I know, I couldn't condense the topic to include the two, while still making it comprehensive.. but everyone gets the point.

 

What brand of oil are you susing along with what oil filter? My ES does not burn oil but as the vehicle ages with both time & miles......it is not uncommon for you to need to add a qt every couple months or several thousand miles. you can switch to a slightly thicker oil (and perhaps a synthetic if the engine is sound) to reduce this significantly. Keep us posted!

 

I've always used Havoline 5w-30 with a Fram filter.

I've never really thought about it, but what exactly makes oil burn more in cars that are aged or have high miles? I assume it's because some of the oil is getting past the rings?

 

Yes, it's normal. Oil burning does not manifest itself until you do a long highway trip. It's actually pretty good for a 12yo car.

I had a GM PoS with over 130,000 miles (gave it to my cousin.) He says that he needs to change the oil at 2,000 miles because the oil becomes nearly pitch black. It also burns a qt or two between change and he tops off once a week.

For reference, my RX300's oil looks like corn oil at 2,000 miles. No burning on my 3yo RX300 yet.

 

Stay away from Fram filters, they are garbage.....do a search on that to find out for yourself. Toyota, Mobil, K & N & Amsoil, Napa are some of the more popular filters used.

 

Lol, I thought that Fram was good. I'm more knowledgable about the performance part, as opposed to the maintenance side.

I was talking to a guy that I work with who happens to be extremely knowledgable about just about every car ever made. He has been a machinist for a really long time and was an automotive machinist for about half of that time. He explained that older cars burn more oil than newer ones (as in like 70s and early 80s as VS. late 80 and on) because of the poor design of the rings in correlation to the bore, stroke, etc. They didn't allow for expansion and flex. He explained how when the pistons reach higher temps. they start to form a dome shape on the face of the piston, causing it to pull the rings and therefore allowing oil to pass into the combustion chamber. Of course you expect that to happen, but there is more to it than that... because if that were all there was to it then cars wouldn't burn ANY oil.

He went pretty deep in it and there is a lot more than that, but you get the idea.

 

I'd try switching to synthetic & you should notice significant reduction in oil consumption.

 

Yeah OK. The difference in oil consumption will convert to oil leakage if he switches to synthetic at 128K

 

Try a slightly thicker oil if it bothers you. Nothing big to worry about. On long highway trips, my car goes down maybe 1/2 qt. As long as you're not having to top off every 1k miles or something, its not out of the ordinary. You're right about worn rings letting oil get burned away. And synthetics do cause leaks in older engines because of their cleaning action. They remove alot of carbon buildup, buildup which may have deformed a seal. It all depends on the engine.

Go to a thicker oil on long trips and see how that works. Something like a 5w-40 or 10w-40 will be fine in most cars during the summer.

 

not necessarily true...

and for the original poster - are we sure its burning oil, not leaking it?

 

definitely check for leaks. also you could check the spark plugs to see if there's oil residues.