I'd like to have everyones opinion on engine oil. Petroleum based or synthetic. I'm leaning towards Castro Syntec or Mobil1. My dealer (Lexus of Seattle) services with Chevron non-synthetic, which I'm not excited about. After my first oil change(free) I will be changing it myself.Thanks for your comments.
I have a Blk on Blk IS350 with Lexus spider wheels.

 

I'll be having mine changed at the dealership every time and I'm leasing the car (and don't plan to buy the car afterward) so the non-synthetic is fine with me.

 

Hi MikeIS,

Welcome to CL! You purchased your vehicle from the same place as I did, LoS. (Mine is a black on black IS 250 AWD). You're now one of four or five IS owners in the NW which has black on black and are on CL.

I too am leasing this vehicle so I'm in the same boat as mhiggi02. However in my previous vehicles, I've always used Penzoil synthetic. Since you're in an IS 350, I'm assuming you're going to be pushing your car pretty hard?

Cheers,
Kermee

 

I've always been a regular synthetic oil user myself. For the past 15 years I used it on my Nissan Z, and she's still going strong. For my IS350, I plan on switching over to synthetic pretty soon. My personal choice is Amsoil, although any synthetic, in my opinion, is a better idea than a conventional petroleum oil.

Here's some additional thoughts from an analytical chemist's point-of-view. He used to be a "regular" on the Z forum, and here's what he has to say about synthetics:

In my professional opinion, I think that synthetics are overall better oils if you have the money to spend. It is just that under heavy usage no oil is going to remain stable for an indefinite period of time. The hydrocarbon chains crack after repeatedly being exposed to heat, acidic conditions, and shearing. Synthetics resist acidity better than conventional oils, and overall are made with the idea of greater molecular stability in mind. Oil derived from crude oil is still good oil, I just think that it needs to be changed more frequently and that it isn't nearly as stable as a synthetic. So with all of that said.

Synthetic is good if you can afford it. (and being Lexus owners, I think it's safe to say we CAN afford it) (that last part was edited by me)

Conventional oil is good if you keep your oil changed and use an oil with the minimal amount of distribution across a viscosity index. For instance 10W30 is more stable than 10W40 because it has only 20 points of separation.

Personally Mobil 1 isn't my first choice in a synthetic, though it is a good oil and I run it in my car. I have done research myself as far as thermodynamic stability, and the AMSOIL synthetic oil was superior to anything else we tested, it's structure didn't become unstable until about 15 degrees over what some of the molecules in the other synthetics, including mobil one, began to degrade (cracking) most people think, oh it's only 15deg, though that is quite a spread when you are talking about high heat in extreme conditions.

For the most part, I feel that Mobil one is a very good oil to use, if you can afford it, though I think AMSOIL is even better and should I be able to find it as easily as Mobil, I would use it all of the time. So Blah, I think I have said enough.

Hope this helps!

 

Thank you for the post, that what i needed to hear, Its synthetic for me for sure. I just need to deceide which one Thanks again.

 

i'm probably gonna use mobile 1 syn..

 

AMSOIL - at 6,000 miles

 

I've used Mobil 1 in my vehicles for years, and plan to use it in the IS. I always wait until 10,000 miles to switch to synthetic. My rationale is that synthetic is very slippery, and will delay the performance and gas mileage improvements normally seen as the engine breaks in.

 

Oh PLease, you ppl are doing nothing but wasting your money, synthetic oil
is a total waste of money,, as long as you change your oil every 3-4k miles
there is no diff in which oil you use,, any oil you use wether its synthetic or
regular oil gets contaminated after 3-4k miles, so you have to change it regardless.
Only use synthetic oil if you live in Alaska, as sythentic oil tends to flow better
at start up in sub freezing temps.

 

Sounds like Jiffy Lube has brainwashed you............ I have poured over oil research and what the long story short is that most oils will go at least double that before they loose their ability to function as designed. And most synthetics are effective for tripple the time of your 3k oil changes...


If you were a seller of oil, would you want that same customer to buy 5 qts of oil or 15 qts of oil....think about it. From a marketing standpoint, significant amount of consumers have been swept into believing they have to change at 3k or thier motors will self destruct.

Not only are you wasting money, you are wasting natural resources...........

 

If you can explain why all motor oils , including your precious synthetic oil turns black
after about 2-3k miles, I'd be more than happy to listen.. The plain fact about motor oil
is no matter good it is or how long the oil itself can hold up is irrelevant because
you can use a motor oil that lasts 100,000k miles and guess what? It still gets contamined
and should be changed.. If motors are so indestructible then why are you going
out of your way to buy the most expensive top of the line oil? Are you going to enter
a Lemans race with your IS?

 

The color of a motor oil is not a reliable predictor of anything. For $20, you can send a sample of your used oil to a lab for analysis and get a true picture of its condition http://www.blackstone-labs.com/standard_analysis.html. I've seen posts where people took Mobil 1 to double the recommended change interval (in a turbocharged engine, no less) and still did fine. http://forums.audiworld.com/nynj/msgs/65350.phtml While I personally wouldn't exceed the manufacturers recommended drain interval, especially during the warranty period, it's good to know that with a quality motor oil you can.

 

I use Amsoil 5W-30 in my vehicles. Amsoil is a pure, 100% synthetic oil. I have been using synthetics for over 10 years and believe that they do work. Besides my opinion there is a ton of scientific data out there that states the same. In the end, the slight bump in cost is nothing. I have the dealer change mine every 5K.

I sold my 1999 Nissan Maxima last month. It had 175,520 on the clock. I used synthetic oil from day one. When I sold her, she didn't burn an ounce of oil. I also had synthetic in the auto trans and the power steering pump.

Opinions vary...that is why Baskin Robbins has 31 flavors.

Merry Christmas!!

 

Actually i personally wouldnt use Mobil 1.. A lot of people don't know this but back in the late 80's, Mobil 1's label used to read "allows for oil changes every 25,000 miles" Until law
suits came from ppl with blown engines that actually believed it, so then of course they removed that from their container labels.. I actually remeber reading it on their container label sometime
in the year 1989 or 1990..

 

And that was Mobil's fault. Even today no oil I can think of can go for that long unless the engine has a huge reservior (german cars usually carry around 7-8qts and have much longer OCI) and even then I'd be a bit skeptical. Many oils have been tested in real world use. Several have enough additives and such that can realistically go for ~10k miles. Several that come to mind are Amsoil, Mobil1, Redline, and Castrol Syntec 0W-30 formula. Sure, if you change oil every 3k miles, that's great, but if you don't, better off with a synthetic. You may or may not save any money, but using synthetic for certain situations makes perfect sense. You cannot say that everyone using synthetic is wasting their money. If you drive the car hard, lots of stop and go, long OCI, better off with synthetic.