I use Mobil 1 and put in about 5.5 quarts my last oil change. It cost me $4.99 per quart, gotta buy a case (6) of it!

 

patooi, where is the level on the stick?

 

It's hard to describe the level so I'll try my best to illustrate / describe the level of the oil. Anyway, I've got it drained and the level is now normal.

Assuming this is the dip-stick
min max
==|======|=============O

The oil level was at the level marked "v". This is after having the engine run for a while. Having it settled for the night it would be at area marked "^" which surprised me.
v ----- with engine running
==|======|=============O
^ ----- with oil settled for the night

I took it back to the service station and they advised that it was okay to have that extra oil in there. I insisted on having it drained.

 

Sorry parula, just realised that this won't work for some reasons due to the spaces.

Here we go again:

With engine running
===========v

==|======|=============O

=============^
With oil settled for the night

 

YOu are right to have them drain some oil. Too much oil puts more pressure on the rear main seal and you will get an oil leak like I have.

My dealer charges me like $34 dollars I think; I don't know if I would pay $50. It's worth it to me because I don't have a garage - apartment dweller.

 

Mobil 1 Synthetic--$23 at Costco
Filter from the dealer--$10?

I did it twice already. It only takes 30 minutes.

Ed

 

SC300, wish it were that easy on the RX! Could do that on my Honda.

 

WHY WOULD YOU HAVE DEALER DO THIS?

 

Leets, I remembered your, or anothers, recommendation to reset plugs at 30k intervals - when I asked the dealer about this at 28.5k service he said not to worry about it that it was a lot of work to get to the plugs with costs etc. So I skipped it.

 

Good decision. On certain engines, like the inline 6, you gotta take a lot of the engine apart to get to the plugs.
The chances of something else going wrong during this laborious procedure is much greater than the chance of the plugs seizing later on down the road.
See for yourself and do a search- it just does not happen.

Plus, once the plugs are removed, they never seal up against the head as well.
Lot of extra cost for a benefit that may occur once in a million times- skip it, unless you are taking the top of the engine apart anyway, for other reasons.

 

Perry, thks much, I was concerned I might have a problem long term as I only put ~10k on per year so those plugs will be in there a long time, might change them out early at 70k or so just to be safe, I think 90-100k is recommended.

 

well if you run seafoam or other engine cleaners, to remove carbon deposits. Then you should switch out the plugs. B/c it fould them up pretty good.

Also I find in general that the engine runs better, smoother, and better gas milage after a good tune up.

switching out plugs isn't too bad of a process


Also you can get large gallon sizes of mobil 1 oil from walmart .. it comes out cheaper then buying quarts from the parts store. Oil change with synthetic and a micro-advanced puralater filter cost about $18 to do myself at home.

 

It should have been obvious that Parula and I were not talking about changing plugs, we were commenting about the practice of resetting them at 30 K intervals.

And you sure won't tell me it "wasn't too bad" after you tried accessing the #5 and #6 plugs of a 2JZ-GE tucked way under the hood of an SC300.