Best Oil For High Mileage '97 Es300...

[GeneralTso]

Hiya,

I just bought my first Lexus today...a black '97 ES300 with 180K miles...and I love it, but I have a few questions...

First, oil... I've read about the oil gelling issue, and the oil on mine is pretty dirty looking...but it runs great, doesn't smoke or overheat, and doesn't have any lights on the dash illuminated. I was planning on just using Castrol 5W30 and changing it every 3,000 miles. Would you recommend starting to use synthetic on an engine with that many miles? What about engine flushing? It runs great as-is and I'm afraid to start causing problems with it.

My other questions are coolant and tranny fluid. Is it OK to just use high-quality fluids from NAPA, or would you recommend getting it done at the dealership?

Thanks in advance!

[svarog]

I have as many miles as you.

I don't want to use synthetic because from what I read: synthethic is thinner and so will drip out lots more, and could leak from places that regular oil doesn't leak out from.

I also always get the automatic transmission fluid done at dealership (but toyota one not lexus), the transmission is supposed to be pretty picky about what fluid it wants!

The coolant doesn't matter! Get it anywhere!

[Shayan]

the best oil you could use which is probley in your manual would be castrol GTX

I use 10w 30 and mine has 172,000

[Jesterrace]

Any idea how much the thing leaks? I would personally not use anything less than 10W40 on an engine with that many miles. I partial to the Castrol Synthetic Oil myself. Even the heaviest Mobil 1 Synthetic Oil goes through all of the vehicles that I have tried.

[GeneralTso]

Any idea how much the thing leaks? I would personally not use anything less than 10W40 on an engine with that many miles. I partial to the Castrol Synthetic Oil myself. Even the heaviest Mobil 1 Synthetic Oil goes through all of the vehicles that I have tried.

Thanks to all for the tips! I just got it yesterday but I haven't seen any leaking at all yet. No oil spot on the driveway this morning. We're driving taking it on a 700-800 mile round trip in a few days...so I guess we'll know for sure after that!

[backwoods lex]

Have you examined your transmission fluid? That also needs to be changed regularly.

[GeneralTso]

Have you examined your transmission fluid? That also needs to be changed regularly.

I just checked it at the dipstick. The level was OK and it was clean and didn't smell burnt or anything. Does that need the special Toyota/Lexus fluid?

[mburnickas]

I have as many miles as you.

I don't want to use synthetic because from what I read: synthethic is thinner and so will drip out lots more, and could leak from places that regular oil doesn't leak out from.

I also always get the automatic transmission fluid done at dealership (but toyota one not lexus), the transmission is supposed to be pretty picky about what fluid it wants!

The coolant doesn't matter! Get it anywhere!

If you get leaks with synthetic oil it WILL leak in time with dino. There is crap in your oil that the dino is acting like a fake seal.

Lastly, there is NOTHING special about Toyota ATF (in there years). I change filter (seal) and install Amsoil ATF; all for about $60 and 30 minutes. It is a very very job.

I also would not use any coolant. I would not use the yellow Prestone in my car. It is crap.

[mburnickas]

Hiya,

I just bought my first Lexus today...a black '97 ES300 with 180K miles...and I love it, but I have a few questions...

First, oil... I've read about the oil gelling issue, and the oil on mine is pretty dirty looking...but it runs great, doesn't smoke or overheat, and doesn't have any lights on the dash illuminated. I was planning on just using Castrol 5W30 and changing it every 3,000 miles. Would you recommend starting to use synthetic on an engine with that many miles? What about engine flushing? It runs great as-is and I'm afraid to start causing problems with it.

My other questions are coolant and tranny fluid. Is it OK to just use high-quality fluids from NAPA, or would you recommend getting it done at the dealership?

Thanks in advance!

Oil gets black and you cannot tell anything by the color (if black). I have done over 12,000 drains on my es and the oil is black. I do not care since the UOA (oil tests) always came back good.

The sludge issue is over blown I feel. I would use whatever oil you want and change every 5,000. Use whatever oil filter you want. If you are testing (and going longer miles), that will tell you about what filter is good, what oil is good/better etc. For that short of time, the oil type does not matter.

For a flush you could use B12 Chemtool, diesel, kero, seafoam, ARX, lc20 etc.

[Toysrme]

exactly lol oil isn't some pure wholeistic thing you cook fish in. it's a gallon sized container of *hopefully* *all* the trash in your engine. you have to WORK HARD to get oil to stay fresh looking for just a 3,000 mile oil change interval.

that means flushing it on a fairly regular basis and using a large capacity of oil if possible. (the more oil you carry, the longer it lasts. ask bmw's i6's)

you know... if you're not flushing regularly enough to keep the insides very very clean. it's completely normal on any type of engine to have dark brown to black out inside of a thousand miles.

and you know, if you've got an oil leak, you've got an oil leak. it's not the oil, it's the failed gasket lol fix it!

[Shayan]

I agree toysrme,

My car might have a crap load of problems but deep inside i tihnk its a good engine.

I'm 2700 miles in to the oil and its still light color. My old 98 corolla before it passed away, it turned pitch black withing the first 800-1000 miles into the oil.

[mburnickas]

I agree toysrme,

My car might have a crap load of problems but deep inside i tihnk its a good engine.

I'm 2700 miles in to the oil and its still light color. My old 98 corolla before it passed away, it turned pitch black withing the first 800-1000 miles into the oil.

Do not go by oil color; it means nothing. I could show you my oil in my ES with over 12,000 miles and looks black; but tests show it is good to go MORE miles. Then I could show you oil, not as black and tests poorly.