The Great Oil Change Discussion

[poncherello]

The 3000 mile oil change is a myth, there's no reason to change oil that often. Under normal circumstances I routinely go 7500 miles on non synthetic oil in my Lincoln. My 07 Lexus ES350 gets changed about 5-7K miles. I don't think they use synthetic in it though. I know the place charges me an extra $13 for the filter.

[IS250_rookie]

Yeah 3k is too soon, and I'm sure the dealer uses synthetic - at least I hope so. 5-7K is good.

[Gregg06]

Yeah 3k is too soon, and I'm sure the dealer uses synthetic - at least I hope so. 5-7K is good.

I know the service manager at my dealer and he said they do not use synthetic oil. They will, only if you request it. I started using synthetic after my first oil change. I go every 5000 miles faithfully.

[SW03ES]

Lexus only specifies synthetic oil in the LS460, the rest of them get changed with dino oil unless you ask for Synthetic.

DO NOT buy synthetic oil from the dealer. Buy your own oil and take it with you and have them use that. I had a dealer charge me $20 a quart for Mobil-1 I could have bought in a store for $5.

Lexus also specifies that the oil change interval (every 5k miles) not be extended when using synthetic.

[Manolo1]

My dealer uses synthetic blend as standard and charges extra for full synthetic only...

recommended interval is always 5K miles

[Gregg06]

Lexus only specifies synthetic oil in the LS460, the rest of them get changed with dino oil unless you ask for Synthetic.

DO NOT buy synthetic oil from the dealer. Buy your own oil and take it with you and have them use that. I had a dealer charge me $20 a quart for Mobil-1 I could have bought in a store for $5.

Lexus also specifies that the oil change interval (every 5k miles) not be extended when using synthetic.

Your right. I brought my own oil with me the first time. now, I get all my maintanance done at my friends shop. His place is very high end. All primo cars. He documents everything for me and gives me copies so I can have them in a file at home. He follows the Lexus program to the T.

[jwis250]

Is time a factor? I probably average about 5000 miles a year, can I change my oil once a year or should it be every 6 months?

[bartkat]

Is time a factor? I probably average about 5000 miles a year, can I change my oil once a year or should it be every 6 months?

I never reach the mileage so I change based on time. I'd go with the every 6 months.

[cdog818]

Thank you everyone for your answers. This really helped me out a lot. So I will change the oil every 5,000 miles from now on.

By the way, I am soooo happy with my new lexus (purchased in July 2008). It's my first ever lexus and I could not have been happier. The IS 250 is a great car!

[Randy&Bonnie]

..

[Gregg06]

Is time a factor? I probably average about 5000 miles a year, can I change my oil once a year or should it be every 6 months?

Geez.... some MONTHS I drive 5,000!!.... the Jiffy Lube guys love me!!

How's the service and quality of work from Jiffy Lube? I've heard alot of bad things about them. Personally, I would never take my IS to them.

[Suzeroo]

If the car is under warranty during the time I own it then it will run the cheap stuff unless they can claim my cheap gas causes a problem. But I am also a person who runs that fuel system cleaner treatments in my car. For what its worth...

Brain(?):

Don't kid yourself. Here's the scenario. You come into the dealership, under warranty, with a car that traditionally has ZERO problems running hi-test fuel for the 70K miles of the warranty, and you're having trouble. So they take a look at the engine. Compression is around 75 psi, and the only way that would occur is from bad valves or bad rings. The valves are most suspect.

So they tell you that they'll take a look, but the only way that this car goes through valves is if you don't use Premium gas. So they ask "have you used Premium Gas?" Now, whatcha gonna say, because they will know for a certainty when they open up that engine.

And then they'll give you the bill for the $6 - $7K that they'll charge for a set of valves and rings to bring the engine up to spec. Or else, you'll just drive your poor car home, limping with your tail between your legs. And all because you wouldn't pony up the extra $3.50 per tank. But you'll put in some gas additive every few tankfuls in your car for roughly the same amount of money.

Go figger. I sure can't. But like Bart said -- It's yer car, you can do what you want.

larry

I own an IS250 AWD, 2006 that had a valve replacement already - under full warranty, of course.

We have used nothing but premium gas in our car from the start. We live in Canada and the dealer recommends the highest octane available, which is 94 from Sunoco.

Apparently our valves were totally gummed up - even with the premium gas!!! We were told that there were 7-8 other IS, that had this problem in Ontario, Canada.

We wanted 2 keep this car 4 a while, but now we may trade it in, when the warranty is up. Hard 2 trust it, with that kind of track record :-(

Suzeroo

[NicLX470]

Premium all the way baby!! Gas is cheap!

Plus i'm not risking performance.

[hadokenuh]

I just want to say...

This kind of question should be ignored and removed from the forum. Spend $40k for a car, then try to save some bucks by putting 87 although the manual says "91". It just doesn't make any sense. I wonder how would someone make that kind of money (to afford the car) and be so ... slow about this... sign*

AND if you have to worry about the gas money, don't buy a luxury car. Bottom line: the car needs premium gasoline.

[IS250 3rrol]

I pump 91 and call it a day.

I hope you're not pumping Arco. If I were you I would highly suggest Union 76 91 octan

[sinnjin79]

I pump 91 and call it a day.

I hope you're not pumping Arco. If I were you I would highly suggest Union 76 91 octan

Maybe someone with a IS can put it on a dyno for us? Do the first 3 runs with 87 octane and get your average HP/Torque numbers. Come back at a later time, having already ran 91 or higher octane for a little while, and do 3 more runs on the dyno and get your average HP/Torque numbers. This will settle the debate for the IS once and for all. If the results show that HP and Torque were higher while doing the runs on 91 or higher octane, then we will all know that there is pre-ignition using the lower octane. What do you all think? I don't have an IS or I would do it myself. Hope to be a proud owner of an IS250 very soon. Thanks everyone and have a good new year.

[Sidney07]

Great idea. Who wants to let us use their IS for the test?

Maybe the guys who favor 87 octane can volunteer?

Old issue, lame issue. Not even debateable. Chevron or 76 supreme is all we put in ours.

[bartkat]

There's no logical reason to debate this and no reason to test it. It's a known fact.

[theorem17]

I always use premium fuel for this car. I think it's usually Chevron 91 octane.

The car deserves it. And it's alot of fun on uphill winding mountain roads.

I use the regular stuff in my 80 series Land Cruiser Beast.

[sam0323]

today for the first time i put 91 gas and i usually for 87 i had the car for 4 months and i didnt see a difference in the performence and i guess its just a waste of money if the car is a lease but if its a buy the take good care if it so it will last longer

[palermo22]

I originally asked about the 10,000 mile checkup and an oil change. I found my answer to that - and I ordered my oil filters from Iron Toad (as suggested); however, one final question:

Oil - I know that 5/30 is recommended - should I use Mobil 1 or is there something else that is preferable?

Thanks

[Randy&Bonnie]

..

[bartkat]

Lots of people use Mobil 1 without any problems. It's your choice but that should do just fine.

[Manolo1]

You cannot go wrong with Mobil1

[djspawn00]

Don't use Mobil1, I just used it and my car blew up.... seriously.. I'm lying... I've been using mostly Mobil1 over the years. I also use Castrol full synthetic and sometimes amsoil if its available. I find that mobile one burns off less than other oils... on dino oil I'd be adding about a quart every 2000 miles... with Mobil1 I only have to top off about half a quart at 4000miles.. but I usually do change around then since my driving behavior is far from normal.