2006 Is 350 Burning Oil, About A Quart Every 1,000 Miles... Beware&#3

[wooliedug]

Purchased (new 2006) IS 350... Currently has 99,000 miles... At 87,588 miles the red oil light came on about 3,000 miles after the previous oil change... This has happened 3 times... Took the car into Lexus today (Jan 21, 2013) and was told it was my problem to fix... That if it was an IS 250, Lexus would have fixed my car because the IS 250 has the same issue... How do we get Lexus to quit refusing to recognize the problem goes beyond the IS 250...

[LEX-SV]

Happened 3 times. Is this a quart used every 3,000 miles or every 1,000 miles? (I'm asking because above you said "At 87,588 miles the red oil light came on about 3,000 miles after the previous oil change... ")

What was the oil usage previously?

[wooliedug]

Went through 3 quarts of oil in a little over 3,000 miles, three different times... Previously I had not been using any oil...

[LEX-SV]

Certainly an alarming change in oil usage.

What did Lexus dealer say the problem was?

[wooliedug]

Our normal customer rep said Lexus would check it out & probably fix it because it was covered by an extended warranty that takes care of this type of problem... He told me I had let the oil run down again and then bring it into the dealer to examine it... He was on vacation when I came in so the substitute customer rep said our rep was wrong, that the IS 250 was the car covered by this special warranty, not the IS 350... They kept the car for 3 hours & said they could not find any visual problems, confirming what I had already told them...

They told they would have to start taking the engine apart to find the problem at my expense & could not give any estimated fix or cost...

My fix is to change the oil every 3000 miles, instead of the normal 5000 miles...

Sadly this another additional problem to add to the very long list of issues this IS 350 has had... Current ongoing issues, both front wheels have refused to hold air more than a couple of weeks... This has been going on since I bought the car new, they blame the tires, the tire company says its Lexus problem, buying new tires did not fix the problem... Front bumper keeps falling off, started after warranty ended... Driver interior door broke, periodically you have to enter via passenger side... Started after warranty...

There is a longer list of problems that Lexus did fix under warranty, for which I am grateful...

Unfortunately I have more problems with this one car, than the prior 15 cars I have owned combined..

Clearly Lexus has no idea how to build a luxury car or any kind of car... Sad, sad, sad...

[LEX-SV]

1. Our normal customer rep said Lexus would check it out & probably fix it because it was covered by an extended warranty that takes care of this type of problem...

2. My fix is to change the oil every 3000 miles, instead of the normal 5000 miles...

1. What kind of warranty is this, what company?

2. Why change oil every 3000 miles?

[clubfoot]

I feel your pain! What oil are you using? If using atleast 5W30 go to 5w40,...at least for winter. Are you using synthetic?

[wooliedug]

1. It is a Lexus limited warranty that covers certain parts of the car beyond the normal warranty...

I worked for a large company that had certain unpublished policies to fix certain things beyond the normal coverage, because they felt if certain basic parts of the product failed, they had a moral obligation to fix them... I experience this with a Honda car that had a major part fail after warranty... They fixed it and when I went to pay, they said Honda parts should not fail that soon, regardless of warranty, and they refused to charge me... Needless to say, I ended buying 5 Honda automobiles... Then I "moved up" to Lexus, paying a substantial increase in cost & the car has been a mechanical disaster and the sad saga keeps getting worst... Clearly Lexus is a failed brand...

2. I am changing oil earlier because that is when the oil runs out and I don't want to be adding a quart every 1000 miles & cheaper than buying a rebuilt motor...

[wooliedug]

I am using 5W30, thanks for the suggestion of going to 5W40

[LEX-SV]

1. It is a Lexus limited warranty that covers certain parts of the car beyond the normal warranty...

I worked for a large company that had certain unpublished policies to fix certain things beyond the normal coverage, because they felt if certain basic parts of the product failed, they had a moral obligation to fix them... I experience this with a Honda car that had a major part fail after warranty... They fixed it and when I went to pay, they said Honda parts should not fail that soon, regardless of warranty, and they refused to charge me... Needless to say, I ended buying 5 Honda automobiles... Then I "moved up" to Lexus, paying a substantial increase in cost & the car has been a mechanical disaster and the sad saga keeps getting worst... Clearly Lexus is a failed brand...

2. I am changing oil earlier because that is when the oil runs out and I don't want to be adding a quart every 1000 miles & cheaper than buying a rebuilt motor...

1. So it's still in warranty now? (Yeah I've experienced other automakers such as Porsche doing out of warranty repairs, if it's still in warranty doesn't apply.)

2. So why are you changing oil at 3000 miles, (not clear from your answer), is that when it's down a quart?

[clubfoot]

The TSIB covering the IS250 replaces the pistons and rings because the original design was "loose" to provide better fuel economy (my words). However, as we '06 owners have discovered over the course of long ownership,...the engine consumes oil above what we consider normal,...but Lexus finds acceptable at 1qt per 1000miles. If the oil consumption is less they will not perform the upgrade. Once the outside temperature falls below 0c,...it sounds like a deisel engine.

And even the IS250 owners have to show proof "engine code" that their engine experienced "rough idle"!

I won't bother to go into the extensive list of recalls, TSIBs or such,...but as a long time toyota owner,....I'm not impressed one bit by Lexus quality, warranty or customer service.

[twitte]

My 2006 IS350 uses oil. I had it checked by my dealer and everything was okay. Lexus said it is okay to have oil consumption of up to 1 quart every 600 miles. Just add oil when needed. That would be cheaper than having oil changes when your oil is low.

[clubfoot]

Agreed :)

[twitte]

Here is a link to the document that my dealer gave me (it mentions 1.1 quarts per 600 miles):

http://www.mastersdiving.org/lexus/lexusOil.pdf

My oil consumption started at about 83,000 miles (last year).

[LEX-SV]

My oil consumption started at about 83,000 miles (last year).

Prior to that, what was oil consumption like?

[twitte]

My oil consumption started at about 83,000 miles (last year).

Prior to that, what was oil consumption like?

It was normal, just like a new car. I never had to add oil. I just took it in for normal oil changes (I changed the oil every 5,000 miles). It just started consuming oil all of a sudden. I thought it was perhaps due to one of my fast accelerations that might have done it, but who knows. Maybe I pushed the car a little too hard at some point?

[LEX-SV]

How's the oil consumption lately? Or is it consistently high now?

[twitte]

How's the oil consumption lately? Or is it consistently high now?

I'm guessing but I think the oil consumption is probably near the so called "norm" by Lexus. I'm putting a quart in every 600-1000 miles.

[LEX-SV]

I see, still high consumption. And no smoke or dripping of oil.

Not so much as being the norm, more a matter of Lexus calling it within acceptable range.

Nearly every major automaker will say oil consumption around 1000 miles to the quart is acceptable and not something that requires warranty work.

[KeyKeeper]

strange....I have bookoo miles on mine and the oil level moves maybe 1/4" on the stick between oil changes.

[twitte]

strange....I have bookoo miles on mine and the oil level moves maybe 1/4" on the stick between oil changes.

My last 2 Lexus cars never had a problem either (with using oil). One of them had 188,000 miles on it when I sold it. I never had to add oil. Maybe I drove my IS350 too hard? Who knows.

I don't have any dripping oil or smoke. The Lexus dealer checked out my car and said everything was okay - nothing that I could repair or fix.

[LEX-SV]

Bumping this thread up, since the issue came up again on another 2007 IS350.

twitte - Any changes on oil consumption on your IS350?

[twitte]

Nothing new to report. Car was still needing oil periodically. Everything else with the car was fine. I just traded it in for a new Lexus NX200t (that my wife will drive mostly). I'm sticking with Lexus based on past history with all my other cars.

[LEX-SV]

twitte - Congrats on new NXt, and thanks for followup report on your IS350.

[Melani]

We have an IS 350, 07 it eats oil like crazy. No drips or smoke, runs great.