2007 Is 350 Burning Oil, Normal?

[ihg777]

I just had my IS 350 at 70,000 miles, evaluated at the dealer for "low engine oil" warning lights, This is a second visit to this dealer for the same warning light popping up. This dealership has been changing my oil and has also been documenting all of my visits.

With the latest episode, the dealership had to call the "Lexus engineers" located in California to see if it was "normal/acceptable" to have 0.5 quarts of oil burn/loss at 1100 miles.

After first time it happened, the dealers seems to have increased their evaluation metrics.

The response I got was " it is normal and acceptable to have IS 350 burn 0.5 quarts of oil for every 1000 miles. If I have to, I can always put 1 quart of oil every 2000 miles."

I have done as much research as I can about "what is acceptable amount of oil being consumed in between the oil change," and I am quite confused.

The service consultant told me that as "long as there is no black smoke coming out," I should not have to worry too much about oil burning.

W.T.F???

If that statement is extrapolated, that means "It's acceptable to have 2.5 quarts of oil burned (0.5 quarts burned at rate of every 1000 miles and factory recommendation of oil change at 5000 miles.) between the normal frequency of oil changes? That's almost half of the 6.7 quarts of oil that is poured into the engine with every oil change.

THIS IS NORMAL????

A good friend of mine is a mechanic and he shared some horror story about the long term effect of "oil leaking" into the combustion area.

I appreciate any and all advise I can have about what I should do. I do love my IS 350 and I would love to get some direction as to what I should to next???

Thanks

[LEX-SV]

Yung, welcome to LOC.

Every major automaker selling into the U.S. market will tell you 2200 miles to the quart oil consumption is acceptable and that no warranty work will be required (even if the car is in warranty).

Is it normal for a Lexus IS350 to use this much oil? Of course, NO. But some do and at least one one reported here. It is normal for some 4.6L SOHC Ford V8's and some aircooled Porsche flat 6's to burn oil at that rate, not that it has anything to do with Lexus.

[ihg777]

Thank you kindly for taking time to respond to my inquiry. I am still trying to figure out , before my IS reaches the 100,000, how "burning oil" in an engine will decrease the life expectancy of my car.

My hope, in a weird sort of way, is to have another round of "low engine oil," warning lights to go off, so it will be a THIRD time that I will have the lexus re evaluate my concern.

I am hoping to drop a line to the media, about how Lexus, the manufacture who "relentlessly pursue perfection," will tolerate it's engine burning half amount of oil before it's factory recommendation time!

[LEX-SV]

Hopefully in 3rd visit finds something that needs to be fixed.

Because 1/2 quart oil use every 1100 miles alone will not prompt action from any major automaker.

Good to know these IS 350 cars have low oil level light.

[1990LS400]

Did this high rate of oil consumption come on suddenly? Did you buy the car new? Did you buy the car and then found out that it had this problem?

The reason I ask is that I am wondering if the high rate of oil consumption was the reason a previous owner sold the car. If you did buy the car used, has the dealer looked to see if oil consumption issues were recorded under a previous owner?

It would certainly be interesting to know what is causing the consumption. The cause could be a defective oil control ring on a piston, worn cylinders, or any of a number of other defects. Unfortunately, an engine tear-down might be the only way to determine the cause.

Expectations sure have changed over the years. A few decades ago, adding a quart of oil every 500 to 1000 miles was considered a normal gas station ritual even on fairly low mileage cars. Mercedes made it easier on some engines by designing them so that it took two or more quarts of oil to bring the level from the "Add" to the "Full" mark on the dipstick. The dry sump Mercedes V8 of the 1970's had a 12 quart oil capacity and could operate with only six or seven quarts if I remember correctly. These cars used oil at a pretty high rate but at least adding oil frequently was not necessary.

[ihg777]

Thanks for your kind advise.

I bought this IS 350 used. I noticed the "low engine oil" couple of month after I drove the car.

I will ask the dealer today whether this IS 350 had oil consumption issue with the prior owner.

The concern with oil burning was initially noted by my expert mechanic friend who has his own shop and deals/repairs Japanese made car, including Lexus.

He went through the after purchase evaluation and noted that my exhaust pipes had inordinate amount of "black soot" on the exposed out let of the pipes and told me "better keep an eye on this, it may mean the car is burning oil." He told me the adverse effect of oil "burning" at the wrong place in the engine.

I am going to try to convince the dealers to "tear down my engine" and rebuild them. How? I am open for your suggestion, if I don't succeed by speaking with the service manger. I don't think Lexus wants to have reputation of having it's owners pour oil every 2000 miles. That seems kinda ridiculous to me. Especially when we pay up to ying yang for car with reputation like Lexus.

[LEX-SV]

The mechanic should know about black soot on exhaust pipes is common on direct injected (DI) gasoline engines. My DI IS350 and C250 (and previous CX-5 )both have this and do not take any oil between oil changes. If that was my mechanic, I'd be disappointed with his lack of knowledge on DI.

So the black soot on tail pipes reflects nothing abnormal with IS250 and IS350 engines.

[1990LS400]

I recommend that you register in the Owners section of the Lexus website and check the online maintenance records of your car before speaking again with anybody at the Lexus dealership.

[LEX-SV]

Great idea to set up account on My Lexus website and review it first.

I looked at mine today (I review it periodically) and noticed even minor things where dealer service "could not duplicate" showed on the service records, they are quite complete for service done via Lexus dealership.

[ihg777]

Thanks to everyone for these excellent advise. I did register at the Lexus owner site and was ASTOUNDED by detailed result of what was done to my car!

I had lengthy discussion with one of their senior mechanic at the Lindsay Lexus. He was very exhaustive in his explanation, including pointing out the "official IS 350 manual" has documentation of acceptable level of oil consumption and my loss of 0.5 quarts at 1000 miles is well within the acceptable level. He also gave me a detail explanation of difference of "direct injected" engine and how it's common for "high performance vehicle, including BM* and *udi has similar oil consumption with their high end cars.

All in all, this has been one enlightening encounter. I did tell them that if low engine oil warning comes up again, I will bring it back for their attention. It seems kinda tedious to have to check the engine oil every 1K miles, but I guess that's the price you pay for having 306 ponies under the hood?

Thanks once again to everyone!

[LEX-SV]

Yung - Keep us posted please. I assume no history of oil use shown in early service records. And let your mechanic know about DI gas engines and black soot on exhaust pipes being common.

Btw - I like your avatar pic.

[Hladerer]

My 2006 IS 350 (orig owner) with 112k mi just started burning oil. A quart every 2,000 miles. It seemed to start just after some recall work related to the cam gears. Wondering if it could be related to the cam work?

[VBdenny]

Took my IS250 in to the dealership for it's first oil change last week. Waited an hour, drove home, checked oil and it was still dirty. I've never found Lexus dealerships to be anything but incompetent. They will never see me or my car again and I'll drive to Carolina to buy my next Lexus.

[VBdenny]

Oh yeah, took my car over to a Toyota dealership (different owner) and had the service done there.

[LEX-SV]

Denny - That's terrible to hear about the service (or lack of) that you received at your VA Lexus dealership, not acceptable.

The Lexus dealership that I use in northern CA gives service that's second to none. Maybe having BMW, Mercedes and Porsche dealerships a few doors down doesn't hurt, because they are on top of their games too.

[VBdenny]

Ahh, just terrible BUT, let's focus on the positive. My very good friend works at another Toyota place SO, everything is well taken care of for my race car. Life has many turns and luckily, I take very good care of my people and they take very good care of me. Not points, no nothing like that, just friends taking care of friends and I am very lucky to have a bunch.

The dealership here is just horrible. You know me and I would bend over backwards to promote them and even offer driver/owner clinics which was something I was actually considering because I make a tremendous effort to be nice. Of course after several total failures on their part I am now a total AH to them. California is obviously more competitive.

Here is my Yelp Review

Took my Lexus to the dealer where I purchased the car for it's first oil change. I was rather suspicious as it appeared my car was never moved but after an hour the service guy came and said all done so I blamed coincidence. Drove home and was still suspicious because of previous isues with this same dealer. Checked my oil and it was dirty. They NEVER changed my oil so apparently they looked at my car for an hour then said it was "all set."

If you own a Lexus and take your car to this dealer, do not expect them to do what you ask. The ONLY thing I asked for was an oil change. NO washing, no nothing except the oil change. Of course I called and was apologized to over and over but I know from the past that their apologies are hallow. And of course they offered to change the oil if I brought the car back. Would you trust them with your car after that? Nope, took it to another dealership and had it done. Free ain't worth it if they don't do anything. They used the excuse that I wasn't clear but when tracing it down the failure was on the part of the phone scheduler AND the service writer both of whom I clearly stated several times I WANT MY OIL CHANGED.. They are lucky they don't work for me.

IF the owner is really a real person I can't believe he would let his Lexus dealership be run in such an unprofessional and incompetent manner. To sum it up, I am NOT riding with him ever again .Bought 2 new cars from his dealerships in the past two years and get this treatment. Trust is very important when dealing with veghicles and that trust is lost forver.

Now I am "all set," just elsewhere.