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usedRX300

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Everything posted by usedRX300

  1. i have been having the same kind of problem (engine has about 65000 miles on it and regular oil changes) , also told not a sludge engine, now burning oil on high speed highway driving about a quart every 200 miles. could be worn valve guides, or any number of another dozen things. i will keep you posted.
  2. It is quite possible that some component in your PVC or breather system got gummed up from an occasional start to show to a prospective customer and then became "self-healing" when driven regularly. I know that my BMW will exhibit signs of low oil if all I do is short, stop and go, errands. Once on the road for more than 20 minutes, the moisture in the oil is evaporated and the oil level reads normally. Fwiw, my BMW does not have a dipstick, relying on a sensing level in the oil pan to measure the level. I prefer dipsticks since they are fool proof. Keep checking and start stretching out your checking interval. Glad things are working out. Gary after driving across country this summer, i found that it is now burning about a quart of oil every 200 miles. also there is the gray smoke out of the tail pipe momentarily when first started. i was not towing a trailer or anything out of the ordinary, other than driving 75 miles an hour rather than the 30-50mph around home and work. i am now beyond the 60000 mile lexus engine warranty. i am taking it to a toyota dealer as the same engine was used in the highlander and their hourly labor charge is 25.oo less an hour. very frustrating. anyone know what diagnositic tests could determine valve guides verses oil ring problem? i think my extended warranty should cover this, but i have to pay for the diagnositic work. i did run mobile 1 last oil change, no difference. hot weather and higher speeds and it was drinking the oil. thanks for all the ideas. i have no idea how to verify whether or not it is a sludge engine myself, i am at their mercy it seems.
  3. I have a 2002 RX300. Bought it with 29k miles in Nov05, and had dealer examine to verify no sludge. Since then, Mobil-1 only, every 7k miles. I drive 40k hwy miles/yr. At 140k miles now, I discovered (sudden brake caused oil light to come on) that I am losing 1qt every 2-3k miles. Absolutely no leaks. Had dealer ck for sludge. Engine clean. (not checked plugs) They "researched" Lexus info, and declared that my usage is within acceptable range. They reasoned that on the highway there could be more usage than around town. Car rides fine. I figure a qt every 2-3k is cheaper than any mechanical repair. Performance is good. I did purchase a 2001 RX before this one, which was sludged. Broker took it back, and found this 2002 (proud he stood behind the sale!!). The sludged '01 consumed oil and also had "engine ping" when accelerating up a hill. I'd monitor yours and obtain an accurate measure of oil usage. new development: i drove 400 miles at around 75 miles an hour and it appeared to burn a quart. this just after a new oil change, at the dealer, using vavoline 5W-30. again, this engine has been inspected by lexus and an independent mech. and declared to be sludge free. also previous owners took to lexus religiously for every oil change and detail. not a neglected engine. i have an extended warranty that would probably frown on your additive interventions, so i will pass on that for now, but i do appreciate your thoughts on this topic. SO...on the way back from my 400 mile trip, i decided to keep the rpms down, under 3000, so i didn't go over 67 mph. got back, checked the oil, and only down a little less than half a quart! so there appears to be a correlation between sustained high rpms and oil consumption. having googled my issue to near death, i am now wondering about the pcv system, but do not even know where to begin, but also suspect something called oil ring flutter, which can result in oil consumption, but only at high/sustained rpms. does anyone know anything about this? i rarely drive over 55 with my daily commute, but it's a concern on longer trips. i can't have every bucket of bolts passing me mile after mile!!
  4. I have a 2002 RX300. Bought it with 29k miles in Nov05, and had dealer examine to verify no sludge. Since then, Mobil-1 only, every 7k miles. I drive 40k hwy miles/yr. At 140k miles now, I discovered (sudden brake caused oil light to come on) that I am losing 1qt every 2-3k miles. Absolutely no leaks. Had dealer ck for sludge. Engine clean. (not checked plugs) They "researched" Lexus info, and declared that my usage is within acceptable range. They reasoned that on the highway there could be more usage than around town. Car rides fine. I figure a qt every 2-3k is cheaper than any mechanical repair. Performance is good. I did purchase a 2001 RX before this one, which was sludged. Broker took it back, and found this 2002 (proud he stood behind the sale!!). The sludged '01 consumed oil and also had "engine ping" when accelerating up a hill. I'd monitor yours and obtain an accurate measure of oil usage.
  5. after an oil and oil filter change, dip stick shows full and then after 500 miles of higher speed interstate driving, it has used a about a quart of oil. not so good. i read in the manual that it can consume oil at higher driving speeds that would not show in shorter trips and that under short trips, the moisture/gas that collects in the engine for that kind of driving might replace oil volume so it would not be as apparent on the dipstick that some oil consumption has taken place. conversely, on high speed longer trips, this moisture does not form and therefore it appears more oil is missing/used, plus under high speed driving and de-excelleration, oil can be pulled into the combustion chamber where it is burned. holy buckets! anyway it looks like it is using about a quart every 500 miles of high speed longer trip driving, but it did not appear with 2000 miles of driving around town, 25 mile trips here and there!! does this make any sense to anyone? i do not travel that much, and as i said before, it runs great and gets about 22-23 miles per gallon. BUT, on longer trips where the oil is disappearing (again, NO leaks), am i damaging my catalytic converters or anything else? and so it goes...
  6. update, of sorts. it has now been about 2000 miles since the beginning of the oil consumption test. my original mechanic swears he did the oil change himself and checked the levels and did not short the amount of oil by mistake and that when he pulled the plugs (first three in front only for ease) they were indicative of burning oil in the combustion chamber. i asked him if the fact that the RX sat for almost a year on various car lots could have anything to do with the condition of the plugs, or the mysterious loss of oil (burning?, because there are no leaks). he didn't know, but said maybe the oil rings were stuck somehow from sitting so long and now with driving they are unstuck? hum...i have no idea what the probable issues are here, but maybe a stuck PVC and it is now unstuck? anyother hypothesis would be welcome as i am curious by nature, and i too am now obsessive about checking my dipstick, but so far no problem. will keep checking back for any info from this posting and will update if anything new occurs on this end. i do love this ride though. maybe a miricle, it has somehow healed itself? God probably drives an RX.
  7. thanks. have a great day. i will update with any new info when and if it comes. so far, it is running great and dip stick shows its still full. its been about 500 miles since the beginning of the oil consumption test. i am hopefully optimistic that there may not be anything wrong with the engine afterall.
  8. This would be my guess as well. One reason I now do my own oil service. i appreciate your sharing your knowledge with me. it was suggested that i may have a warped head which might let oil past to be burned, but might be temporarily solved with an oil additive. i don't know what the spark plugs looked like as i have not seen them myself yet, but i am leaning toward the possibility that the oil change may have been done hurriedly and not enough added, except that does not explain why the plugs reportedly looked oil soaked. on the other hand, before i bought it, it appears to have sat on various lots for several months. i wonder if it was only driven for short test runs during that time would change the normal look of spark plugs. i do my own oil changes on my pick up and on my jeep, but because i have an extended warranty covering the lexus, i have been paranoid about a recognizable paper trail for regular oil changes and i know next to nothing about the new technology (my other rides are about twenty years old). i have heard that switching from regular oil to or from synthetic can be problematic, but i have no idea what to do there either and don't know what the previous owners used either, other than they did get serviced at an east coast lexus dealer, according to the my local dealer's computer records based on the VIN number in their records. i am now checking the oil almost daily, it has been about 300 miles so far and no sign of decreasing oil levels. thanks to all with an interest.
  9. thanks for your responses. that is what i am doing now (well the dealer is having me drive around checking the oil to take it back to have them measure any needed adding of oil. i am wondering if they have added an heavier weight oil for the consumption test and if so, what harm would it do to the working parts of the engine to run a heavier weight oil permantly if that takes care of it?
  10. 3.0 V6 excessive oil consumption3.0 V6 I am a new owner of a used 2002 RX300. The first week I owned it I took it in for an oil change and it's 60000 mile maint. and after 2000 miles, when I hit the brakes, the oil indicator light came on. I immediately pulled into my mechanic's shop and it was down 3.5 quarts of oil. It appears that because of the three catalitic converters, no tell tale blue smoke billowed from the tail pipe, and upon closer inspection, all the spark plugs were "fowled" black as if it were an oil burner. Hum, only 60000 miles, and previous owner was at the Lexus dealer like clock work for every scheduled maint. so I know previous maint. was good as Lexus printed out a copy for me. Now I know that this engine was part of a 2007 class action law suit for sludge/gel problems, one syptom of which is oil consumption (it turns to gel and sits at the bottom of the pan and 'disappears'). Both my trusty mechanic and the Lexus dealer pulled the value covers and looked around and both said no sign of sludge/gel (too bad, that would be covered under said class action), so now driving around and back and forth to the dealer to determine the severity/presence of said excessive oil consumption. My posting/question is this: Anyone else out there with this problem and what could it be? Is the dreaded sludge/gel problem ruled out with a peek at under the valve cover? What could be the reason for the disappearing oil. It does not leak oil. I would appreciate any other experiences shared. I have been told I need a new engine and guess what, the extended warranty I purchased does not cover an oil burning preexisiting condition. It has taken me six years to save for this used RX300 and I do love it, but need some technical assistance with this particular issue. any help appreciated.
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