Just wondering how often the engine oil is changed during a the service? Is engine oil changed during every service or is it changed during every full service (20k miles). Reason I am asking is because I'm experiencing noisy rattling style engine noise when engine is cold. I have read on number of places where people have experienced similar issues and was related to the type of engine oil. My IS 250 had an intermediate service a while back and is nearly due for a full service. I am wondering whether they would have changed the oil during the intermediate service

here is already topic regarding engine noise on 250.

Oil is changed at each service, 10k and 20k. Incidently I had my 20k service a couple of weeks ago (20000 miles in just over 5 months) and was charge a very reasonable £480. Reasonable that is for the garage. This means I have paid £706 for scheduled serving over 20000 miles. More expensive than my previous Audi

Does oil need regular topping up or anything? as I usually just rely on the service

Check the dipstick, but you really shouldn't need to top up oil in a petrol engine.

There are posts on the "tapping" sound, and you might want your dealer to have a look.

As far as costs are concerned, the car really is not cheap to maintain. It is designed to run on mineral oils (Why? only the heavenly know) - and so it does not have variable servicing or long life...but then the dealers coax you into mobil1, and charge you anything beteen £60 and £90 for 4 odd litres...shocking behaviour really - but that's the price for having the best looking and otherwise value for money car in the UK....

And there's no point in asking if you can miss a service, as the warranty will be void. So you're stuck...

I do ALL my own servicing and the timing intervals above are correct.
I use ENEOS 5w30 fully synthetic oil which is avaliable from Japarts .co.uk at arount £25 for 4 Ltrs.
This oil is the european version of Nippon oil of japan.
You should NOT have a knocking noise on start up with ANY specified ACEA API grade oil and if you are you should go to the dealer immediately.

the reason I do my own is not to save money but because I do NOT trust motor dealers and their service departments.I know what goes on in them.

I've bought some Eneos 5W30 fully synthetic oil from Japarts for my 100k service on my IS200, can you tell me what Eneos 5W30 oil is like? I've always used Magantec in the past, decided to try Eneos oil because I've read some good things about it.

£480 for a 20k service??? Which centre was that?. I thought Newcastle was expensive at £380 - Teeside will do it for under £300.

Its a FULLY Sythetic fuel saving oil and I have used it at 10k and 20 k .along with filter of course.My opinion ...highly recommended and its the correct spec for the IS250 and the IS200.The japs own it so it should be good.

Good points, another thing as long as the service schedule is followed with genuine parts the warranty will not be void. You can use any garage.

you can use any garage but they do need to be vat registered.

You should not be getting a rattle on cold start up whatever oil you use. There's a Technical Service Information Bulletin (TSIB) on this ...means a top engine strip and rebuild under warranty from your dealer to sort it. Here's the TSIB...all 38 pages.

http://faqlexus.com/attachments/53/EG017-0...d%20Startup.pdf

Your warrenty is NOT void by doing your own sevicing .Keep your receipts for the parts and record your sevicings as if you are a garage.Vat registration is NOT necessary .

are you talking about vat as an individual,as i was referring to garages.