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I've been using Mobil1 ESP 5W30 for my oil regular oil changes over the years. It is rather expensive but haven't had any issues with it. In order to do 6.3L change, I need to buy 7L as the previous leftovers from the previous 1L bottle have all been used. 7L of that oil comes to about £70. Question is, is there as good cheaper equivalents? I looked at the Castrol magnatec A5 and that's only like £10 cheaper or so.

Also looking at the Mann oil filter the picture looks like it comes with some sort of extra smaller O ring and some sort of plug or something but our oil filter only have one big O ring so what's the other ring and the other thing that comes with it?

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I always keep an eye out at Tesco because from time to time they have oil on offer at half price. The last lot I bought for the next oil change was £8 for a 2 liter bottle. As we have 2 cars in the family I bought 6 bottles. The oil was branded  Redex, is fully synthetic and has a specification which far exceeds that which is specified in the handbook for my IS250.

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a quick search on Opie Oils showed reasonably prices 6 litre oils ranging form £30 and above.. i personally use Castrol 5w 30 C3 as i found engine does not burn oil as quick as Shell 5w30 or  Mobil 5w30.. Castrol also makes the engine more quieter i found

https://www.opieoils.co.uk/f/2354/8971/2006/engine-oil.aspx

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1 hour ago, noby76 said:

a quick search on Opie oils showed reasonably prices 6 litre oils ranging form £30 and above.. i personally use Castrol 5w 30 C3 as i found engine does not burn oil as quick as Shell 5w30 or  Mobil 5w30.. castrol also makes the engine more quieter i found

https://www.opieoils.co.uk/f/2354/8971/2006/engine-oil.aspx

Which Castrol 5w30 do you use? Magnatec or Edge? How many miles have you done with that oil? The Mobil ESP seems to be the most overpriced of them all but I can get 7L for about £60 which for Mobil esp is actually a bargain. The car needs 6.3L 

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its the magnatec 5W30 C3  i usually do about 1000miles per month but not so much these days and change every 10,000 miles.. the Mobil ESP and Castrol Edges's I feel are overkill for these type of engines. maybe if you own a GTR or IS-F then might make sense to stretch for those type of oil's.  ive used the Castrol 5w30 c3 in my previous Lexus's and Accord 2.4 and noticed the same quietness and less oil burning compared to the equivalent Mobil, Shell 5w 30 oils i tried. worth giving it a try as it more than meets and exceeds oil requirements for the GS/IS engines.

https://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-69393-castrol-magnatec-stop-start-5w-30-c3-fully-synthetic-car-engine-oil.aspx?VariantID=91992

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These topics always have tendency to blow into massive mess... there will be as many opinions at as blown-up IS220d engines 😁 But heck why not throw my own in the mix and see how it works-out!

To start with... I did like ~12 oil changes in the time I owned IS250. 6 were Catrol Magnatec 5W30 A5/A1 (C2/C3 are for diesel, although truth to be told I doubt there is much difference). 5 Changes were "Lexus" 5W30 (whatever they use in dealership), sometimes they said on invoice it is EDGE, sometimes just Castrol, sometimes "Lexus essential service oil kit". And once Mobil 1 ESP 0W40.

I was not impressed Castrol Magnatec, but in my opinion that was already overkill for the car and you can get it relatively cheap with 50% discount (just check the dates). Car did burn some oil, but it was not excessive - ~0.6l 10k miles. About where one would expect 120k+ engine to be. One issue with Magnatec is that oil is kind of "dark" - it has metal polymers which suppose to protect engines better and perhaps that is what gives it the dark almost metallic tint. Further - after 6k miles it would usually be completely black, as well I would get sticking valve lifters issue around the same time indicating oil changes is needed.

At least, Magnatec was better than "Lexus oil", which would have same issue just in 4-5k miles. Few times I wasn't even convinced they did oil change, but it being dealership I highly doubt they would skimp on oil. But often after few hundred miles the oil would look just as dark as at the end of 6-7k miles. I was told that in dealerships they perhaps use oil extractor instead of draining oil at the bottom, which leaves more residue of old oil and basically does not drain the dirt from oil pan as well. This is just a guess, but it could explain why the oil was so dark so quickly and needed replacement sooner.

The only oil which was noticeably better was the Mobil 1 ESP 0W40, I put it for certain occasion - I was doing Euro-trip in winter, so I knew that I will be both doing extended top-speed runs on autobahn, yet at the same time I will have to start car in arctic conditions in the morning (both of which happened). As such I wanted more protection on both cold starts and for oil not to become too thin at long high-speed driving. 0W40 seemed like perfect solution to extend effective range and Mobil ESP was on sale.. I think I picked it up for 6L £36. This was the only time I really felt like oil is substantially better - it stayed clean, it did not burn at all and I ended-up replacing it after 9k instead of 6k. Although, I covered 5k in 2 weeks - so I guess it worked out roughly the same in terms of service intervals. Oil was still relatively clean when I was replacing it... if anything brand new Magnatec looked darker than old Mobil ESP. Mechanic asked me why I am replacing perfectly fine oil and was surprised when I said oil covered ~9k. 

Only one other thing to note - Engine Flush made a huge difference for me when it comes to oil staying cleaner and valve lifters not sticking.

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This can indeed be a controversial  subject.  One thing that should be understood is that although many oils can meet a manufacturers spec to start with,  some degrade more quickly than others.  Certainly there there are many factors to take into account, how old and worn the engine is, the way the car is used, ambient temperature, and how frequently oil is changed and the quality of the oil being used being some of them.  If you intent selling the car relatively soon you might be less inclined to fill with a high quality oil than if you intend to keep it for a long time.  Some people take the view that with a worn engine you are wasting money by paying for a premium oil and it is preferable to change a cheaper oil more frequently.  So a lot depends on individual circumstances.  I remember when Castrol Magnatec came out, a long time ago now but in its day was considered an advanced oil.  Since then engines have become more refined and oils have improved considerably up to the fully synthetic ones now more commonly used.  I think it generally not worthwhile putting a modern oil in an old or worn engine. 

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