Oil Change

[jsj24uk]

Evening all. (Don't worry, I'm not Plod).

A couple of months ago I had the oil changed in my LS430 because I thought it sounded a little bit tappetey. So, instead of bothering my local Lexus dealer, I popped down to the garage down the road. They supplied the Lexus (badged Toyota) oil filter and I supplied my own oil. Now I don't know what oil that Lexus themselves use but I supplied some Castrol Edge fully synthetic 0-W30 oil. Since using it, the tappetey noise has gone, when it starts from cold it revs slightly higher and on average I'm getting 2mpg more.

What I wanted to know was, what is the oil that Lexus use and does using expensive fully synthetic oil make that much of a difference? Also, should the oil filter have a Lexus badge on it rather than a Toyota badge? I know they fall under the same umbrella but I couldn't tell what oil filter was on it prior to this oil change as all you can see under the bonet is a couple of bottles containing liquids of different sorts and a big silver cover (which I give a wipe over every time I clean her).

Many thanks and have a good weekend everyone.

Cheers,

Jim.

[leadfootmelvin]

Hello Jim

0-30W sounds pretty thin, but then again, i cut my amateur motor maintenance teeth pouring duckhams 20-50W into (and sometimes right through) old triumphs. When i swapped to the Castrol 10-40W it started much faster and mpg increased. but tended to find small leaks, I guess it seems like simple rules are.........

If you crank high motorway miles at high speeds and high engine temperatures change often and use a higher grade. these days thats probably a 5-40w?

if you run a lot of short trips where the engine just gets up to temperature, pour in the skinny stuff 0-30w sounds good, it'll flick around the engine much faster and get to where it is needed, short trips are really bad for any engine so stick a decent modern synthetic in.

I remember some more professional mechanic mates of mine stripping a 60s vauxhalll cresta taxi for a decoke and new bearing shells, and it was perfect, even after 250.000 miles! amazing in those days, the mini cab owner said it was castrolite and filters changed regularly at a wincingly 3,000 mile intervals!

I've never seen a lexus label on a replacement filter they're all badged toyota. There is a raging debate about using the japanese made filters or the chinese ones? resin vs paper. again, i think the answer is swap them often.

today oil is better and engines are built to better tolerances, so "often" could be 12,000 (even 15,000) miles, but that's only if you stick to quality components.

[jsj24uk]

He Leadfootmelvin.

One of the reasons why I went for the 0w-30 fully synthetic oil was I was having a look at the Castrol web site. It is what they recomended for the Lexus so I bought some and I don't think I will use anything else. Having booked my LS in for a service in a month's time I will be supplying this oil again for the service. I shall also have it changed every six months. It spends most of it's time stuck in traffic or on the odd ocassion when I get to take it on a long run, it gets a bit of a spanking then.

It probably isn't going to make much of a difference in terms of how long the engine will last, but I somtimes think we do these things to make us feel better.

In my driving school car I get the oil changed every 6,000 miles rather than the 12,500 that Nissan recomends. This is due to the large amount of time that my car can sit there idling. I'd imagine that they use the cheapist equilivant of chip fat on their services but I do need that car to crack 200,000 miles before I replace it.

All the best,

Jim.

P.S. How many LS430's are going to JAE this year?

[ColinBarber]

Lexus dealers all use different oil. Toyota specify certain oils to use within their engines, the dealers just need to make sure their oil meets the spec.

Some use semi synth and others use fully synth.

Unlike the German manufacturers you cannot go on an extended service schedule if you use certain fully synth oil so there doesn't really seem any benefit to use anything better than semi, unless you have a modified engine or do lots of very small journeys.

[Matrixabc]

I have always used Mobil one fully synthetic, and have never had any problems, the engine is always quieter and smoother than with mineral oil, and I have always used aftermarket filters from a good motor factor.

I have done around 60k in each car , some over 120k with no problems or leaks.

BMW charged my £112.00 just for the oil (replaced it myself) on my 540i, so £24.00 for 4L of Mobil 1 is very cheap for one of the best oils on the market. why use anything less?