For sure. Welcome.

 

Additive packages are different on the cheaper vs expensive name brand synthetic oils.
10K is the interval.I'd trust a long interval with a brand name oil.
According to the bobistheoilguy.com forum,Toyota 0w20 is a great oil formulated for Toyota by Exxon/Mobil with extra moly additive at around $6.50 a qt.
Dealer pays less.
I do my own oil changes but with the cost of a dealer oil change and filter,I would like have a premium brand oil.
A dealer saving a dollar on oil?
What other things too?

 

Except the sludge problem wasn't due to the oil itself. It's due to the owners not changing the oil on time. Which all goes back to the interval. It's much more important than the brand of oil used. Using "Mobil" or any other established brand will not prevent sludge to occur.

 

The 1MZ engines were sensitive to oil change intervals, NOT the brand of oil. Sludge still occurs because some people drove their cars in harsher environment, but still stuck to the recommended 4-5k intervals when they should have changed it earlier. Of course the engine broke down oil faster than usual, but sludge can still be avoided because I know many many people who have pristine looking valve train on their 1MZ just because they changed oil earlier than expected.

As far as your last sentence, that is very foolish to assume the oil the OP use is 'cheap.' Unknown brand does not necessarily equate to poor performance. I come from a research background so unless I absolutely know it's crap, it's ignorant to assume it's cheap quality. I guess these big name companies have a monopoly on brand loyalty.

 

Lexus of Austin uses Mobil 1 synthetic 5w20

 

If I were Lexus, I would use an expensive well know popular oil brand, then charge 10X the cost for it. It seems this is what the owners of luxury cars want. They don't seem to care about what is adequate, but what is the "Best" for their engine and are willing to pay for it. The dealership might as well make money of of them. I for one generally change my own oil so I don't really care what oil the dealer uses or charges for an oil change service.

 

You will be surprise to see a lot of Lexus owners at the dealership can even afford the regular maintenance like oil change.
Yes, the oil have to meet Lexus standard and it's not come in the plastic bottle as seen at Walmart either.

 

That said its the engine not the oil. There are a lot of other brands of engines that use so called cheap oil with no problems and no sludge problem. That should tell you something. By the way, I personally use synthetic oils, but I do my own oil changes.

 

Lexus hasn't specified a 'brand of oil', it specifies a weight of oil and certain certification level. I've never read anything about any brand of oil (cheap or expensive) that led to the possibility of oil sludge, it's the frequency of the change that matters as Gsteg mentions above. Certainly there was some suboptimal engine design that made it more likely to happen vs other engines.

I have preferences for my own oil on high performance / heavier duty motors and I simply bring my own oil in with me. Otherwise I'm fine with what the dealer uses.

 

at the end of the day you guys are flying above the point.... dealer still charges what they would charge if they used mobil 1/castrol/etc... but instead your getting "minimum requirement" oil... I am not ok with that....

on another note...
Why should I change my oil 1,500 miles earlier just because toyota couldnt get the engine right ? I am not saying the oil that dealership is using is a POS but I am saying the least they can do is make it up by babying the engines their engineers couldnt

 

You're paying for exactly what you're getting - an oil change with the oil the dealer buys. As the dealer rep above said you want the other oil, we'll get it for you. And I suspect you'll pay extra for it.

I'd be fine with the dealer oil for my LS (no matter what they get) but I'd bring my own with me for my old GS.

On your other note, the sludge issue was primarily when owners went beyond (and in many cases well beyond) the recommended service intervals. No one said anything about changing it earlier, except folks who want to baby their engines or someone on a heavier duty cycle. Having different duty cycles / recommended service intervals is standard practice for every car I've owned, from various makers. It isn't just a Lexus thing.

 

No not really. Look into any manual and see what the recommended oil is. You won't find a brand because it's nonsense to suggest one over the other. What they require is the oil of the correct weight, API certification, and it's category (SM, SL, etc). If the engines are sensitive to the brand of oil, then Toyota would have already have a list of what to use and what not to use. You cannot argue that the brand matters, but also mention that Toyota cannot suggest one.

There have been oil analysis done that shows even 'cheap' oil like the Chevron or Walmart's SuperTech do well of protecting the engine. Practically any API certified oil will have your engine running for a long time and it all comes down to maintenance. These 'certain' type of oil that Toyota requires is nothing special. Mobil, Castrol, etc do not have monopoly on the certification.

The requirement that Toyota sets out their Lexus vehicles is no stricter than the one for a Toyota Corolla. You can always try a different dealership, but I don't see Tom Wood Lexus doing anything wrong. If they went with a non-API certified oil, then that's an issue you can complain about.

 

I'm confused... do you think Lexus has a refinery somewhere and produces their own oil?

 

What I really was trying to say was that given scenario 1) Of using no name brand oil that meets certification and changing it out every 3-4K miles, or 2) Using name brand oil and prolonging its oil change well past its proper interval change, I would opt for scenario 1. That said, proper oil change interval to me is not when the book says to, but when the oil is broken down and no longer doings its job. How do you find out? Oil analysis. I don 't have the time to send my oil out, so I generally just go with what others who have send their oil out for analysis and have what I feel is similar driving style and conditions is I do and copy their interval change, with maybe being a little on the conservative side as well.

 

See that's the thing, this isn't necessarily generic. Sure it may not be brand name oil, but it meets all specifications set by Lexus as for what is or isn't acceptable for use in their products. Would the dealer really risk their franchise for using an unapproved product that could potentially harm the engines in the long run? There's no way Lexus would let the dealer do that kind of damage to the product, brand, and image if that was happening.

What's the problem if it meets and/or exceeds OEM specifications? I'm going to put more faith in Tom Wood Lexus who has done the research on the oils and has more first hand experience with the results of the using the oil since they are the ones that see the cars that use their product on a daily basis.