Toys4RJill

Newer engines like Toyota's excellent dynamic force stuff are designed to run on lower visc oils.

Wilson2000

Appearance, or cleanliness, of the valve train with the cover off is only one indicator of engine health. Modern oils have additives that do very well keeping the engine clean inside. So, I wouldn't say a clean valve train is "conclusive evidence that it's not necessary to go shorter." I'm not an advocate for longer or shorter intervals than the manufacturer's recommendation, but bearing wear, piston/ring/cylinder wear, cam wear, timing chain wear are all risk factors when considering change intervals.

Having "a feeling" in determining the interval has some validity as each person knows their driving style, and the conditions they're operating in. For instance, driving a lot of stop-and-go traffic may or may not be considered by an individual as severe conditions warranting a shorter interval; vice-versa for doing a lot of open road highway driving.

geko29

True, but while I was doing the VANOS seals, I was also able to examine my timing chain which was in great shape; and as I said I had a UOA done, and they determined the oil still had plenty of life even after 17k in the motor.

Lexmex

With my RX300, I began increasing it over time to about 10K, and with my CT200h, it just got its 10,000 due based on what previous owner had done. The oils are much better than they were 20 or even 10 years ago.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

and engines run much cleaner and built tighter, can even have an engine consume no oil in 10k miles, unheard of just couple decades ago

mmarshall

"Tighter" though, can be misleading. One of the ways that engineers get better fuel-economy and acceleration out of today's engines is looser-fitting piston rings, which have less friction and drag as they slide up and down in the cylinder. That, of course, lessens the amount of break-in needed on a new engine, but can also make it easier for the engine to actually consume oil. That's one reason why so many of today's engines do start to consume oil at relatively low mileage....and why a number of manufacturers typically don't replace the rings or engine during the warranty period unless the oil consumption gets down to around 1000 miles or so per quart....that is what they consider unacceptable.

FatherTo1

Just finished changing oil on wife's 2006 ES330. After 14.5 years and 141K miles, the engine still drains out the same 5 quarts that goes in. Replaced both valve cover gaskets a year ago. Other than that, the car has never burned oil.

Saving the used oil to submit to Blackstone in a few weeks for analysis, just for curiosity sake. Should I do the standard $30 analysis option?

https://www.blackstone-labs.com/test...5f2u5gx2x))%2F

Wilson2000

I concur and low oil consumption has always been one of my favorite attributes of Toyota/Lexus vehicles. I can't remember the last time I needed to add oil between changes in any of mine. My Honda/Accura and Subaru vehicles, on the other hand, routinely needed oil added between changes. I've heard the most horror stories about VW's!

Johnhav430

This is old news maybe 10 years, but pretty sure most mfgs incl. Porsche say 3 qts. per oil change interval is normal, and no, I wouldn't like that. BMW wrote a PhD level dissertation on it and I have it on one of my computers no idea which (look in my office there are like 8 laptops lol). Luckily the only car that needs topping off is my wife's GM, I'll add about 1/4 of 1 qt every 1000 miles. We picked the car up with 11 miles (someone likely trashed it on a single test drive--which is why if I ever buy a new car it has to have 10 miles or less, closer to 5 is best. BMW had 3, and I got a 2019 Maxima rental last year with < 10, as was a Nissan Rogue the year before). People say they install a catch can to address. We need this car to go 300k and sure as a GM doesn't necessarily seem promising, but online there are cars in the low 200's today. Looking back lots of stuff broke just to 95k so never again.

UDel

The engine in the LS460 is one of the exceptions that is known to consume oil on a pretty high level.

Wilson2000

Interesting. What engine is in the LS460, and what is the spec of the oil? Is it the low viscosity 0W-20? How much is consumed between changes? What is the recommended change interval?

SW17LS

0W20. Some people have oil consumption as they get up in miles, 150k+. Not everybody. Intervals for older ones are 5k, newer ones are 10k.

Wilson2000

I'm wondering if vehicles running the new lighter weight oils are generally going to have this issue, especially when high in miles. Too, it seems this is the way all new engines are going. I wonder if all new Lexus/Toyota vehicles will be burning oil to the point where owners have to check it more frequently and add multiple times between changes. If so, I don't like the trend! The minuscule fuel savings ($ and emissions) the lighter oils afford might be overshadowed by the extra use of oil. Too, for Toyota/Lexus owners who have been lulled into the convenience of not having to add between changes will have to become vigilant in checking their oil regularly, like we used to have to do in the old days before engine designs and oil specifications were improved upon.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

lighter weights are mainly to juice mpg numbers. Gotta go with 0W20 water to get that extra .5 mpg on EPA stickers. Some of my cars use 5W20, but I use 5W30 as a standard across most of my vehicles since Im in the south and we dont have cold weather.

Johnhav430

Yes years ago I noticed that BMW uses such on a 320i, and then 328i and 335i use the same oil. It's one of those things like torque wrenches. People think that more numbers are better. i.e. 0W40 better than 5W30, a wrench 5-75 is not as good as 50-250 etc.

The materials data sheet will show that a 0W40 and 5W30 are not the same at a given temp. With torque wrenches they are not accurate below 20% of the high end of the range.

Quite surprisingly, even ChrisFix did not know what the W stood for in motor oil. It's an age, thang! lol he said weight