stamets

My college age kids each just bought their own first "real" cars with their own money- an '07 and '08 ES350 with 170k and 130k miles on the odometers, respectively. Both have good service histories.
Dear old dad (that's me) has offered to help them with maintenance while they're both in school, having maintained their high school beaters in the past (an e39 BMW 5 series and an '04 A4 Avant.)

I'm already tackling my son's '07 this weekend with a coil and plug change due to a #3 cylinder misfire code- while I'm there I'm going to give it an oil change, which leads me to my questions:

-What brand of oil does the group here like? I'm already planning on using a high mileage synthetic.
-Is there value in running a motor flush treatment like Seafoam or Liqui-Moly engine flush prior to the oil change? This is something I did on both the Audi and BMW but didn't know the value of doing on a Toyota engine.
-Random question: What's the torque value of the nuts retaining the strut brace/cowl to the strut mounts?

Thanks in advance, and I'm looking forward to being a part of this group.

ESh

Put a can of Seafoam, drive it for 200-300 miles and do an oil change. I use OEM oil and oem filter but Mobil 1 is also fine.

Bonny

I own 2008 es350. And love it! I follow Car Care Nut on YouTube. He is awesome on Toyota/Lexus.

spaceballs

Yes, and his current (good) fixation is the 2GR-FE, it's great to see that he is able to do some teardowns while repairing his customer's cars so he can show us the insides and provide his commentary.

TCoolest2

Car Care Nut says the Toyota oil is Mobil 1. Works great for my car. Keep in mind 2GR-FEs seem to be sensitive to oils, so just stick to good oil

stamets

Thanks- yeah, his was the first video on the procedure, and it definitely seems to be the most comprehensive.

Gstaad

what are your thoughts on Valvoline?

Wilson2000

I used Mobil 1 on my Lexus and Toyota vehicles for decades. Then, Project Farm tested all the oils and found some less expensive brands tested just as well as Mobil 1, including Walmart's and Costco's house-brand, full synthetics. They also rated Penzoil Ultra Platinum very high, and it is significantly less than Mobil 1. For oil filters, I stick with OEM or K&N.

Be careful when changing plugs on the rear bank. Some have reported broken wires on the harness that powers the coils after doing a plug change. Use only true-OEM plugs/parts, bought from a legitimate dealer. Many online dealers on Amazon and Ebay are scamming buyers with counterfeit (fake-OEM) parts. I've been burned once.

ESh

I have almost 100000 miles of experience with my 5ES, I changed the oil/filter every 10000 miles until CarCareNut said what he said about long OCI. Then, I started to do OC every 5000 miles.
I went from Amsoil 5W30, Amsoil 0W30, Mobil 1 0W20, Mobil 1 5W30 and at the end TGMO 5W30.

The best oil for this engine is TGMO 5W30 and OCI 5000 miles. When I run 10000 miles between OCI very often I heard VVT gear rattle at startup. With 5000 OCI all is smooth and quiet.

TCoolest2

Don't have any, have only used Mobil. Sorry

tolian21

Es350 will work fine on any oil as long as you change it on time.

Wilson2000

Yes, the 5K interval is key, however, I still recommend a full synthetic with a full package of additives. I would not say "any oil will work fine" as cheap oil with a minimum of additives can result in thermal breakdown residues gumming-up the rings/ring-grooves. Too, generally, cheap oils don't provide enough dispersents, wear protection, and other protective additives, like the better, full synthetics do.

ESh

You are 100% right.

tolian21

This engine is easy on oil, I do 10k oil changes with Mobil1 EP and UOA reports come excellent. But thats me. All depends on your driving style. Can you name “cheap oils”? Is Kirkland sold at Costco cheap oil? For most people, they can use any API certified oil and change it every 5k miles, does not even need to be synthetic.

Wilson2000

Any full-synthetic would not fall into a category of "cheap oil," so no, both Walmart's and Costco's full-synthetics aren't cheap oil, and as I wrote earlier, actually tested very well in Project Farm's research.

I'm not saying one can't use non-synthetic, no-name, oils in an ES without trouble. I'm saying I like to run the best possible oil to increase my odds of getting many hundreds of thousand miles on my ES without major engine trouble.

My 2001 Tundra has 125K miles. I've changed the oil with different brands of full synthetic every 5K miles. I took the valve covers off recently to change the gaskets and was astounded how new the valve train and top of the heads looked--no visible gum, varnish or residue of any kind!