omar6

Hello everyone,

I am thankfully the owner of a 2023 Lexus GX 460 Premium that I just leased 5 days ago. I plan on buying the car after the lease is up. My question is about the break in period. I bought the car from a dealer 300 miles away from home, and unfortunately was not aware of the break in period precautions before I purchased it as this is my first new car. I drove my GX home the day after I bought it going about 70 mph, and tried to vary my speeds as much as I could but stayed at constant speeds for quite a while. I already know I messed up, but I want to know how I could minimize the damage as much as possible. Hoping to take this car with me to the grave, and would like to know what everyone would recommend for me to do. It has 515 miles on it as of now, and I plan on changing the oil at 600 or 1000 miles. Would there anything else I can do to improve engine health long term? Should I extend the “break-in” to 1000 miles, or would that not make a difference?

Thank you.

ScaldedDog

You're fine. Don't give it a second thought. An early oil change is never a bad idea, but that's about it.

If it makes you feel better, I drove mine across FL the first night I had it, and to CO within a few days. At 65, I expect my daughter will someday have to hide the keys to it from me.

Mark

IanB2

The 1st oil change interval is when most of the "breaking in" happens, don't short change it.

If you're asking this question, I'm assuming you're going to be using high end oils and filters on OEM interval or less, from here on out? So don't expect there to be a lot of additional wear beyond 1st oil change, right? That's the idea?

My advice, run it out to the full OEM recommended mileage, and do whatever you'd like from there.

ASE

Important to vary the RPM's during the first 5,000-odd miles ... and change the original oil fill at 1,200-odd miles and then again at 5,000-odd miles ... from there it's your choice ... for me, every 6,000-odd miles using Mobile-1 5w-30 given I am in a moderate climate. Also change the Rear Differential oil @ 5,000-odd miles ... it will come out black given the gear run-in.

situman

I wouldnt worry about it at all. Just change your fluids on a regular basis and use premium if you are going to keep it.

JZZFZZ

I bought my GX from a dealer 100 miles away. I chose to take local road as much as possible but there are still about 50 miles highway, where the truck ran on mostly constant speed.

I did change the engine oil at 1000 miles.

shawngt2

I think the break-in is just extra precaution to limit warranty claims to Toyota. Apparently, it helps to go through the break in period to have the cylinder rings seat properly and that requires the initial wear to be under various loads and conditions, without going high in RPMs. I followed the recommendations to a T, but then Toyota recommends 10k oil changes and lifetime fluid for the tranny. Maybe this break-in was just to help prevent oil burning issues during the warranty period.

No point to dwell on what's done, but if it twer me, I would follow it now as you are still in the break in period. You might want to extent to 1,500 miles and then change the oil at that time but I think 1000 miles is fine. Most people don't realize but when you are breaking the engine in it isn't just metal shavings that are found in the filter, but that actual oil have high metal content and rapidly declines after the 1st 5k oil change (after the 1k break in). You want the metal out of there as it acts as an abrasive as well. Watch "The Motor Oil Geek" on YouTube. He's probably one of, if not the best sources on YouTube concerning oil. I just wish he did it full time!

Remember other tips such as don't use remote start. It's not ideal to keep an engine idling when it is cold. The general rule is to start, let the RPMs come down after a minute and then drive her patiently until she's at operating temp. It's a matter of opinion, but that's what I do religiously because of the belief that most engine wear occurs on cold starts and when the engine is not at operating temp. Also, take your shifting slow with this beast. There was one time I did a 3 point turn in a hurry and you need to let the transmission full change gear before applying the gas to prevent that thud time propulsion. I usually shift, give it 2 secs and then apply the gas.

EricGDO

This is mostly about properly seating the rings, as well as not blowing the factory finish off the cylinder walls prematurely.

Full throttle and/or top speed runs should be avoided for a bit, but more important is varying the engine speed.
You also don't want to be TOO gentle either. Drive it briskly, but don't beat on it, is what it comes down to.

I like that idea of Oil & Filter at 1,000 & 2,000, change the filter at 3,000, then go on regular 4,000-5,000 mile intervals thereafter.

At least, that's my plan for mine, which is basically the same plan I've used for decades, with the exception that oil has gotten better, weights have changed, and intervals have been pushed out. Still, the oil gets dirty just as fast, so there's an argument to be made for oil changes at 5,000 and filter changes every 2,500.

My450H

I'm also in my break-in period. Got it on 12/5/23. I was told to expect a chemical smell during the first 2000 miles from the engine being new.

I'm baby'ing the car. No hard acceleration other than 1 time on the freeway when I needed to meet a schedule, pushing 75+ mph and weaving between lanes and cars. I think it should be ok, is it?

May I ask how the first oil change (with a new filter also?) at 500 miles work (to get rid of initial factory oil?) when the dealership promises to do first and second oil changes at 5000 and 10,000 respectively for free?

Do you take the car to a private shop for the 500 mile oil change? Or what?

gregGX

I took mine to the dealer at 1,100 miles, and asked them to do the 5k oil change early, they seemed shocked that I would request such a thing... I insisted, and they ended up charging me for the oil change, as they just couldn't bear to use the 5k oil change this early. I paid a premium, should have done it myself, as it's just an oil change, but I paid the stealership fees. I got my truck last November, they did do the "5k" change at 3,4xx miles, and am taking it in for the "10k" today at 6,2xx miles, we'll see if they try to pull the shocked bs, and try to charge me again.. I would highly recommend doing the 1k oil change yourself given how easy an oil change is, after this "10k" change, I will no longer have the dealer touch my truck for such light duty items.

mountaineer

hello im new here + new to the whole thing
new owner of Gx460 2023 ..
been searching for answers for the same question !!
* should i dump the FF oil sooner !? + when !?
as of now i have excellent results to the extensive online search !!! anyone cares to know what i found out !??

Misteracng

Many would go for 1k oil change to start then 5k after that to be safe. Thats what I did. I also decided to go to 5w-30, it just seems to quiet the engine a bit more. It might be wasteful but there is no harm to changing oil as often as you like. If you have any mechanical skills I would just do it yourself. I never even went to the dealer for any of the free services. I just cant stand some dealer tech cranking on the oil filter housing. Doing it yourself, cost like 50 bucks including decent oil and an OEM filter.

Hrocks

Drive it like you stole it and change the oil around 1,000 miles. Have had four GX's, still have three. As long as you're religious about maintenance, they're bulletproof.

mountaineer

thank you very much for your help i appreciate it
from someone who has that many ..
i'm also confused about Diffs + TC
multiple conflicting advice!!
what did you do besides engine oil changes!?
what else ( besides air filters .. breaka )
anything else [ even dealersdealerships] give conflicting recommendations

thank you again for your help

mountaineer

HROCK , thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kind kind reply .. i sware im starting to believe that GXORs are special type of people.. im happy i made that decision..
you all are helping me get over multiple doubts..
bless 🙌 you ALL