Color is not an indication of oil effectiveness, just isn't. Send a sample for UOA, that's the only way to know for sure if an oil is still capable of doing it's job...
There's nothing wrong with 10k oil changes with a reputable oil on the GX...

 

I run a Fram Ultra, but yeah, the price is stupid especially for not being a full can filter. The one for my F150 is a spin on and is like $6 cheaper.

I plan to run the Ultra for two OCI's though. Oh and I am gunna run 10W-30 Supertech this next change

 

Lexus says: Synthetic oil ordinarily should be changed every 7,500 - 10,000 miles. Just curious, has anyone changed their synthetic oil/filter in brand new car around 3-5,000 for the FIRST time? How often do you change your synthetic oil? I’m thinking metal has worn off while mating surfaces were established and those metal scraps need to be removed from engine before they cause long-term damage. I’m new to synthetic oil, I’m used to changing conventional oil every 3,000 miles. Just trying to be proactive by taking good care of the car/engine. Thanks

 

This question is like pulling the pin out of a grenade and rolling it out into the middle of the (forum) table !

FOR ME ... on a new GX460 ... I change the oil and filter at 1,200 miles, 5,000 miles and every 6,000 miles thereafter using Mobil-1 Extended Performance ... and switch to 5w-30 or 10w-30 versus the recommended 0w-20 given Toyota for the exact same engine in other countries does not recommend 0w-20 as the Cafe Standard effectively dictates here in the states.

 

It was part duh-senior moment. So be better prepared.

And it was a heads up to not believe the previous maintenance records.

I had a 2 similar situations.
One with a Kawasaki motorcycle I bought used. It took 3 full oil changes to get it clear.
The other was a Subaru Forester. I had to pump/dump the transmission 4 times just to get it to go red.
Ran the last one about 100 miles and dumped it again. GTG.

 

Yeah, I would do an early change after 1 or 2 thousand like stated above.

I am also switching to a 10W-30 like ASE said. I use it to tow here in UT so I want a stouter oil. If you look at the overseas owners manuals they allow anything up to 20W-50 in our engines. The thicker oil won't hurt anything other than a very small hit in MPG's. Like 0.1%.

My plan is to run Supertech Advance Synthetic 10W-30 in the summer(although I did just score 10 quarts of the Mobil 1 EP 10W-30 for $15 with the rebate they are running right now) and the Supertech Full-syn 0W-20 in the winter. Ill just change it each spring and fall.

 

Firstly, this is gonna be a hotly debated topic, no matter what, and I don't want to argue, but to share my experience. I have a 2014 GX460 and a 2018 GX460. The 2014 is at 142,000 miles now. Until 130k it was serviced only at the dealer under manufacturer service intervals. This means oil was changed every 10,000 miles. After 130k I began to take it to an independent shop and have been doing oil changes every 5k but not particularly out of necessity, but just because it isn't that expensive and there is no point in not doing it in my case. I have made it this far primarily on 10k oil change intervals and I don't feel like the engine has degraded at all in comparison to my 2018 which has only 15k miles. Again this is a very subjective response and a definite way to get an answer would be a Blackstone oil analysis. Regardless, i wouldn't worry too much about going to 10000 miles on modern full synthetic oil. It has not caused me any problems but your mileage may vary.

 

If I bought ours new I would have changed it at 1k , 3k 6k and 10k with used oil analysis each time….then every year or 10k thereafter whatever comes first.

I see the argument for switching to a different viscosity oil however Lexus wouldn’t recommend an oil that jeopardized the QDR (what their entire brand is built on) of one of their premiere gas guzzling SUVs over a few tenths of a mpg…. Toyota sells corollas and camrys and Prius’s (and a lot more of them) to offset the truck and suv poor mpg performance as a manufacturer. So for me it’s a push on this point… Do what allows you to sleep at night , either way if something does go wrong, you’ll never be able to determine or prove it was the oil that caused it… (but Lexus might be able to because you’ll be damn sure they’ll take an oil sample for analysis). I get used oil analysis to monitor engine wear (because I’m an engineer/nerd and like seeing the data), nothing abnormal so far noted at all.

 

My FJ Cruiser has had 0W20 Mobil One Extended Performance changed at 10K miles. It is now at 131K miles, and doesn't burn a drop of oil between changes. I wouldn't worry about 0W20.

 

Not living in Minnesota anyway ! How about in Arizona ?

 

Exactly. Or Texas.

 

I live in Texas, no issues here thru 2 summers, but we are moving to VA this fall so no more crazy hot summers or crazy cold winters (grew up in PA) thank goodness.

this grenade has exploded many times on this forum as @ASE has stated.

Do what ya want… whatever you do a used oil analysis is cheap price of mind and a decent monitoring tool for any abnormal engine wear.

 

Without question, stop using conventional oil. That debate has been settled. I would even argue it costs less money to use synthetic oil than it does conventional and more frequent oil changes. Without even talking about how synthetic causes less wear and tear on your engine, slightly better fuel economy, and runs cooler.

When I bought my car new, I changed it at 5k miles. Supposedly that's not how things work anymore, tolerances are tighter and they used to put things like "break in" oil from the factory, but I did it anyway. Probably makes zero difference. I then go 8k to 10k miles.

I'm in the 5w-30 camp, I think the zero weight stuff is CAFE silliness to eek out a number to satisfy DC bureaucrats at the expense of engine wear. If it really was better, they'd recommend that weight it in every country.

 

I wouldn't put too much stock into judging oil by its color.

But I do agree 12k-15k between changes is too long, I like around 8k miles. Recommendations for the really long intervals might work with something like all highway miles, but stop and go and short trips it can create sludge issues.

I just buy a few OEM filters and try to always have one on hand, Bell Lexus has them on Ebay for a good price, around $6.

 

I just do 5k mile changes with my "boutique oil" as some claim :-)

In all seriousness... I've used Amsoil for the better part of 20 years and it has worked for me. Perhaps it wasn't the best reason to stay with it but one of my snowmobiles blew out a gear case cover from a factory loose bolt and was still able to drive back over 80 miles on an empty gear case with no further damage. Still runs fine today after many thousand more miles and that was 18 years ago.

I did what ASE did on oil changes for new vehicle on my '07 Infiniti G35x and it doesn't use any noticeable oil between oil changes at 110k miles. That being said I have a little '15 CX-5 and I do use the Mazda OEM moly oil and it also doesn't use anything but it only has 65k miles.

Probably can't go wrong with any synthetic these days..... I thought I was doing something special 30 years ago putting in conventional Castrol GTX :-)



Just my $.02 and opinion