95bat

So has anyone gone to synthetic and do oil changes yearly?

I only drive about 5k miles a year, been thinking about switching to synthetic and doing oil changes yearly instead of every 6 months. The ~4 hour visit to the dealership is getting really freaking old. And prices have continued to go up which is pissing me off too.

LeX2K

Why are you changing your oil every 6 months? That's excessive even if using conventional oil.

95bat

Following the maintenance schedule in the manual.

Benibiker1558

My annual mileage on synthetic comes out to just under or at 6k so it ends up being an annual oil change.

macmaster

This would be fine.

Benibiker1558

The owner's manual doesn't say 6 months, 6k miles or anything about time or distance. All it says is you'll have an indicator come on when it's time to change your oil and that all depends on how you drive your car and at what point the light will come on. My own choice is 6k miles or annually whichever comes first. For warranty purposes guess you need to change it when the light comes on although you can reset it whenever you feel like it.

95bat

It 100% says to change the oil/filter every 5,000 miles OR every 6 months, which ever comes first.

LeX2K

So if you drove 1000 miles in 6 months they want you to change the oil. That's a total waste of resources.

macmaster

Anyone who does this should consider using synthetic because synthetic takes longer to break down, compared to conventional oil.

The maintenance indicator light is based on miles, not time/months.

Y'all can do whatever you want. It's all manufacturer "suggested." Personally I think overfilling the oil or using the wrong oil viscosity is a bigger issue than deciding 6 months vs 1 year. Those mistakes have greater potential to damage your engine almost instantly if you push the car hard.

LeX2K

What exactly happens to oil when it sits? How does it break down? I own many cars and spend a small fortune on oil I change them all every year even if the car is not driven. Not scientific but the oil LOOKS like it just came out of the bottle.

Benibiker1558

I'm looking at manual now and don't see it ...

Benibiker1558

"They" say it builds up moisture kind of like your brake fluid... although I would think it burns off when you drive and heat up the oil .

TGPCanada

Let's see what popular mechanics says......

https://www.popularmechanics.com/car...old-motor-oil/

Benibiker1558

Good info and all to say, if you change your oil regularly, with oil that meets the owner's manual specifications, whether conventional oil or synthetic, you WILL NOT void your warranty no matter what those "knowledgeable" service advisors tell you .

95bat

Yes, that is what they want. I agree, waste of resources (and money), but I've been following it since they require it. Getting sick of the extra trip snd cost though.
Check out the article linked below, it's the moisture that accumulates in your oil that is bad. And I do a lot of short driving to work where my car barely heats up in the winter so the oil might not get hot enough for long enough to get the moisture to evaporate out.
Go to drivers.lexus.com and check. They list it under maintenance. It's also in the maintenance schedule in the manual.
Yup, moisture, and the engine needs to get hot enough to burn it off. Short driving, as mentioned above, is worse for oil.
Yep, moisture.

I have done yearly oil changes on the ES, RX, GS, and LS, but they all require 10k/12 month changes. I kinda want to try it in the IS and see.

I wish somebody cool at Lexus would confirm its ok if I contacted them. I would bet there's a 99.9%chance I will get the generic "follow the manual" answer though. One of the Corvette engineers used to post a lot and answer questions on the forums, Lexus needs a guy like that too.