MikeE12345

My new 2011 LS460 AWD is scheduled for delivery to the dealership Feb 2nd. Could anyone advise me as to what break in procedures would be wise to follow. I plan to keep this car 10+ years and so want to treat it especially well.

whitetooth

All you need to do is ride her 10+ years. I did it with my LS400 16 years, gas & oil was needed, that's it. Perhaps some new sparks, a belt, brake pads one day in a few years. You will ride until all the others own electric cars, not longer. This will not happen a second time.

MikeE12345

Thanks whitetooth. Reliability and value were the two selling points for me on this luxury ride. Reasonable performance is enough for my needs.

I believe electrical will be a long time off. We will need a giant leap in infrastructure including power generation and distribution for electrical to capture a significant share of the market. Hydrogen does offer the best long term benefits I think.

JFNash

Change oil regularly as per schedule. Use fully synthetic oil only with filter. Never leave it until it's long overdue.
Change differential/transmission fluid regularly as per schedule (forget which one has to be changed. RWD doesn't require change).
Change radiator fluid every 100K miles.

MikeE12345

I was wondering about the use of synthetic oil and, although not required by Lexus, comments on this forum seem to indicate it is worth the extra expense so I will do so.

I thought that, at least for the LS460 AWD, both the differential and transmission are sealed units that require regualar inspection but not regular fluid changes. I will check with the dealer.

Thanks for the input.

cheez80

iTrader: (1)

some say to drive the car as hard as possible (but always within the manufacturer's break-in guidelines), as this will help seat components within the engine. anecdotal evidence suggests you might get better gas mileage, less blow-by, and better longevity if you drive it hard. i haven't tried this on my own cars yet (i haven't yet had the fortune of buying a car brand new), so i can't really confirm whether this is good advice or not. good luck!

OBRon

By all means, use rapid acceleration to the speed limit fairly often for the first 20 miles or so. Avoid high engine RPM and high speeds for the first 600 miles. No panic stops during that time unless you have to.

As for synthetic oil, it's unnecessary if changed every 6 months or 6,000 miles under normal driving conditions. Synthetic is good for longer change intervals but a waste of money if you follow manufacturer's recommendation and don't push the engine too much at extremes of heat or cold. What's more important is the weight. For most geographic locations, 5W20 is best year round. Use 0W20 in the coldest locations during winter. The 5W20 provides better wear protection.

I got my LS 460L a few weeks ago after waiting nearly 3 months for the special order and I usually keep cars for 10+ years. My previous car is a 1998 Mercury Sable LS with a 200 hp Duratec V6 that still runs perfectly after nearly 13 years. I used standard 5W30 changed every 3 or 4 months.

More info on oil: Choosing the Right Engine Oil - Cars.com

More info on breaking in a new car: Answers.com - How should you 'break-in' a new car

Teach

Mike, it is my belief that the best advice on how to break-in your new LS is to follow the advice from the manufacturer in the Owner's Manual. (Besides the volume that comes with the car, it's also available on the Lexus Owner's site.) I have NEVER had an engine go bad following the advice of those who designed and built my cars....and I've own at least 15 new cars over the years.
As for oil changes, have you ever heard of anyone having oil related engine problems following the advice of the manufacturer? I have not...except for a 1986 Ford that I had that kept leaking until after several tries at repairing it, they finally replaced block under extended warranty at nearly 100,000 miles.

Probably the most important thing it says in the manual regarding break-in is NOT to drive at constant engine speeds when it's new, and don't red-line it.

I have a special ordered 2010 AWD LS that took about 5 months to get, and it has met all my expectations over the first 4000 miles of ownership....though I admit I LOVED the simple automatic gear selection lever on my previous 2008 BMW better than any I've ever driven over the last 50 years. There is NO convoluted shift path on the console....no path at all.

I drove around northeast WI in my LS a few weeks ago purposely looking for deep snow to drive in, and even with the standard tires was very impressed with the AWD.

Good luck with your new car. Mine, knock on wood, has been trouble free. No transmission problems and no wind noise problems and getting higher than the EPA rating on the highway most of the time.

TEACH

MikeE12345

Thanks for the input and interesting links. I will follow the manual and avoid hight revs and long trips at a constant speeds. Otherwise just take it "easy" for the first 1,000 km or so. As for oil, I will change the oil every 6 mths (mileage won't be high enough to trigger more frequent changes) and swap out the rims/tires at the same time. I will have Telios's for the summer and OEM for the winter. As for synthetic oil I don't know. At the least the only downside seems to be the cost.

Teach - looks like another opportunity for snow driving with this massive winter storm bearing down on us tomorrow!! Guess when my new car is scheduled for arrival at the dealer - you got it, tomorrow. I don't expect to take it myself until late this week or early next.

Nospinzone

You also need to break-in the brakes. On new cars and cars with new pads/rotors, you should brake gradually for the first 500 miles or so in order to avoid developing hard spots on the pads. Hard braking on new pads can later lead to that grab-release sensation when braking.





If you have the Mark Levinson system, another little known fact is you have to break-in each of the 19 speakers. The best way to do this is play only classical music for the first 20 hours. Then you can gradually expand to pop music, then country/western, then rap, and finally heavy metal!

MikeE12345

Thanks for the additiona information about brakes Nospinzone. Does the parking brake need any consideration?

As for the ML system, I am surprised. No problem however since over 95% of my CD collection is classical. Actually, I always thought that classical music has a particularily large dynamic range. Try listening to an opera. In any case I'm not a good candidate to "expand" to rap or heavy metal genres.

03LX470

Just curious how many miles it had after 16 years. This is the longest I've heard anyone owning a car. It will be good info to convince myself to keep my car longer than the usual 2-3 years

MikeE12345

03LX470 - I'll get back to you in 16 years!!

Nospinzone

Well, my Infiniti Q45a will be 16 years old this July. It has 184,000 miles on it right now. Like whitetooth's LS, this car never needed more than normal maintenance. It never had any warranty type repair.

It is looking a little long in the tooth (no pun intended whitetooth) with 16 years of wear, but it starts and runs as if it were brand new. The nice thing about it is it allows me to take my LS off the road in this long and SALTY winter here in New England!

03LX470

Just curious what's the highest mileage people on the forum have got...they might be people out there with more mileage but they may not be on the forum!