RA073123

just got a used 2001 rx300 with 87k on it. should i change the oil from conventional oil to synthetic? i've read elsewhere on other forums that if i change it from regular oil to synthetic it would be bad for the gaskets.. what do you guys think? also i wanted to flush the transmission... what fluid do you guys use for you transmission?

code58

tito- You're only going to get one man's opinion here but it does come from a lifetime of working in the automotive field. Today's conventional dino oils are the best in history and are VERY good. Do you realize that a lot of if not most synthetics are derived from dino-modified and more highly refined. That may be a little oversimplified but nonetheless true. My personal feeling is the average vehicle owner today will only notice one difference from the use of synthetic oil- a lighter wallet. If you drive 10k- 15k a year and only want to change once a year-use synthetic, otherwise use a good dino and change on a regular basis. You will have no problem going 300k to 400k using dino if you take good care of your vehicle. It will be some other problem that takes you out before that- not because dino is inadaquate.
As far as trans. fluid, I would use what it calls for- Toyota ATF type T-IV It's a very good fluid and before this spike in crude prices I bought it at the local Toyota dealer for about $4. a quart rather than the Lexus dealer who wanted $7. a quart. Same fluid, says Toyota on the bottle, not Lexus. I prefer to pull the pressure line to the rad. cooler and let it pump it out and refill the pan each time until the fluid comes out pretty pink. That way the whole thing is changed at one time. Some guys change only what's in the pan several times until it gets pink but I prefer to know it's all new at one time and be done with it. (First, pull the pan and clean it and the screen if it is the original screen) If it has been replaced with a paper type filter, change it when you have the pan pulled. The original screen filter does not ever need to be changed, only washed. Good Luck with whatever you decide.

AlexusAnja

Motor oil is 5W-30 weight and I use synthetic. Take it for what it's worth, but I've used synthetic on my '92 Teg and it's running strong still at 220K. I used on my '95 Civic up to 210K when I sold it and it's still running. Recently got sold by my friend at 270K to some guy who was going to send it to Africa.

Transmission fluid, use the Toyota Type IV fluid, not much more expensive than regular "joe" fluids from auto shops.

code58

Alexus- I would never argue against synthetic oil- just don't think it's necessary with today's oils. My SIL had a Dodge van that she bought new with the 318 CI. My brother could never get it away from her long enough to do the needed maintenance (5k oil changes). She traded it with 360k and it had never had the heads or pan off. Still ran good- and had never had anything but whatever she picked up to put in the cart at Costco in regular dino oil. She didn't even worry about what brand she got.
You should Google "Million Mile Van". I believe it's a 97 ford 3/4 ton E-250. The last time I checked it had 1 million 30 thousand miles on regular dino (I believe he uses Valvoline), and has never had the heads or pan off! There are a lot of them out there that have miles that would make yours look like low mileage, that have never used anything but whatever dino was on sale, without ever having the heads or pan off. Synthetic is good, but in this day and age with the excellent oils we have probably does more to reduce the size of your bank account than to extend the life of your engine.

By the way my SIL's current Dodge van has 180k+, never been touched and runs like a top, with the same whatever I grab to throw in the cart case of dino oil.

RA073123

Looks lke I'm sticking to conventional oil. lot of people are saying the some thing about synthetic.. its expensive.. and the regular oil is the best its ever been.. what brand does everyone here use?

lexus114

Yeah but the Synthetic oil is really catching on to the general public,so that might cut future production of conventional oil.Of course that will probably be way in the future.

code58

titogreggy- You're going to get a lot of different opinions here so take them as such, mine included. I have used Castrol for at least 20 years and I have never used a finer oil for a regular dino oil. (that's all I use, reg. dino) I am meticulous about my maintenance and not only do my vehicles not use any oil, but the thing I am most impressed with is the inside of the engine continues to look absolutely like the day it was brand new, regardless of the miles. I do 3k mi. oil and filter changes but realize the oil could easily go twice those miles and the interior of the engine still look the same. I can still buy the 5 qt. container at Wal-mart for $10.36 so one of the best oils made is still a bargain to me. Good luck on whatever you choose.

RA073123

i've used synthetic on my acura legend since 70k and its still running great pushing 190k today. i've used only mobile 1 but i know there are others.. what about synth blends?

AlexusAnja

I can agree with that. In most applications, I would say conventional is fine as long as you don't go too long between changes (i.e. 8000 miles). Since it can't be denied that synthetic is better (how much better, who knows), then using synthetic is like insurance. Like any insurance, the best thing is that you never see the use for it. I've used synthetic always on my vehicles, I have never had engine issues, so I'll continue to use it.

Also, from a cost standpoint, for me, it's not really that big of any issue. I DIY my oil changes, so for me it costs about $28 for synthetic, oil and filter. The same would cost about $18 for dino. Over 100K at 3K intervals, I'm only saving about $333 and that's over five years, which averages to about $67/year. What am I going to do with that in the grand scheme of things, eat an extra two dinners? If we increase the interal to 5K, that's a savings of $200 or $40/year.

Everything comes down to how much you want to baby your car and what's the return on investment. For a $40K+ car, I would not think twice about putting in a little "engine insurance" given the previously calculated "savings." For a $15K car, maybe not so much (although I did use synthetic on my '95 Civic also thorugh it's life with me).

As for your sisters Dodge, good for her. I think Dodge engines are fine, it's their tranny's that have issues. We had a '90 Plymouth Voyager, used dino oil and it ran fine up to 102K with no issues, but the tranny blew so we totalled it.

lexus114

code,you don`t want to do any more than 3,000 miles on conventional oil in the 1mzfe motor.Or you will be another statistic.(re:sludge)

lexus114

It probably had the A604 tranni. in it.AKA a-sicko-4.If it was the overdrive trans,that is what you had.They had trans cooler`s on them as well (on the minivans) and still had very high failure rates.Actually,the A604 had a lot of symptom`s as our U140`s.They just sometimes quit with out any rime or reason.Chryslers failure problem was due to rushing this transmission into production,and not properly testing it out.They were lacking an overdrive trans.and had hoped this would fulfill their needs.It did,but at a cost of a lot of failures.

hcfarm

thank you all for your input.
jon

code58

L-114, Interesting thing is for most of the miles on the RX (it's my DIL's car, I'm just the mechanic), my son,who is a spectacular son but didn't get my mechanical DNA, has been responsible for the maintenance and the oil was generally changed at quick oil change places at about 5k mi. Sometimes he would change it but often didn't have the time. I pulled the front valve cover and lower oil pan at about 120k just to make sure there wasn't any sludge and there wasn't but there was varnish. Even when I have changed the oil I used Pennzoil most of the time because I had a couple cases given to me and had no use for it. I have always been fussy about oil brands and never go for cheap, just happens that the Castrol is cheap at WM.
Also, don't know what trans. the Dodge van had in it (these were both full size vans),but it went 250k before my brother overhauled it the 1st. time and then at 300k the rebuilt TC he put in at 250k went bad and he had to replace it again. I know Dodge has had LOT of trans. problems but at least she hasn't. For those of you who believe that synthetic is a necessity, you need to read again, (or for the 1st. time) "Million Mile Van". It may be apples and oranges but how would you like to go 50k on an oil change, with dino and still be rolling along at 1M,40K without ever pulling the heads or pan? Good luck to all!

lexus114

Re;Transmissions,I know this may be a little off subject,The A604 was the fwd trans axle not the full size van transmission.It is a shame that automakers today build one hell of an engine,(probably better than they ever were)but can`t build a transmission to last much past 100-120,000 miles.Or sometimes not even 80,000 miles in the 99-01 RX.

miltonlin

You hit the nail on the head
It is insurance and peace of mind for me. Toyota/Lexus oweners have had their 1MZFE engines sludge, even when they claimed to change the oil regularly. Neglect or design flaw? The design flaw to me is the location of the oil filter - perfect spot to burn yourself on the exhaust manifold and a leaky mess.

Not really important to me, but it is an indication that this car MAY need something more than what Dino provides. I had started using M1 synthetic before all the sludge stories came out anyway.

I'll stick with M1 for the life of the car until someone says otherwise. I tried to keep the same M1 super synthetic everytime, but then M1 changed their formula too The manual stating oil change and transmission fluid change intervals just was worthless.