xfirechief

Have used SYNTHETIC OIL since 5K & no such residue, just plain clean.

lexigirl06

i have pics that taken today when i read this forum,
i'll bring my car nex monday to dealer and let you guys know
what this is .

cdnewton

Good photo.

Our RX330 (purchased new in November 2003) has the exact same thing and I have used Mobil 1 with oil changes approximately every 5-6,000 miles (up until 60,000 miles) and Pennzoil Platinum (synthetic) since then. Perhaps others will disagree, but from my discussions with Lexus, it is normal for the baffle to have that residue.

Our ES300 (99 V6) had the same residue.

But, for peace of mind, it wouldn't hurt to have the dealer check it out.

TunedRX300

Lexigirl06
I agree with cdnewton, oil left on the baffle has no circulation so it is cooked. I would be more concerned if the sludge is inside your engine, that is why dealer pulling the valve cover is important.
My RX300 has the same thing, it turned out there is minor sludge in the engine. Several RX300 owners have used Auto-RX to slowly disolve the sludge (see dfish's picture after draining oil used after Auto-RX treatment). In your case, go for the dealer route first.

jfelbab

My o4 doesn't seem to exhibit that. It was pretty dark but with a flashlight it looked clean and I rubbed my finger around and there was nothing loose or gritty there. I'll be interested to hear what others observe.

Lextranny

Here are some pictures I took. But, when I ran my fingers through....I don't see any residues.

Lextranny

Another shot...

Lextranny

last one...

Lextranny

Lexigirl06,

How often you change your oil? and what brand of oil you use?

lexigirl06

just the regular schedule , sometimes its more often , i have only 50k and used only castrol oil.

Lextranny

Castrol Synthetic?

lexigirl06

UPDATE !

I went to dealer this Am and they said it is normal condition when an oil got burned . they even showed me (pics) the difference of using regular oil and synthetic oil. They suggest using synthetic oil. there is nothing they can do about the black sandy stuff but scraped and use synthetic oil .

sd3109

This is from my 2002 rx300 with 70k miles...on the last oil change I substituted out a quart of oil (I used the cheapest for the first change) for a bottle of marvel mystery oil. I honestly have no idea what this is or why it is there, but hopefully this post helps identify what this is among the community...