spinellib

When I first read this in the manual, I thought it was a misprint. 1.1 quarts per 600 miles is acceptable to Toyota?!
I thought maybe it was supposed to be 1.1 qts per 6000 miles, but even that is kinda lousy for a modern car, in my opinion. I have a 20 year old Lincoln Navigator that doesn't burn any oil. I especially like the part about a newer car consuming more oil. Okay, maybe for the first few thousand miles there's a "break-in" for rings, etc. But 1.1 qts per 600 miles?!?!
I understand this is Toyota stating the "extreme," but it's still quite odd to me. If this was 1955 or even 1975, I could understand this being in the manual.

My RX350 doesn't consume any significant amount of oil between oil changes; the reading on the dipstick is always the same.
Does your RX burn oil? If so, how much?
Also, what does the RX330 manual say about consumption?



The only oil I lose is tiny amounts of seeping in the usual places such as valve covers, which is expected for a 12 year old car. Recently I did re-gasketed the oil pan because it was leaving a couple of drops of oil on the garage floor. A "normal" leak for a 12 year old car, but it was an easy repair, so I did it.

matts6887

ive had my 07 rx350 for over 4 years now and thankfully thus far there hasnt been any oil consumption that is unusual and not even any at all. And i hope for my sake i dont encounter that. As far as any oil leaks; fortunately i havent had any yet but mine is slowly going on 14 years old and so i would expect any day now for there for be a slight seepage or leak starting in one or both valve covers and or the timing chain cover and or the oil pan gasket

cdnewton

Not just Toyota/Lexus covering themselves. 1 quart every 1,000 miles is a pretty common statement from several manufacturers. For example:

Audi, BMW, and Subaru stick firmly to the statement that oil consumption is a normal part of a car’s operation. Subaru considers a quart burned every 1,000 to 1,200 miles to be acceptable. Certain Audi and BMW cars’ standards state that a quart burned every 600 to 700 miles is reasonable. I used to own a Audi V6 and 2.0T and both used oil.

In a recent technical service bulletin, Audi recommended that “the customer always have a spare quart of engine oil in case the engine oil needs topping off while on the road.”

BMW outlines such consumption as part of its manufacturer specifications. You can even purchase a traveling case for oil, to affix in the car’s trunk. “Oil consumption is normal on all engines,” BMW spokesman Hector Arellano-Belloc said in an e-mailed statement. “BMW vehicles have long intervals between oil changes (10,000 miles). BMW engines (excluding the BMW M) may consume up to one quart of engine oil per 750 miles under certain driving conditions.” He added that BMW’s M performance models may consume even more oil than that.

Honda vehicles built between 2008 and 2013 evidently have an oil consumption problem with both 4-cylinder and 6-cylinder engines. Honda suggests that burning 1 quart of oil every thousand miles is within the normal range of oil consumption as long as the oil is topped up correctly and the recommended oil change intervals are maintained (Honda extended the engine warranty on its 2008-11 Accords and 2010-11 CR-Vs with four-cylinder engines to eight years/125,000 miles because owners experienced excessive oil consumption of up to one quart every thousand miles).

iMSQ

They just prevent themselves from being sued... )))

spinellib

Yeah, I suppose if the driver was red-lining the engine all the time.

So since this is an industry-standard disclaimer, it's interesting how they ignore the side effects of burning that much oil such as the impact on spark plugs, O2 sensors, cats, etc.
Also, is this something that US car manufacturers avoid stating in their manuals? I don't recall seeing it in any ford manuals I've owned.

Felix

This Lexus owners manual is the most detailed owners manual, I've ever seen & read....They even mention about scrapping your Lexus towards the front after all the pictures in the front. Another 50+ page manual about, lemon law & yet another about the navigation as well....Seems like they are really coving their butt, no matter what......If you have a issue, hitup your lexus dealer as mentioned a few times.

Rimbender

I have a 2004 RX 330 ( 17yrs old) with 139.000 miles. I use Wal Mart Super tech 5w 30w full Synthetic and change my oil and filter every 6000 mile. It never uses any oil and when I change it, the color of the oil looks like I just put it in the day before..It's so clean looking I almost don't want to change it.......... Lucky me

cdnewton

It is very common to assume that there is a correlation between the color of oil, and the need to change the oil; this is not necessarily the case. Many of the changes and elements your oil is exposed to will change the color (contaminants, heat cycles, additives, etc), so there is no actual way to tell if your vehicle needs to be changed by just looking at it. Having said that, depending upon driving habits, changing with synthetic oil every 6k is a good routine.
If you really want to know how the oil is handling the 6k interval, send a sample to Blackstone labs and you will get back an oil analysis report to show wear, contaminants, if the oil stayed in grade, filtration, etc.
Good luck.

iMSQ

I would recommend to try another brand - if oil doesn't change the color then it doesn't clean the engine inside. Oil should be black when you change it.

Rimbender

It's funny you brought up Blackstone. I was at the shop (my friends shop) that does all my work and told him next change I want to send a sample to Blackstone yesterday. Answer to iMSQ statement. I have used several different other oils in the past. None have come out really black. They look dark but never black.

It may be wrong but I have been told on several occasions, Black (dark) oil is not always a sign your oil needs changed. I use to use Mobil 1, it also never got very black ( dirty looking) .My reason for changing to Super Tech was price. I read several articles.that said Super tech was a fine oil and was as good as high priced oil. You tube has many videos of tests being done and results were were almost identical with Super Tech. I'm not a cheap person by any means (that is not why I use Super Tech) but I never ever let my oil changes go longer than 5 to 6000 miles. I know they say you can go 10,000 miles with the high cost oil, but I would never feel comfortable going that long in between oil changes. never. So it didn't make sence to use 10,000 mile oil (almost twice in cost) to throw out at 5 or 6 thousand miles. I know what the owners manual says about oil changes but what they say is way to long for me. I own a 2016 Cadillac XTS, 2013 Cadillac ATS (wives) 2004 Lexus RX 330, 1998 Jaguar XJL All cars get oil changes 6000 mi or less. Never has the oil been black in any of those cars when changed..No matter what oil I use A little dark ,never black Also I'm a pretty easy driver, I baby them all.
My reply ended up looking like a Super Tech comercial LOL That is not my intent . Back to the original op question None of my cars use oil in between 5000 to 6000 mile changes. 1.1 qts every 600mi seems WhaaaaaaY too much too me

spinellib

I agree. Besides, it takes me almost a year to put on 5K miles, so I don't mind changing the oil every 8-10 months.

I haven't tried Supertech oil, but recently switched back to Mobil1 from Pennzoil Ultra Platinum. It seemed a lot thinner (less viscous), to me, and I attribute a tiny oil leak at the oil pan gasket progressing from seepage to a drip to the thinner Pennzoil oil. Of course it could be coincidence and age, not the Pennzoil.

MannyS84

at least they told you upfront. I had a Camry years ago and they did not say that it would burn up a quart every month or so. I almost burned my engine out. The only thing that reduced the consumption by 50% was this, I looked it up for your vehicle:
https://www.searchforparts.com/oil-c...350-3.5l-2grfe

it's worth a try, cannot hurt plus it is a very good synthetic. My friend from way back in the day told me how it stopped the consumption in his 2006 Mustang.

hope this helps!