Recommendation for 2003 Lexus GS430

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Hey guys, what would you recommend for a synthetic oil for a '03 Lexus GS430 (4.3 liter V8). California car. Has 75K miles on it. It's now driven about 5K miles per year (city driving) and it generally sits a lot. It's only had factory Lexus Oil (whatever they use) its whole life. What I'm trying to accomplish is LONG intervals between oil changes (since it sits a lot). I was thinking Pennzoil Ultra 5W-30 (5W-30 is the factory dino oil rating too)

Oil filter wise, I was gonna go with Royal Purple Extended Life. Cons? Overkill?
 
You'll be more than fine with the PU.

My recommendation would be to leave it in for a year, then send a sample to the lab for a used oil analysis to see where you stand.

Then post the UOA for us.
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Lexus/Toyota V8 engine is very easy on oil, any 5W30 synthetic on sale will do once a year oil change with Purolator Pure 1 oil filter with your mileage, I think you can use PL20195.
 
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Lexus/Toyota V8 engine is very easy on oil, any 5W30 synthetic on sale will do once a year oil change with Purolator Pure 1 oil filter with your mileage, I think you can use PL20195.
+1 what he said. We see a few Lexus in for service with 300-400k miles on them(original motors)
 
Thanks for the info guys. Yeah, I've always heard (from factory Lexus mechanic buddies of mine) that the 1UZ-FE and 3UZ-FE are very solid motors all around.

Jacek, sorry for my bad wording, what I meant is that all the oil changes consisted of OEM Lexus oil and OEM Lexus Oil Filters (whatever they normally use). The GS has had regularly scheduled oil changes since day one.
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I ordered both a PureOne and Royal Purple Extended Life filter for the GS430 so I'll flip a coin when I do the oil change.
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The PureOne part number that came up for me was PL10241. I think the PL20195 might be for the 2JZ-GE motor (3L I6) in the GS300 (also the SC300)

I'd also be interested in seeing the UOA too so I may just do what John suggested.
 
Ah ok, I'll pick up a PL20195 and see if it'll fit (length wise). Would I need to add a little more oil to make up for the extra capacity of the longer filter?
 
So I went with HTSS's first suggestion and I picked up some "on sale" synthetic oil. Pepboys had a DIY deal...5qt container of Castrol Edge Black bottle and a PureOne filter for $29.99 (member price). I decided the longer filter was probably unnecessary as MarkStock stated considering how this car is used so I picked up the OEM size PL10241.

Any thoughts on Castrol Edge Black Bottle (CEBB?)

I was also looking at the Royal Purple filters and compared them to Mobil 1 Ext. Perf. filter and w/o taking them apart, I believe they are the same filter. Had the same "AA" stamp on the bottom and everything looked the same down the way the metal parts were stamped (minus the color of course). Can anyone confirm this? Don't want to pay a extra $2 for the same filter.

Also, any thoughts on the Puralator Synthetic filters? As good as the RP/M1EP?
 
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uzs161,

I also own a 2003 GS430 with about 93,000 miles on it - I have owned it since new. I am in a similar situation in that it does not see that much use - perhaps 8-10K miles per year.

Up until recently, I used Mobil 1 Extended Performance 5W-30. If you buy it from Wal-mart in the 5 quart jug, it's cost competitive with just about anything out there.

I recently switched to Amsoil Signature Series 5W-30. My intent is to change it once a year.

I have used Mobil 1 M1-209 filters since the car was new, and will continue to do so.

This engine is very easy on oil, as others have noticed. I do tend to agree any decent synthetic will do well in this engine given the type of service you are experiencing.
 
Great, thanks for the info btanchors! I'll have to check out Wally world to see what they have.
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Anyone have experience with Castrol Edge w/Syntec (not Ti)?
 
So I decided to do a full flush of my GS. I put about 2000 miles on it while doing all of this and ended by doing a 700 mile road trip. Here's what happened...

Fuel System - So every so often, I would get some sort of fuel starvation where I would loose power but if I punched the gas pedal, it would come right back. This usually happened on the freeway when when I was going at a constant speed (kinda odd). So right off the bat, I ran about about three tanks worth of Chevron 91 gas w/Redline SI-1 to clean out the fuel injectors (and then stuck with Chevron 91 for the rest of the way). Seems to have worked as that problem hasn't surfaced since. On my road trip over the holidays (700 miles, mostly highway), it never happened and I even tried to induce it...so I'm going to call success on this one.

Transmission - Just before my road tip, I also did full trans flush using Valvoline MaxLife and then added Lubegard ATF Protectant...WHAT A DIFFERENCE. It felt like I had a brand new transmission! I mean the transmission wasn't horrible before, it had a a rare touch of "clunkiness" every so often and it felt like I wasn't getting full power to the ground (maybe slippage?) After the change, all that went away and the transmission felt INCREDIBLY smooth and full power was restored....incredible difference.

Engine - When I first started driving the car again, I did a motor oil "flush" of sorts. I did a $17 "coupon" oil change using Kendall Synthetic Blend with a quart of MMO and whatever filter they put on there. I clocked about 2000 miles on it and then changed the motor oil to Pennzoil Ultra (5W30) with a standard size Mobil 1 (M1-102) filter. I don't know if the Kendall Syn Blend/MMO thing did anything (oil/MMO mix came out pretty clean looking) but the end result with Pennzoil Ultra seems to be pretty good. Engine is smooth and quiet.

Tires - So I ended up buying some 17" OEM wheels for this car (I originally bought it with OEM 16" wheels from the dealer). The tires that came on the 17's were pretty shot so I bought some new Kumho Ecsta LX Platinum (235/45) and I have to say, they are VERY good. Since purchasing the tires, I've put 1000 miles on them with half of that being in rain. They grip very well (wet or dry)...they're very smooth and also very quiet. Definitely would recommend them for general passenger car type usage. Pretty inexpensive too.

Conclusion - I have to say, it was a pleasure to drive this car again. It literally felt like a new car. Even my cousin and a friend of mine (in different instances) asked me how old the car was. They couldn't believe that a decade old car could drive so smoothly and so quietly.

I also wanted to thank all the folks in this thread and the forum in general. I have learned A LOT here!
 
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