2015 Lexus ES350 - Castrol 0w/30 6000 miles

[Scout1]

First sample on this Lexus. Mostly highway driving as we took a road trip this summer down through California, Death Valley then East through Arizona, Colorado and the Dakotas and back West to Seattle. Doesn't get much better than this I think... This is the Belgian Castrol. The engine calls for 0w20 but driving down in the desert I felt more comfortable with the 30 wt. It hit 120 degrees F while coming out of Death Valley to the East. And I'm just using the regular Toyota filter on this car.

 

[spiderbypass]

Just bought some of this oil from Amazon-currently have deal for 6quarts 41.27-going to put in 2000 Lexus LS400. Report looks excellent-seems like Belgian Castrol either uses Calcium exclusively slightly lower calcium or mixed with magnesium. Relatively rare 0w30 with 3.5 and solid additive package.

 

[edyvw]

Guys, this is not ILSAC GF-5 or 6. This is ACEA A3 oil, very heavy W30, almost W40 oil. It is darling among Euro owners, and absolut overkill in Lexus ES350.
You can run this oil 10k no problems.

 

[Impatient]

I like that oil, though not sure how necessary (or appropriate) it is for your Lexus. (Don’t tell your dealer you used Mercedes/Audi/BMW oil in your Lexus).

From what little I know, it’s worked well for 30k in an oil abuser Subaru turbo, well out of warranty, that specs heavier oil than your Lexus...in Texas.

What is your normal fill? Or is THIS your “normal?” Interesting that you chose it (though I see you have a BMW history). So I assume you know it is considerably different from USA A5/B5 0w30 oil (let alone 0w20), and considerably heavier, hot & cold. Then again, what’s good enough for my engine might be equally good for yours. But, no recommendations from me, only curiosity.

****edit: looks like edyvw beat me to the punch. But listen to him before me.

 

[Scout1]

I run a lot of different oils and I'm perfectly OK with going up a weight. This really is kind of a heavy 30 but I think a thicker oil does well in these V6 engines with long chains. Right now I have M1 AP 5/20 in it. I shop the Autozone sales, can you tell?

 

[CharBaby]

Nice UOA Scout1...off topic!

BTW, how is your fuel economy in the ES?
The reason that I ask is that, I have a buddy with the same year ES and he claims 38 mpg on the hiwy as he does lots of hiwy driving. I always thought he was exaggerating his mpg figures and I've never heard of any others with same EX getting as good as he is.

He and I also had(previously) 1st gen Lexus RX300 at the same time and his mpg numbers were shattering anything that I could get on my best tankfuls.

I drive all of my vehicles easily enough so that I can get those better fuel economy numbers but, I can't seem to match his figures even on my best day even though I am within my EPA numbers per vehicle.

What say you?

CB

 

[Scout1]

Nice UOA Scout1...off topic!

BTW, how is your fuel economy in the ES?
The reason that I ask is that, I have a buddy with the same year ES and he claims 38 mpg on the hiwy as he does lots of hiwy driving. I always thought he was exaggerating his mpg figures and I've never heard of any others with same EX getting as good as he is.

He and I also had(previously) 1st gen Lexus RX300 at the same time and his mpg numbers were shattering anything that I could get on my best tankfuls.

I drive all of my vehicles easily enough so that I can get those better fuel economy numbers but, I can't seem to match his figures even on my best day even though I am within my EPA numbers per vehicle.

What say you?

CB

Nah, they're good, but they're not that good! For this trip I was around 30 mpg average due to the high mountain passes and high speed driving in a lot of the areas we travelled through. I did an earlier run down I-5 from Seattle to Northern California and back, trip average was 32 mpg. You may see 38 mpg on a favorable segment (low speed, downhill, tail wind) but probably not a whole tank full...

 

[KCJeep]

Great shear resistance and more Ti than I've ever seen in Castrol, it's usually closer to 40 ppm.

 

[Impatient]

I used to be able to get this oil (Castrol BC 0w30) for ~$5 / qt when Pep Boys had a Castrol sale...buying 5 qts. No more, however, after no source whatsoever for awhile (tho I had a “stash”), I recently found it for $7 ea at Advanced Auto (=Pep Boys...but not my normal location)...same 5 qt with throwaway filter “package deal.” Hopefully Castrol / dealer’s will “up” the availability, so price / availability doesn’t deteriorate further....now that a bunch of Toyota/Lexus users will jump on board. I’m not sure I like the 0w40 as much, but I guess not the end of the world.

 

[edyvw]

I used to be able to get this oil (Castrol BC 0w30) for ~$5 / qt when Pep Boys had a Castrol sale...buying 5 qts. No more, however, after no source whatsoever for awhile (tho I had a “stash”), I recently found it for $7 ea at Advanced Auto (=Pep Boys...but not my normal location)...same 5 qt with throwaway filter “package deal.” Hopefully Castrol / dealer’s will “up” the availability, so price / availability doesn’t deteriorate further....now that a bunch of Toyota/Lexus users will jump on board. I’m not sure I like the 0w40 as much, but I guess not the end of the world.

0W40 is "heavier" brother of 0W30. Still, 0W30 in my Tiguan ran smoother than 0W40.

 

[BrewCityR]

Nice UOA. I just purchased a '17 ES350 and love it so far.

I did plan to run some 0w20 for 5k or less, but now I may reconsider. I do realize these 2GR-FE engines were originally spec'd for 5w30 in the late 2000s, early 2010s.

 

[edyvw]

Nice UOA. I just purchased a '17 ES350 and love it so far.

I did plan to run some 0w20 for 5k or less, but now I may reconsider. I do realize these 2GR-FE engines were originally spec'd for 5w30 in the late 2000s, early 2010s.

Here is my UOA in 2GR-Fe using M1 5W30 EP. Oil pretty much did not shear at all.

 

[Artem]

Here is my UOA in 2GR-Fe using M1 5W30 EP. Oil pretty much did not shear at all.

How do you know it didn’t shear in the first 8,000 miles and then start to thicken up towards the end?

 

[edyvw]

How do you know it didn’t shear in the first 8,000 miles and then start to thicken up towards the end?

Oxidation is low.