recommend the best oil for Lexus GX470

[Spooner]

I am looking for some input for the best oil for my 2005 Lexus GX470. It has about 50K miles and I drive city/hwy/some trailer towing. I would like to go with a synth, but the lexus dealer told me it would just make my engine start leaking (so he put in Quaker State 5W/30 conventional).
I would also like to put some good oil in the diffs so I am interested if anyone has switched to other than stock. This site really helped me a few years ago with my VW passat (redline) so thanks

 

[chevrofreak]

Sounds like your dealer believes the myths.

 

[Audi Junkie]

I'd use MaxLife.

When you say "best", that term really only deals with extended drain intervals. Plain dino oil works just as well, just not for as long. I assume Toyota cleaned up the sludge issues by 2005. I'd use Auto-Rx, then a dino oil like Pennzoil or Havoline or just MaxLife. For diffs, Mobil 1 is good. For the trans, you need to do a lil research, but MaxLife is again a good bet. I'm using Castrol HiMi ATF in my Honder.

 

[tsmay51]

Nothing wrong with using a synthetic but depending on intervals, climate, and driving habits conventional will serve you fine.

 

[gavinl]

Hi Spooner,

I have a 2003 GX470 (non VVTi) and I typically run 6 months/5000mi OCIs with 5W30 PP, Synpower and Amsoil.

 

[Spooner]

Thanks everyone for the feedback...By best I don't necessarily need long OCIs, but just want a high quality product that will protect while towing occasionally and maybe give my engine some longevity.

Anyone using Redline? Should I use AutoRX on an engine with only 50K miles?

 

[Audi Junkie]

Dino oil is fine. Synth in itself adds basicly nothing usefull to the formula. I'd rather run some Auto-Rx in dino oil than pay for synth just to dump at 5000 miles.

 

[Mamala Bay]

Well that becomes a personal choice dino or synthetic but spending $$$ on a Lexus I like to look at the the extra protection on synthetic oil. This isn't a Toyota Corolla but a Lexus one puts value on ownership. I would use Amsoil if it was my vehicle as they do make an excellent synthetic oil product. Your Lexus is a fine tune performance vehicle ... synthetic oil would be my choice!

 

[FZ1]

Use the oem fluids. Continue to let the dealer do the oil changes with dealer fill. Change it out every 4k. Then,if the drivetrain breaks, you can scream louder. Lol.

 

[firemachine69]

Originally Posted By: FZ1
Use the oem fluids. Continue to let the dealer do the oil changes with dealer fill. Change it out every 4k. Then,if the drivetrain breaks, you can scream louder. Lol.



Of course not, they'll just brush him off as romping on the gas pedal too much.

 

[ThirdeYe]

Don't the V8's in those big Lexus SUVs wear pretty well regardless of what you use? I highly doubt it will leak if you switch to synthetic unless the motor was abused and neglected. You'd be perfectly fine if you wanted to switch it to a synthetic IMO.

 

[ekpolk]

We owned an 01 Sequoia for five years. It has the same engine (2UZ-FE 4.7L V-8). I used either Mobil-1 5w-30 or GC for its entire life with us, and it never leaked even the first drop. Unless you get a rare one with a defective seal somewhere, it won't leak. And if it did, it wouldn't, of course, be the oil's fault.

But also, if you examine this engine's UOA results, you'll see that it appears to be almost wear-free and that it seems to do almost nothing at all to the oil that's used in it. In other words, you can use a synthetic if you want to, but unless you're doing something very special and demanding, you do not need a synthetic.

 

[Audi Junkie]

Thank you.

 

[Spooner]

"But also, if you examine this engine's UOA results, you'll see that it appears to be almost wear-free and that it seems to do almost nothing at all to the oil that's used in it."

Now I like hearing that! But I might switch to a good quality synth anyway...just to feel better when I occasionally tow a trailer or go a little too long between oil changes. (I just have to tweak everything, I just can't let it be)