Lexus IS250 - 4 monthly/5000 mile oil only changes

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Hello from the UK.

Our 2006 Lexus IS250 owned since 2016 is hitting the 100,000-mile mark. At has been looked after loosely on Lexus’s annual service recommendation by Lexus. However, we have now decided the car is a keeper for the foreseeable future and I am exploring 5k intervals.

Driving style/stats for the car:
The car will now be used for mainly highway driving covering 15k a year
The car is run on BP 95Ron (standard grade in the UK) along with Archoil 6900PMax at recommended doses most fills, and double dosages following missed fills.
10k services will be carried out my specialist mechanic using Shell Helix AG 5w-30 and a genuine Denso/Toyota Oil Filter (he has a great online reputation therefore his service stamps actually mean something compared to a fastfit or Joe Bloggs backstreert garage).

Given the driving style, is a 4 month/5k interim change required or beneficial?

If an interim 4 month/5000mile change is implemented, would an oil only change suffice? The cost is £30 (DIY with PELA pump and Shell Helix AG 5W30 API SN) vs £65 (Fast Fit Change with Fuchs oil (API SM) and Mann Filter as mentioned above).

Any other tips are most welcome.

Thanks,

LL
 
The State of California Fleet Admin did many tests back in the 1990's to determine most cost effective lube regimen. They concluded that oil at each change and filter every other at 6,000 miles was the way to go.

Since they lifted the 150,000 mile mandatory auction mileage-limit; many, many fleet vehicles have gone well over 200,000. My last light truck went 258,000 before I retired. It was running fine on this schedule and had been beat on mercilessly in 4x4 off road situations for 10's of thousands of miles.

I think you'd be fine to do your proposed service. I'd prolly stretch it out to 7,500 since it's all clean road work. Filter every other is good enough with quality filters. And I know you won't be going off road in desert dust
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Filter every is marketing and only needed if you have a dirty engine... If your engine is only lightly varnished and basically clean, nothing much for the filter to do
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Those are very nice vehicles. I think following the OEM maintenance schedule is the way to go. That OEM oil filter is an excellent choice. I've use that oil filter for years. One member got tired of me mentioning that product so I vowed not to mention that brand for a year. Ten months and two days to go. Go for LL
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Dittos on the 7500 mile recommendation. You should have many more miles with that Lexus. Also, nothing wrong with those Denso filters. That’s what I have used exclusively for over 25 years now.
 
A Lexus in benign UK climate doing 70mph and below highway driving.

7500 on full synthetic is the minimum.

I don't think you need to use Archoil either.

If this is a keeper, then be sure to follow other manufacturer maintenance requirements.

Generally speaking, Toyota and Lexus go hundreds of thousands of miles with minimal maintenance using basic oil.
 
Originally Posted By: PimTac
Dittos on the 7500 mile recommendation. You should have many more miles with that Lexus. Also, nothing wrong with those Denso filters. That’s what I have used exclusively for over 25 years now.
Thanks for mention PT.Can't go wrong with that brand.
 
Would probably be fine.

I like keeping my changes at 5K just to make it easier to keep up with by watching odometer. Toyota OEM Oil filter costs me $4.50 so I change it every oil change.
 
I have one and its nice but...........I'd change oil every 5k bc of fuel dilution. These things run a little rich and have gobs of problems with carbon build up.

Advice:
1) Run the snot of it
2) Try to do as little stop and go as possible
3) Run the lowest NOACK oil you can
4) Run top tier gas or at least PEA product
5) Save $ in your budget to have the piston area cleaned
 
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IS250 owner here. Not sure if the intake carbon deposit issue is the same in UK as in the US, so my recommendation may vary.

The sump has 6.6qt so in theory it should be ok to do 10k OCI if you use synthetic, but because of fuel dilution of DI engine and the intake deposit, I'd not go above 5k OCI (which is what American Lexus recommend) on dino API SM (also what's speced).

I have seen an study by a Korean organization that said they found high engine load, short OCI, and Group IV base oil helps reduce the intake valve deposit. I personally use synthetic with the lowest noack for this car, and am thinking about changing the synthetic at 5k OCI and reuse it in my beater for another 5k.
 
Clean valves periodically, prevention is nice and all, but still have to clean them.
I had mine for 83k miles now. Low noack does work, mine had issues worthy of tsb 2x later than normal. Fact remains, it had tsb work done.
I use B12 chemtool once in blue moon, the need for fi cleaner shows up when the car has to downshift at 1200 rpm under light load instead of just chugging along.
I am confused about the short oci vs noack argument. Once upon a time someone posted a noack test performed on M1 0w40. The test showed that of the final 8.8% loss, majority happened at the beginning of the test. Still can't rationalize this for my self, why people suggest to shorten oci.
Fuel dilution in mine is easily noticed, according to the dipstick it gains >1qt. So I'm leaning toward a 40wt for a winter fill. But that is with almost no freeway time.
Also the tranny needs love. Mine shows a change in behavior right about 40k mile mark. A complete fluid exchange works, 3x drain and fill was a waste ( 2qt pan, what do ya expect?).
One thing I hate about it is traction control. With it off, it's still on, just not 100%. On pure flat ice (glass smooth) impossible to control the car. With it off completely, it is the most well mannered, balanced car even on the said ice.
 
Is it possible for a 2006 to be a DI engine? I thought they were all port injected ...

If port injected, dis regard all the fuel dilution talk and go 7,500 miles.

If actually DI, then I'm out to lunch, do you 5K intervals ...
 
Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
Is it possible for a 2006 to be a DI engine? I thought they were all port injected ...

If port injected, dis regard all the fuel dilution talk and go 7,500 miles.

If actually DI, then I'm out to lunch, do you 5K intervals ...


4GR is DI only. The 2's that came in the xx350/450h were port/DI combo, best of both worlds. IIRC it uses ports for idle, DI for load, and both for high load.
 
Hi,

Many thanks for your replies, great to see many IS250 owners here too, there’s definitely a lot of knowledgeable heads on here. For the last 10 years, I went with whatever the dealer provided(surely they won’t get it wrong! Pah). Prior to that I would buy the recommended Castrol.

Now that I'm supplying the parts for servicing, I’ve just scratched the surface of the oil mind field.
Fully Synthetic must be used (why use anything else today?)
Viscosities – most cars run on 5W-30
API specs SN>SM>SL and higher letters are superior? And backwards compatible.

Based on the replies here, I will go for 10k Oil and filter changes at a garage, with 5k interim Oil only vacuum extractions at home. This is in line with Lexus US’s recommendation. Do Lexus US expect their cars to do mega mileage, hence the recommendation, or is it purely cultural?

Carbon buildup cases are not unheard of here, cheap supermarket fuel has been identified as the culprit here, most on the LOC UK either use 97Ron+ fuel from either Shell or BP, or standard Shell/BP fuel and/or run Acrhoil/BG products and/or get Carbon Cleaning performed.

Can you guys please recommend which of following API SN Oils would be best (engine longevity) for the IS250.
Shell Helix Ultra Professional AG 5W-30 (£4 per litre)
Gulf Ultrasynth X 0W20 (£7.80 per litre) – this would need to return a 2.5%/1mpg (UK) improvement in fuel economy, to financially break even.

Thanks,

LL
 
Originally Posted By: LexusLenny


cheap supermarket fuel has been identified as the culprit here



Nothing to do with carbon on intake valves of DI engines. PI, sure, not DI.

As far as oil recommendation, Toyota cars seem to run on anything forever. That said, I only focused my oil selection on the NOACK.
Shell's GTL (non-ultra) synthetic used to publish thier noack value, 4.7%. In a 10w30, that was only matched by Amsoil's small engine brew.

Now for mine, I am no longer concerned about any of it. The piston rings have been sorted out, and I want to see how effective the catch can is. Even if all goes sour, and my valves are fouled up, I have used CRC DI cleaner, and it did an amazing job at soaking off the crud, which is a part of my maintenance plan anyway.

Honestly, all I can say is clean your intake valves every time you do spark plugs with a low noack oil, or sooner and do transmission services in addition to regular maintenance (which ain't much). And drive.
 
The 2.5 V6 is a good motor but it HAS to be run, like on the open highway or interstate for hours at a time to get to WOT and stay there.

I changed out my PCV valve often and thinking about a catch can as preventive main.

Don't be shocked when you chk your oil on the dipstick and its black at 3k...just keep on going.

I pump my oil out between 5-6k and put in a good cleansing oil for about 2-3k then OCI. Prolly gonna do that today. May use a concoction of UltraClean, HD, and Pennzoil Plat 10w-30 (lower NOACK)
 
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