First Oil Change 890 miles.

[Don C]

It’s old school and possibly a waste of money but it might be in the family a long time.  I bought a kit from Lexus of 5 litres of oil and an oil and cabin filter for £80 or there about.   
 

These 300h are using 0W/8 which is very low viscosity and very expensive but you can get it from eBay for circa £50.   You need a 10mm socket for the inspection cover, 14mm for the sump plug (40Nm) and I prefer a filter socket.  Any 1 litre oil container will fi the filler thread.  I’ll leave you to figure out the photos;

 

 

[CT200h-TL]

Thanks for this. What tyres are you running on the 300h? They look like Goodyear Vector 4seasons gen3s. I appreciate you may have only just driven less than 1k miles on them but how do you rate them? 

[VFR]

0/w8 that is almost WD40 is it not ?

[Don C]

2 hours ago, CT200h-TL said:

Thanks for this. What tyres are you running on the 300h? They look like Goodyear Vector 4seasons gen3s. I appreciate you may have only just driven less than 1k miles on them but how do you rate them? 

Yes, that’s exactly what they are.  They’re very good in the wet and the snow and they are significantly quieter than the runflats that it came on BUT you can hit a sweet spot for some harmonic imbalance which results in them droning at some speeds.  I probably would go back to Michelin Cross Climates next time.  

20 minutes ago, VFR said:

0/w8 that is almost WD40 is it not ?

Haha, yes it is quite runny but there is a lot of misinformation about these low viscosity oils.  In fact, in many cases, the thinner the better.   The gaps in a modern Toyota engine are so fine, you need something thin to get round fast in cold weather and they cause very little drag so they are fuel efficient.  When they develop a 0W/0, (and they will), I’ll be straight on it.   

[saz318]

13 hours ago, Don C said:

Yes, that’s exactly what they are.  They’re very good in the wet and the snow and they are significantly quieter than the runflats that it came on BUT you can hit a sweet spot for some harmonic imbalance which results in them droning at some speeds.  I probably would go back to Michelin Cross Climates next time.  

Haha, yes it is quite runny but there is a lot of misinformation about these low viscosity oils.  In fact, in many cases, the thinner the better.   The gaps in a modern Toyota engine are so fine, you need something thin to get round fast in cold weather and they cause very little drag so they are fuel efficient.  When they develop a 0W/0, (and they will) I’ll be straight on it.   

Hey Don, 

What grade oil would you suggest for more hot climate with mild winters where temps only on rare occasions get below freezing? 

[Scotlex]

Very professional looking 😀😀

I am a big fan of changing oil (not keen on 2 year service intervals!).

[Don C]

9 hours ago, saz318 said:

Hey Don, 

What grade oil would you suggest for more hot climate with mild winters where temps only on rare occasions get below freezing? 

The attached shows very little difference in the scale for differing ambient temperature.  I would use the lowest viscosity I can within the recommendation which is currently 0W/8.  As I said above, it’s all about fuel efficiency and getting the oil round fast at start up.   

[saz318]

I also could not get a clear answer as to whether Lexus are shipped/set up with synthetic or standard petroleum oil. Apparently, if it starts with synthetic, you need to keep using Synthetic. 

Any comments? 

[Spock66]

I think all modern low viscosity oils would be fully synthetic.

[ColinBarber]

1 hour ago, Spock66 said:

I think all modern low viscosity oils would be fully synthetic.

Agreed, a mineral oil wouldn't offer the protection required at those low viscosities. These ultra low viscosity oils really do push the boundaries of protection, all in the pursuit of economy. 

[GMB]

Certain manufacturers ( who shall not be named ) still insist on 20/50 and god forbid anyone who disagrees. I still remember duckhams - the green stuff -    and Castrol GTX.

Maybe we need a science lecture? One manufacturer says fully synthetic 0/60 and the other says 20/50   Why???? Unless you live in Alaska or the sahara desert Maybe?

[VFR]

Nothing wrong with Duckhams (well it was a nice colour) and a good shot of Castrol R in the fuel tank as well. 

When the oil pressure got that low in the Mini 850 in the early 60’s we thought that a couple of cans of Hypoid 80 would help & it did (for a hour or so)

By the time I arrived to rebuild my 1071s we had learned a bit more.    ☺️

[GMB]

10 hours ago, VFR said:

a good shot of Castrol R in the fuel tank

Still love the smell of Castrol R. At a motorcycle hill climb on Sunday there were some Rudge single and twins running on Castrol R. It took me back years and these 1930 Rudges were very quick off the mark.

[Don C]

On 7/30/2024 at 1:37 PM, saz318 said:

I also could not get a clear answer as to whether Lexus are shipped/set up with synthetic or standard petroleum oil. Apparently, if it starts with synthetic, you need to keep using Synthetic. 

Any comments? 

Do you know the difference between non, semi and fully synthetic oil?  Non is just mineral oil and is quite rare for use in engines.  Semi means it has some synthetic additives and fully means it has a bit more.   There are none of these brands marked up as fully synthetic that aren’t mineral oil based.  Furthermore, there is no standard for when a semi synthetic oil becomes fully synthetic, it’s up to the manufacturer to declare it.  As long as you use the right grade (viscosity) it doesn’t matter.  

[GMB]

What about this?

[Guest]

@Don C Brilliant photos. Glad to see you got the Toyota oil filter tool... I got caught without it doing my CT for the first time in January without it. Managed to get by and made a swift eBay purchase... 

Look at those pristine under trays and bolts!!! Never seen that in my life.  The beauty of a fresh, new car. Hope it serves you well