Oil And Levels

[is200 Newbie]

Having used Magnatec for a while now on oil changes with this car I decided to change to the Castrol Edge oil. I had found that the Magnatec goes dirty quite quick so I thought I would monitor this time just how quickly it turns a dark colour. I also thought I would monitor the oil level on a weekly basis.

I took a picture of the oil after the oil change (and an engine flush) and as expected it was clean - hardly noticeable on the dip stick

The oil change was done at 76,989 miles.

Picture 1 is of the oil on the dip stick initially after the change (I later topped this up to the max level)

Picture 2 is of the oil on the dip stick after a weeks driving and putting 311 miles on the clock. It is still as clear with no noticeable colour change or level drop. No rattles from the engine and its still as quiet as when it was when I done the change (only hear the injectors with the bonnet closed) On a run during the week I had over 41 as an average mpg.

I will update again next week.

[toffee_pie]

1 weeks driving is hardly a good indication, i think my 2004 CL9 Accord i sold used circa 500mils from December until i sold it a few weeks ago, so that was a fair few thousand miles.

I used Castrol 5w30 fully synth, i am going to use the same stuff for my new is250.

[is200 Newbie]

Yes - It is a bit of a short period but I am just doing it to see when the oil starts to change or drop - doing it every week is no hassle and I will be able to see any changes starting to happen.

[toffee_pie]

keep us posted, i would be surprised if a relatively new petrol lexus used up oil

[PilgrimIS]

I've noticed my 07 250 uses a huge amount of oil. Pretty staggering... No oil leaks, engine seems to be in perfect condition but drinks oil. For instance, completed a full oil flush and change 5 months ago, clocked up only 3500 miles and the engine low oil light came on the other day! Checked it and sure enough it was just registering on minimum.

Will keep and eye on this thread, will be interesting!

[jbutt100@yahoo.com]

Hi engines do consume oil 1 litre of oil per 900/1000 miles is considered normal, how much oil did you put in after 3500 miles?

Sent from my Iphone using Lexus OC

[dazed]

My original IS250 never consumed any oil until about 75-80K miles. Then it really started getting through the stuff and by the time it reached 100K miles it was consuming about 5 litres every 10K. The car still ran fine though with no sign of any smoke.

[PilgrimIS]

1000 per litre?! Never had a car that's gone through that much in all honesty.

I took it to the garage to get it all checked out and they filled it up so don't know how much, however they even said they were pretty surprised how low it had gone

[PilgrimIS]

Interesting on your point Dazed... Mines just hit 95k so could fit into that... But using way more that normal I think

[is200 Newbie]

I do believe that the manufactures state that 1 litre per 1000 miles in normal conditions is acceptable.

Its due to the tight tolerances that modern engines run to. I experienced this on a Vauxhall I had and that was the "excuse " they gave me but I have heard and seen this on a few different manufacturers forums.

I will keep monitoring it as I would like to see how long it takes to change colour anyway.

[aly-g]

Ive heard of new engines using a lot of oil but my is200 never used any oil between its yearly service, mileage was 96k when i got rid of it, and i used to give it some stick on many journeys from London to Cornwall ,1ltr per 1000k seems quite a lot ?....

Allan

[is200 Newbie]

Another week on and another 144 miles on the clock

picture below is of the oil - still at the same level. Still the same colour although I can just notice a slightly darker tint to it.

[is200 Newbie]

Mileage is now 77,535 - 91 miles on from when I checked the oil last week. I have done 546 miles since the oil change back on the 7th of June - I had used used Castrol Edge this time whereas I used to always use Castrol Magnatec.

The level is still constant and while the oil is still clean there is a slight tint in it now - noticeable from when it was first changed

Picture below

[is200 Newbie]

Current mileage = 77,755 so that makes it 220 miles since I checked it last Saturday. That's 766 miles since the oil change.

Oil is still clean but noticeably now getting darker but not that bad (still clear)

This is an interesting find ... I drove the car for most of the week this week in manual mode - I rarely had it in auto. A road was closed on way to work so I drove through country roads for most of the time in the car so it took a bit of thrashing I would say compared to having it in auto. The oil level from the picture is down a third of a litre (based on the fact that its a litre between points on the dip stick)

Whether this is a coincidence or not I don't know but to drop that in a week when I changed driving style, coincidence or not?

picture is below.

[aly-g]

i reckon that you would use a bit more oil if you give it a bit of wellie, shows its circulating though !!!!

[Alex Coul]

I'd be very surprised if even a rotary engine could consume that much oil, at that rate you'd run out of oil between service.

[is200 Newbie]

No leaks and the proof is in the pictures from the oil change from top of fill line to where it is now ...

They do state 1 litre per 1000 miles is within acceptable limits and it looks like its heading that way. Will keep it in auto this week to see if there's further usage

[Alex Coul]

Put it this way if my car was using a litre of oil every 1,000 miles I'd be checking for leaks or getting in for proper diagnosis. That's 16% of the total oil in the engine!

[toffee_pie]

should not use much oil, i changed my oil 200 odd miles ago its still up in the top, I keep an eye on it every few weeks but not too OCD. I got a manual.

TBH, I would be surprised if the lexus used much oil, my last 2.4 Accord used about 500mm over about 3k miles, which is normal ish usage.

[james250]

How many miles have you covered since the oil change and where is the oil level at now?

[is200 Newbie]

Just back from a 2 week holiday so I thought I would check the level - had not used the car for two weeks so I thought it would have settled to give a better reading as it had sat level and unused.

The picture below shows a good reading and it also shows the colour of the oil being a lot darker than when originally changed ... Miles covered in the week prior to parking up was 197 bringing the total mileage covered since the oil change to 963.

You can clearly see the level drop from full to a third the way down the stick. Will carry on checking it until I need to top up.

I changed the oil on the 6th of June so its just over 6 weeks of use.

[toffee_pie]

I changed my oil on June 6th, I checked now and its up at the max, thats 3 1/2 tanks of petrol used so far., mostly city driving some long runs. The oil is Castrol 5w30, same as i used in the Accord cl9.

would not expect it to use much oil until you do thousands of miles.

[is200 Newbie]

Only done 84 miles this week ?!

7 weeks on since the oil was changed the car is now on 78,036 miles and it has done 1047miles since the oil change back on the 7th June.

The level is still the same as last week although the picture shows it a bit lower (it was sitting on a bit of an incline when I was taking the picture so was running off the dip)

The oil seems to be a shade lighter than last week - it had sat for 2 weeks while we were on holiday before I took the last picture - after this weeks daily use it looks lighter somehow?

Will do a bit of digging on the web to see what I should be expecting

Picture is below

[toffee_pie]

IMO you are worrying too much about oil, just enjoy the driving.

[is200 Newbie]

Hi Eric

Not worried about the oil ... just thought it would be a good record to see what's going on with different oils

Will try Magnatec next and compare them both.

Done a bit of reading and have found on a few web sites that the modern oil is designed to hold the sludge and dirt created within the running of the engine, hence the eventual dark colour - it will slowly breakdown and will slowly pick up the sludge, that's what I have found out why it changes colour. It also has additives in the oil to stop sludge / grime forming.

I always use an engine flush before changing the oil, but now wondering what it actually does do as the oil to en extent does the same job to a point if the engine is clean to start with. So I may skip the flush next time just to see how quick the oil takes to change colour.

Just doing it for a bit of info