Oil Recommendation

Lexus-IS · December 29, 2014

It seems that either 5W-30 or 0W-30 goes on the Lexus IS250. Castrol make two recommendations, for the budget one they recommend magnatec 5W-30 and for premium they recommend Edge 0W-30. Some dealers have even use the 0W-30. To date i've been using 5W-30 but considering maybe switching to edge 0W30 and wondering what the pros and cons of using 0W-30 on a high mileage IS250 would be? recently weathers has been freezing and almost on all very cold starts a get a very nasty loose spanner kind of rattle noise. The engine turns over and as soon as it has it makes this few seconds rattle. It's as if once the engine has turned over something thats supposed to move out the way still there causing the rattle.

Gramera flash · December 29, 2014

Edge 5w-30 for me.

is200 Newbie · December 29, 2014

The noise you are hearing is a VVTi rattle. A common issue with this engine. Regular engine oil changes and engine flushes has cured mine. I have used both the Castrol Edge and Magnatec. I experienced oil loss with the edge compared to the magnatec (no idea why?) Also the Magnatec is staying cleaner for longer compared to the Edge brand. Both were 5w/30. I change oil every 6 months and would carry on using the Magnatec.

Technoman · January 1, 2015

Can i ask a supplementary question here. I recently traded in my Audi A4 2.4 V6 ( 60K ) on the clock and it used a pint of oil every 800 miles. This apparently is normal according to the forums until it gets to 100k miles then it uses less?. Do you find the Lexus IS250 needs topping up much between oil changes, i would normally check once a month anyway and will probably need to confirm with the dealer what they have filled it up with as there is no info in the service booklet.

toffee_pie · January 1, 2015

i have not noticed much of an oil drop in 6 month interval between changes, perhaps a slight drop off the to marker but certainly not much.

I used 5/30 Magnatec but more recently 5/30 edge.

Technoman · January 1, 2015

Thanks Eric

is200 Newbie · January 2, 2015

Normal use that manufacturers state is 1 litre per 1000 miles. Sounds excessive but I did own a Vauxhall that exceeded this once so went through the process of oil consumption tests and it was within limits which I was not happy with.

Tight tolerances on engines these days in order for them to meet emission targets mean they use a small amount of oil for lubrication which will burn off hence any drop in the levels. The worst drop I have seen in mine is when using the edge oil ... but every car will be different. I posted an oil and fluid post on here a while back where I thought I would, just for info sake, monitor the levels etc. Results were interesting. On edge over 6 months I needed to top up approx half a litre. So far after 2 months on Magnatec there has been no drop in levels. Cars coming up to 83k

Technoman · January 3, 2015

Useful to know Steve..Thanks

Technoman · January 3, 2015

Sorry that should have been Noo-bie

toffee_pie · January 3, 2015

newbie :p

agent_dess · January 3, 2015

Mines on Castrol 0W-30 as per Lexus Service Edinburgh...

So i've always topped up using the same brand/grade of oil over the the last 3 services.

I believe Toyota use 0W-20 for a lot of car these days, i was in the parts department which is inside the Toyota car service area and they had a shipment of 0w-20 sitting in large barrels.

dave1 · January 3, 2015

All engines use oil but don't just rely on checking dipstick. You may see no real movement on dipstick but that doesn't mean your engine is not using oil. Your oil level may be influenced by water absorption in the same way as brake fluid. However, in 12.5 years of Lexus ownership I have, despite regular checking, never (so far) had to top up between service intervals.

Lexus-IS · January 5, 2015

is250 newbie, what engine flush do you use and how long (miles and years) have you been using the product? very sceptical about putting unknown stuff into the engine. But the rattle noise has recently become annoying.

is200 Newbie · January 7, 2015

I use Wynns engine flush before changing the oil

I have used this for nearly two years now on this car, and also 2 on the last Lexus I had.

No issues so I am happy to carry on using it

Lexus-IS · January 8, 2015

I use Wynns engine flush before changing the oil

I have used this for nearly two years now on this car, and also 2 on the last Lexus I had.

No issues so I am happy to carry on using it

What's the usage procedure for the wynns engine flush? do you flush it with the old oil and drain it all? i've read that in order to see if the flush is effective people say to drain oil first and put a cheaper brand oil and new cheap non-oem filter, and then with the new cheap oil and filter run the flush. And then drain that oil before adding the good oil and filter. This way if the oil comes out dirty, you know that the flush worked well.

bobbyc · January 8, 2015

In the past I have used Castrol magnatec 5w30 in my Lexus and it was fine but at this oil change the garage I used put in Millers trident 5w30 and I must say it has been good so far, although it is early days. They also flushed the engine with Wynns before putting in the oil, however I am not exactly sure what the procedure is for this.

I was a little wary of putting in something other than Castrol however when I booked it I asked for the part number of the oil and read up about it and seems to be quite highly regarded and is more or less the same price as magnatec, therefore I will continue to monitor it to see how good it is.