Lexus oil sludge

I have a 99 RX300 that was purchased two years ago as a certified pre-owned Lexus. At the time the car had 30,000 miles on it, it now has 60,000 and because of the oil gelling problem I have had the oil changed by the Lexus dealer every 5,000 miles.

We are purchasing a new car (not a Lexus) and the dealer has offered us a reduced trade-in value because they claim the engine has evidence of oil sludge buildup. They claim they were able to determine this by just removing the oil filler cap and looking at the dip-stick. I don't know if this dealer is just saying this based on the known problem or if there really is an indication of a probem.

Is it possible to determine this problem as this other dealer has stated? Looking at the dipstick there are some thick brown deposits above the full line which I've never really noticed on any other car, would this be evidence of oil sludge? The car is still under Lexus warranty. If I take the car back to Lexus what would be the recommended service if there were an oil problem, how would I know if there really is a problem or not?

Thanks to anyone who can give me any advice with this.

Reply to
Drew Taylor
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Sounds like dealer B.S. to me to weasel you down on the trade in allowance. There are many dealers. Shop it around.

Reply to
B. Newman

We traded our 01 RX 300 on a Pilot because I frankly did not trust Lexus. We had her car serviced every 5k (minor service $150.00) and the oil always looked like dark varnish. You have to pull the valve cover to really see and even then I don't believe you really know. We were also informed that service at shops other than Lexus could cause warranty complications. We were also informed that they would only replace the engine with a used engine if the problem surfaced. No warranty on the used engine pf course. Then, there was the recommended timing belt and water pump change at

75k --cost close to $2k. We decided to cut our losses at 33 k miles and trade the car.
Reply to
twaugh5

Tto me that indicates the oil is doing its job (i.e. suspending the contaminates until you change it).

When you pull the valve cover, you will know whether or not you have sludge. It will be very obvious.

Just FYI, you can replace the timing belt/water pump on the RX300 for about $450 at the Toyota dealer; and they use OEM parts.

According to our dealer, the recommended interval for the timing belt replacement for the 3.0L V6 is 90,000 miles. Some dealers will recommend as early as 60,000 miles, but when I talked with our dealer, they said they are seeing a few vehicles with as many as 120,000 miles and when they replace the belts they are still in good shape. So, they recommend a 90,000 mile interval.

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-- Curtis Newton snipped-for-privacy@remove-me.akaMail.com

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Reply to
Curtis Newton

I don't believe that for a minute. I think that you just wanted to rationalize away your "itch" for something new. Truth be told, the Lexus will be fine with normal maintenance and oil that looks used when it becomes used, without any further testing, is just a mental rationalization to buy something new. Fess up...you wanted a new ride and looked for a reason to do so. "Cutting your loss at 33K miles" is crap. You had no loss. Only the mental headgame of some tiny risk of some maybe small loss at some distant point way in the future.

Reply to
B. Newman

I disagree. The car cost close to $2,000 in service and repair costs through 30k miles. New pads in the rear (very unusual) at 30k? -- on this I noted the brakes according Lexus during their many checks during previous services were wearing at rate where they would last to 60k miles. When I questioned the repair, suggesting the brakes were sticking, the dealer blew it off as normal. Replacement key to replace one that broke in my wifes' purse in ther first year = $240.00. The car cost more than 4 times to run vs my Honda Prelude over the same mileage and it's just a fancy Toyota.

Reply to
twaugh5

Just more jap crap!!

Reply to
noyap

$2000 thru $30K? That doesn't pass the smell test. Your probably the first person in history to get rid of a Lexus because it had expensive maintenance/repairs in the first 30K. And the Honda Pilot won't be any cheaper. Maybe you overmaintaniend. it. Or had a bad dealer who sold you stuff you didn't really need.

Reply to
B. Newman

Service every 5k per the Lexus schedule and the dealer's insistence that this is the only way to resolve the oil gelling problem per Toyota. Dealer is a rip-off (to use the phrase). A lot of checks you pay for and probably don't need or even get. Our local Honda dealer knows me and always gives me first rate service. I have my Prelude serviced every 3700 miles and yet the cost of service thru 30 k was around $600.00 -- and the Prelude is a high performance car I run hard. I gagged at the first 5k service -- $150.00 for what was no more than an oil change in my opinion. Took and about 1 1/2. I was also surprised that I had to take the car in at 1000 miles and leave it for a day to check everything out. I would think that is something that should have been done before the car was delivered. I considered using the local Toyota dealer for service, but decided to make the change.

through 30k miles. New pads in the rear (very unusual) at 30k? -- on this

complications.

Reply to
twaugh5

Oil Sludge by Lexus - Tastes Great and Less Filling!!!!!

Reply to
MCBRUE

in california honda vehicles are not due for timing belt changes until

105k, because in CA the dealers are responsible for the first 100k maintenance. does that mean timing belts in CA cars are better?

curtis is right. the oil is doing it's job. if the oil came out clean, or lumpy, then i would have to wonder.

Reply to
MudPuppy

my question is this: WHAT oil gelling problem?

Reply to
MudPuppy

I have an old Acura Legend that I use as a 2nd car. We have always used synthetic oil and the inside of the engine looked sludge-free and brand new for

90000 miles. Recently I changed the oil ONE TIME with dino oil, and to my amazement after 5000 miles there is sludge all under the oil cap and valve train. I will never use dino oil again.
Reply to
MCAS NV

Reply to
stuart8181

I am surprised that you are unaware of the well published problem with Toyota V6 engines. Even your Lexus dealer knows about it. Toyota has extended the warranties on their V6 because the oil breaks down and turns to sludge supposedly because of the design of the engine. Per Lexus, if you change the oil every 5k you should not have the problem -- but there have been reports where that did not make the difference. Our local dealer had seen a few destroyed engines.

Reply to
twaugh5

I used to sell oils and owned an oil change. Oil sludge is not a big issue.

Generally it is caused by the oil breaking down. We ran into with some of low end grades of oil. It is normally caused by a lot of city driving and simply the pollution and humidity getting into the engine. The oil is suppose to suspend the particles. Once it starts breaking down you get the light brown foaming and sometime some sludge.

A better oil is usually the answer. Your Lexus dealer is like everyone else - saving a little bit on an oil change by putting some low end oils.

Do an oil change. Then another one after about a 1,000 miles. It should clean up the problem.

I have not been sold by the synthetic oils although some say they are good. Find a good oil product - castrol, Quaker State, Pennzoil, etc.

Good Luck Garth

Reply to
Garth Hetterly

I was told the cause is the high head temperatures and the cooler oil pan. Add long time intervals and petrol based oils and the result is 'gel'.

Reply to
Stuck in Central Florida

i was talking this over with the rest of the guys at the shop here, and what we've come up with is this. if you keep up with the oil changes ON TIME at 5,000 miles; not 6, 7, 8, 15 thousand miles between changes, then you will NOT have trouble with oil gelling. the head design on the

3.0 makes the engine more SUSCEPTABLE to gelling, but does not CAUSE it. lexus is just the only maker to cover this condition under warrantee.

spent a year as a dodge used car tech, and an 01 ram came in used, and doing the used car check, found the FACTORY oil filter installed, and the oil drained, no FELL out like cat crap. mileage? 20,000. needless to say, dodge didn't even blink when they rejected our warrantee request.

Reply to
MudPuppy1976

Look up your TSB on 1MZ-FE. Toyota extended the warranty on this engine to 8 yr/80k miles and sent a letter to every owner, myself included. Although they didn't mention the oil gelling/sludge buildup problem in the letter.

Reply to
HarrierAWD

The Toyota/Lexus oil gelling problem has nothing to do with the grade of oil used. It's the engine modification made back in 2001 that caused the problem. They made the coolant passage smaller. The idea was to increase the engine temperature to make the exhaust burn cleaner, but it made the oil more likely to gell or turn into sludge.

Reply to
HarrierAWD

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