Original Low Mileage LX450 Oil recommendation, 5w-30, 10w-30 or Rotella 15w-40 (1 Viewer)

[Rollinn]

IME 5W-30 seemed fine when my 80's 1FZFE engine was newish but once it got up to ~200,000 miles it started drinking the lighter weight oils, likely due to old valve stem seals.

Trivia: I was seeing a slightly elevated lead level in my 96 model when using Mobil 1 0W-30 along with higher oil consumption so switched to Mobil 1 0W-40
and the oil consumption got even worse. So went up to 15W-40 (equivalent) and the oil usage dropped but also the lead level in the EOA (Engine Oil Analysis) went down. It's only one vehicle so not a statistically valid test but it seemed that the 15W-40 offered better protection than the lighter weight oils in this engine. FWIW

Very interesting. I will be sticking with my usual Rotella 15w40.

 

[DaveN]

The Lexus dealer I take my 97 LX450 for oil changes always put Toyota 5W-30 (00279-1QT5W-01) since new and currently have 281k on the ODO.