Oil changes

Speedy Emira · Jan 17, 2024

Just wanted to see what everyone is intending to do with their oil changes?
I’ve always had several modified cars and even when running double the oem hp I have never had crank wear which I put down to additional oil changes.
My first service is booked in for March and although it will only be at 3000 miles I have arranged the gearbox oil to be changed. I also plan to get Lotus to do my yearly service and do a couple of additional oil changes making it every 4 months. The intention is if I go for a built JUBU engine in another 10-18 months time it will be mint when opened and be an easy build.
Will anyone put an additive in the gearbox oil or is it the general perception that modern gear oil is enough?

JonFuller · Jan 19, 2024

I’m not an Additives person, but frequent (at the very least, twice the frequency of factory schedule) oil changes are I believe priceless.
Factory says 1st lube service at 10k miles! Bugger that.
Did my first oil/filter @ 1300. Had intended to do 1st gearbox oil then also, but on getting all the undertrays off, found the gearbox side to not be as simple as I had expected/hoped.
So will be doing that v soon.
Also had intended to mod the gearbox drain plug with a magnet, but again, when I got into it, the drain plug actually doubles as the oil temp sensor, so wasn’t as simple as I’d hoped.

Jon

Speedy Emira · Jan 19, 2024

JonFuller said:
I’m not an Additives person, but frequent (at the very least, twice the frequency of factory schedule) oil changes are I believe priceless.
Factory says 1st lube service at 10k miles! Bugger that.
Did my first oil/filter @ 1300. Had intended to do 1st gearbox oil then also, but on getting all the undertrays off, found the gearbox side to not be a simple as I had expected/hoped.
So will be doing that v soon.
Also had intended to mod the gearbox drain plug with a magnet, but again, when I got into it, the drain plug is actually the oil temp sensor, so wasn’t as simple as I’d hoped.

Jon

Good idea on the magnetic sump plug and a shame you couldn’t do it. You would think being a Toyota engine the temp sensor would be somewhere better and accessible. I have a 1972 ex military series Lover Rover with a Defender 2.5 Tdi conversion and everything is so easy to get to and simple. It’s really annoying when modern cars seem to go backwards on simple maintenance and go forwards so quickly on tech.

JonFuller · Jan 19, 2024

I wouldn’t be so concerned about the gearbox, if it wasn’t for the Quaife LSD. These are quite metal-to-metal mechanical things, and I feel sure that they’ll produce some level of metalic contamination of the oil, especially during the early bedding in period.
A magnetic drain plug is really the minimum protection I’d like to see in it.
Changing the gear lube is a bit complex, because there’s no level plug.
You have to 'make' a dipstick (drawing given in workshop manual) and remove the transmission cooler return pipe, and dip the oil level via that hole.
The manual also says you should use the lotus diag software to manually run the transmission oil cooler pump, to empty the remaining oil from the cooler & pipework.

So, not knowing this at the outset, I’d expected to pull the drain plug, dump the metalic-silver gear oil, bond a nice neodymium magnet to the bung, refit it, and refill the gearbox via the old school filler/level plug.

But that’s not how it went

JonFuller · Jan 19, 2024

Speedy Emira said:
I have a 1972 ex military series Lover Rover .....

A Leaf sprung Army lightweight LR?

You're clinically insane!

Sorry, but anything you say moving forward, will have to be ignored.

Speedy Emira · Jan 19, 2024

JonFuller said:
A Leaf sprung Army lightweight LR?

You're clinically insane!

Sorry, but anything you say moving forward, will have to be ignored.

Pretty reliable after a nut and bolt rebuild but slightly less aerodynamic than the Emira.

Jjrho · May 6, 2024

i usually change my 1st oil at 1000 miles on all my new cars, then goto 3 to 5k, depending on how hard I drove it....having said that...; can anyone post the nuances of oil change on a emira.... ; I can't even see the oil fill port first of all, although i did see a dip stick finally... and i assume the filter s accessed from below, after removing the 100 screws that hold the bottom plates ? is is a filter or filter element ? what filter size/or equivalent should I get ? 5-40w synthetic to replace with ?
any comments or help in my 1st oil change endeavor would be greatly appreciated.... (I do have a lift that I can put the car on so... that part is easy... )

james R
'24 hethel yellow
120 miles
so calif

so far, everything in the car seems to be working ok... (rear shift detente is disengaging a bit better now, ,,tpms sorted itself out, lol )

HeReigns · May 6, 2024

Jjrho said:
i usually change my 1st oil at 1000 miles on all my new cars, then goto 3 to 5k, depending on how hard I drove it....having said that...; can anyone post the nuances of oil change on a emira.... ; I can't even see the oil fill port first of all, although i did see a dip stick finally... and i assume the filter s accessed from below, after removing the 100 screws that hold the bottom plates ? is is a filter or filter element ? what filter size/or equivalent should I get ? 5-40w synthetic to replace with ?
any comments or help in my 1st oil change endeavor would be greatly appreciated.... (I do have a lift that I can put the car on so... that part is easy... )

james R
'24 hethel yellow
120 miles
so calif

so far, everything in the car seems to be working ok... (rear shift detente is disengaging a bit better now, ,,tpms sorted itself out, lol )

DIY - Oil Change Reference for 2GR-FE

I recently did an oil change on my 2021 Evora GT. Since this is an Emira forum, my intention is not to provide detailed steps because there may be minor differences between Evora and Emira. However, since both cars use the same V6, my experience might help you when you are ready to try an oil...

www.emiraforum.com

Some good info here

Jjrho · May 6, 2024

HeReigns said:
DIY - Oil Change Reference for 2GR-FE

I recently did an oil change on my 2021 Evora GT. Since this is an Emira forum, my intention is not to provide detailed steps because there may be minor differences between Evora and Emira. However, since both cars use the same V6, my experience might help you when you are ready to try an oil...

www.emiraforum.com

Some good info here

thank you sir...will read that first....so far, i have not seen any detailed emira oil change so....thanks again. james R

Jjrho · May 6, 2024

great write up.. so, does the emira/evora NOT have a usual oil pour place through common cap like other cars ? i have to have one of these plastic funnels to thread onto the oil input hole, then pour oil through it ?

hope it's all same as evora.... , good thing we can just get toyota parts though....

james R

azlambo · May 7, 2024

Speedy Emira said:
Just wanted to see what everyone is intending to do with their oil changes?
I’ve always had several modified cars and even when running double the oem hp I have never had crank wear which I put down to additional oil changes.
My first service is booked in for March and although it will only be at 3000 miles I have arranged the gearbox oil to be changed. I also plan to get Lotus to do my yearly service and do a couple of additional oil changes making it every 4 months. The intention is if I go for a built JUBU engine in another 10-18 months time it will be mint when opened and be an easy build.
Will anyone put an additive in the gearbox oil or is it the general perception that modern gear oil is enough?

Oil changes

Speedy Emira

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JonFuller

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Speedy Emira

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JonFuller

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JonFuller

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Speedy Emira

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Jjrho

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HeReigns

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