This story is a bit long.
Back on January 19 of this year I ordered a 5 gallon pail of Amsoil's ISO-15 hydraulic oil. It shipped from the Lancaster, PA warehouse, and arrived in two days to my home in Vermont. Since I had the UPS tracking number, I knew exactly which day it was going to be delivered. Early in that day, I moved the tractor that I planned to install the fluid in into my insulated, heated garage in order to warm it up and drain the old fluid (the old fluid was also Amsoil ISO-15 hydraulic oil I installed 7 years before. It ran fantastically with the Amsoil, even in sub-zero temperatures, which is why I got the Amsoil again). By the time the Amsoil hydraulic fluid arrived, I had drained the tractor and it was ready to be filled. The pail of the new oil was very cold to the touch, so I let a kerosene shop heater blow on it for about 10 minutes. When I began pouring the fluid out of the 5 gallon pail, I noticed that the viscosity was way too high; the fluid actually poured out like honey, not like oil. I assumed once it was in the tractor and working through the hydraulics it would be fine. That ended up not being the case. We had a colder than average winter this year in Vermont, but even when the air temperature was between 0 and 32, the hydraulics on the tractor would not work (three point hitch on back, loader bucket on front). After a few days of this, I called Amsoil customer service and told them the problem. The person I talked to said to have the oil sampled. I asked if I should sample from the tractor or the nearly empty pail, he said it didn't matter so I sampled from the tractor. I have an Amsoil vacuum pump for taking oil samples, so I used that to draw from the tractor. No exaggeration at all, it took about half an hour to fill one small sample jar, that's how viscous the fluid was. I sent the sample in with a note to call me about what tests to run. The people at the lab called me and we spoke multiple times on multiple days before they tested the oil. Since I was concerned with the cold temperature viscosity, I asked them what test would make sense. We settled on a pour point, which cost me an additional $35 over the $18 I already paid to order the sample kit. The measured pour point was -48C, which is well off from the advertised -60C for ISO-15 oil. I called Amsoil customer service again, explaining what I found, and talked to a different person this time. This person didn't think a 15C difference in pour point meant much (and in fairness it shouldn't have made the oil almost solid at 0F), so he sent me a new sample kit and asked me to sample what was left in the 5 gallon pail. Fortunately I was able to get out just enough to fill the sample bottle. A couple weeks later this same person called me back, he said the oil was not ISO-15, but tested as ISO-150. He asked for the batch number off of the 5 gallon pail so they could do further testing. Today I get another call saying they have checked that batch and found everything to be normal, and did more testing on my sample I sent in. I think he said they did a FTIR test. They concluded that the sample I sent in wasn't even an Amsoil product. As a result I had no hope of any claim, not even getting new oil to replace the worthless oil.
Mostly what I am looking for is if this has happened to anyone else with an Amsoil product. Either the oil you got didn't seem like the oil you ordered, or you had them claim a sample you sent to them wasn't their product. If you currently have any Asmoil ISO-15 hydraulic oil, especially from the PA warehouse, I would like to know that as well.
I understand Amsoil's reluctance to help me further, but because I can no longer be certain I'll get what I ordered or that I can get a replacement if the oil is wrong, my confidence is irreparably shaken and I will no longer be an Amsoil customer. It's too bad because they have so many oils I like.
Back on January 19 of this year I ordered a 5 gallon pail of Amsoil's ISO-15 hydraulic oil. It shipped from the Lancaster, PA warehouse, and arrived in two days to my home in Vermont. Since I had the UPS tracking number, I knew exactly which day it was going to be delivered. Early in that day, I moved the tractor that I planned to install the fluid in into my insulated, heated garage in order to warm it up and drain the old fluid (the old fluid was also Amsoil ISO-15 hydraulic oil I installed 7 years before. It ran fantastically with the Amsoil, even in sub-zero temperatures, which is why I got the Amsoil again). By the time the Amsoil hydraulic fluid arrived, I had drained the tractor and it was ready to be filled. The pail of the new oil was very cold to the touch, so I let a kerosene shop heater blow on it for about 10 minutes. When I began pouring the fluid out of the 5 gallon pail, I noticed that the viscosity was way too high; the fluid actually poured out like honey, not like oil. I assumed once it was in the tractor and working through the hydraulics it would be fine. That ended up not being the case. We had a colder than average winter this year in Vermont, but even when the air temperature was between 0 and 32, the hydraulics on the tractor would not work (three point hitch on back, loader bucket on front). After a few days of this, I called Amsoil customer service and told them the problem. The person I talked to said to have the oil sampled. I asked if I should sample from the tractor or the nearly empty pail, he said it didn't matter so I sampled from the tractor. I have an Amsoil vacuum pump for taking oil samples, so I used that to draw from the tractor. No exaggeration at all, it took about half an hour to fill one small sample jar, that's how viscous the fluid was. I sent the sample in with a note to call me about what tests to run. The people at the lab called me and we spoke multiple times on multiple days before they tested the oil. Since I was concerned with the cold temperature viscosity, I asked them what test would make sense. We settled on a pour point, which cost me an additional $35 over the $18 I already paid to order the sample kit. The measured pour point was -48C, which is well off from the advertised -60C for ISO-15 oil. I called Amsoil customer service again, explaining what I found, and talked to a different person this time. This person didn't think a 15C difference in pour point meant much (and in fairness it shouldn't have made the oil almost solid at 0F), so he sent me a new sample kit and asked me to sample what was left in the 5 gallon pail. Fortunately I was able to get out just enough to fill the sample bottle. A couple weeks later this same person called me back, he said the oil was not ISO-15, but tested as ISO-150. He asked for the batch number off of the 5 gallon pail so they could do further testing. Today I get another call saying they have checked that batch and found everything to be normal, and did more testing on my sample I sent in. I think he said they did a FTIR test. They concluded that the sample I sent in wasn't even an Amsoil product. As a result I had no hope of any claim, not even getting new oil to replace the worthless oil.
Mostly what I am looking for is if this has happened to anyone else with an Amsoil product. Either the oil you got didn't seem like the oil you ordered, or you had them claim a sample you sent to them wasn't their product. If you currently have any Asmoil ISO-15 hydraulic oil, especially from the PA warehouse, I would like to know that as well.
I understand Amsoil's reluctance to help me further, but because I can no longer be certain I'll get what I ordered or that I can get a replacement if the oil is wrong, my confidence is irreparably shaken and I will no longer be an Amsoil customer. It's too bad because they have so many oils I like.
