a few years ago, while i was working in a car dealership, one of our customers came in with severe top end engine damage, the rockers seemed as if they had been welded to the rocker shaft. That customer stated that he was using amsoil, under a long drain interval. my main question is that if he ran the oil too long, and it thinkened up, too much to reach the upper oil galleries, would it be a premature failure of the oil or was it a case of the oil getting to thick to pump. i used to use amsoil, but after that i stopped, but i am liking the wear numbers that i see with amsoil being used than m1 that i am currently using in my car.
amsoil questions
- Thread starter roadwarrior24
- Start date
- Status
My Father has run on his last 2 Amsoil ASL changes 27k and 19K.
This was by accident. The last one was the 27k and I could hear a lifter tick. When I noticed he had run 27k I was going oh man.
I changed it out to fresh ASL at that point. I came back from California and he has 13k on that change and the engine sounds great now. That is about 59,000 miles on 3 oil changes, not bad.
I will change this one at 15k ish.
So you can look at it from the perspective of Amsoil saving an engine. The body on his van is a battle wagon, so no love lost.
I like Amsoil but I am biased. I ran Mobil 1 in the past but liked Amsoil better.
This was by accident. The last one was the 27k and I could hear a lifter tick. When I noticed he had run 27k I was going oh man.
I changed it out to fresh ASL at that point. I came back from California and he has 13k on that change and the engine sounds great now. That is about 59,000 miles on 3 oil changes, not bad.
I will change this one at 15k ish.
So you can look at it from the perspective of Amsoil saving an engine. The body on his van is a battle wagon, so no love lost.
I like Amsoil but I am biased. I ran Mobil 1 in the past but liked Amsoil better.
Amsoil is a great oil, one of the best. I've had some really good UOAs...BUT, a lot of engines won't go 25K on it, especially without UOAs to back it up. If you are running an EaO oil filter, and a good air filter, and doing UOAs, and have an engine that is easy on oil, then you may hit 25K or even more. Otherwise, you probably won't safety hit 25K. If money were no object I would run Amsoil in most or all of my vehicles. Right now with the sales and rebates on several of the group III "synthetics" I have been buying a lot of good oil for $1-4 a quart (yes, $1 or less, with the occasional Pep Boys/Quaker State rebates). Running 7K-10K OCIs for cheap seems to work pretty well at about half the price, or less, of Amsoil.
If you want one of the "best" oils, and plan on keeping a vehicle past 200K, and want to do extended OCIs, Amsoil should be on the short list.
P.S. Just for disclosure, I am an Amsoil dealer but I'm not trying to sell anyone anything and I don't endlessly push the stuff (as you can see by my post). When Quaker State has a $3 a quart rebate or Mobil 1 is under $4/qt, I buy 'em up. I also use Redline in one of my vehicles and VP racing in another 2 vehicles. Just about any oil will allow a vehicle to hit 200K or more, the trick is matching the OCI to the capability of the oil. Amsoil will allow one of the highest OCIs while still allowing the engine to live a long life, but this can't be done blindly, UOAs are needed at least until the proper OCI is determined.
If you want one of the "best" oils, and plan on keeping a vehicle past 200K, and want to do extended OCIs, Amsoil should be on the short list.
P.S. Just for disclosure, I am an Amsoil dealer but I'm not trying to sell anyone anything and I don't endlessly push the stuff (as you can see by my post). When Quaker State has a $3 a quart rebate or Mobil 1 is under $4/qt, I buy 'em up. I also use Redline in one of my vehicles and VP racing in another 2 vehicles. Just about any oil will allow a vehicle to hit 200K or more, the trick is matching the OCI to the capability of the oil. Amsoil will allow one of the highest OCIs while still allowing the engine to live a long life, but this can't be done blindly, UOAs are needed at least until the proper OCI is determined.
yeah, its pretty good stuff, ran it in my truck with 10k intervals. i think this guy thought that since he was using amsoil he never had to change the oil. the only time i had problems was when it was below 40 degrees and was close to the end of its cycle, had to wait a while to for the lifters to stop making noise. 10k is the most i feel comfortable running any oil regardless of how good it is.
With respect to Amsoil oil, the independent mechanic who works on my BMW 740 is a firm believer in Amsoil. In addition to working on BMWs for over 20 years, he races a BMW in local club events. This guy is a top-flight mechanic...a no ---- type.
His racing BMW puts out serious horsepower (older in-line 6 cylinder model) and he used Mobil 1 initially. He said it worked fine, but he switched to Amsoil a few years ago and said the engine operating temperature went down as did the oil temp (engine has been converted to a dry-sump system). Because it's an engine used for racing, it is routinely dismantled and checked for wear, and he said it's amazing how well the engine holds up considering the "abuse" it is subjected to.
I've used Amsoil in my BMW and was perfectly happy with it but now that I do my own oil changes I use ''German Castrol'' which is available off the shelf up here in Canada at 3 or 4 major retailers 5 minutes from my house.
His racing BMW puts out serious horsepower (older in-line 6 cylinder model) and he used Mobil 1 initially. He said it worked fine, but he switched to Amsoil a few years ago and said the engine operating temperature went down as did the oil temp (engine has been converted to a dry-sump system). Because it's an engine used for racing, it is routinely dismantled and checked for wear, and he said it's amazing how well the engine holds up considering the "abuse" it is subjected to.
I've used Amsoil in my BMW and was perfectly happy with it but now that I do my own oil changes I use ''German Castrol'' which is available off the shelf up here in Canada at 3 or 4 major retailers 5 minutes from my house.
I like that Amsoil has some PAO products that we can be confident really are PAO. Also like what I saw the other day at a Car Quest that has some HDMO 15w40 Amsoil on the shelf: Right on the front label it says "12 TBN." Really appreciate them being up front with info like that.
I was dissapointed to see the SM PAO 10w30 dropped in HTHS from >3.5 to 3.2 though.
I was dissapointed to see the SM PAO 10w30 dropped in HTHS from >3.5 to 3.2 though.
Triple_Se7en
$50 Site Donor 2024
You are rolling the dice going long intervals without a UOA check for fuel or coolant dilution. To me, a long interval is only 10K.
like the oil, just too much hipe as an old trucker put it that used to drive for us
A long interval is like a poker game. You really don't know what your going to get until it's time to call the bet. The only possible way to manage a long interval is with a couple of uoa's. This would have a double benefit. You will have an idea of what's going on and you might learn something, too. I'm the other way. I do 5k intervals and still do a uoa or two and on top of that I use synthetic oil even though deep down I know conventional oil with my babysitting will do the job. One thing is for certain, Amsoil is good stuff and some of the bad stories you might hear about the product might not give you all the information about the terrible event.
This guy may have ignored the 1 year limit, and was possibly running it for 2-3 years. Based on that description, it sounds more to me like he was low on oil and never added any. This would deplete the additives much faster and no longer allow them to combat wear and contamination. As well as limit the amount of oil to flow to the top end.
Was the engine massively sludged on top? That could be a sign of the above statement, or an internal coolant leak.
Was the engine massively sludged on top? That could be a sign of the above statement, or an internal coolant leak.
the top end had no sludge, just a light coating of oil on the rocker box and no metal pieces, just locked up top end. i think the main culprit with my issues with the oil when i was running it in my truck was when my MAF sensor went out dumping a 100% fuel load into the cylinder whether it was running at 800 rpm or 6k rpm, no oil lasted very long after that
Was there ever a determination of what caused the failure?
So, is Amsoil actually API rated?
Only their Group III line which OCI's are advertised as 7500 miles.
Having been here several years, I think API certs are a mixed blessing.
the cause of the failure as determined to be a loss of lubrication to the top end. yeah, golobey, youre right, the average joe has never even considered synthetics, let alone amsoil. case in point, i work for a national transportation company(27 states) and they havent even considered synthetics, even though we run vehicles under severe duty, operating 20 hours a day, dual A/C dual alternators, 100 degrees all day long, and sometimes the only thing cooling the engine is the oil, chevron rpm is wore out after 3k.
I'm an Amsoil dealer myself. Not that I don't believe in the product but I'm not going to go 25K miles on an oil change. It's in all my cars now and I'm thinking with the low mileage the cars get, a year will probably be 15K miles. But to me, that's still easier than changing it twice at 7,500 miles, which is what I would typically do using Mobil 1.
roadwarrior24,
I'm surprised at that. You should become an Amsoil dealer and sell the company synthetic! LOL.
roadwarrior24,
I'm surprised at that. You should become an Amsoil dealer and sell the company synthetic! LOL.
not this comapany, we can only do what our district director tells us to use, and we have certian contractual obligations with certian vehicles. trust me, i have tried to get them to look at syn. oil for the entire national fleet, even tried to attack it from the fuel savings,by stating that even if we got 5 percent better economy, it could save us millions on the national level, i'v done the math, but there too worried about the intial cost and they dont like more than 3k intervals for the paper trail, but heres to wishful thinking.
- Status
Similar threads
