Amsoil SSO?

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wolfc70

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I have a 2003 Saturn L300 with the Saab/Opel/Vauxhall V6. I have been using German Castrol since I bought it two years ago. I recently became a Amsoil PC, mainly for the motorcycle oils. I did a few UOA's on the GC and most came back ok with a 4-5 month 6000 mile OCI. The winter OCI was worse, mainly due to the cold starts and short trips.

Is the Amsoil SSO overkill for my car? I was thinking I would do a 10-12k mile OCI on the SSO. Or would the ASL be a better choice for that interval? The V6 seems to run pretty high oil temps in the summer. I used a infra-red thermometer to measure the oil pan temp. After a 123 mile drive in 90F weather, the oil pan was 260F.

I mainly want to use an Amsoil product due to the discount, but I would have no issues continuing the GC use.

Any insight would be appreciated.
 
Originally Posted By: wolfc70
I have a 2003 Saturn L300 with the Saab/Opel/Vauxhall V6. I have been using German Castrol since I bought it two years ago. I recently became a Amsoil PC, mainly for the motorcycle oils. I did a few UOA's on the GC and most came back ok with a 4-5 month 6000 mile OCI. The winter OCI was worse, mainly due to the cold starts and short trips.

Is the Amsoil SSO overkill for my car? I was thinking I would do a 10-12k mile OCI on the SSO. Or would the ASL be a better choice for that interval? The V6 seems to run pretty high oil temps in the summer. I used a infra-red thermometer to measure the oil pan temp. After a 123 mile drive in 90F weather, the oil pan was 260F.

I mainly want to use an Amsoil product due to the discount, but I would have no issues continuing the GC use.

Any insight would be appreciated.


260F seems awful high to me. I used those infra red guns in industry as a welder on alloy steels and found them to be un realiable. At times 20-50F off either way. I verified that with temp sticks that are very realiable.
 
You appear to be doing around 15k a year (5months/6k). Is your short(er) trip usage distributed over the day, not unlike a soccer parent? It's hard to be in a true shorter trip environment with that type of mileage a year unless you have a decent contrast of seasonal usage over the winter with tons of elective driving.

I'd be suspect of that infra-red reading. While possible, it would tend to be more akin to someone who just came off a track where WOT in a lower gear was the norm. I would expect coolant temps to be elevated at the same time. The output level of the engine would have to be very high, imo.

Can you post your UOA's? I don't see them in your list of posts.

Anyway, ASL (and most other Amsoil products) will manage your annual mileage. SSO will give you a bit better cold start performance ..but in reality I doubt you'll note the distinction.
 
I thought it was high too. My temp gun I have only really used for lower temp items, and it seems close. Maybe the higher temps and the shiny aluminum oil pan mess with its accuracy. Either way, the under hood temps on this car are very high. Even though it has only 66k miles on it, I have had to replace numerous rubber and plastic hoses from heat degradation. Very common with the V6 cars.
 
Originally Posted By: brandini
Boil some water and test the IR temp probe with that.


I tried that after I bought it. It read low, 210 or so. I took it with a grain of salt that the gun is not very accurate.
 
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
You appear to be doing around 15k a year (5months/6k). Is your short(er) trip usage distributed over the day, not unlike a soccer parent? It's hard to be in a true shorter trip environment with that type of mileage a year unless you have a decent contrast of seasonal usage over the winter with tons of elective driving.

I'd be suspect of that infra-red reading. While possible, it would tend to be more akin to someone who just came off a track where WOT in a lower gear was the norm. I would expect coolant temps to be elevated at the same time. The output level of the engine would have to be very high, imo.

Can you post your UOA's? I don't see them in your list of posts.

Anyway, ASL (and most other Amsoil products) will manage your annual mileage. SSO will give you a bit better cold start performance ..but in reality I doubt you'll note the distinction.


I do more long trips in the summer, and winter I still put some miles on, but mostly it is the 12 miles back and forth to work.

When I took the reading, I had just come off a longer highway trip with a full load of people and luggage. I had the air on, and took the reading with the car idling in the drive way. Took the reading a minute or too after getting home. The upper radiator hose was 208F and the dash gauge showed normal the whole trip. I was surprised at the reading too, this engine has a factory oil cooler too! I wonder if I just got a bad reading. It is hard to get a good direct hit of the oil pan without jacking the car up.
 
I have a friend with the same car that she let get too low on the Amsoil ASL oil. Her oil light started flickering. When I changed the oil later the filter looked very clean. Subsequent filter changes have shown the same on dino changes running RX.

I am glad she was running the Amsoil when she ran low is all I can say. When the RX phases are done it is back to Amsoil. I am going to have her try the SSO.
 
Quote:
What is emissivity, and how is it related to infrared temperature measurements?
Emissivity is defined as the ratio of the energy radiated by an object at a given temperature to the energy emitted by a perfect radiator, or blackbody, at the same temperature. The emissivity of a blackbody is 1.0. All values of emissivity fall between 0.0 and 1.0. Most infrared thermometers have the ability to compensate for different emissivity values, for different materials. In general, the higher the emissivity of an object, the easier it is to obtain an accurate temperature measurement using infrared. Objects with very low emissivities (below 0.2) can be difficult applications. Some polished, shiny metallic surfaces, such as aluminum, are so reflective in the infrared that accurate temperature measurements are not always possible.


Quoted from: http://www.omega.com/prodinfo/infraredthermometer.html
 
If you got a reading of 210F for boiled water, that seems pretty accurate. I doubt they are ever more accurate that about 3%. your gun beat that. Plus, with any altitude at all your water bill boil at less than 212. Plus, you probably have some cooling before you take the reading.
 
Originally Posted By: hpichris
If you're running it with a EA0 filter, I don't think it's overkill at all.


No EAO filter available. It is a cartridge style filter, and the only one stocked locally is the PureOne. So that is the one I usually buy, I can order a Wix, but is costs more than the PureOne.
 
Originally Posted By: oilboy123
I have a friend with the same car that she let get too low on the Amsoil ASL oil. Her oil light started flickering. When I changed the oil later the filter looked very clean. Subsequent filter changes have shown the same on dino changes running RX.

I am glad she was running the Amsoil when she ran low is all I can say. When the RX phases are done it is back to Amsoil. I am going to have her try the SSO.


I am surprised, as these engines are usually not oil burners. Mine uses no oil during my OCI's. They are prone to leaks however, and mine has had more than its share fare. Watch that filter housing, they are really easy to crack if you put the cap on too tight. So far, two separate shops have each broken the housing. Luckily, it is fairly cheap, and easy to replace.
 
Yes I torque the filter housing to specs, because I could see that it's kind of fragile. I am very impressed with the RX tightening the engine and power steering leaks up. That stuff rocks.
 
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