A comparison of Mobil 1 and Amsoil EaO oil Filters

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Hello everyone,

I've been performing an experiment for the past 15 months with my 2006 Toyota Tundra Limited Double Cab 4WD. I have performed 5 UOAs, all with particle counts. For the first two UOAs, a Mobil 1 M1-209 filter was utilized. For the third and fourth UOA, an Amsoil EaO-34 filter was utilized. Finally, for the fifth and most recent UOA, I went back to using a Mobil 1 M1-209 filter. The reason for the back and forth is to determine if the results were skewed by some other trend in the wear patterns of the engine. In all cases, the oil used was Mobil 1 EP 5W-30, purchased from the same source (Wal-Mart). The Mobil 1 filters were also purchased from Wal-Mart, and the Amsoil filters came via mail order from the Amsoil warehouse in Richmond, VA.

For the duration of this test, all 15 months of it, I tried to keep as many variables as I could constant, keeping in mind this truck is in service - i.e., these results were not done in a lab! Here is a list of items I tried to hold constant:

1) The brand and grade of gas used was the same, almost always purchased from the same gas station (Shell 89 Octane). There were a couple of tankfulls here and there that were other brands or were purchased from other sources, due to out of town travel. No additives were used, either in the fuel or engine oil.

2) The driver was the same, and for the most part, driven in the same routine service throughout the test.

3) No other engine work of any kind was performed for the duration of this test - No air filter changes - In fact, other than refilling the windshield washer fluid, and changing the oil/filter (after the sample was taken), I did not even inspect anything that required any reservoir to be opened.

4) All samples were taken the same way, with the vehicle parked in the same spot. This was via a plastic tube inserted down the dipstick, to the length of the dipstick itself. This insured I was "breaking the level" of the fluid in the sump, but also, not extracting oil from the bottom of the sump either.

5) Each UOA interval was as close to the same number of miles as I could possibly manage.

Of course, weather varied, but I can't control the weather!

Here is the image of the test results. In the second box below, I tried to create columns to line up with the UOA results from Blackstone, so you can get a complete picture:

Tundra_Engine_UOA_FULL_5.gif


As you can see, it appears clearly that the Mobil 1 filter performed significantly better than the Amsoil filter. Currently, I have installed a Mobil 1 M1-209 filter on the vehicle...If people are skeptical of my test results, I may be willing to try another Amsoil EaO-34....Comments?
 
Glad I stocked up on a dozen Mobil 1 filters at 3.99 a piece at Farm Fleet a week ago! I am real disappointed on the particle count on the EA, at least in this analysis.

In another thread a poster indicated that there is a chink in the armor of the EA air filters as well. For the money Amsoil is charging for these products, they need to get it right or they'll lose out on these.
 
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Interesting.

Someone else also found the M1 filters to outperform the Eao filters as well.
 
chevrofreak,

I thought I might get a question like this, asking to try other filters! But based on Pablo's response, he still may not be convinced the Mobil 1 filters are performing better, so it sounds like I need to try the Amsoil filter again to be sure. Buster - Can you point me to the post or other info where the person found the Mobil 1 filter performed better?

Although I am convinced my results are valid, I am certainly looking for ideas as to how I can make the test results as realistic as possible, short of sealing the truck in a vacuum bottle!
 
So much for "absolute efficiency"...your results certainly dont live up to the claims Amsoil makes regarding the superior performance {and extreme high price} of these filters. Where is all the promised performance of the special synteq full synthetic media?????? For the price they charge for these filters,I cant see the benefits????
 
Again,,, the Amsoil filter is made to filter very good but as well it is a long life filter made to last through extended mile oil changes. So changing them out at 5,000 mile intervals is exactly like using syn in an engine that doesn't require syn oil and changing the oil at 5,000 miles. It is the wrong application and intended use of the filter and the oil. You will not see any advantage using longlife filters and oil in short interval use that is not what they are made for. you are just throwing good money away for no reason. What are blackstones lab tolerances?
 
Mobil 1 filters are also long life filters.....but proved to filter much better than the Amsoil EA at these short intervals,I dont see the point you are trying to make. The Amsoil EA was marketed as a superior one of a kind product that combined extra fine filteration qualities together with long life....it failed at superfine filtering ability
 
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The problem with the EA filters is that they NEVER go down in price, only up. There are no sales, promotions on them, etc. Whereas Mobil 1 filers one can find deep discounts on these several times a year. I bought 12 of them for under 50 bucks recently. 12 EA filters would have cost a ton more than that.

I'll keep buying Amsoil's oils (big fan of them), but their filters are another story.
 
Steve S - I agree - but keep in mind the Mobil 1 EP filter is also intended to be a "long-life" filter as well, made for extended intervals. So it would seem reasonable to compare the two - They're both going after the extended drain market.

It would be interesting to compare the results over longer intervals, like 10 or 15K miles - but it would take several years to do this comparison, at least with the rate I put miles on our truck!
 
As indicated by a few triboligists in the past....there findings are indicating that the longer you run the Eao the better the filter gets.

Your findings and the time and dollars you have spent are greatly appreciated although. I would like to see the Fram extended guard and the Mobil tests at 7.5K

I am now closing in on my 4th 5K oil change using the cheap 99cent group 3 oils keeping the Eao in each change after this 5 K run I am going to cut open the Eao and see how it held up.
 
I would tend to think that the longer you run any filter, the better it gets...

Also - another consideration is how many contaminants each filter can hold before it goes into bypass...I don't know of a practical way I can test that, though!
 
Originally Posted By: btanchors
Steve S - I agree - but keep in mind the Mobil 1 EP filter is also intended to be a "long-life" filter as well, made for extended intervals. So it would seem reasonable to compare the two - They're both going after the extended drain market.

It would be interesting to compare the results over longer intervals, like 10 or 15K miles - but it would take several years to do this comparison, at least with the rate I put miles on our truck!
The Amsoil [syntec] types outlast the M1 which is a regular media.
 
[/quote]The Amsoil [syntec] types outlast the M1 which is a regular media. [/quote]


SAYS WHO, AMSOIL???? Amsoil also said their filter was more efficient at trapping dirt than any other filter...even show pretty bar graphs demonstrating how much better they are than synthetic blend filter elements{mobil 1}....well that claim was certainly not demonstrated here in this real world test!!! How can you now trust their 25,000 mile claimed life??????
 
Is it Blackstone that provides the particulate count? I would be interested to have them test my PureONE sample against a Donaldson SYNTEQ (what I'm now running) sample........
 
Originally Posted By: qship1996
Mobil 1 filters are also long life filters.....but proved to filter much better than the Amsoil EA at these short intervals,I dont see the point you are trying to make. The Amsoil EA was marketed as a superior one of a kind product that combined extra fine filteration qualities together with long life....it failed at superfine filtering ability


Well, I would offer that over 5k miles it proved to be a loser in that comparison.

I would suggest running the same filter for 4 5k OCI on both. Then do the same particle counts along the way.

Since you ran the filters the same mileage, if you still have them, put them back on. One M1 or EaO should be identical in accumulated mileage.

Many doubt Blackstone's ability to perform this test. They use a membrane and a fixed volume injection mechanism that reads the change in amplitude and rate of change in amplitude of the pressure ramp. This conforms to a pre-programmed theoretical particle distribution. I tend to think that given the cost of the machine that the designers compared their profiled curves with like curves on non-opaque fluids to validate the process ..but there's a decent amount of objections.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=785788#Post785788
 
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