Amsoil 5W30 Dark?

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Hello Friends,

I have been using Amsoil 5W30 Signature series in my '07 Altima for some time. Normally, I purchase from Amsoil online but this time needed to do an oil change asap. For the first time, I tried an Amsoil seller who works out of his home and purchased 2 1-gallon jugs. I got home and did my oil change but noticed the oil seemed a lot darker than normal. From my experience, this oil should be a light golden color but this time it seemed much darker. It is weird because the aluminum seals were on the jugs. I am a little paranoid now because I know it is fairly easy to install the seals and make things look new, especially for an experienced dealer.

Can anyone who uses this oil help verify I am not going crazy with the color of this oil??? Thank you.

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I seem to remember my Amsoil 5W-30 looking fairly dark when new when I bought some years ago (2007 or 2008, maybe?). Granted, formulations may have changed by then, but I wouldn't be worried about it. It certainly doesn't look used.
 
In the photo below qsud 10w30 is in middle.
On the sides are qsad 10w30 and qs sae 30.
Gtl seems to be darker in color.
Pp 10w30 also has color identical to qsud 10w30


 
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It's not the base oil that gives fresh engine oil its colour; it's the components in the DI pack.

Overbased metallic detergents tend to an oak brown colour. Ashless Dispersants are reddish brown. ZDDP and Phenolic Antioxidants are typically pale yellow. Aminic Antioxidants can be a fleshly pink. Moly tends to be a black, dark purple colour. Be aware that the colour of a DI pack is never a controlled parameter and you can get batch to batch variations.
 
Originally Posted By: hinrg916
I am a little paranoid now because I know it is fairly easy to install the seals and make things look new, especially for an experienced dealer.
They would have to carefully remove the Al seal with an Xacto knife I suppose, then re-seal with a bead of glue. Does sound possible. Maybe the frangible plastic collars on 5-quart jugs we see from Walmart are better for anti-fraud. Interesting.

Put a sample in the freezer overnight (about 0 deg F) next to a sample of Amsoil from a single bottle, and compare flow over a flat plate. Or even use Mobil1 or any full syn as the control if you don't have another Amsoil handy. A conventional should be noticeably thicker.
Or do a VOA or even a UOA and check the additive package against recent Amsoil UOA/VOAs for amounts of moly and boron.
 
Thanks everyone for your reply. If Amsoil changed the formula it would have occurred within the past 9 months. Like I said, I do not remember seeing this oil nowhere near this color.

I will send a photo to Amsoil directly and advise what they say. Thanks again and hope you all have an awesome Fourth of July.
 
Originally Posted By: userfriendly
How hard would it be to make up a label and stick it on a Walmart 10W30 bottle? Did your car run better after the oil change?

thankfully the jug and bottle shapes are unique.

Did your car run better.... ha-ha ... Some people reading that might actually think you weren't joking.
 
I'd be suspicious of anybody selling me oil in Coke bottles. Especially if the seller is missing some teeth too & smiling real big.... Dude, really?

Originally Posted By: merconvvv
 
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Well it's either counterfeit Amsoil, or what SonofJoe said. I think SonofJoe nailed it.
 
Originally Posted By: userfriendly
Specialty high performance oil blenders are driving standards, while majors, see video, are scrambling for a response.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x5CyT9RC3k



I watched this right through. To me, it has a disturbing Alice Through The Looking Glass quality about it. Here's a very knowledgeable guy from Oronite discussing the entirety of the industry's work on developing the next generation of engine oils, from LSPI to engine test matrices, and my overriding take is that this is such utter madness!

This presentation details what The Industry wants for ITSELF!!!! It's not what I, or much of the oil buying general public wants. However in the US, once GF-6 (& dexos Gen 2) goes live, within a year or two, you almost certainly be forced to buy this stuff as it will be the only stuff on the shelves regardless of how old your car is or whether you have a Turbo GDI engine or not. And be in absolutely no doubt whatsoever, the eye-wateringly high total cost of all this Industry activity, plus any incremental increase in the costs of the oil will be borne not by the Industry's players but by YOU.
 
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Originally Posted By: SonofJoe
.... as it will be the only stuff on the shelves regardless of how old your car is or whether you have a Turbo GDI engine or not. And be in absolutely no doubt whatsoever, the eye-wateringly high total cost of all this Industry activity, plus any incremental increase in the costs of the oil will be borne not by the Industry's players but by YOU.


At least if the oils are "better" and capable of longer oil change intervals, then maybe we can recoup some of the extra cost. Seems like the car makers have to respond by increasing oil change intervals though. The buying public still has their old owners manuals stuck in the world of SM oil.
 
New, is the particulate contamination introduced into the oil from turbo engines that causes timing chain wear.
Amsoil, if the OEMs can't figure out a by-pass filtration system on their own, to the rescue.

LSPI? How about better oil control to the top end (Audi), instead of a magical engine oil additive system?

These people are perhaps ego driven .... always looking for an engine oil solution to every problem.
 
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