1-Year Amsoil 0W-20 Analysis is coming!

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Matt89

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Just a heads up that I have two 1-year Amsoil 0W-20 samples headed for analysis at Blackstone, so hopefully will be posting results soon.

One sample is for a 2006 Civic that traveled about 10K miles and the other is for a 2006 CRV that traveled about 5K miles over the past year. Both had pretty severe service...short tripping in subzero Wisconsin winter and then the heat of Virginia.

My observations at oil change were - seemed pretty 'dirty'. Looking through the filler holes I saw dark crud on the visible parts of the valve area...on the CRV I could wipe it off with a finger at least.

Somewhat disturbing was a harder black varnish 'patina' that developed on the base plates of the oil filters. It all could not be wiped off, I suppose I could scrape it off if I were of a mind to. I'm not accustomed to this, but I have usually run synthetics over short intervals, so the internals and filter plate remained bright silver all the time.

My sampling method was not ideal...could not run them up to temp before the drain, so I'm expecting some fuel/moisture dilution (had to start cars to put them on the ramps). I imagine the analysis will still be enlightening on this new oil's performance over a year of relatively severe ops.

I'll keep you posted.
Matt
 
Should be fine. 10k miles is nothing for a Honda, even using conventional oil.
 
What were you using prior to the Amsoil 0W20? Did you carry out any kind of engine flush at changeover? Were the varnish/deposits there before or only after using this oil?
 
I am curious about this oil also. I saw it yesterday on a shelf at an OC shop for the first time and wondered if it would be good in my wife's Element. Did you notice any MPG gain when using this oil? I currently use the standard Amsoil 5w-20, but have been told that the 0w-20 is for fuel efficiency. Let us know!!
 
Buster - Certainly I agree with you or I wouldn't have tried it :) I guess I'm just not accustomed to any discoloration on anything due to my history of short intervals. I'm thinking this is normal, but I figure some analysis data will be nice to confirm no major issues.

GordoW - I was using Mobil1 5W-20 and a run of Amsoil XL 5w-20 before this...everything spotless. Of course, my intervals have been short until this run.

Byron - sadly I didn't have enough consistency of oil type and operating conditions to make any real call on mileage improvements. In my Civic I'd gotten some runs near 40mpg so I'll take it.

Long story short, I'm not alarmed...just my observations.

Matt
 
did u notice any difference between the oils in the civic. im running M1 5-20 in my 07 civic and im debating if i should start using PP 5-20 since its $4.70 cheaper then M1.
 
I'm curious how the analysis comes out, because i'm also in the middle of a 1 yr. OCI with Amsoil 0w20 using their filter in my Mazda6s. I'm just not too confident hearing about the sludge and varnish that you seem to have seen around the filler hole and oil filter.
 
This sounds odd to say the least. 5K/1 year is nothing. Hard black varnish? In a NA car?

Please save the filters. What kind are they?

Just abused the same oil for 7-8 months. 14K miles. Analysis was great.
 
Originally Posted By: buster
Should be fine. 10k miles is nothing for a Honda, even using conventional oil.


I agree...amazing that over 15 years ago with the "junk" oil back then, they were recommending 7500 mile OCI's....
so why can't we do it with SM dinos? we can.....
 
Originally Posted By: Pablo
Originally Posted By: cowhorse01
Hey Pablo, what do you know about mpg gains using this vs. a 5w-20? Is it enough to switch over?


No difference detected.


Did you actually monitor it just to make sure? Oh were you the driver actually putting the gas in>?
 
Certain types of driving can be really hard on oil. Like short trips on a regular basis in cold winter weather like in Wisconsin. I was at a friend's shop while he was changing the oil on a customer's minvan, a Chevy Astro with the 4.3L V6. Mike is an Amsoil dealer and his customer's 10k mile/1 year run on Amsoil 10W30 was looking really nasty coming out. I noticed the oil filter plate had a heavy layer of dark stuff on it that I have never seen before on filters I have changed, some of them with severely extended oil change intervals. We could wipe this stuff off to see the metal on the base plate, but I was thinking about the rest of the engine surfaces, of which some have much less oil flowing around them than this filter baseplate.

I asked the owner, who was standing right there what type of driving the van sees. He said his wife uses it to go a few miles here and there just around town, with a couple big trips per year(no surprise to me). I got to thinking that the oil should have been changed sooner due to the nearly exclusive short trip use. He said the engine sometimes never gets hot enough to produce heat in the winter on short trips.

In this situation I would have been tempted to use a less expensive oil and filter, changed several times a year. I kept my thoughts to myself on that one, though.
 
Originally Posted By: Mamala Bay


Did you actually monitor it just to make sure? Oh were you the driver actually putting the gas in>?



Good question. My wife does not monitor MPG every tank as I do. So it's more of a every other tank that I filled the car kind of monitoring.
 
Originally Posted By: bmwtechguy
Certain types of driving can be really hard on oil. Like short trips on a regular basis in cold winter weather like in Wisconsin. I was at a friend's shop while he was changing the oil on a customer's minvan, a Chevy Astro with the 4.3L V6. Mike is an Amsoil dealer and his customer's 10k mile/1 year run on Amsoil 10W30 was looking really nasty coming out. I noticed the oil filter plate had a heavy layer of dark stuff on it that I have never seen before on filters I have changed, some of them with severely extended oil change intervals. We could wipe this stuff off to see the metal on the base plate, but I was thinking about the rest of the engine surfaces, of which some have much less oil flowing around them than this filter baseplate.

I asked the owner, who was standing right there what type of driving the van sees. He said his wife uses it to go a few miles here and there just around town, with a couple big trips per year(no surprise to me). I got to thinking that the oil should have been changed sooner due to the nearly exclusive short trip use. He said the engine sometimes never gets hot enough to produce heat in the winter on short trips.

In this situation I would have been tempted to use a less expensive oil and filter, changed several times a year. I kept my thoughts to myself on that one, though.


People are incapable of listening. Your words are always wasted. People are stubborn, and already think they know it all. People are cheap and stubborn. Nothing more.
 
Originally Posted By: Pablo
This sounds odd to say the least. 5K/1 year is nothing. Hard black varnish? In a NA car?

Please save the filters. What kind are they?

Just abused the same oil for 7-8 months. 14K miles. Analysis was great.


Pablo -

I still have the filters...they were EaO13s. I may have overstated the varnish factor, but the metal was definitely discolored with a black substance.

I am very interested to see what Blackstone says.
 
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