Ran some of this last year in a Scag Cheetah with a Vanguard 37hp EFI. Surprised at the zinc and phosphorus levels as the website says fortified with a heavy dose of zinc anti-wear additives. Currently running Mobil 15w50 in it for this season.
Amsoil 15W-50 Small Engine Oil - VOA
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I have Mobil1 10W30 in my Kohler 7000 series. Thanks for the analysis.
That's a flat out lie that they say it's fortified with an extra dose of zinc. I checked the website, and that is exactly what it says. That zinc number in the voa is fortified with an extra dose of nothing.
From the website:
From the website:
EXCELLENT WEAR PROTECTION
- Shear-stable, high-film-strength formulation fortified with a heavy dose of zinc anti-wear additives.
- Does not thin out due to mechanical shear, ensuring a thick lubricating film for maximum wear protection.
- Zinc chemistry forms a durable barrier that protects against metal-to-metal contact.
What I was thinking, I even talked to their customer service and asked for zinc levels but all I was told was that it had plenty and it was better than their z rod oil.
Real simple to copy and paste the voa and the verbiage from their website and ask them to comment.
Where did you buy this oil?
What is the date code?
Need more information, but also labs are not always correct. Especially on Zn and P.
Bought it straight from the Amsoil website toward the end of last summer. Don't have a bottle handy at the moment but I remember it was dated sometime in 2023. I see another VOA of the 10-30 Amsoil small engine oil on here from 2020 with Zn at 778 and P 722 so pretty much the same other than the calcium is around 1500 more in my sample.
See if you can get me the #. I can have the retain checked.
Went to the shed and grabbed it. Date code is 07-20-23. Numbers in front of it are 162370
Yeah, possibly some sort of sales pitch discrepancy. It's interesting to see what the VOA of this oil looks like & hopefully you'll find out if this is how it's supposed to look like. That's lousy Amsoil was no help in determining weather the product you bought was supposed to be a higher zinc product regardless of the lab used & the results posted here. Viscosity 100C Cst @17.5 is thick.
It's probably a good oil and it seemed to work as well as any other when I used it. Just thought I was getting a higher zinc oil. Both of my mowers are still under warranty and all dealers insist I use their oil with higher zinc than regular pcmo. However, they only sell syn blend oils for the same price as I was getting the Amsoil. Oil temps push up to 300 degrees at the oil cooler on the vanguard. Had bad luck before using the Vanguard branded syn 15w50 on a Ferris I had as it left a lot of varnish and caked up mess under the valve covers following there recommend change interval of 100 hours.
Nice of Pablo to step in. IMO, shouldn't need a distributor to go after an answer that someone who bought direct from Amsoil couldn't get. This will be telling.
You'd think a "High Zinc" additive oil would be around 1200 PPM or so. Interesting about the varnish on the covers from 100 hour synthetic oil use but goes to show that Air Cooled engines can get hot.
It’s likely the Zinc and Phosphorus weren’t seen on this VOA fully. VOAs and UOAs should be taken with a grain of salt. They are helpful, but don’t give the full picture. Would need nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to more accurately see what is going on. https://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/764/nuclear-magnetic-resonance-additive
Oh, so OAs are pretty accurate on every oil in every lab compared to what the manufacturer says, except for this one Amsoil blend? Cmon man.
What’s more likely is OP assumed that “heavily fortified” meant higher than what he was used to seeing on OTR engine oils. It’s perfectly logical that OPE does not require as much zinc normally, and therefore Amsoil is dosing with more zinc than needed.@Pablo can maybe confirm that the numbers seen are in line with expectations.
IMO there’s nothing wrong with what’s shown in the UOA… and it’s obvious that Amsoil knows how to make good oils. So, no issue at all.
Yes they are, the spectrographic analysis sees all the zinc and phosphorus in the sample.
NMR would be expensive and unnecessary. FTIR would tell you everything you need to know about the state of the compound.
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Yeah, I figured it would be around that much. A voa from 2014 of it showed it had 1200-1400. Kohler oil is what the dealer sells here and a voa of it showed 1200-1300. Vanguard oil showed around 1100. Not sure on the Kawaski Ktec oil but that's what is in my new stand on mower currently for break-in. I emailed Amsoil and waiting for a response on if those levels are normal or not. If it was not under warranty and the dealers pushing higher zinc oils I would not be so concerned.
What does the user manual for the OPE say to use?
A bit suspicious to me. Oxidation seems low as well for Amsoil. Although I’ve never seen this particular oil sampled.
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