Amsoil Engine Tear Down Pics

[OVERKILL]

well, yeah, I dont like to see people get ripped off.. so yeah, you are correct.. I will leave it at that.

There's a gaping chasm between something not being a good deal (poor price/performance balance) and outright fraud though, and your statement was that AMSOIL is being fraudulent.

You can dislike them, you can think their products are overpriced or that they've used misleading/irrelevant marketing in the past (the 4-ball wear test), but you don't have the luxury of stating, devoid of evidence, that their presentation of results on an industry standard test, performed by an independent test facility (which may very well be SWRI BTW) is in fact a work of fiction, and that they are presenting false information.

 

[userfriendly]

pray tell, how does one measure something being 40% cleaner?

When I take a shower, I wash everything twice.

 

[02zx9r rev2]

If Amsoil were misleading people I think it would have been exposed by now. It’s been 51 years and Amsoil is still going strong with thousands of people using their products.

 

[Pablo]

well, yeah, I dont like to see people get ripped off.. so yeah, you are correct.. I will leave it at that.

By making stuff up and lying?

That doesn't make any sense at all.

 

[Pablo]

You seem quite intent on getting us to “face” things for which you’ve offered no proof they are false or misleading.

There's a gaping chasm between something not being a good deal (poor price/performance balance) and outright fraud though, and your statement was that AMSOIL is being fraudulent.

You can dislike them, you can think their products are overpriced or that they've used misleading/irrelevant marketing in the past (the 4-ball wear test), but you don't have the luxury of stating, devoid of evidence, that their presentation of results on an industry standard test, performed by an independent test facility (which may very well be SWRI BTW) is in fact a work of fiction, and that they are presenting false information.

Thanks guys for keeping this honest and open. Solid sense of fairness shown here.

 

[Wheel366]

When I take a shower, I wash everything twice.

That's it? I gotta wash everything at least 5 times! ;-)

 

[OVERKILL]

Thanks guys for keeping this honest and open. Solid sense of fairness shown here.

You are quite welcome.

I don't expect folks to necessarily like the brands I like or buy. Perhaps they don't see them as a good value or a "rip off", and that's fine, they are entitled to that opinion, just like I might think they are being cheap/pinching pennies. But, when opinion evolves into accusatory statements of perpetrating fraud and lying to the public, these are serious accusations that require a body of evidence to be presented when made.

 

[Trav]

yeah, another interesting GM project that failed is a better description. A shame as they seemed to have a lot of potential and lots of room for improvement. Certainly was the right time for a good 4 cyl car to come along. Japan was leaps and bounds ahead of us and sold lots of them in those years that followed.

The Olds Calais Quad 4 HO was a decent 4 banger for the time.

Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais International Series 2.3L Quad 4 HO Specs, Performance, Comparisons

Explore the Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais International Series 2.3L Quad 4 HO detailed specs, including 0-60 mph times, horsepower, and handling data. Get all the Info.

www.ultimatespecs.com

Here's Why the Quad 4 Was One of GM's Most Important Engines Ever

The General needed something to compete with the imports. More specifically, it needed an efficient, modern four-cylinder engine.

jalopnik.com

 

[Kruse]

The Olds Calais Quad 4 HO was a decent 4 banger for the time.

I realize I'm only talking about one Quad 4 engine out of the millions produced, but...
Waaay back in December of 1987 I bought a brand new '88 Mercury Cougar off the show room floor. (Yea, it's a good feeling!) At about the same time, or very shortly afterwards, my co-worker bought a brand new Pontiac Grand AM. My car had the 3.8/V6. His car had the new 2.3 Quad 4. Instantly, I got razzed by him because my 3.8 was "old school" and his car was "new and high-tech". I took it good naturedly. I liked what I had because my car got good mileage on the interstate, which I used a lot back then, and the Cougar had plenty of room for my 6'5" frame. Very soon after he got his car, he had coil problems. The dealer had it towed to their shop for repair. It was under warranty, so he wasn't worried and I never razzed him about it because I knew any car can have problems. Well, his elation soon turned to disgust on that Grand Am because he had CONSTANT coil problems. For some reason, about every two months, it was at the dealership getting a coil replacement. He never really talked about that "high tech" car again to me. I do know that he kept it until the warranty expired and he traded it for something that was non-GM. For some reason, that car would have a coil failure like clockwork constantly (it seriously averaged a coil problem every two months) and the cause was never figured out.
Getting back to the original topic, my Cougar made it to 300K miles without an oil pan or valve cover removal. I feel Amsoil is a fantastic oil, but my engine never got any of it, just cheap oil and usually a Motorcraft or Fram filter. Total repairs on my Cougar included two alternators, a starter, a water pump, a wheel bearing and two fuel pumps. Plus maintenance items. I finally retired the Cougar because non-engine items were starting to nickel-and-dime me to death. I retired the car, took the heads off and had them refurbished to put on a 3.8 that my daughter had in a Mustang. The heads were spotless with no buildup of any kind whatsoever.

 

[Fabulous50s]

The Olds Calais Quad 4 HO was a decent 4 banger for the time.

Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais International Series 2.3L Quad 4 HO Specs, Performance, Comparisons

Explore the Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais International Series 2.3L Quad 4 HO detailed specs, including 0-60 mph times, horsepower, and handling data. Get all the Info.

www.ultimatespecs.com

Here's Why the Quad 4 Was One of GM's Most Important Engines Ever

The General needed something to compete with the imports. More specifically, it needed an efficient, modern four-cylinder engine.

jalopnik.com

Oh yes the Quad 4. Quite peppy, looked a lot like an Offenhauser engine from the 60s when you get the Saab derived direct spark ignition module off the top.

But.....of course they had to drive the water pump with the chain..... and poof.

Ford should've taken note on the 3.5!

Never EVER drive a water pump with a timing chain! Belts are fine, when the water pump leaks (it will) coolant gets in the oil. With a belt, you get a wet belt, or better yet tye water pump is changed with the belt at 100k miles.

 

[pitts64]

I use Mobil 1 5W30 for everything including my chain saws, lawn mowers, work truck and my 69 el Camino with a 427. They all run well. Every oil I ever used worked well except for Brad Penn 10W40. I tried it in my 69 427 el Camino and my 64 Bonneville with a 462 and they both did the same thing. After climbing this long hill at 65-70 mph, right at the top both engines with start ticking. Like the rockers came loose. After sitting for 4-5 minutes idling, the tick would go away. I drained the Brad Penn and put Mobil 1 5W30 in with a Wix filter and never heard another tick in thousands of miles.

 

[Skippy722]

rest assured Amsoil advertising and SAE testing methods are 2 different things..

“Based on independent testing of Amsoil Signature Series 5W-30 in the Sequence IIIH engine test (ASTM D8111), required by the ILSAC GF-6 and API SP specifications.”

They wouldn’t dare put that on a publicly available piece of literature if it wasn’t true, unless they wanted to be sued.

 

[Wheel366]

I had SVG 75W-90 in the rear of my '04 A4 for 75k miles with no issues before I junked the car (car has 200k on it). In fact, the front had some flavor of Amsoil and same thing. My pathfinder has some flavor of 75-90 in both diffs and same thing. I had no issues up until I junked it. I got that car with 168k miles on it and I forget when I got rid of it. Maybe 284k...

 

[CarDoc66]

One of he biggest problems with the 1.4 turbo is the turbo oil feed line. It cokes up inside due to it being routed directly over the exhaust turbine housing and starves the bearing. It's a very inexpensive part and easy to change. I sell it as a maintenance item around 50-60K miles. Cheap insurance, I have one customer running the original turbo currently @ 180,000+ miles and we replace the feed line every 60K.

 

[Revving2Redline]

When I take a shower, I wash everything twice.

As crazy as that might sound, when you groom a dog you have to wash them twice usually the first time just to get the dirt out and the second time to get the shampoo worked in. This is very similar to people using an engine flush after they drain the old dirty oil put new oil in and then use the flush to get the remaining out

 

[kschachn]

Bridges are designed by civil engineers, so you don't have to worry.

Ahha good. I just know we studied bridge loading in some statics and dynamics classes but that was not my career path

 

[Titan]

Ahha good. I just know we studied bridge loading in some statics and dynamics classes but that was not my career path

My son specialized in bridge-building, and made a name for himself by improving an existing computer program which describes how dirt behaves as a liquid once the dirt attains a certain speed during a landslide. In a national collegiate contest, his team got penalized because they built a bridge-loading mechanism that actually raised up when loaded (instead of being compressed under load). Crazy college engineers...what-are-ya-gonna-do-with-'em?

Reading some of the "self-professed experts" on this site can be entertaining or discouraging, depending upon the reader's mood. Still, I pick up some useful information. Loved seeing the valvetrains on this thread for example...even if the exact conditions of operation and maintenance routine isn't scientifically verifiable...it's still interesting. Thanks to those that go through the trouble.

 

[kenv]

Who waits 2 years to do an oil change? Pretty sure OCI is time or miles no matter who makes the oil.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Who waits 2 years to do an oil change? Pretty sure OCI is time or miles no matter who makes the oil.

Depends on the miles on the oil, and how the vehicle is driven. Lots of people here have gone 2 years on an oil change if the oil has low miles on it and the vehicle is not short tripped. UOA verified the oil was still plenty healthy.

 

[H. Swanson]

My 2.4l Ecotec has 175K miles, running Amsoil SS 0W-40, 10-12k drain intervals, 2 micron bypass filter every 2 years. Wear is 4x lower than running standard group 3 Ac Delco or SuperTech oil running 5k drain intervals per oil analysis. Still has factory compression/leak down. Gets 32mpg and I can easily tow 2k lb trailer through the mountains. Engine still looks new, no varnish, gum or sludge. These engines are known for ring clogging, oil burning and timing chain wear from GDI abrasive soot and fuel dilution. No such problems running Top Tier Premium fuel and Amsoil.
View attachment 151521

This is the new recipe for my three TGDI vehicles. Amsoil SS and Top Tier Premium gas but switching to severe OCIs.