Amsoil lubes: worth it?

[burntkat]

ok-- first off-- any posts by Amsoil dealers will be ignored. Sorry, just can't expect you to do anything other than represent it as the best lube ever. It's nothing personal. You just can't expect an objective opinion from someone with a dog in the fight.

Same goes for you employees of other oil manufacturers, too- to keep it fair.

My queston is simple. I've got the following vehicles:

1989 Chevy S-10 Blazer 4X4. 4.3L V6, 700R4 AT, NP231C transfer case. approx 20K miles on the engine, 8K on the trans.

1990 Jeep Cherokee 4X4. 4.0 I-6, NP231J. junkyard motor in it, no idea of the mileage, but it holds rock-solid 40PSI pressure at hot idle and cruise.

1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4X4. Same drivetrain as the 1990 Cherokee. 170,000 miles. short trips mostly under 3 miles [taking the wife to work.

All vehicles engines are internally clean, as inspected top and bottom. They wil be getting Motorguard bypass filters, and I use Purolator Pure-One filters, or the Mobil 1/K&ns if they're on sale. I've been using Castrol GTX except for the Blazer which had a leaking oil line to the remote filter- so it got Advance Auto housebrand oil, and have recently switched over to Castrol Syntec in all vehicles [having fixed all leaks].

I intend to go with an extended OCI, with OA done every 5000 miles, perhaps lengthening that interval according to my experience.

OK-- so now we know the field we're on-- what is so great about Amsoil that I should chose it over Mobil 1 or Castrol Syntec? I *do not* buy their line about their $30 filter elements being such wonderful things-- should I dismiss Amsoil's lubes as being dramatically better than the lubes I'm using as well?

BTW- yes, I did search first. Saw a lot of messages indexed that showed up as "not available". PArticular among them the one with the title "interesting response from Amsoil". This makes me leary.

[ October 16, 2005, 03:45 AM: Message edited by: burntkat ]

 

[tom slick]

amsoil and recently Mobil 1 are the only oils marketed specifically as extended drain interval oils if that means anything to you. I think it says something if they are willing to tell you not to buy as much oil from them.

 

[pitzel]

Esso Extra XD-3 is also marketed as an extended drain oil, with the usual stipulation that UOA should be used as part of an overall oil and maintenance management program.

From everything I have seen to date, I don't believe there is anything intrinsically better about the Amsoil oils versus the Mobil 1 Extended Performance oils (and XD-3 synthetic hangs right in there as well). In some circumstances, the Amsoil products perform slightly better, and in others, the M1 products perform slightly better. If you believe in doing 25k mile oil changes with Amsoil, you should be able to, with confidence, repeat the same with M1 with similar results.

Remember: Amsoil is an oil company. Oil companies exist to make profits. Some of Amsoil's marketing claims are highly credible for most situations, and others are not.

For example, their insistence of keeping OCI's at 1-year or less, the 12k mile filter changes they recommend, and some of their fuel economy claims are not supported by publicly available credible evidence.

 

[The_Jeff]

Your engines will tolerate "lesser" motor oils; jeep inline 6-s take Xw40 weights pretty well and a 15w40 HDEO (diesel) oil fits that. The 4.3 if it burns due to poor valve seals could also use this oil. The higher TBN will fight effects of the 3 mile commutes.

Amsoil has a big wonderous catalog of transmission, transfer case, and rear end oils from which more (economy, durability) can be gained in many situations. Unless you get the axles underwater then I'd change out cheap dino gear oil every time. Post this same Q in the trans/rear end oils section.

You never mentioned how you drive the first two vehicles, on/off road, etc.

 

[michaelc80]

I've been using Amsoil in all of my vehicles for a couple of years now. I switched from M1 for a couple of reasons, including ease of ordering (it's much easier for me to order it on line and have it dropped at my doorstep in a couple of days). With the Preferred Customer program the price per quart (purchased in gallon containers) is usually less than M1 in auto parts stores, including shipping.

I put Amsoil in pretty much everything I own and am pleased with the results. My used oil analysis have been good and in both my Jeeps (96 Cherokee and 00 Wrangler) fuel mileage increased when I put Amsoil in everything including transfer case, transmission and differentials.

I've since sold the Wrangler but the Cherokee still runs strong at 155K miles and tows on a regular basis.

 

[Tim]

What is your objective?

If it is cost savings, you'll never save money running expensive synthetic and doing UOA every 5,000 miles, even with a 20,000 mile OCI.

None of these vehicles need anything other than a good dino of the proper viscosity and regular maintenance, especially in your moderate climate.

My $0.02 FWIW

Tim