AMSOIL question

[RANDYZ]

I just purchased AMSOIL gearlube for my 2003 Dodge Ram 1500 and paid the $10 for the preferred membership because it was only an extra $3 with the savings. My question is on the oil. I have been a diehard 3,000 mile oil changer. The last oil change I did I used Mobil 1 and a 5,000 OCI after all the reading on this board. I am at about 4,200 miles and its killing me to not change it. I dont mind changing my oil, however I would like to have the extra protection and the longer drains help offset the cost. I live in Florida and it gets pretty hot! My vehicles are the 2003 Ram 4.7 V8 and a 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix with the 3800 V6. If I used the AMSOIL how long should I go between changes. The website says 25,000 but that seems pretty long. What can I expect in real world driving. Sorry this is so long and thanks for any help.

 

[Pablo]

Go 7500 miles and then do an oil analysis the first time around. Probably you could do 10K-15K miles, but it does depend on engine condition, driving styles, etc. Lots of highway miles are the easiest. I don't really like to go longer than 6 months, but sometimes do if I haven't gone the miles. 1 year is absolute max, and is often the limiting factor before mileage.

 

[benjamming]

Why is it that one year is the max? I can understand the mileage, but what about the time limit?

 

[Pablo]

Time is typically predicated on time to be contaminated. Contamination by: Condensation cycles (water). Nitration. Sulfidization. Oxidation. (from exhaust, heat, fuel, air, dirt - combined with water to form acidic products). It's just not wise to level the same oil in any IC engine for more than a year. Not saying I have never done it, and a quality oil helps, but changing it out once a year is fairly inexpensive insurance.

 

[Spector]

The other reason for the one year is the Amsoil warranty (granted that it is not really more then print on paper) but that says one year or 25,000 miles and most peiople never get close to that in a year. Amsoil states though that is you wish to go beyond a year then a oil analysis is needed to confrim the oil is acceptable for continued use. Also, they require the filter at 6 months as well. Now, on two cars I go one year, one of them I change the filter at 6 months and one I just go the entire year due to low annual mileage. IMO I would not go beyond 12,000-15,000 miles without an analysis and given the cost, you can just change the oil in lieu of it.

 

[TooSlick]

The reason for imposing a one year time limit is to account for variations in driving conditions. For example, if you only drive 10,000-12,000 miles annually, but it's all short trips, you engine oil will degrade as much as if you did 20,000-25,000 miles of pure highway driving. So it is a very good idea to change Amsoil at least once a year. Having said that, I occasionally run the same batch of Amsoil for two full years in my tacoma pickup - typically about 15k-20k miles - and it does just fine. However, I always do an oil analysis after one year; have over twenty years of experience as an Amsoil dealer and know exactly what I'm doing. I don't recommend going over a year with Amsoil unless you are doing oil analysis and working with someone like Terry Dyson that can give you expert advice .... In addition to annual changes, Amsoil also recommends changing their oil filter and topping off the crankcase after six months or 12,500 miles. In my opinion, other brands of filters should be changed every 5000-6000 miles or six months, since most cheap filters don't have much dirt holding capacity. Note: The Mobil 1 oil filters should also last for 10k-12k miles, but this is also a $12.00 dollar, ultra premium filter. This six month filter change helps keep the oil clean for a full year and introduces 0.5 to 1.0 qts of fresh oil. The fresh oil dilutes any contaminents and helps replenish the additive package of the oil in the crankcase. It is extremely important that you change the Amsoil filter and topoff after six months, particularly if you do lots of short trip driving. The resistance to flow inside the filter also starts to degrade the minute you start the engine for the first time and it starts to catch insoluble particles. Tooslick [ February 15, 2004, 08:00 AM: Message edited by: rugerman1 ]