Amsoil vs M1 2003 Montana 20,000km

[olympic]

2003 Pontiac Montana 3.4l V6
Amsoil dual remote filtration
Amsoil TS foam air filter
99% hiway miles
time on oil: 2 months
Current odometer: 124,000km
Make up oil: 0.5L

Amsoil S2K 0w30 on the left, M1 SS 5w30 on the right. Both were 20,000km(12k miles).

Tin 1 1
Lead 2 2
Copper 18 14
Aluminum 5 0
Silicon 19 12
Iron 16 21
Chromium 0.5 0.7
Silver 0 0
Zinc 1150 1050
Magnesium 849 84
Nickel 0 0
Barium 0 0
Sodium 11 9
Calcium 2000+ 2000+
Vanadium 0 0
Phosphorus 1050 886
Molybdenum 2 82
Boron 25 73
Manganese 184 159

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Viscosity 14.57 11.55
Water 0 0
Solids Glycol No No
Fuel Dilution No No

TBN 9.40 9.70
Oxidation 0.19 11.52
Nitro Compounds 0.00 0.00
Organic Nitrates 14.48 15.62

Well this is almost a toss up. Each oil performs better in certain categories with M1 getting the edge for maintaining it's viscosity better. It thickened by 1cst according to my VOA numbers. If it can maintain that rate, it'll make 40,000km and still be in grade! I havn't changed the SDF-15 filter as Amsoil recommends. Frankly I see no need to since it's only been on there 2 months. I leave it on for as long as the oil stays in and see what happens. I'll probably check in again around 35K km and decide from there what I want to do.

 

[Pablo]

On price alone you gotta give it to M1. I don't sell much S2K 0W-30 anyway. Too **** expensive.

 

[olympic]

For sure! $34CDN to fill er up with M1 vs $60 with S2K. Now if only I can knock that down to $22 with Esso XD-3 I'll be very happy!

 

[buster]

Mobil 1 beat Amsoil for sure in this UOA. Pablo, if only coporate would take your letter seriously. This oil needs to be upgraded big time. Take note to the viscosity. Mobil 1 still perfectly in grade.

We could guess all day long but IMO, Amsoil thickens either bc A)They switched PAO's and went with Cheveron. B)Mobil 1 has better anti-oxidants. C) Mobil 1 has some AN that is helping it stay in grade along with the small amounts of Moly. Either way, the company pushing for extended drains NEEDS to do a better job bc 9 out of 10 Amsoil reports thicken and thats a disgrace. I thought at one time they had this fixed. I was WRONG.

[ October 18, 2004, 05:54 PM: Message edited by: buster ]

 

[jthorner]

Interesting. We have here examples of what seem to be two typical situations.

1) Amsoil thickens with use, but turns in low wear anyway. This has turned up in multiple longer OCIs here, especially the 3MP study.

2) Mobil-1 hold it's own pretty well, but in a back to back comparison shows a little higher iron wear.

Personally I would try another one of the mass market sythetics to see if you can avoid the high cost of Amsoil and the relatively higher iron of Mobil-1.

My 2 cents!
John

 

[olympic]

Next on my list for testing is Esso XD-3 coming in at nearly half the cost of M1. This oil starts out at 12.1cst so I'm thinking it would take a small miracle to keep it from becoming a 50wt over 25,000 miles.

After that I'll try GC. A little more $$ than M1 but still reasonable if it can go the distance.