Amsoil vs M1 2003 Vibe 15000km

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olympic

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Here's an Amsoil Series 3000 0w30 vs M1 SS 5w30 UOA on my 2003 Vibe used as a taxi. Specs on the car:

Amsoil dual remote filtration
Wix fuzzy paper air filter
80% city driving
Dozens of starts-ups and shutdowns/day.
Current odometer: 116,000km
Time on each OCI: ~ 2 months

Left column is Amsoil, right is M1. Both OCI's were 15000km(9150 mi) give or take a couple hundred.

Tin 0.5 0
Lead 3.5 6
Copper 0.5 0.7
Aluminum 3 2
Silicon 29 24
Iron 9 16
Chromium 0.7 0.7
Silver 0 0
Zinc 1150 950
Magnesium 820 150
Nickel 0 0
Barium 0 0
Sodium 13 12
Calcium 2000+ 2000+
Vanadium 0 0
Phosphorus 1010 856
Molybdenum 1 80
Boron 18 60
Manganese 223 270

Viscosity 14.58 12.48
Water 0 0
Solids Glycol No No
Fuel Dilution No No
Base No. 5.08 7.45
Oxidation 17.15 33.05
Nitro Compounds 0.00 0.00
Organic Nitrates 52.29 53.33

The air filter was changed when the M1 was installed. I have no idea where the Si is coming from. I made extra sure everything was sealed up properly. Maybe I'll try a little grease around the filter seal.

As for the other numbers, Amsoil is the winner in terms of iron and lead. It also seems to resist oxidation better.

Amsoil thickened by 3cst and M1 by 2cst and managed to stay in grade because it starts out thinner. M1 also retained it's TBN better. All in all there's nothing too surprising here.

The vehicle is currently running Esso XD-3 Ow30 synthetic and the bypass system has been removed. I'll probably sample it around 10,000km
because of the reduced filtration and oil capacity.
 
TBN is listed as "Base No.", 4th from the bottom.

I can't comment on gas mileage because I don't keep track. With 7 vehicles, it's tough.

The one thing I did notice is that the engine had a substantial valvetrain "tick" with Amsoil until it reached full operating temperature. The noise was still present with M1 and XD-3 but to a much lesser degree. Amsoil appears to be the thinnest at room temperature so that probably explains it.
 
you went 15000km's and the M1's TBN is 7.4

wow.

I thought I was stretching it with 10000km's on M1.

If you had to choose between Amsoil and M1 ONLY, which would you run based on these results?
 
There's a typo in my UOA, the oil ws Amsoil Series 2000, not 3000.

The car had a bypass filter and put these miles on in 2 months, so 10,000km may be appropriate in your situation. My next UOA will be with XD-3 and no bypass so we'll see how that goes.

It would be a tough choice between these 2 oils. Amsoil provides less wear but costs nearly double that of M1. Is the increased wear of any consequence in the long run?....I don't know. I would probably choose Amsoil, but go with the Series 3000 5w30 HDD formula. It's more suited for the type of service this car sees.

Unless the Esso XD-3 UOA turns out horrible, I'll prohbably stick with that, even if I have to shorten up my OCI. It's a $30 oil change with XD-3 vs $55 with Amsoil.
 
Honestly I'd run the Amsoil 5w-30 ASL year round over the S2k. S2k is good oil, but I'm not sure it's worth the cost. Results are pretty close but Amsoil did have better wear numbers. Another run would be good for a trend.
 
It really is not fair to compare S3000 or S2000 to M1 5W30. You are compareing an $8-$10 a quart non-API oil with a $3.38 a quart API certified oil! Would you consider trying M1R 0W30 since it is at least on par in the ZDDP department with Amsoil and is also not API approved. It is the only oil that M1 that has more ZDDP and is still a thirty weight. It would at least be closer to an apples to apples comparison.

Thier is also the whole viscosity issue? Is it the chemistry or the extra viscosity that helps the S2000????

I am not sayingit would turn out any different from the current results but it would at least be closer.
 
quote:
Originally posted by olympic:
The car had a bypass filter and put these miles on in 2 months, so 10,000km may be appropriate in your situation. My next UOA will be with XD-3 and no bypass so we'll see how that goes.
Click to expand...
too bad.
it would have been very interesting to see how the XD-3, with bypass like the other two, fares.

great info though. thanks for sharing.
 
quote:
Would you consider trying M1R 0W30 since it is at least on par in the ZDDP department with Amsoil and is also not API approved.
Click to expand...
No one around here sells M1R, otherwise I would consider it.

I never set out to make this a fair comparison between oils in the same category. I'm trying to find the oil which costs me the least per mile while maintaining adequate protection. Before I found out about XD-3, my next choice for this experiment was Amsoil HDD 5w30. I may still try it pending the results of the next UOA.

quote:
it would have been very interesting to see how the XD-3, with bypass like the other two, fares.
Click to expand...
I agree. But the bypass filter was on there for both the Amsoil and M1 run(I drained it as best I could during the oil change) With nearly 40,000km on it, I didn't want to run it any longer. These filters are $35CDN each, that's more than the cost of an oil change with XD-3. I see no sense in using a bypass filter when it's not helping extend the OCI by a substantial margin. If I can get 10,000km with XD-3 and no bypass, I'll be a happy camper. Hopefully insoluables stay in check.

Oops, I just about forgot. I will have an Amsoil vs M1 vs XD-3 UOA with a bypass filter for you guys. I already posted the Amsoil results here http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=001789

It's currently at 15,000km on M1 and I'll sample it at 20,000. After the M1 is drained I'll use XD-3. I'm really hoping to achieve 40,000km OCI's with my hiway vans.
 
The prices I paid in CDN$ are:

Amsoil S2000(preferred customer)- $144.80+shipping for 4x1gal jugs. Works out to $9.53/liter+shipping. I can't say what the exact shipping was becasue I ordered a bunch of other stuff at the same time. But it would be safe to say that it puts the price in the $10 range.

M1 5w30- $25 for a 4.4l jug= $5.68/liter

XD-3- $3.67/liter

Of course there are taxes and enviro fees, but they are applied to all oils so I left them out to make the comparison easier.
 
My question is who talked you into the Series 2000 0w30?

I think that is a great oil over all, but for the same cost you could run the Series 3000 5w30 HDD. This would hold up to oxidation much much much better. The second choice would be the ASL 5w30 because of the cost.
 
quote:
Originally posted by msparks:
My question is who talked you into the Series 2000 0w30?

I think that is a great oil over all, but for the same cost you could run the Series 3000 5w30 HDD. This would hold up to oxidation much much much better. The second choice would be the ASL 5w30 because of the cost.
Click to expand...
I didn't consult anyone personally, there are no local Amsoil dealers here so I went with what I thought was their best oil. At the time, I didn't know that the HDD 5w30 would have been more appropriate for such severe conditions. It's still on my list of oils to try though. I've browsed the UOA's on this oil and they look very impressive. Oxidation is low and it holds it's viscosity well.
 
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