Just got back from my 1000 mile trip on TMO 0W-30

[Alex D]

Well we just got back from our trip to St. Louis, MO..... about a thousand miles round trip. I had switched the oil in our 94 Thunderbird 4.6 SOHC to Amsoil TMO 0W-30 and I am impressed! TMO is the ONLY oil I had in this engine so far that did not cause the early morning lifter/cam chain tensioner clatter. Nothing, just a quiet start up. It is also the only oil I have run in this engine that did not cause the engine to consume motor oil. M1 10W-30 was the worst at over a qt./1K miles. With TSO in there it only used a smidge.....hardly able to see on the dipstick....prolly only a couple of ounces. I am sold on this oil for this engine. The engine also seems to run better and smoother, but that may be a placebo effect. While I was in St. Louis and we were stuffing ourselves with turkey et al., I got the idea to run out and check a few of the local Auto Zones for GC .......... since our stores here in iowa don't stock GC yet. Well I scored fine and went home with 36 qts. of GC .... don't try to find GC in STL for a while....... I cleaned out five stores in a ten mile radius .... they probably have more next week again. One store even had a buy five, get the sixth quart free deal running, so I got six qts. for the price of five. Now after i got my Shcaeffers, Amsoil and Redline delivery, plus the GC, I need more cars to put all that oil into [ November 29, 2003, 01:38 AM: Message edited by: Alex D ]

 

[KW]

What kind of OCI are you going to use with the 0W30 TSO? Wow 7 oil chnages worth of GC 0W30!!

 

[Alex D]

Well, we have four cars ........and the Burb takes 6.5 qts., the T/A takes alomost 6 qts. and uses a little....... anyway, I am going to run the TSO up to 10K miles and then change with filter. I do little short distance driving, so the oil and engine get heated to operating temp every time and going to work every day is 18 miles interstate one way.

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Originally posted by KW: What kind of OCI are you going to use with the 0W30 TSO? Wow 7 oil chnages worth of GC 0W30!!

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[ November 29, 2003, 01:46 AM: Message edited by: Alex D ]

 

[KW]

Cool I was asking because I'm going to try the ASL Amsoil here in the next few days. I was eye'ing some GC in the Auto Zone here but then decided on the ASL Amsoil 5W30.

 

[Alex D]

I got ASL in my 96 LT1 Corvette right now. Switched from a life time on M1 5W-30. Couldn't tell any difference going from the M1 to the ASL in the Vette so far, but i love Amsoil products. The LS1 T/A and the 2002 Burb 5.3 are both running on Redline 5W-30 right now. The T-Bird always ran on Dino, but I absolutely love what the TMO did for it. You know what I mean if you ever heard the typical, dreaded Ford SOHC early morning clatter before. [ November 29, 2003, 02:12 AM: Message edited by: Alex D ]

 

[TooSlick]

It generally takes about 3000 miles to see the best results with the S2000 and S3000, 5w-30 oils. Basically, the hotter (220F-250F) you can get the oil, the more quickly you'll see the best results. The unique type of antiwear chemistry they are using sort of plates out on the wearing surfaces at high temps and actually micropolishes the asperites. This reduces NVH and makes the engine run very smoothly. It's similar in concept to the Synerlec additive that Royal Purple discusses on their website ...if you look at those SEM photos, you can actually see the smoothing effect on the wearing surfaces. Tooslick www.lubedealer.com/Dixie_Synthetics

 

[TooSlick]

Buster, You change your mind more often than I change my socks ... TS

 

[Alex D]

....and I change my motor oil more often than you change either of those.

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Originally posted by TooSlick: Buster, You change your mind more often than I change my socks ... TS

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[buster]

My friend who has a 2003 Vette and Tahoe loves this oil as well. He says the engines in both vehicles are smoother and engine temps are lower. It's mainly do to the low coefficient of friction of the oil. While I do think it's over priced, I would consider using this oil just for those reasons alone, but not in a high mileage car like mine. I'm hoping the new Mobil 0w-30 R has the same effect and it sounds like it will according to the press release which mentions more HP from less internal friction. It's going to be real interesting to see how R and S2k compare. [ November 29, 2003, 12:36 PM: Message edited by: buster ]

 

[TooSlick]

Alex, The 0w-30 is excellent stuff ...the only thing to watch for is thickening due to fuel contamination on drain intervals > 15,000 miles in big, V-8 engines. An easy way to monitor this is by keeping track of fuel efficiency. If it drops off by more than 3%, it's time to change the oil. I also like to be able to see through the oil to the crosshatches on the dipstick, when the oil is cold and thick. It's a visual indication of the # of oxidation you have. Ted

 

[Alex D]

Thank you for the hint TS. Your advice is always most appreciated!!! I don't see that I will ever run a car on the same oil for more than 10K miles. I know it is possible and with the right oil and filter OCIs can be stretched far beyond 10K without any problems. We have four cars and only the T-Bird runs more than 10K miles a year, all others run only 1500 miles (Vette) to 5,000 miles (T/A) per year and I will change oil on all cars at least once a year before the winter storage anyway. Plus I just like to change my oil often and I really don't care if the qt. costs $3.00 or $8.00, I just want a great oil in there and experiment around with what I learn here. Me buying and using Amsoil, Redline, Schaeffers etc. makes probably absolutely no economical sense, I am just having fun at it. In the end I just want the best oil and an OCI between 5K and 10K miles for cars that are driven regularly.

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Originally posted by TooSlick: Alex, The 0w-30 is excellent stuff ...the only thing to watch for is thickening due to fuel contamination on drain intervals > 15,000 miles in big, V-8 engines. An easy way to monitor this is by keeping track of fuel efficiency. If it drops off by more than 3%, it's time to change the oil. I also like to be able to see through the oil to the crosshatches on the dipstick, when the oil is cold and thick. It's a visual indication of the # of oxidation you have. Ted

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[buster]

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The 0w-30 is excellent stuff

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Not sure it's excellent stuff. It does seem to show lower engine temps., but the UOA's have been spotty. I still think it's very over priced oil. Not too mention your paying over $8qt for an oil that isn't really A3 rated. It's new HT/HS is only 3.4. [ November 30, 2003, 05:54 PM: Message edited by: buster ]

 

[Alex D]

Well, it eliminated the morning clatter in my SOHC which no other oil, incl. M1 was able to do, besides I pay dealer price, so it's less than $8/qt. [ November 30, 2003, 08:52 PM: Message edited by: Alex D ]