Mobil 1 vs. Amsoil?

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My Civic was noisier with M1 5W-30 than with the Amsoil 0W-30 I'm using now.
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I used M1 0W40 TS and it was like a bucket of bolts in my engine. Exceptional oil on our Timken ntester though by far at the time. There is something we are all missing here with oils IMO.
 
quote:

Originally posted by ScottB:
So, it seems to me that you guys who analyze everything to death (that's not a knock, but an observation) would have recorded sound levels to prove that the noise is greater with M1.
I mean seriously, if you don't take "seat of the pants" data for oil and other things, why would we believe that your engines are "noisier" with M1?

Now let's assume they are noisier, what does that mean exactly?

Scott


It doesn't need to be metered.
The Mobil1 clatter is so rediculously obvious. It's like if you get run over by a truck, you don't need a video of it to know you got run over a truck. Well, maybe you do, but most people don't.

I first noticed the Mobil1 clatter around year 2000 or 2001. Mobil1 always used to make my engines much *quieter* than dino, then one day, I poured out the old M1, put in new M1, and I was like ***? I kept looking at my oil light, and looking for leaks. It sounded like my engine had no oil pressure. I couldn't find anything, so I figured it must just be my imagination. But then I bought another car, swapped out the dino for M1, and: clatter clatter clatter. But still I was buying into the hype that M1 was the best there was, except for Redline/Amsoil, so I kept using it. Lately I just decided I've had enough, because now whatever weird thing they're doing to the oil makes it turn black in just a few miles. Someone on this board did a test and found that it eats copper, and turns black at low temp.

Remember that commercial they had about 10 years ago, where the M1 on the frying pan stayed clear, but the dino turned black. I bet the M1 would turn black *before* the dino nowadays.

I'm starting to suspect that the M1 pre-99 was a superior product, and they've watered it down for various reasons. Probably a bunch of "consultants" got involved and showed them how they could make more money by cutting costs and increasing advertising. Probably they got even "better" consulting after the Exxon merger.

Here's a weird fact: I wore out a Saab 2.0 litre motor using M1 at about 180,000 miles. That wasn't supposed to happen. The motor was never dogged, not even once. Mobil1 failed to do the job.
 
Mobil 1 represents 60% of the synthetic market vs 4% for Amsoil so I'm not surprised you will here more complaints about it.

Amsoil's own testing shows M1 at the top. Engine builders use it with success and it meets all specifications. M1 gettin darker has ZERO to do with it's performance. Once again a myth that never seems to go away. I don't know why in some engines it is louder. I've never had an issue with it.

All those cars and racing teams using it must suffer from premature engine failures.
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OK, let's move on and assume the "more noise" issue is valid.
Why?
What does it mean?

To me, this is the most important thread here at the moment.

Scott
 
quote:

Originally posted by ScottB:
OK, let's move on and assume the "more noise" issue is valid.
Why?
What does it mean?

To me, this is the most important thread here at the moment.

Scott


Excellent question. I've heard three different noises:

1. This sounds like tremendous rocker arm clatter at idle, as though the valve clearances were WAY too large.

2. In slappy engines at idle (e.g., GM, Volvo B230F), the slap was MUCH louder at startup, and then some slap would often still be perceptible (if I was really listening for it)after the motor was warm. Any other brand of oil would make the slap imperceptible when the engine was hot, and less prominent when the engine was cold.

3. At highway speeds, the engines would have more vibration being transmitted to the passenger compartment, and sound "buzzier."


Whether any of those three things meant that there was increased wear? I really don't know. However, all of those three things make any car very annoying to drive. Just the annoyance factor was enough to make me quit using M1 for the forseeable future.
 
As an aside, twice in the last year I drove from Eugene, Oregon to Portland, Or and back in a Honda Civic using M1 on 6 gallons of gas. 41+ MPG. Cruising at 70.
 
quote:

Originally posted by buster:
[QB] Amsoil's own testing shows M1 at the top. Engine builders use it with success and it meets all specifications.

Which test are they "at the top"? Cause if that was the case I dont imagine theyd sell much Amsoil. If by "on top" you mean "along with all the others"...its placed like 4th in almost all the tests I read...and that was M1 EP, which is supposed to be better than the M1 I was usuing for 50k.

And dont most engine builders use it for "assembly lube"? I dont really find that to be all that significant.
 
From what I recall seeing - M1 was under Amsoil but above all other oils. So "on top" in terms of being above all other oils but under Amsoil. At least that is what the graphs show from what I remember.

I'll agree though. M1 sounded like my car had no oil flow or no oil in the engine. GC 0w30 took that away. I wonder why this is? There are boat loads of people who claim the same thing so this does have some validity.
 
quote:

Originally posted by ScottB:
OK, good info. Did you use the baseline M1 or one of the new extended formulas?

Baseline. I don't think I ever tried one of the new ones, although it's possible, as they were coming out with a lot of weird stuff and I didn't have much to base a decision on. I remember at one point they had one for new cars, one for old cars, one for something else, etc.
 
Exactly why i wont use Amsoil , when Chrysler tells me Amsoil 20k oci are ok
i will use it.
Quote:
It doesn't matter as far as the oil goes - just use the oil and stay within the car mfr's recommended OCI and you won't have any problems with the oil or warranty.
 
I wouldn't be willing to take any oil 20,000+ miles, especially when some are sounding like lawyers when trying to explain the AMSOIL engine warrenty...

I've seen AMSOIL come out of an engine black as roofing tar --we changed it for this AMWAY salesmen using AMSOIL 10W-30 in the dudes old Dodge Dakota (while I worked at a quickie-oil change place), and checked the level, and guess what? It was black as roofing-tar. So, obviously, there is enough left over sludge/varnish/dirty oil left in the engine. And no one will ever convince me to leave oil in any car that long, I roasted one motor in my life a (an 87' Mazda 323, where I negligently left 20W-50 in over a cold winter, for 8000). Whether it works or not, I'm not doing it, empirical evidence alone is enough for me. The crankcase needs to be flushed with new oil a couple times a year at least if one does any sort of driving...
 
What percentage of BITOG members are running any synthetic on 20k OCI's (Amsoil included)?

1%?

This thread is getting rediculous.
 
I drive 220 miles a day to work (round trip). So, for someone driving those many highway miles, 20,000 miles on any oil isn't going to be as bad as city driving.

EDIT:
farrarfan1 - Thanks for the link!!! I did a search but must have typed in the wrong thing.
edit;

I for one agree with you, Nickdfresh.
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I have a hard time leaving GC 0w30 in for 10,000+ miles.
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I'll have to change my oil every month but who wants varnish/sludge?!
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[ March 16, 2006, 04:48 PM: Message edited by: OriginHacker21 ]
 
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