amsoil - good or bad?

any opinions on Amsoil?

Reply to
I Love Edsels
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I don't use it. I have read some tests that show it to be better than many would like to believe.

Their multilevel marketing approach does not inspire credibility, for me at least.

I tried to change the oil in a girlfriend's car once in which Amsoil was used for long change intervals. Crap looked like chocolate pudding.

Now, had reasonable change intervals been used, it might have come out much better.

Reply to
<HLS

If someone drives only five to ten minutes average per cold startup, the result will eventually, indeed, be chocolate pudding..the 'chocolate' part being due to condensated water not 'boiled out'and probable engine damage as a result.. and ANY synthetic a waste of money .

For long change intervals, Mobil 1 works every bit as well as needed... and you can buy it anywhere, cheaper. Change filters at 5000.

Oil Change rule of thumb:

Grocery getter (frequent, short trip driver) - every three months, good Dino oil (Valvoline). The FAMOUS brands start to break down at or before

3000, ALL brands will hold water. And mileage driven means nothing.

Long commuter (at least 30 minutes running cycle per startup) use a REAL synthetic, change at 15,000- filter at 5,000.

Any engine malfunction resulting in rich mixture causing gas contamination calls for immediate oil change, no matter what.

Any glycol contamination: ditto.

Amsoil is for those who like 'cultish' things.

Reply to
Backyard Mechanic

I tried only their standard motor oil, and it was okay. Didn't do as well on the four-ball test as Castrol Syntec, but it came close. Seemed to have reasonable solvent action. Don't know about any of their other products.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

In my experience there is a lot of noisy hype surrounding their products, but the chances are that their oil will provide about as much engine longevity as oil from one of the major brands. The key to engine longevity is establishing a regular schedule of frequent oil and filter changes that exceeds the manufacturers schedule and sticking to it.

Reply to
John S.

This also bring up another good question..... how is their gear oil, say the

90 weight. It was recommended (and used by) the mechanic at the Harley shop for aftermarket transmission fluid changes. Any opinions on this?

Fwed

Reply to
fweddybear

Dunno, but at some point I'd like to see a comparison between the Red Line, Royal Purple, Amsoil, Mobil 1 and (conventional petroleum) Pennzoil types. I've had folks recommend all of these at one point or another.

Gear oil is funny stuff and conventional oil tests don't always correlate well with real-world gear wear.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

*************************************************** This was not her problem. She drove long miles at highway speed. ***************************************************
*************************************************** I don't presently use synthetics, and if I did I would change oil and filter at 3000 miles, just like I do now. Assurance that you can get away with long change intervals is wasted on me. I will not likely ever follow that path.

She ran hers to 15,000 miles between changes. No glycol contamination, no condensation.....just Amsoil. And, as it was her car, and her philosophy, I didn't choose to interfere.

Reply to
<HLS

I would imagine temp has alot to do with how well it keeps things coated with that thin layer...

Fwed

Reply to
fweddybear

I have nothing to back this up but a gut feeling, but Redline Heavy Shockproof seems hard to beat for gear protection. It sticks to everything it touches like nobody's business. I am currently running it in my Porsche's transaxle; doesn't shift as well as MTL when cold but I figure the tranny needs all the help it can get (has a noisy bearing, and notoriously fragile R&P)

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

With OCIs that long I would be real nervous without either periodic (5K miles?) filter changes and/or a bypass filter. But that said a good synthetic really should be able to go 15K miles without issues, I suspect other problems with that engine like a nonfunctional PCV valve?

Personally, I change my oil every 5K (Porsche 944) with either Mobil 1

5W40 or Rotella T syn 5W40 even though the owner's manual says 7500. Maybe I'm being over-cautious, but I can't be arsed to mess with used oil analyses and without same I just get nervous.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

What does Harley recommend for the transmission.

Reply to
John S.

Amsoil is a ponzi scheme like Amway soap. It might work, but that isn't the IDEA behind it. The IDEA behind it is to sell inventory to some other sucker ( eh...associate ) so they can find a sucker ( eh...customer ) or another associate to fall into the same TRAP!

If it *works,* that's icing on the cake.

Lg

Reply to
Lawrence Glickman

Its not a harley tranny....but for their trannys, they of course recommend harley tranny fluid..... i had a baker tranny put in, and the mechanic (a harley mechanic) said he uses amsoil 90 weight gear oil in that....so since the discussion of amsoil oil wasn't getting high reviews, if the gear oil was similar in ratings....

Fwed

Reply to
fweddybear

WELL SAID. Ill ditto that! If you want to here how great it is just ask someone who sells it.

Reply to
ShoeSaleman

Most of the synthetics are very good about viscosity improvement, and they also have extremely good film strength. As a result, they tend to be better at keeping surfaces coated at temperature extremes.

The real question, though, is how the stuff holds up under extreme pressure with high shear levels. Shear strength is a big deal for gear oils.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

No matter who made it, I would follow the manufacturers recommendation first. I think they would be in the best position to determine which lubricant meets the technical requirements of the gearbox. There are not many other people who would be able to accurately answer your question.

Reply to
John S.

They may be a high pressure sales organization, but I doubt they come close to being a real ponzi scheme. I doubt that there are many people on this forum that could provide a meaningful and accurate answer his qustion "how is their 90 weight oil" about any oil, Amsoil or otherwise.

Reply to
John S.

I don't waste my time with oil analyses either.

No, she had no PCV problems. Nothing wrong with the engine, just 15,000 mile change intervals, as far as I could determine.

Amsoil must have a heavy additive package load. I think I may have read that somewhere. Lots of oils will 'cook' and decompose with time and temperature, we are led to believe. A lot of the damage caused to Toyota, VW, and similar engines has been laid to this, although some suggest that the engine design and PCV specifications play a strong part.

Anyone who wants can use Amsoil and a lot swear by it. Many of the snake oil comments on this group are based on hearsay, I suspect, rather than first hand experience with the product. I am fairly open minded on the subject, but choose not to use the product myself.

Reply to
<HLS

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