AMSOIL Synthetic 5W-40 European Engine Oil

I dont use Amsoil. I posted previously that my girlfriend, 6-7 years ago, used it and I tried to change the oil for her. I have never seen such gloppy mess ooze out of a drain hole. She ran the extended change intervals that Amsoil claims, but REALLY!

I dont use Jiffy Lube either. I change my own oil. At the moment I am using Castrol.

LOL!

Listen up Mr Spammer, even the 'cheapest' oil they sell at 'any' quick lube place is certified so it is more than 1000% better than an uncertified snake oil that 'will' void the engine warranty.

What is that so hard to understand???

Also, aren't you supposed to get you pee pee slapped for Spamming that crap on Usenet?

Isn't Spamsoil supposed to pull your license for this??

I think I will email them and ask.

Mike

The Amsoil synthetics are certified, arent they, Mike....Their regular oils dont appear to be.

The XL Product line is API Certified. This is the faux synthetic (like Castrol Syntec). Most of the rest of the Amsoil oils are not API certified.

Here are a list of the API Certified Amsoil Engine Oils (from

and ): Brand SAE Service Name Viscosity Category PCO 15W-40 CI-4/SL** XL 10W-30 SM/CF* XL 10W-40 SM/CF XL 5W-20 SM/CF* XL 5W-30 SM/CF*

• - Energy Conserving ** - CI-4 Plus

Ed

From what I have read, if I remember right only one of their newest 'fake' synthetics got certified. You know the type the oil companies went to court to have the 'synthetic' definition changed to include any 'refined' dino oil.

Now companies like spamsoil can sell the regular 99 cent oil at 'synthetic' prices so they are really laughing all the way to the bank. That is the 'only' reason they certified that one from what I read.

Their synthetics that are from other means, or the old 'real' ones couldn't pass.

I think Mobile and royal purple are one of the last companies to still have 'real' 'certified' synthetic, not the fake stuff.

There are 'some' really scuzzy things I know about Spamsoil that their lawyers have come after me for big time with a gag order threat.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06 (More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

As a chemist, I can appreciate that the term "synthetic" can have a variety of meanings. Not just poly(alphaolefins) nor polyesters are synthetics.. It is a grey area as to how much refinement or reaction is needed to call something fully synthetic.

Nontheless, I agree with you on Amsoil. I dont like their MLM business model and their claims.

You'll suffer no consequenses if you go 5K between O/C, even on the first one. The 2GR-FE only requires 5W30, so it's cheap to maintain, too.

Toyota MDT in MO

"Comboverfish"

Thanks, Comboverfish... The book actually specifies the initial oil change at less than 3000 miles. In order to dance in step with the warranty, I will keep the schedule but appreciate the comments.

I think the sludging problems have been solved now (??)

Really? Even if you drive long enough to evaporate the oil completely? What if the oil is spec-ed for cooking whole turkeys in full submersion? What if the brand of oil you use is fortified with tree sap or sand? A sand-rich oil would most likely fail any relevant quality testing; do you suggest that manufacturers would allow a warranty claim if someone used an oil such as this in their engine and experienced internal failure shortly thereafter? For future debate, lets call this hypothetical oil SANDSOIL.

Toyota MDT in MO

I'm no engineer, but I would bet that the sludging issue has been addressed. I never took too well to the insinuation that the 5S-FE and the 1MZ-FE were (magically) sludge-prone, even though they are both direct descendents of earlier versions that never got any press for such behavior, yet in actuality sludged up the same way if neglected. The 2GR-FE and 2AZ-FE (closest currently available engines in terms of application) are completely new in every way. I trust they made "sludge resistance" a major factor during the engineering phase. Maybe owners will make a similar jump in maintenance intervals for the new series of engines, akin to the 3000 to 7500 mile interval jump in the 90's i.e. let's go 15000 miles between oil changes now and then complain about sludging, deteriorated seals and stuck rings.

Toyota MDT in MO

Not quite a mnemonic but close enough.

I've never used magnets to get rid of headaches, either. And I don't need to to know that the people who push them for that purpose are idiots.

And if they haven't run the test sequences, how can they make the claim that the oil passes the tests?

Personally, I prefer to use an oil that's been thoroughly tested

*before* I buy it.

Products may pass tests run by internal laboratories or even third party testing laboratories, but the results may not be accepted by the certifying agency unless the fees are paid and that agency repeats the tests.

I dont know if this is the case for oil, but it is true for many other things, and this is where some of the expense for certification can creep in.

These cars are prone to sludging

1996-2001 Toyota 3.0 L 1MZ V6 August 1996-July 2001 Toyota Camry June 1998-May 2001 Toyota Camry Solara July 1997-May 2001 Toyota Sienna July 1996-May 2001 Toyota Avalon November 2000-July 2001 Toyota Highlander August 1998-July 2001 Lexus ES300 January 1998-July 2001 Lexus RX300 1996-2001 Toyota 5SFE I4 August 1996-July 2001 Toyota Camry June 1998-May 2001 Toyota Camry Solara August 1996-April 1999 Toyota Celica

Ed

When an oil company certifies an oil, they submit the test results and the API decides whether they pass. And these test results must be run in laboratories that are certified to run the tests properly. The API doesn't repeat any testing.

An oil company pushing an uncertified oil and offering all sorts of bogus excuses for not being certified should raise all sorts of red flags.

I looked over the Castrol site with respect to some their certification and we often find language something like "exceeds xxxxx specifications". This is a very vague term, and something that Spamsoil might mimic. "Exceeds" by whose definition? Is it certified or not??

Your comments above are similar to what I have tried to suggest. Just because an oil company or formulator have run their internal tests, and believe that their product is superior, does not mean anything in the certification exercise.

The data have to be performed by a certified lab, or by the certifying agency (in some cases), and accepted in the certification protocol. In some industries accredited labs can be used, in others they cannot. In some, ONLY the certifying agency can run the tests to grant the certification. Sounds like a boondoggle?? Probably is, but that is the way it sometimes goes.

No, I'm not. I'm referring to the total cost, and this thread from

2003 says API certification is $1,000 plus less than a penny per quart:

If certification does costs too much, then why does Amsoil have some oils that are API certified, and why are 100% synthetics that normally sell for much less also API certified? Amsoil can't be trusted on this issue because it's made too many false claims, including for fuel economy improvement.

Yep. About a thousand for the API licensing, and many tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands to test the oil.

The fact that they *do* have some of their oils certified seems to indicate that they actually do understand and appreciate the importance of API certification in spite of what they say to explain the lack of certification on most of their products. If they didn't appreciate the importance of certification, they wouldn't bother certifying any of their oils.

But given some of the chatter in recent years (mainly about the zinc levels), it would seem that their uncertified oils simply do NOT meet the certification requirements.

I would have to agree. The behaviour of countless MLM droids on countless newsgroups has destroyed any credibility that the company may have had.