Amsoil

[wheels 543]

I am about to place an order for some Amsoil. Does anyone want any??? Although you can order what you like, I was thinking someone here may especially like some 2 stroke oil.

Now as many of you know, I don't often get very excited about many oils, as many are not much better than that of snakes. But Amsoil is the only one on my list as being a real true genuine does at it says fully synthetic Oil. I recently ran out of 2 stroke oil and went back to an off the shelf one from the local shops. My outboard just hasn't been running as sweet as it usually does and has been so much harder to start.

For my Car, I do some fairly high millage and I would be doing oil changes too often. With Amsoil, I do a change around 50,000Kms. Yep, that's one oil change at 50,000Kms. It's expensive, but at that kind of change interval, it becomes cheap. I look at this as being economical, and good for the environment. They have all kinds of products available.

I will pass on anything at my cost if you want it.

Send me a PM if you are interested and I will help you further with prices and what products there are.

[too_tall 15]

Hmm.. Interesting that you find the amsoil good. I tried it once having been given a 33% discount voucher at the field days. And tried in a big way - 200L of heavy/industrial diesel oil, 200L of 15/40 light diesel/petrol oil, 20L 2 stroke and a 1000L cube of transmission/hydraulic oil.

 

Still got most of it, because things started turning sour on me fairly fast. My enduro bikes both did the bottom end bearings, as did one tractor. And the hydraulic pumps in 2 tractors soon failed. I also got quite accelerated gear wear as noted by the amount of metal on the sump plug in all tractors.It was at this time that I discovered the John Deere exclude Amsoil from their warranty safe oils list, which include most other known brands. Amsoil is specifically noted by JD to be excluded. I am not sure if this is due to excessive warranty claims, or if its due to some silly corporate thing.

 

I was talking to the mechanic who does all my heavy diesel work, and his view was that the Amsoil products provide absolutely brilliant lubrication, better than almost any other oils provide, but they offer the least cushioning of any oils in the respective classes. The items that failed in my machines were all likely to be caused by the lack of cushioning as opposed to a simple lack of lubrication properties. He said that several of his customers have used it, and whilst quite a few never had problems, when he noticed a problem it was always the same issues - and could be tracked to insufficient cushioning.

 

In a little tender outboard, which is never worked hard, its unlikely to be an issue, but don't mix it at the suggested 100:1 or whatever it is that Amsoil suggest - again, no cushioning of parts.

 

Not had any issues using the 15/40 but I got too scared to use it after the initial issues with other vehicles!.

[wheels 543]

I have used many of the products for years. Never had a problem and you know my views on additives. I also use the 2 stroke at 100:1 and never had an outboard run sweeter.

Main/bigend bearings seldom run due to oil quality though. It's normally no oil. The actual load on a main/bigend is not actually very high. If you had an oil with poor Load carrying ability, then you would have bore scoring issues and most especially, cam lobe wear first.

[too_tall 15]

I have used many of the products for years. Never had a problem and you know my views on additives. I also use the 2 stroke at 100:1 and never had an outboard run sweeter.

Main/bigend bearings seldom run due to oil quality though. It's normally no oil. The actual load on a main/bigend is not actually very high. If you had an oil with poor Load carrying ability, then you would have bore scoring issues and most especially, cam lobe wear first.

 

I think that the load damping as opposed to carrying abilities are to blame - as much as they are related. The Amsoil is a very very fine particle - its noted for blowing past engine rings more than most synthetics, and this contributes to simply no ability to damp the shock, as opposed to remaining in place as a lubricant during a loaded rotation. Remember that even a 250cc 2 stroke enduro/motorcross motor revs very hard - around 12500rpm and making around 50HP out of a 250cc motor, and even the 450 bangers are pulling around 11500rpm and near 60hp That working things pretty hard. And in the tractors, the shock damping ability of the oil was clearly to blame - run an overly light oil in those transmissions and they will do the same thing. Even though I had the correct grade oil in the transmissions, they chewed them out like it was super thin, light machine oil as opposed to heavy extreme pressure oil.

 

The light engine oil may well be fine, but after those experiences, I was not going to be taking any risks. A single total transmisison rebuild is in excess of $30K in a tractor - and I had more than one to do, so the oil was well and truly not trusted afterwards.

 

Of course, there are a lot of positive opinions of the Amsoil products on the web, but also a fair share of negative comment. I guess that if you find it works, good. But just do ya research first. I suggest that if you do have engine wear problems not telling the mechanic you used a 100:1 Amsoil fuel mix if your under warranty still!.

[wheels 543]

You are talking complete and utter crap. Blow by rings??? where the hell do you get that from???

First off, if Amsoil ever had problems, they would have law suits against them. They have operated since 1972 and have never yet had one law suit. Yet Mobile, Shell, Castrol and many many of the additive companies have.

Second, all Oil must meet minimum requirements set by engine/transmission manufactures. Don't meet those requirements and you get sued. There is no manufacturer, including JD (in the US at least) that does not exclude Amsoil from warranty. Amsoil stand by their product with full warranty anyway. Those minimum requirements are what determine the oil's EP strength (load dampening)etc.

Thirdly, all synth oil still comes from petroleum base stock. In reality, even full synth oil is not really full synth, because the synthetic parts are still made from hydrocarbon building blocks.

The viscosity ratings of oils determine how "thin" an oil is, but what sets the real top oils apart is the ability to stay at the rated viscosity when hot. That is where Amsoil stands way apart from anything else. The reason for this is that Amsoil got it's start from the Jet engine industry. Making oils that would stand up to the heat and speed of a jet engine.

As I have said, I have had a lot of years with this stuff and a lot of experience with additives and was once a Wynns industrial product rep even. I have pulled down many engines and tested and inspected many components under many different oils and additives. As a result, I will not recommend additives. I have had a lot of dissapointment with many supposedly top oils under recognised brand names. But I have always been very happy with the Amsoil products. I know many people that use it in both 2 and 4 stroke and as I said, my outboard has never run sweeter than on that stuff.

But anyway, this thread was not started by me to argue about Amsoil. Simply if anyone wants anything, I am happy to oblige at no profit to me, so it is no skin off my nose if no one wants any.

The 2 stroke 100:1 is $33 for a quart and $27/quart for injected or $110 for a US gall.

[too_tall 15]

Well I know damn well that Amsoil have had numerous law suits against them - having been involved in one. And JD supported the suit as I was not the only one to have tractors significantly damaged using that product whilst still under warranty.

 

Im pretty sure its a different importer of the product now as they are based in a different city.

 

JD did not honour the warranty as the oil was specifically not included in the list of oils which they would warrant. Read what I said carefully. They did not exclude the brand, but they did not include it in the list either. Excluding it would result in nasty legal battles in a litigious country such as the US. Not including it is simply saying "we will not support our product if you do not use what we recommend in it" which is a fair enough term to any warranty in my opinion.

 

I also know that Blue Wing honda have told their dealers to tell people not to use Amsoil in high power/high stress engines as it does not provide enough cushioning. It appears this is a common recommendation in the motorcycle industry being . I guess you obviously know far more than the engineers who have to figure out why the incidence of engines or transmissions failing is substantially higher when using a particular brand of oil. And its not only Amsoil which has caused problems - example being one particular variant of Castrol oils caused all sorts of issues when used in light diesels in the 90's. Fortunately Castrol were very quick to remove it from supply and they rectified the situation before it became too well known.

 

Besides, if the oil was really able to be extended oil change intervals so much, and is so great at preventing mechanical failure as the manufactures claim, why do no car/bike/industrial manufacturers use it as original equipment? After all, they spend huge amounts trying to extend out service intervals to meet ever more stringent emissions controls, and also spend considerable amounts to ensure that cars do not get a reputation for being less reliable than others..... Putting in slightly more expensive oil which promises these would make things a lot easier for them if it really worked well.

 

Anyway, if others are still keen on it ( and as I noted earlier, there are plenty of happy people on the internet using it ) just have a look at the reports on the web to make an informed decision yourselves.

[too_tall 15]

You are talking complete and utter crap. Blow by rings??? where the hell do you get that from???

 

Quite simple. If one type of oil maintains its level between changes ( in my 4 stroke bikes, thats every 10 hours ) and another needs topping up in those 10 hours, and there are no leaks, its going out the exhaust. By slipping past the rings. All engines do this to a greater or lesser extent with any type of oil, the super fine synthetics are quite well known for doing this more than the more simply refined mineral oils.

 

Probably in most low speed applications most will not notice it. When a piston is sweeping oil maybe 120 times every second on average, you notice it very rapidly!.

[wheels 543]

Synthetics, or Amsoil synth anyway, is not super fine. That is usually the benefit of any synth oil. They are large molecules and that is one reason why they lubricate and protect so well.