After much research I started using Amsoil Motor Oil approximately 12 years ago. Still for example in many publications like the Turbo Diesel Register and rv.net they report great reviews of Amsoil products. I drive about 500 miles a week to work and back round trip. In my 87 Toyota I have been using Amsoil 2000series oil and in my 99 Dodge Cummins pickup I been using Amsoil 3000 heavy duty turbo diesel oil. In both vehicles I conducted oil analysis about every 15,000 miles on the truck and every 25,000 miles on the car. The car has 350,000 miles on it and for example, after 35,000 miles on the same oil; the analysis says the oil is still in good condition and the truck after have 44,000 mile on the same oil; each time the oil analysis comes back saying the oil is in good condition. I do have the Amsoil bypass filtration system on both vehicles.

I am not trying to start a war. I am just trying to become better educated in the field of liberation as a consumer. What truly is the best brand of synthetic motor oil? What are the consumers and experts thoughts?

Chuck

Well, I guess there is now such thing as a "best of all" oil. You could do the same discussion in another board asking for the best religion.
You will never get an appropriate answer.

If you are happy with your oil, then continue using it.

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Originally posted by Callisa:
Well, I guess there is now such thing as a "best of all" oil. You could do the same discussion in another board asking for the best religion.
You will never get an appropriate answer.

If you are happy with your oil, then continue using it.

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Very nicely said, it is as passionate as discussion on religion. Best oil is what keeps your engine happy mile after mile and doesnt hurt your pocket in return.

I agree to keep using whatever makes you happy, amsoil certainly has some very nice products, and you seem to have an excellent plan. However, for the sake of discussion:


Amsoil, has some great products, some OK products and some that are merely OK and overpriced (like their oil filters). Amsoil's dealer system allows some absolute morons to tarnish the entire organization (claiming that mobil 1 is group III based, outrageous OCI claims, etc). Amsoil's own marketing hypes tests (4-ball wear) that make their products look great, but have minimal relvance to actual conditions, espicially compared to performance on used oil analysis.

I'd say that Mobil products are the only syn oils availble over the counter worth using. In the Mobil 1 line, I'd say that the 10W30, 15W50, and 5W40 are excellent, and the others are slightly less impressive.



I don't trust Castrol enough to feel entirely comfortable with their only common syn oil, German 0W30.

I think that Redline, Royal Purple and Neo are overpriced, hard to find, and offer virtually no performance advantages, at least in engine oils.

I also am interested, has anyone had anything to do with BP Visco 5000, a 5w-40 PAO Synthetic Motor Oil rated 2nd after Amsoil in head to head oil test, then came Mobil 1.

Regards
xrhp6

I've been in the lubricants business since 1979. I've sold and used just about every brand available. After my years of research, I'm now convinced that AMSOIL is the superior product line. My 1998 Ford E-350 has right at 415,000 miles on it, changing oil every 20,000 miles and oil filters ever 10,000. The savings in oil changes alone is enough to purchase a new van, and I might add, I don't need to.

Quote:

I'd say that Mobil products are the only syn oils availble over the counter worth using. In the Mobil 1 line, I'd say that the 10W30, 15W50, and 5W40 are excellent, and the others are slightly less impressive.

I don't trust Castrol enough to feel entirely comfortable with their only common syn oil, German 0W30.

End of Qote

Well, I have seen two engine having run on a dyno under same test conditions, one with Mobil 1 0W-40 and one with a german version of Castrol Syntec 0W-30.

Mobil 1 is good, but Castrol is (at least in this engine, within this test) clearly the winner. Better piston cleanliness, better wear performance.

Ahh, I should have said "In North America", my apologizes.

I like Castrol 0W30, in fact, I use it in one of my personal cars. However, like I said, I'm not horribly comfortable with it, since Castrol seems to change their North American formulations on a whim, not to mention the shift from PAO to Group III without a drop in price, or notifying the consumer in anyway whatsoever.

I'm also hesitant to reccomend the 0w30 to the average consumer here since they will have to search quite a bit to find it in some areas, and definitely need to carefully check every bottle to weed out the Group III version.

I will have to weigh on this discussion with my own personal favorite: SynLube.

This formula is produced by a very small company but that doesn't mean that they just repackage an oil for sale. They have a unique product.

Composed of 3 solid (all in submicronic form) and 5 liquid lubricants, this oil is designed to last 150K miles/3K engine hours or 10 years. It can last this long because the components are almost entirely enert. And neither summer or winter extreme of temperature is a problem. It is appropriate for any gasoline engine (except rotaries) and any diesel, though the service life is 2K hours in this type engine. Dry lubrication conditions are completely eliminated.

This oil costs substantially more at purchase ($32/quart) but per mile is cheaper than most any oil out there. It is about a quarter of the cost of the 3K dino oil regimen, assuming $25 per change.

I have about 4 years of experience with this oil though that experience is divided out over three vehicles so I don't have any impressive personal figures to report yet. The longest in any one vehicle I have used this lubricant was 18K miles in a Ford Focus. Oil consumption during that time was 4.5 ounces. My current ride, a Ford Ranger has about 6K miles and I will be keeping this vehicle a long time.

At the end of the service life, the oil can be returned to the company and they will provide you with a credit towards the purchase of new oil. The old oil will be microfiltered and the additive package rebalanced. It will then be good as new and will have the same warranty.

They make similar products for the transmissions (both manual and automatic), differential, power steering etc. They have a coolant that lasts 300K miles.

When I first read about this oil, I was a bit skeptical as most people are but when I got back some good answers to my questions, I went ahead and tried their products. I have never had a problem.

I would agree, oil is like religion and politics.

But I have been using Amsoil products since 1977 and am of the opinion they are the best. The price does not bother me because I never fell into the hype that oil has to be changed at 3000 or 5000 miles intervals. I change once yearly and that has proven very effective for my vehicles and my wallet.

All the complaining about this test and that test also has little influence on me. As for morons in the business of selling. I am afraid every field is afflicted and it not exclusive to Amsoil distributors. Just because one person finds someone a moron does not make it so.

I currently use Amsoil products in these vehicles;
1992 Chev 4x4 pickup (plow truck)
1993 Lumina Sedan (got new)
2002 Pontiac Trans Am WS6 (hotrod)
2004 GMC SLT Ext Cab Z71 (daily cruzer)
+
2001 Honda Rancher 4x4
2001 Honda lawn-mower
Huskavarna weedwacker and chain saw

It's also depends a little bit on the region you live, the base stocks available and the blenders being used of course...and not to forget the available additive packages. I know there are a lot of oil companies in Europe which have products which have different characteristics per country, due to the facts mentioned above.

This is strictly my subjective opinion but having used many oils, all of them have been good but Mobil products win due to their availability as well as pricing, no other comes close in that regard.

Anyone for Redline?
See www.redlineoil.com

What's so special about Redline? Their marketing, or their products?

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Originally posted by Callisa:
What's so special about Redline? Their marketing, or their products?

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Definitely the product. Quality is their goal and price falls where it may. At least with Redline you should be able to be assured of getting the company's best effort at producing an oil. Other companies, subject to competition, will invariably have to cut costs.

I believe Redline is the best oil in certain applications, such as racing, but certainly not for the family car as in that application it would be overkill. Not being an expert, though, I am hoping to hear from others at this site who may know more about Redline.

I do feel that Redline is a great way to go for gear lube and transmission fluid, applications where the oil is in the unit for much longer time and thus the high cost is justified IMO.

Give me a dragster and I will test some of the Redline Racing oils

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Definitely the product. Quality is their goal and price falls where it may. At least with Redline you should be able to be assured of getting the company's best effort at producing an oil. Other companies, subject to competition, will invariably have to cut costs.

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I always look at the releases of an oil to understand what capabilities it has. But I do not see many releases on their top products. How do I seperate marketing from quality?

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Originally posted by Callisa: I always look at the releases of an oil to understand what capabilities it has. But I do not see many releases on their top products. How do I seperate marketing from quality?

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Not sure what you mean by "releases," but they do have a listing of technical data at the website. Are you looking at the UK Redline site or the USA site (which I am more familiar with and is redlineoil.com)?

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Not sure what you mean by "releases,"

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e.g.
VW 502.00
Ford WSS...
BMW Longlife-02
ACEA A3/B3/B4

These are releases. More releases (and up to date!) means better for me.

I have another rather stupid question.
What is "Dino" oil? Is this a simpel mineral based oil? Or is it a special brand?