Different lubricants

[Road Ranger]

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this question. I have a 38' Monaco Knight with a 330HP Cummins. A friend who is an Amsoil dealer says I should switch my engine lube to Amsoil. Does anyone have any feedback on Amsoil for this kind of usage?

[chief02]

Love Amsoil! I use it in everything I own, Cummins, Tranny, Diffs, Mercruiser boat, Honda ATV's

[IWillRVToo]

I have been swayed to Amsoil after using Royal Purple for a few years.
I am going to use it in the rear dif, then convert as systems get replacement fluids.
RP has been very, very good to me. It gave me a 1.5 to 2 mpg increase in a 2006 Ranger 4.0 V6.
I expect the same from Amsoil.
Amsoil, from what I've read, uses outside independent test labs which has been proving the claimed superiority.

[ottffss]

Originally Posted by Road Ranger

..A friend who is an Amsoil dealer says I should switch my engine lube to Amsoil...

Of course the Amsoil dealer will say that! Pretty much the same an Amway or Mary Kay dealer will say their products rule.

Search these forums for "Amsoil" and you'll get hundreds of threads. They'll range from "life's bread" to "no better than any other brand." You'll also see posts about it that border on religion which of course are then followed by the religious attack posts. Over and over.

Personally, I'm decidedly in the - no proven advantage - group. It's just another name brand product that works just as well as any other name brand product...

[smiller]

Amsoil is probably a fine product, but there is absolutely nothing in the world (other than their own marketing info, or the many Internet 'white papers' based solely on their marketing info) to indicate that it is any better than any other premium quality lubricant (at 1/2 the price.)

[LindyT]

For what it's worth - I'm an Amsoil distributor (for the discount) and I stopped using Amsoil because of no added benefit beyond extended drain intervals. I found I'm too OCD to let an engine go 15,000 miles between oil changes anyway, so there was NO benefit for me. I didn't notice any difference between that and Penzoil Platinum and Mobil 1 (gas engines) and I've done oil analysis.

I wouldn't run anything but Shell Rotella in my diesel engines. I don't believe Amsoil is Cummins approved, but I could be working with outdated information.

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by LindyT

For what it's worth - I'm an Amsoil distributor (for the discount) and I stopped using Amsoil because of no added benefit beyond extended drain intervals. I found I'm too OCD to let an engine go 15,000 miles between oil changes anyway, so there was NO benefit for me. I didn't notice any difference between that and Penzoil Platinum and Mobil 1 (gas engines) and I've done oil analysis.

I wouldn't run anything but Shell Rotella in my diesel engines. I don't believe Amsoil is Cummins approved, but I could be working with outdated information.

Cummins says you can't use synthetic lubes to extend the change interval over dino oil unless you also do testing and that works for dino oil too.
Nothing Amsoil produces is approved by Allison for use in their transmissions.
It always got me when they say "designed to meet" a certain spec but it's never actually passed the manufacturers testing.
Then there was the "fake" certification stickers that looked an awful lot like the real thing but weren't.
All in all I won't use it.

[bbeane]

Amsoil, or any other synthetic oil is great stuff in transmissions and drive axles, however in diesel engine applications your oil will be contaminated by soot, fuel, nitrates, acids and so on, thats why you can't get the black off your hands, unlike gas engine oil. Thats why engine manuf specify oil change intervals by time or mileage and some by the amount of fuel burned, not beacuse the oil is worn out. X amount of oil only has so much ability to hold this stuff in suspension, makes no diffrence synthetic or otherwize. Also like most of us the motor in your coach will be going strong long after the rest of it falls apart, so for the me added expense of synthetic engine oil doesn't work out.

[zmotorsports]

Although there is probably nothing wrong with Amsoil, I don't necessarily agree with all of the hype. On the Duramax forum everyone swears by it but when I ask are they absolutely certain that they would not get the same results by using a different brand with the same classification I get verbally abused.

Engine manufacturers spec out an oil requirement when they design a new engine/trans or whatever and then the oil companies have to come up with a formula that meets that criteria. If the oil meets that criteria I don't see how people can say with any certainty that one oil is better than another as long as they meet the classification.

Amsoil blows their own horn on extended drain intervals but that is also something that I am not a fan of.

Use an oil with the proper classification and change it at regular service intervals as required and you should get the life and results out of the component in which the manufacturers designed it for.

The fact is synthetic based oils have an additive package that depletes and gets diluted with byproducts the same as a petroleum based oil.

Mike.

[wa8yxm]

Please confirm this but I belive Amsol has a guarantee or sorts... Do check it out, I will NOT say what it is because it's been too many years since I looked it up.

Years ago, , when 'Synthetics"' ffirst came out there was a lot of bad thigns said about them, One being "They will eat your seals" Amsol was one of the first synthetics, their original formula (Not used in over a decade) was the one that ate seals.. They very quickly changed the formula to one that did not do that.

It is a very good product, I have used it.. I'm not sure how it compares to say Mobile 1. (The other "original" synthetic)

I do knwo this. MOST synthetics are now really highly refined dino oil.. Mobile 1, is, I believe, still a true man made product, and I **THINK** Amsol is as well but to be honest, again it's been a while since I checked that out and .. Sometimes stuff changes.

[Cat320]

Originally Posted by ottffss

Of course the Amsoil dealer will say that! Pretty much the same an Amway or Mary Kay dealer will say their products rule.

Search these forums for "Amsoil" and you'll get hundreds of threads. They'll range from "life's bread" to "no better than any other brand." You'll also see posts about it that border on religion which of course are then followed by the religious attack posts. Over and over.

Personally, I'm decidedly in the - no proven advantage - group. It's just another name brand product that works just as well as any other name brand product...

Agree...no proven advantage. I've used Rotella in a previous truck, boat and current MH...it does fine. Plus, Cummins says you have to change the oil at a certain mileage interval OR one year...for most of us it's one year, so no increase change advantage with the high dollar Amsoil.

[lonestarace]

We use Amsoil lubricants in the ISM engine(10 gal), hydraulic system(10 gal), wheel bearing hubs, rear differential(3.5 gal), and HWH slide reservior(1.3 gal) of our Monaco Signature MHs. I still use Transynd in the Allison because like Amsoil it is a top notch product and it cost less per gal than the Amsoil equivalent. We also use Amsoil in our piston power homebuilt airplane, in every system of both our daily drivers, in all our lawn equipment, and in our boat.

We rely on "Used Oil Analysis" to safely do extended oil change intervals. We don't throw away perfectly good oil anymore.

[Gary RVRoamer]

I'll join the chorus...nothing wrong with Amsoil, but nothing wrong with any of several other top brands too. I don't use synthetic in the crankcase of my ISL - I prefer to change oil and filter annually to get rid of moisture and contaminants.

I'm not a Luddite - I do use synthetic in rear axle and tranny, and I use oil analysis for extending the interval on the Allison tranny. I just feel more comfortable changing the diesel engine oil annually. I would have to change the filter in any case, so new oil makes sense to me.

[Wolfpack Fan]

Many years ago I was an Amsoil distributor. I did it mostly for the discount. I used the product in my boat and pick up. I never checked the mileage improvement. They did have a product though that I loved and worked awesome. It was a bypass filter. I used it on my boat, a 1987 Bayliner with a 4 cyliner Volvo engine. The boat saw heavy use pulling skiers, tubes and a little fishing during the long hot summers in NC. The oil was noticably dark after a summer season. The bypass filter was an external filter that held about 2 quarts, so it was fairly sizeable. The way it worked was a T fitting where the oil pressure sending unit screwed into the block. One side of the T fed the oil pressure sending unit, the other side fed into the bypass filter. The bypass filter fed back into the engine either through the side of the oil pan, above the oil line or into the valve cover. I went through the valve cover. After one heavy summer season using it, the oil looked like it had been changed the day before. I was blown away at how clean the oil was. I don't know if they still sell them, but they're a worthwhile investment for an engine that see's heavy use. Oil never really breaks down, but it does get contaminated and the additives burn off over time.

More info on bypass filers. For about 10 years of my Army career I was a truck driver. Our trucks were essentially camoflaged tractors, with cummins 400 hp engines. They also had bypass filters, though much larger. As another poster mentioned, diesels are pretty dirty engines. I think what's more important for a diesel than the typle of oil is how good is the filtration. I'd say use whatever oil you prefer that's approved for the more severe diesels but don't skimp on the filter and if you're going to put a lot of miles on it, install or have installed a bypass filter. It will prolong the life of the oil. If your OCD and really want to get extreme, use an oil analysis program. Companies can be found on the internet. You send them a sample in a sealed bottle and they tell you the condition of the oil after using a spectro analysis process. You will know PRECISELY whehter the oil needs to be changed or not. You'll find out exactly what the perfect interval is for changing the oil.

Wow I just realized I put quite a bit into this . What can I say I'm passionate about oil and taking care of an engine.