AMSOIL

[SlammaDingdong]

I recently switched my 03' Subaru Forrester X to AMSOIL Series 3000 Synthetic 5W-30 HDD at about 20K miles; this included a crankcase flush before putting in the synthetic.

One thing is for sure, the 2.5L "boxer" engine absolutely destroys conventional 5W-30 after 3000 miles. I tried Lucas stabilizer, it helped a little, but not much. Note I did not have any oil analysis done, just going on how it looked at drain time.

So I asked a mechanic at the dealer garage about this, and he said to try this AMSOIL HDD. After about 2500 miles, the oil looks basically new. Looks like it's going to work out pretty well. I think the engine even runs a little smoother.

So now I'm a satisfied AMSOIL customer and looking at switching my truck to their Series 2000 0W-30. I have about 8K on the truck, so I was getting ready to make the switch to synthetic anyhow. I was thinking about doing AMSOIL bypass kit at the same time.

Thoughts....

[docgreen9]

Oh boy an oil opinion... lol these always get heated in every forum I've seen... lol. My philosophy is go with what you feel is best. Me personally I'm a mobil1 guy and have always been. That doesn't mean I haven't used Valvoline Syntec, Penz, ect.. I would say go ahead and switch over you are fine to do so. As far as the bypass kit I personally would stick with a stock filter just use a good one ( Wix ).

Here is some info on oil that I've learned over the years and I've sold a crap load of it all. The longevity of oil is determined my the additive package that is put into the oil when it's manufactured. Wether it is synthetic or dyno based. Plain old unmodified oil won't last long in a motor with out enhancements. Synthetics are best because basically they start with a small amount of base material ( synthetic oil ) and the rest is stabilizers, additives, corrosion inhibiters, detergents, ect... The more of these you have the longer the oil will hold up to your motor.

Here is what I know on filters. The stock filter for a 99-2005 LS1 & vortec motors is a 19 micron filter. That is the spec from GM for these filters. BTW Ford uses the same micronn #. It is important to realize exactly how a filter works. I don't mean to be a smartass but you have to realize the inner workings. You have a can, filter media, bypass spring and bypass diaphram. Filtering motor oil down to 19 micron is going to yield you a set amount of time before the filter media becomes full at say a set amount of contaminates. For sake of argument lets say that is 3000miles. IF your engine continues to have the same amount of contaminates and you change to a filter that screens down to 1micron it's going to fill up 19 times faster. Now ... as soon as the filter media restricts the flow rate of the oil the the bypass systems comes into play. If your filter goes into bypass because it's full you have NO filtration at all and it doesn't matter what oil you run that aint good. Because filters have no sight glass or meter to tell you their current media state it's a guessing game. Oh also... NOTE ...filters will go into bypass mode under hard accelleration too when the pressure builds over the ability of the filter to pass it all.

I could add a bunch of other crap to this but I don't want to type it all.... you probably get the jist of what I'm trying to say.

I'd rather be running a filter 3k miles with filtration and run a low micron one 800 miles untill it bypasses and run the rest of the 2200 miles with no filtration.

And if anyone ( manufacturer ) says their filters don't bypass their full of poopoo.

That's my & 20yrs worth guys ... don't beat me up too bad .. lol

[bud8fan]

amsoil is some good shit....i've used it also..BUT..its a synthetic oil just as good as castrol syn and mobil 1.i went to castrol syn since its so easy to buy:ie:walmart:and cost less than the amsoil.just my

[SlammaDingdong]

[quote]Oh boy an oil opinion... lol these always get heated in every forum I've seen... lol. My philosophy is go with what you feel is best.

....

That's my & 20yrs worth guys ... don't beat me up too bad .. lol

Hey docgreen9, this is good stuff. Yeah, oil discussions can become religious, but I'm not trying trying to heat things up, no way, not me.

I had been using K&N oil filters, but had heard mixed opinions about them, so did switch to Wix cause I heard such good things. Have also heard AMSOIL's flow full filters were pretty good.

So with an extended service synthetic oil (20K miles or 1 year for instance), you should still change the filter every 3K, but a lower micron rated one is not always optimal?

[rosscob]

Originally posted by bud8fan@May 18 2005, 01:09 PM
amsoil is some good shit....i've used it also..BUT..its a synthetic oil just as good as castrol syn and mobil 1.i went to castrol syn since its so easy to buy:ie:walmart:and cost less than the amsoil.just my

I don't think there is a huge difference in synthetics, but I use Mobile 1 becasue you can buy it at sams. There is no question that Amsoil is good stuff.

[Hit Man X]

I ran syn in the WRX I had for a long time. It was Mobil 1, the filter is more important than the oil IMO. I'd run the crankcase to 10k but change the filter about every 3000. No problems ever like that.



Bypass filters are where it's at. They filter down to what, 2-3 micron? Full flow do 19-23 mic at best... so you're REALLY keeping it clean with a bypass. Not to mention increasing the total oil capacity.

Do a full flow with a bypass section on the ATF too... stock "filter" is a screen that filters down to 100 micron only!

[NITROUS]

I work for BP and we own Castrol, BP Lubricants, Aral etc........I can give you the spill since I work in Reliability and Maintenance but I have to agree with docgreen on this one. I used to be a Castrol nut but I've used Mobil1 since 94 and love it. My engines haven never been so clean. I also feel that all synthetics will do you good. And yes, I used to sell WIX filters back when Fram was a piece of S$@t. I can't say that anymore since Fram has upped their standards. At one time Fram used to hold the filter element together with a piece of string which had the possibility of getting caught up in the oil pump. Back in the early eighties I thought that was crap so I cut one open myself and needless to say it had the damn piece of string in there. Now they use a metal shield like WIX so either one is good now. JMHO and

[RedHeartbeat]

Oil technology and metallurgy has come a long ways in the recent years. I ran Castrol GTX only in all my vehicles and have never seen any wear on any components during a tear-down. Piston rings were not even worn after 130,000 miles. I only tore into the engine because a valve keeper disappeared into the motor. The engine was an 87 2.0L turbo Pontiac.

[TXsilverado]

ive tried them all and now stick with mobil 1. fram filters are still peices of crap. i use ac delco filters 95% of the time but will use wix if ac delcos arent available. those are the 2 best filters IMO

[docgreen9]

VORTEC33 .... LOL ... you seen the string too huh... LOL... I was managing a huge NAPA store here and had several people coming in to get oil but said they wouldn't by our WIX's cuz they were junk and FRAM was better. So being a younger smart-ass at the time. I went out and bought every brand of filter I could find for a chevy small block. You should'a seen their faces when I pulled that can off and showed them the cardboard filter lids, and the string. But, I must say it WAS tied in a bow like that made it better.... lol.

The only problem I ever saw with Delco filters was the ones I cut open didn't have a bypass spring in them like all the rest. There was a solid piece of sheet metal running from the can to the top of the filter. Never could understand how their filters would ever bypass???

I also looked at AMSOIL's bypass kits again and did notice that they use HUGE filters on those kits. Most are using 2qt or more spin-on's which is how they can filter down to 1micron and not become saturated with contaminates.

I used to have a dual filter setup on my old 72 F150 when I had my built 351W in it but got tired of changing 2 huge WIX filters every 3k and the 8 quarts of oil. So I just dropped back to 5qts and a good filter every 3k and never saw any difference.

How many of you are going to keep these trucks, cars, engines, in your possession over 100k? or 200k?