This is the part I don't get. Nobody makes anyone buy Amsoil.

MLM or not if people didn't like the product or was over priced what makes them buy it ?

You can go to the local auto store and get price on allmost any brand oil you want .
You can go online and price Amsoil.

Shop and compare nobody is making you buy a certain brand oil .
Atlease not where I live.

So what gives how is that brain washing ???
I just don't get it.

Buy Royal Purple
Buy Amsoil
Buy Mobil One
Whatever brand you want .

If someone likes Amsoil more power to him but I can't see bashing someone just because they like a certain brand of oil.

 

Personally, I have nothing against the product Amsoil itself. It's probably a really great oil.

I do, however, have something against the whole MLM concept in general.

I would feel a whole lot better if their product was available at retail stores like Wal-Mart, Napa, or Autozone, so I didn't have to pay shipping or mess with the whole MLM deal. I see Royal Purple there, why no Amsoil?

When I see it at Napa, I might give it a try. Until then, I'm not paying shipping for motor oil.

 

http://www.royalpurple.com/techrp/ncsu021112.pdf

 

my take on the whole thing is that at $6 per quart for a synthetic oil to put into an engine so it can leak out, you got to have rocks in your head for brains.

regular dino oil, no leaks. synthetic oil, every gasket in the engine leaks.

i have gotten over 200k miles on many many gas engines using dino oil, with my old dodge powerwagon having 674k miles on it when the body rusted/fell off of it.
and my son in law just sold his 94 E150 with a 302 and 375k miles on it and it is still running strong with only the intake pollution passages ever being cleaned. and i only used valvoline 15-90 all fleet in it.

so dino oil is good enough for me.

 

OK Guys... since there have been several references to my original post, please allow me to opportunity to respond to several folks' questioning of the validity of my experience. I'll admit and agree up front that there is not a single one of you here who either knows me or would consider me a "truly independent testing lab". Regardless, those opinions cannot change what I have documented as fact in my own life's experience. Nuff said on that...

This is a long post, so I ask for your patience and forgiveness ahead of time. Just think about it as you read, please.

When in SE Texas, I only drove my truck to work and back throughout the year because of several realities:
- the inline 300 had a pretty well fixed mpg capability due toi a combination of it's gearing and my own limited budget (I would see an increas ein mileage on the first tank after a tune-up, but then a quick reversion on every subsequent tank)
- my wife's Subrurban got better mileage
- the truck had never had air conditioning, and the combination of the SE Tx humidity (>85% virtually every day of the year) and high temerpatures made driving my 25 miles each way to work and back barely tolerable
- due to the air leakage throughout the cab and no air, I had no control over internal humidity and therefore had to run the heater at full blast or the windows wide open... this means that during the rainy season - which was all year - I only had a few days cold enough to make running the heater at full blast tolerable.

OK... 25 miles each way to work and back... 17 gallon tank... high sitting rear end due to extra heavy springs installed by a previous owner... I never could ge tmore tahn 16 gallons in the tank, and that was only if I coasted to the fuel pump because the tank was completely empty. I could get 3 1/2 round trips to work and back on a full tank of gas. Otherwise, I would be coasting somewhere between fuel pumps with as much as 5 miles distance in either direction to get to one. I drove this route for 9 years, so I know what the limits were... and these limits were regardless of driving speed, accelerating habits, time of year, how far into the OCI I had made it, or which station I used for fillups. I did a lot of experimenting, and nothing really made a lasting improvement on my mpg, not even switching to 10W30 from 10W40... not switching from 10W30 dino to 10W30 synthetic... not even switching from Havoline syn to Mobil 1 syn. I ended up staying with the Mobil 1 syn because of reputation for several years before ever trying Amsoil. On every fillup, it took, on the average, 15 gallons to fill up the tank, and I would perform this fillup after exactly 3 1/2 round trips (175 miles)... there would never be enough fuel for me to have made the next leg of my trip either to work or back home. This actually comes to an average mpg of 12.0.

Then I took off my one valve cover and my oil pan, stripped them clean, replaced the gaskets (and used gasket sealant), cleaned the matching surfaces on the engine where the gaskets would go, buttoned her up and switched to Amsoil 10W30. I filled up at the next 175 mile landmark, and it only took about 12.5 gallons to fill up. It stayed that way for a full year on every tank, sometimes being as high as 13 gallons, but generally being 12-12.5 gallons. After having been using the 175 mile point for fillups for about 10-12 years (I had the vehcile several years before moving to Texas), I couldn't break that hadit even though the amount of gas required to fill up the tank had remained consistently lower since changing to Amsoil 10W30. The 12.5 gallon average fillups gives a MPG of 14, which is actually a 16% increase in mileage.

By the way, I didn't leak a drop of oil throughout that year on Amsoil either.

OK... none of the above means that Amsoil is the best. It doesn't mean that they market their products in a unanimously acceptable manner. It doesn't mean that they are honest... or dishonest, either. It only means that my truck, under the conditions I drove it and maintained it, my truck experienced a signficant benefit from the Amsoil product.

Personally, I don't really care whose oil does the best in my engine... either that old 4.9L 300 or my newer 7.3L PSD. As long as I can justify it financially, I will do what's best for my engine... even if it means switching from one brand to the next on each oil change because they keep chasing each other into better performance. I know how to evaluate these types of studies and evaluations, as it has been my manner of livelihood for 20 years now.

Anyway... mine is only one experience with only one of the Amsoil products, and I don't go around thinking otherwise. I am learning a lot from you folks here on FTE, and appreciate your wisdom and experiences. One caution I would offer to each of you though is this... just because you haven't experienced something yourself doesn't mean that you should automatically discount someone else's different experience. I will personally offer that type of respect to each of you, and ask for the same in return.

 

It's times like these that you can tell personal experience is very little or none. I use and have used synthetic in several vehicles for years and can whole heartedly say that leaks have never been an issue. I could see leaks being a problem years ago but these days so many additives are in there it's just not a problem.

As you shouldn't. Nice write up.

 

3 of my fords had synthetic in them. the diesel, the 289, and the crown vic. and they all leaked with it. after i went back to regular valvoline all fleet 15-40 oil, the leaking stopped..

 

This is a good thread. I just ordered my Amsoil catalog and received it yesterday. This thread will help me make a decision on what oil to use. Thanks

 

And therein lies one problem: you did some engine work at the same time, possibly fixing some other things, and the mpg gain may very well be to do the new gaskets. You should've switched back to Mobil 1 after a while and check your mpg -- that could've told you if the gain was do to the oil.

MPG measurement are tricky enough because of the difficult to control environmental variables (i.e. tailwind vs. headwind, temperature, etc.) and when you change more than one thing, you need to compensate for that.

 

GI Joe's (OR, WA, maybe some other NW states) does carry Amsoil. Don't remember exact prices, but I think they were the most expensive motor oil in the store. On the other hand, the gear lube (75W140) was very reasonably priced.

 

I have used straight STP Oil Treatment with a quart of Lucas Oil Stabilizer.

Never a leak anywhere. This is my winter formula, when I use a "lighter lubricant" due to cold temperatures.

 

Good points, but you can't forget what I said about taking my measurements for mpg over a full year, during which all of the changing conditions mentioned were experienced (tail wind, temperature, humidty, etc.).

Also, I sold the vehicle at the end of the year, making a switch back impossible.

Now, let me add one more detail that I didn't include earlier due to the growing length of that post. I had already changed valve cover gaskets once while using Mobil 1, and saw no changes in mileage wahtsoever. The change I made before switching over to Amsoil was due to have had the valve cover off for other mechanical work (unrelated to oil issues) once or twice without having put new gaskets on. Due to these on-off-on-off-on routines, the gaskets weren't sealing as well and leaks were beginning to show up. The gasket changes weren't part of my original plan for switching over to Amsoil as much as they were necessary due to mior leaks that were getting worse. By this time, though, the Mobil 1 had already seen new gaskets once without the mpg measurements changing with that gasket change.

I konw what an appples-to-apples comparison is, and I will not be suckered into repeating my entire 12-year life story on my old truck just because someone here doesn't want to believe that a positive experience is possible with either synthetics or Amsoil.

I've had my say at this point. My experience is what it is, and no one else's lack of belief or skepticism will ever change that.

 

I had already changed gaskets once while using Mobil 1 with no impact on mileage, again measured over a long term (i.e.9-12 months, not just one tank full).

Please go back and reread the entir epost. My measurements were taken over the duration of a full year, during which I believe there were at least one or two instances of changing environmental variables like tail wind, temperature, humidity, rainfall, fog, etc. At least I THINK that they changed once or twice - who knows... maybe they all remained constant for a full year. What do YOU think?

Finally, switching back wasn't an option due to the fact that I sold that truck in order to buy my wonderful '02 PSD that I am now loving so much!

 

Pardon the repeat post... ran into a glitch and thought the first one didn't take.

 

Don't misunderstand me -- I don't doubt your mpg numbers, how you got them, and the rest of the story. What I question is your conclusion, namely, that the mpg increase was due to Amsoil.