What’s your take on Amsoil?

Eldorado2k

Eldorado2k

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I’m friendly with an Amsoil rep. who also runs a YouTube channel dedicated to demonstrating the results Amsoil can make compared to other brands of oil & lubricants. I’m pretty sure he’s not the only one with a YouTube channel, but he’s the only one who I find makes interesting content + he seems like a trustworthy guy in my book, his name is Eben, maybe you’ve seen his vids?


I comment once in a while and he’s always nice enough to reply and make good conversation and never comes off like he’s trying to force you into buying anything, which is really cool because not everyone is like that.

But recently he did ask me a bit more regarding what kind of car I drive and told me about his discount code and website if I ever wanted to check out the Amsoil products and to my surprise it’s actually fairly priced compared to the other synthetic oil you can buy at the big box stores.

I’m interested in their 10w30 High Mileage Synthetic Oil, and if I hadn’t already bought two 5qt. jugs of Pennzoil Platinum Synthetic for my next oil change I would’ve already ordered some of the Amsoil.

What do you guys think about Amsoil? Anyone use it?
 
Since I don’t drive frequently, I only change my oil once a year on my driver and I just use Mobil 1. On the Cadillac, I understand it’s okay, if not better now to use a synthetic or blend too so I ought to look into a new oil for that. On the Audi, I always use Castrol Syntec because that’s what the enthusiasts recommended but since I drive infrequently, I won’t get preoccupied about oils. That said, I’m fine with trying Amsoil some time if it’s easy and priced decently enough. I never have yet though
 
Bill D said:
Since I don’t drive frequently, I only change my oil once a year on my driver and I just use Mobil 1. On the Cadillac, I understand it’s okay, if not better now to use a synthetic or blend too so I ought to look into a new oil for that. On the Audi, I always use Castrol Syntec because that’s what the enthusiasts recommended but since I drive infrequently, I won’t get preoccupied about oils. That said, I’m fine with trying Amsoil some time if it’s easy and priced decently enough. I never have yet though
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Not only is it priced about the same, [maybe even slightly less once you use the discount code] but they ship it in much more ideal sized containers. It comes in gallon jug, which for me is perfect size since my Cadillac takes 8qts. to fill so 1 jug is the exact amount I need and only costs $46 dollars and that’s before the discount code.

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Much better than the oddball 5qt. jugs that other brands of oil come in.
 
I actually find the 5qt handy. With the Honda I have exactly one qt left so I have a container for it and with the Caddy I actually need one jug plus one qt. I make sure I have empty containers around in case I need them additionally for storing dirty oil
 
Bill D said:
I actually find the 5qt handy. With the Honda I have exactly one qt left so I have a container for it and with the Caddy I actually need one jug plus one qt. I make sure I have empty containers around in case I need them additionally for storing dirty oil
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I’ve had to put off my current oil change because I needed to waste off 2 quarts in the past 4 weeks or so. Just my luck I threw away any and all old empty quarts of oil and haven’t felt right about using an empty jug of juice or whatever. Lol.
 
I have an empty jug of Zep toilet cleaner among others. It has a secure cap. I don’t like the clutter of jugs I’ve created though
 
Bill D said:
I have an empty jug of Zep toilet cleaner among others. It has a secure cap. I don’t like the clutter of jugs I’ve created though
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I’m not sure if I’d be able to sleep at night worrying about whether trace amounts of toilet cleaner were having an adverse effect in my engine.lol. J/k… But not completely joking. Lol
 
No, I mean use that jug to hold the used oil. When it comes to needing to store a qt of new oil, I have left over qt bottles from new oil
 
4 miles to a gallon better with the gas additive............... :unsure:
 
Bill D said:
No, I mean use that jug to hold the used oil. When it comes to needing to store a qt of new oil, I have left over qt bottles from new oil
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I know, I was just joking. Lol

John U said:
4 miles to a gallon better with the gas additive............... :unsure:
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That would maybe have a chance to happen on the worst case scenario, really neglected vehicle. Lol
 
It can be such a bag of worms opening a "best oil" discussion on forums. Some of these discussions can get quite brutal. Everyone has and is welcome to their own opinion. I think Amsoil is a great oil (perhaps as good as it gets), everything I've seen and read about it would indicate this to be true. That said, I think there are several "great oils" on the market today.

Admitting the above, there is nothing that anyone can tell me or show me that would have me push my change intervals to 15,000 miles, not 10,000 or even 7,500 miles, regardless of the auto manufacturer's recommendation. My old head, and my old habits, just won't let me get to that point. I certainly don't believe any of the oil filters are up to those intervals.

I think this is a good thing to remember, manufacturer's recommendations are a maximum recommendation and more importantly, their primary concern is getting you past the 36,000, 50,000 or whatever number is in their powertrain warranty. They don't care what you run or how often you change it, as long as it gets past their warranty period.

At the end of the day, I'm an old school technician, having had many open engines in front of me. Old habits die hard, and I'm a frequent oil change guy, with that in mind, Amsoil simply isn't cost-effective regardless of the discount for someone like me.

Like I mentioned earlier, everyone has a favorite oil, everyone has an opinion and are entitled to their favorites.
 
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Both Lexus' get Toyota/Lexus factory oil and filters at the dealer

The 4Runner is coming up on 200,000 miles on Mobil 1 at the local oil change place

On all my 2 stroke and 4 stroke OPE I use the appropriate Amsoil product that I can actually buy off the shelf at my local market
 
I run Amsoil in the Harley since It seems to help with the ticky nature of the motors. I feel like the bike runs smoother. Also since I'm in South Florida and the heat is bad down here the extra protection form degrading is a bonus. I tried it in my cammed GTO and noticed no difference, since the oil gets diluted with gas pretty fast I just stick with Mobile 1 now.
 
I do need to revisit Amsoil's lower deposit tests. Cylinder disconnects and stuff play havoc on valve trains and lifters start to have issues with deposits holding them still which is their death.
 
I'm pretty anal about the maintenance on all my vehicles. I also do vast majority of maintenance and repairs on those vehicles myself. This is just my opinion although a somewhat educated one. $47.00 for 4 quarts of oil is a crazy price and by crazy I'mean waaaay too much.
Three of my 4 vehicles get Supertech Synthetic oil from Walmart at $19.00 for a 5 quart jug. One vehicle a classic car requires a special blend/weight of oil so that gets Penn Grade Semi Synthetic but that is less than $100.00 for 12 quarts. As long as an oil meets the required specifications then oil is oil. Walmart does not own any oil refineries so the Supertech is most likely Pennzoil or maybe Vavleoline. In any regards the Supertech meets or exceeds the specifications required by my vehicles manufacturers.
Many years ago I used to do construction related work. We once did some remodeling at an oil refinery. They produced about 20 different brands of oil. All of it was the same oil. It just went into different bottles.
 
BLM said:
...As long as an oil meets the required specifications then oil is oil. Walmart does not own any oil refineries so the Supertech is most likely Pennzoil or maybe Vavleoline. In any regards the Supertech meets or exceeds the specifications required by my vehicles manufacturers...
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Unless things have changed over the past couple of years, I believe Warren makes Walmart's oil. They make a lot of the generic brands, i.e. Costco, Branded parts store oils, and I believe Amazon but don't make any of the BIG names to the best of my knowledge.

I can't say that I agree with the above statement. Required specifications are simply minimum specifications, that doesn't mean that better products aren't available. This is why these threads get ugly because some believe that good enough, is well... good enough. Others are always shooting for the very best available. The next thing that typically comes out is the "I've run Brand X for 20 years with 50,000 mile intervals and never experienced a problem" therefore my oil is the best.

I'll stand by my previous comment. There are a lot of great oils out there and most people could be served well by running, Amsoil, Quaker State, Penzoil, Mobile 1, Super Tech, and the list goes on. There are different additive packages in these oils, some better than others for a specific task, stop and go driving, freeway miles, racing or severe duty, but may go unnoticed in day to day driving, so does it matter? Well, here again, that depends upon the owner and what they want.

Here's another one of my beliefs, if you have to add oil during your routine interval, do yourself a favor and add the same thing you currently have in the crankcase. Some of these additive packages don't play well with others and can actually defeat the benefits of the oil. Doing real world A/B tests is darn near impossible, so making heads up comparisons can be tough.

I'm a believer that thinks the best you can do is to change your oil and filter frequently (more often than the manufacturer's recommend) and regularly, chances are your oil will support you.

If you're still with me after all that, I have no doubt that there is a YouTube video that will parrot most anything that any of us may believe. I've said way too much.
 
Well I do not say that better oils Amsoil for example do not exist. But whatever ingredients that they may contain are not necessarily needed. As I stated the information right on the oil bottle will tell one if any particular oil is recommended by the manufacturer for their engine.. The average consumer would not know what the differences are from one brand to the next or if those differences would be better for their engine, required by their engine or even be harmful for their engine.

About a year ago I was at a gas station and the person in front of me was pumping 93 octane into a Toyota Corolla. Now this was not a Turbo charged or otherwise modified Corolla. I remember thinking what a waste as it was definitely not needed but I'm sure the owner of that Corolla thought that 93 octane was better for their car and made it run better.
 
Oil brands seem to be a pretty sensitive topic for some. I've used quite a few brands over the years and never really found one to be that much better than the other as long as I stuck with one of the major brands in a weight and spec that matched what my car called for. I'm not convinced any of them are significantly better than another. There are endless arguments on places like Bobistheoilguy, Reddit and specific car forums, but nothing I've seen would convincement one has a distinct edge over another.

Castrol, Penzoil, Mobil One are my typical go-to's and the stuff used by the places I get my cars serviced at when I don't do it myself. For other products like Differential fluid and transmission fluid, Motul and maybe RedLine seems to be the brand of choice with people who have owned cars like my last two and do track/autocross time.

The one issue I have with Amsoil is they don't get their products certified to meet the various automaker specs. Not all brands get all the certifications, but I don't think Amsoil has any at all. They simply state it "meets" various specs. This doesn't mean the products are bad, but could be a problem with a warranty claim.

I've not had any issues with the service intervals, though I will admit 10K does see pretty long. I've owned two BMW's with 10K or 12 month intervals and both had the finest running engines I've every experienced the whole time I owned them. In fact, my E-46 3 Series was running better and getting better gas mileage at 150K miles when I sold it than it did at 50K, or even when I bought it new. Our recently departed Highlander hit something like 350K on 5K intervals, and the engine wasn't the reason we decided to get rid of it.
 
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