? about Synthetic oils

[jeffkics]

What kind?

And how often should you change synthetic oil?

[joe-yamma]

www.amsoil.com

I have it in the VX, my Jeep, and my wife's Jetta... next up is my motorcycle (Yamaha R1)

Amsoil says 12,500 or 6 months filter change and 25,000 or one year full oil change with and Amsoil filter.

7,500/6 months filter change and 15,000/one year full oil change with Hastings or comparable filter.

After I sell my Jeep and have some money, I will be changing all the fluids in my VX over to Amsoil synthetic.

Joe

[Dallas4u]

Originally posted by jeffkics
What kind?

And how often should you change synthetic oil?

What kind, what? What kind should you use? Well, everyone seems to have an opinion about it, about them trusting one over another, and so on... I have used Mobil 1 and lately changed to AMSoil, just so I knew I was putting "the best" and definitely one of the most expensive synthetic motor oils in my VX. You can read that they have certification ratings for specific things and tests have shown that it performs better than other oils and the such, but I have never heard anything bad about any synthetic motor oil.

For the price, I would either go with Mobil 1 or, if you want to pay for what may be peace of mind, AMSoil. Price difference is going to be around $2 - $8 more (depending on which model you get) for AMSoil... about I said.

As for how often you should change it... I would still do between 3k to 5k. Again, you'll get different messages on this, but for my own peace of mind, I wouldn't want to push it.

[jeffkics]

See this is what gets me, one person will say, change the oil every 25,000 miles while another will say stick with 3,000?

[VX_PA]

EVERY 25,000 miles. OMG don't listen to that advise!!

Stick with 3,000 miles or close to it. Doesn't have to be exact.

[joe-yamma]

VX_PA, If you're using Amsoil, please read the literature on drain intervals that they provide. http://www.amsoil.com/lit/g1490.pdf

I have been using Amsoil for awhile now and I have noticed nothing but good results from it. If you read the literature from Amsoil, they encourage you to follow the extended drain intervals... it is one of the main benefits to using synthetic.

To each his own, but I am using Amsoil just like Amsoil says to use it and I am having great results.

Lots of good info here too: http://www.amsoil.com/lit/g52.pdf

Joe

[Dallas4u]

Originally posted by jeffkics
See this is what gets me, one person will say, change the oil every 25,000 miles while another will say stick with 3,000?

I'm not telling you to do anything. I'm just stating that, personally, I would rather OVER change my oil than UNDER change it. I would rather feel confident that I'm cycling clean oil through my engine than worrying whether 10k miles is leaving me with pretty dirty oil or worse... a few quarts shy of full (some Isuzu engines burn a bit)!!

[jeffkics]

Originally posted by joe-yamma
VX_PA, If you're using Amsoil, please read the literature on drain intervals that they provide. http://www.amsoil.com/lit/g1490.pdf


Joe

That's pretty impressive.

[joe-yamma]

With all due repsect to you guys...
I am just re-stating what Amsoil has on it's website.
Everyone has a different way of doing things and you guys are certainly entiteld to your opinions, but I just think you're missing one of the main benefits of full syn.
No doubt you guys are definitely not hurting your engines!

Here's another good point for using Amsoil http://www.amsoil.com/amsoilfacts.htm

Just to clarify: With Amsoi, they tell you to change the filter at six months (and of course top off whatever oil is lost during the filter change) and then do a full drain and oil and filter change at one year.

This is the process that I am following, and it is working for me. I have Amsoil and filter on the work bench ready to go into my motorcycle too...(Yamaha R1 which is my baby and I would not do anything that would hurt her ).

Joe

[VX_PA]

Be careful with using the recommended intervals on your bike. They state that their own chart doesn't include ATV's or Motorcycles. I defenitely over change the oil in my bike because I ride hard. I have a GSX-R 750 SHRAD with tons of modifications and I have a hard time staying on two wheels.

Also, even with synthetic oil, I wouldn't drive my VX more than 7,500 miles. Cleaner is better no matter what. Unfortunitely the VX motor isn't the most durable (I know because I'm on my second engine) so I will definetely over change the oil. Anything to save $5,000 as that's what a new engine costs.

[joe-yamma]

VX_PA,

I see what you're saying... motorcycles are definitely a good testing ground for oils and such... the conditions and stresses placed on motorcycle engines are unreal. Aluminum cases, high temps, wet clutches...

I will keep a close eye on the R1 with the Amsoil... I can usually tell when the oil needs changed on the R1 before the mileage is even up.

Joe

[Joe_Black]

In addition to lubrication one of the other things oil does for your engine is trap and suspend contaminants. So no matter how long the oil may retain its lubricity, it's not self-cleaning. If you go more than 3 or 5 thousand miles between changes, well, you pretty much might as well just use whatever's cheapest.

Plain and simple: CHANGE IT!

Now, Mobil-1 and Amsoil are the two only true sythetics to the best of my knowledge. I had a bike that came with Amsoil in it and switched over to Mobil-1, which I've used in all my vehicles since shortly after it came out. Why am I a big fan? Well, Mobil-1 was certified for aviation use. Amsoil didn't. That carries weight in my book, but I'm sure the products are close if not comparable.

There's my $.02

[johnnyapollo]

I recently changed to Mobile 1 on Joe's recommendation (and I've always been a proponent of real oils rather than synthetic). I think the arguement that swayed me was "what's it worth to you" and I realized that spending the greater amount on 6 quarts of synth every 3-4k miles wasn't much more than what I was spending on regular oil... so why not?

-- John

[Raque Thomas]

You know, I've been pondering this issue hard - if I'm changing my oil every 3,000 miles - I'm thinking that a regular oil is going to do just as well as one of the synthetics. My last OC cost $60 at Valvoline Instant Oil Change, since I didn't bring the oil with me - that's what made me start thinking. If I'm changing that often - I can't justify the extra expense. It's easy to fool yourself on the total cost of an oil change if you buy the oil and then pay separately for the change. Of course, an oil change is cheap compared to the cost of an engine - but are we "overcompensating"?

OK - some of you are saying "DUDE - what's an engine worth??" But at 3,000 mile intervals, I'm thinking a good quality regular oil would be just as effective as a synthetic. I either need to extend my service intervals or use regular oil. My gut tells me that extending the intervals only allows more contaminents in the oil, and defeats the purpose of having a synthetic.

Somebody please give me some INFORMED advice!!

[AnalogVX]

I have to agree with Raque. Synthetic flows better sure, but as far as extended oil chnages, even if you spin on a new filter, you are still circulating oil contaminated with fuel and combustion gases. My family has had engines hit 175k to 195k(and still going) with real oil. The most I have hit is 165k...and on a Chrysler yet before I traded it in. Change the oil at 3k intervals and save yourself the $$$.

After that I have to admit, I am running a synthetic in my diffs simply because they are not effected by a combustion process.