AMSOIL Synthetic Lubricants / Source of the World's Best Synthetic Lubricants

The whole point of using a premium synthetic oil is peace of mind. I like knowing that I can trust the oil in my car to protect my engine. I like knowing that 100,000 miles down the road, I won’t necessarily have to start looking for another vehicle (unless I’m ready). I also like knowing that when 20,000 miles rolls around, I still have a few thousand miles left to find time to change the oil.

I used to be a pretty regular 3,000 mile oil changer. I had a very hard time believing that an oil could possibly last longer than 5,000 or at best 7,000 miles. Changing at 3,000 miles was very safe and “assured” me of no mechanical breakdowns (I thought!).

When I started looking at synthetics, my perspective changed a little. I figured, if I was going to go out and buy a $25,000 new car, I wanted to get the most for my money. Just protecting against breakdown for a hundred thousand miles wasn’t enough. I don’t take my car to the mechanic and hope he doesn’t break it. I take my car to the mechanic so that he can make it better. The same can be true of your oil.

Let’s talk about oil changes first. If it’s necessary to change oil every 3,000 to 5,000 miles, then so be it. We should just do it, and accept that it’s an integral part of keeping our vehicles from breaking down. But, if it’s not necessary, why do it? Just because our Dad did? My Dad used to listen to 8-track tapes too. Now we’ve got these nifty little CD’s that sound clear as a bell and last pretty much forever. Am I going to listen to 8-track tapes? Probably not. I don’t change my oil every 3,000 miles anymore either.

Why Do We Change Our Oil?

There are only a few basic reasons why it is necessary to change your oil, and they all, in the end, have to do with decreased protection of your engine and decreased performance. If these elements can be minimized, then there would be little or no reason to change the oil.

OIL CHANGES: Part 1:

First, all oil breaks down. That generally will include basestocks and additives. Without focusing on performance characteristics, the most significant difference from one oil to another is how quickly breakdown occurs. Although there are many factors that contribute to the breakdown of an oil, heat is one of the most important. Depletion and decreased effectiveness of oil additives is also important, but that will be discussed later.

Petroleum oil begins to break-down almost immediately. A high quality synthetic, on the other hand, can last for many thousands of miles without any significant reduction in performance or protection characteristics. Synthetics designed from the right combination of basestocks and additives can last indefinitely with the right filtration system.

As alluded to above, the first major difference between petroleum and synthetic oil is heat tolerance. Flash point is the temperature at which an oil gives off vapors that can be ignited with a flame held over the oil. The lower the flash point the greater tendency for the oil to suffer vaporization loss at high temperatures and to burn off on hot cylinder walls and pistons. The flash point can be an indicator of the quality of the base stock used. The higher the flash point the better. 400 degrees F is the minimum to prevent possible high consumption.

Today’s engines are expected to put out more power from a smaller size and with less oil than engines of the past. Therefore, the engines run much hotter than they used to. That puts an increased burden on the oil.

Even the best petroleum oils will have flash points only as high as 375 and 420 degrees F. For today’s hot running engines, this may not be nearly enough protection. Just about any synthetic you come across will have a flash point over 430 degrees. High quality synthetics can have flash points over 450 degrees (Every Amsoil synthetic oil has a flash point of over 450 degrees F with some exceeding 475 degrees). As a result, you will see little noticeable breakdown due to burn-off.

Just as important is the way in which petroleum and synthetic oils burn off. As a refined product, petroleum oils molecules are of varying sizes. Thus, as a petroleum oil heats up, the smaller molecules begin to burn off. Since the ash content in most petroleum oils is very high, deposits and sludge are left behind to coat the inside of your engine. In addition, as smaller particles burn off, the larger, heavier molecules are all that is left to protect the engine. Unfortunately, these larger particles do not flow nearly as well and tend to blanket the components of your engine which only exacerbates the heat problem.

Synthetic oils, because they are not purified, but rather designed specifically from the ground up for lubrication purposes, are comprised of molecules of uniform size and shape. Therefore, even if a synthetic oil does burn a little, the remaining oil has the same chemical characteristics that it had before the burn off. There are no smaller molecules to burn-off and no heavier molecules to leave behind. Moreover, many synthetics, have very low ash content. As a result, if oil burn-off does occur, there is little or no ash left behind to leave sludge and deposits on engine surfaces. Obviously, this leads to a cleaner burning, more fuel efficient engine.

As a side note (as it really has little bearing on when to change your oil), synthetics do a much better job of “cooling” engine components during operation. Because of their unique flow characteristics, engine components are likely to run 10 to 30 degrees cooler than with petroleum oils. This is important, because the hotter the components in your engine get, the more quickly they break down.

OIL CHANGES: Part 2: Additive Depletion

It is true that the additives in many oils begin breaking down after only a few thousand miles. What needs to be recognized is that there are different quality “grades” of additives just as there are different quality grades of just about any other product that you buy. There are also different combinations of additives that tend to work for better and for longer when combined than when used individually.

Making a blanket statement that additives in oil die after only 2 to 3,000 miles is like saying that automobile tires will only last for 30,000 miles. To be sure, there are plenty of tires on the market that can only last for 30,000 miles, and then they’re toast. But, there are many tires on the market nowadays that will last over 75,000 miles.

The same scenario holds true for motor oils. Many oil companies are using the same additives in their oils as all of the other companies because they are cheap. That’s why the oil costs less. You get what you pay for. If they were willing to spend the money on top-quality additive packages for their oils, every synthetic on the market would be recommended for extended drain intervals, and they would all be more expensive. The technology has been around for years. The problem is that oil companies make more money selling a cheaper grade oil and making sure that you change it more often.

Mobil 1 is actually working on a 25,000 mile synthetic oil as we speak. They’ll probably introduce it in the next couple of years.

Viscosity Retention -- Shear stable viscosity index improvers help Amsoil synthetic motor oils maintain their viscosity in the range appro-priate to each grade over extended drain use. Conventional oils formulated with easily sheared viscosity index improvers often drop out of viscosity specification relatively quickly -- sometimes even before the end of a 3,000-mile oil drain interval. Viscosity loss leaves oils incapable of protecting engines from metal to metal contact and wear in high temperatures.

Contaminant Control -- Dispersants keep contaminants, including combustion by-products, suspended in oil. The rate of dispersant depletion depends on the motor oil's additive treat-rate and the oil's contaminant load. Premium synthetic motor oils are formulated with high additive treat rates specifically to allow extended drain intervals.

Acid Control -- Total Base Number (TBN) describes the acid neutralization ability of an oil, with higher TBN oils providing longer lasting acid neutralization. Most passenger car motor oils are formulated with 6 or 7 TBN. Many synthetic motor oils are formulated with 9-11 TBN. All Amsoil synthetic oils have TBN levels of 11 or better.

OIL CHANGES: Part 3: Oil Contamination

There is also the issue of contamination. Oil will be contaminated in three major ways. One will be through debris that comes in through the air intake. Once it makes it through the air filter, it ends up in your oil. Once in your oil, it starts damaging your engine.

The second source of contamination will be metal shavings from the inside of your engine. The lesser the quality of the oil, the higher percentage of these shavings because there will be more metal to metal contact inside the engine.

The third source of contamination will be from combustion by- products. Combustion by-products will generally raise the acidity of your oil, which causes corrosion in your engine. In addition, they will be left behind as the engine oil burns off and will collect on the inside of your engine as deposits. To maintain the viability of your oil as well as protection of the engine, the contaminants have to be removed/neutralized.

OIL CHANGES: Part 4: Air Filters

One of the best ways to help with this process is to keep most of the contaminants from ever getting inside the engine in the first place. That’s where your air filter comes in. Conventional paper air filters are pretty worthless. How many times have you removed your air filter for replacement only to find that you could write your name in the dust that collected around the air intake? That’s just the stuff that was left behind. Imagine the amount that actually ended up inside the engine.

Part of the problem is that traditional paper filters do not fit all that snugly in the air intake compartment. They’ve improved, but they’re still not great. More importantly, though, they let way too much debris shoot right through the filter element itself. As a side-note, they are not all that good at allowing for good air flow either.

You see, as a compromise to allow enough air flow for your engine to run “properly”, surface type air filtration media have to allow certain sized particles to flow through. If they made the filtration media any more tightly woven, not enough air would pass through quickly enough to keep your vehicle running. As a result, most paper filters (even when new) won’t catch anything smaller than about 20 to 40 microns.

That’s pretty small. The only problem is that 60% of engine wear is caused by particles between 5 and 20 microns (mainly because there is so much more of it). If you don’t keep that stuff out, it’ll eat away at your engine.

Consider an alternative air filtration device which is more like a sponge (actually, it’s foam). Because foam is “squishy” it can be made slightly larger than the air intake compartment so that when installed it fits very snug with no room for air to by-pass the filtration unit.

In addition, it has millions of “tiny” channels through which air can flow, but these channels are not straight channels. They twist and turn through the filtration media. Air can pass through easily because these “tiny” channels are actually much larger than the channels through the paper filter we just discussed. This is possible because the paper filter only has one chance to get the dirt. This foam media has multiple opportunities to catch the dirt.

You see, as the air travels through these winding channels, it can turn this way and that with ease. However, the dirt particles that the air is carrying travel in a straight line until they hit something. Obviously, at every turn, the debris within the air hits a “wall”. You say, “Well, that’s great, but why doesn’t that dirt just bounce off the wall and keep right on going?” Good point. I tell you what, why don’t we put a tacky substance in the foam so that when debris hits these “walls” it’s stuck there like a fly to one of those sticky tapes. You say, “Yeah, that would work!”

Not only will it work, it will work far better than the paper air filter discussed above. Because of the depth-type nature of the foam filter AND the added tack oil, it will remove most particles larger than 5 to 10 microns. Thus, most of the harmful stuff is stopped before it ever reaches the inside of the engine.

Now, we’ve established that such a filtration media would seal up the intake compartment, should have better air flow, and we’ve established that it has more opportunities to catch the dirt, so probably less dirt makes it into the engine. The next question should be, will it hold as much dirt as the paper filter? Well, of course it will. It’s much thicker than a paper filter, and, because of the nature of the foam media, has a virtually limitless surface area over which to collect dirt. In fact, the more dirt it collects, the better the filtration (with minimal reduction in air flow). It’s also much more durable than paper, so it NEVER needs to be replaced. Just wash it once a year, re-oil it and put it back in the vehicle.

CLICK HERE for info on the Amsoil Ea Air Filter

OIL CHANGES: Part 5: Engine Wear Particles

Ok, so we’ve taken care of the air intake, what about metal shavings from engine components? Well, there are a couple of things going on here that lead to better protection from a synthetic oil. One aspect that proves to be very important is cold weather starts. Now, all of us have heard about cold weather starts for years from oil additive manufacturers. We’ve all heard, “Just put our additive in your crankcase and it will form an impenetrable layer over engine components that will protect your engine against wear, especially at start-up. In fact, it’s so good, you could even drain the oil from your engine and drive it around the track a million times at 60 mph.”

Hogwash. Just about all of the companies that have made claims like this over the years have been brought up on charges by the FTC. They’re full of it. However, they were right about one thing. Cold-weather starts are killing your engine. Consider this:

The pour point of an oil is 5 degrees F above the point at which a chilled oil shows no movement at the surface for 5 seconds when inclined. This measurement is especially important for oils used in the winter. A borderline pumping temperature is given by some manufacturers. This is the temperature at which the oil will pump and maintain adequate oil pressure. This is not given by a lot of the manufacturers, but seems to be about 20 degrees F above the pour point. The lower the pour point the better.

Most petroleum oils have pour points in the range of -10 to -25 degrees F. That means that their borderline pumping temperature is, at best, around -5 degrees F and probably closer to 5 to 10 degrees F. So, if you’re running a petroleum oil, don’t expect to go out and start your car at 0 degrees and have it purr like a kitten. It’s going to spit and sputter and kick and scream for a few minutes. Why do you think that is? It’s not getting any oil up into the engine. It’s like trying to suck molasses through a tiny straw in an Alaskan January. There’s literally nothing keeping the metal components in your engine from tearing each other apart. Every time you start your engine in conditions like this, your engine dies a little bit more.

Synthetic oils, on the other hand, routinely have pour points around -40 degrees or colder. Amsoil carries a synthetic 0W-30 that has a pour point of -76 degrees F (it also has a flash point of 460 degrees). Granted, there are very few of us who will ever have to start our car at this temperature, but imagine how well this oil lubricates at -20, if it still flows at -76.

Now, I know that some of you live in areas where you almost never see temperatures under freezing. For you folks, this may be a little less important, but it still serves to prove a point about the protection differences between petroleum oils and synthetics. In addition, do you remember that little blurb that oil additive manufacturers like to sputter about that impenetrable barrier over your engine components? Synthetic oils do actually provide something similar to this. It’s certainly not impenetrable, and I wouldn’t go draining your oil after installing 6 quart s of Mobil 1 just to see if your engine still runs, but it does serve a purpose. Your engine should virtually NEVER see metal to metal contact, whether in hot or cold climates. That’s something that a petroleum oil can’t do.

As an example, this is a quote from an Amsoil user who races dirt bikes:

“…Every time that I slide a feeler gauge between the rocker arms and valve tappets to check the intake/exhaust valve adjustments, I am amazed at the amount of Amsoil that clings to the gauge - even after the engine has sat for 3 or 4 days without being run. It was a noticeable difference over the petroleum oil that would rapidly run back down to the crankcase. My findings have convinced me that there is no other oil good enough for my racing engine."

Paul Anderson

As a result of these enhanced protection capabilities, synthetic oils routinely perform better on standardized ASTM wear scar tests. This would indicate a higher level of engine protection and would certainly lead to fewer metal shavings in an engine. Hence, fewer contaminants in the oil to necessitate changing the oil.

OIL CHANGES: Part 6: Combustion By Products

Only one type of contaminant left to discuss: combustion by- products. These little suckers can wreak havoc in an engine. Not only can they form deposits on the inside of an engine which will rob it of performance and, ultimately, life expectancy, they will also tend to raise the acidity of the lubricant. Higher acidity levels in your oil can lead to severe corrosion and break-down of engine components. In turn, this break-down leads to more oil contaminants and the necessity for an oil change.

Three things keep these contaminants in check: the TBN of the oil, high efficiency oil filtration and tight ring seal. The most important of these three is ring seal. If the number of combustion by-products entering your oil can be reduced, there will be less necessity to remove or neutralize them.

Poor ring seal allows combustion by-products to pass from the combustion chamber into the crankcase where they contaminate the oil. Tight ring seal keeps them out. Synthetic motor oils encourage a tighter ring seal than petroleum motor oils do.

TBN (total base number) is a measure of how well a lubricant can neutralize acidic combustion by-products. The higher the TBN, the better the protection against these acidic by-products and the longer it will last. This is an area in which numbers can vary greatly even among synthetics, but most high quality synthetics will have TBN numbers that are significantly higher than many petroleum oils.

OIL CHANGES: Part 7: Efficient Oil Filters

Now on to Oil Filtration. With all of the above oil characteristics in place, there is still a certain amount of dirt and debris in your oil which must be taken care of. Hence, there is a necessity to maintain adequate oil filtration in order for a lubricant to remain viable. Even though the extra dispersancy additives keep dirt and debris surrounded and impede contact with engine components, those contaminants must still be removed. This is where your oil filter comes into play.

First of all, the statistics previously mentioned regarding engine wear haven’t changed. 60% of all engine wear is still caused by particles between 5 and 20 microns. Unfortunately, most oil filters on the market today are lucky to remove even a small percentage of particles under 30 to 40 microns. This, again, leaves most of the harmful debris in your oil. The good news is that you’re already using the high efficiency foam air filter we discussed earlier - aren’t you?

Want to know the better news? There are also high efficiency oil filters on the market that will remove the bulk of what’s left and leave your oil almost as clean as it was when it came out of the bottle. These filters, although not rated by microns anymore, typically will remove the bulk of particles down to around 5 to 10 microns. You’ve got a few to choose from. Mobil 1, Pure 1 and Amsoil seem to be your best bets. They’re all priced pretty competitively (although Pure 1 seems to be the cheapest) and their filtration EFFICIENCY is pretty close to the same.

The biggest difference relates to CAPACITY and construction. The Amsoil filter has about 17% higher capacity than the Mobil 1 filter and about 40% better capacity than the Pure 1. In addition, the construction of the Amsoil filter housing and the filtration media is more heavy duty so it will stand up to longer change intervals. Amsoil recommends this filter for 12,500 miles or six months for most applications. Mobil 1 and Pure 1 should be changed at your vehicle manufacturer recommended intervals .

CLICK HERE for more info on Amsoil's Ea Oil Filters

OIL CHANGES: Part 8: Wrapping It Up

Well, there you have it. If this "little" article doesn’t at least get you thinking about switching over to synthetics, I’m not sure what will convince you. I know that this article is a little less technical than it could be. There are many other differences between petroleum and synthetic oils which were not touched on here, but if we had covered those too, this article would have been 50 pages long. Most of the information presented here was meant to deal strictly with the concept of extended drain intervals and why they’re not only possible, but advisable.

There are a couple of companies out there that are probably good for extended oil drain intervals. Redline recommends 10,000 to 18,000 miles, but I’m not certain that I would trust Redline in a passenger car application for those type intervals. Redline oils are designed for racing applications, and are being sold secondarily as passenger car oils.

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Mobil 1 oils are most likely good for more miles than they say, but the company does not make that recommendation. I have known of many people who do very well running Mobil 1 for these intervals, but it has not been designed specifically for extended drain use. Moreover, the company would not back you if you had any mechanical problems resulting from such extended drain use, since they only recommend “manufacturer recommended change intervals”.

Amsoil is the company which started it all. Currently, they recommend many of their oils for extended oil drain intervals of 25,000 or 35,000 miles (for gasoline powered applications) depending upon which grade oil you choose. They’ve been recommending 25,000 mile oil drains for 25 years without so much as a hiccup.

I would like to end this article with a few notes of importance. If a synthetic oil is not specifically recommended for extended drain use, and you choose to attempt extended drains, you do so at your own risk. Extended drain synthetic oils must be formulated which special long-life additives and blended basestocks so as to maintain their lubricating properties for an extended period of time.

In addition, in order to get the full benefit from extended drains, it is most beneficial to be using high efficiency oil and air filtration as well. If you are using traditional filtration methods, you will likely have to change your oil more often and will end up with reduced engine protection. If you’re going to do it, do it right. It will cost you less in the long run, and probably in the short run too.

Amsoil has long discouraged motorists from using any kind of aftermarket lubricant additive. After all, Amsoil synthetic lubricants use the finest quality synthetic basestocks and additive systems. In the “Questions and Answers About Amsoil Synthetic Motor Oils” brochure (G-359), in response to the question “Should oil additives or aftermarket products be added to Amsoil motor oils?” it states, “No, you don’t need them. Amsoil motor oils are formulated under the strictest quality control standards to provide superior lubrication performance. Additives cost money and only detract from the quality of Amsoil motor oils.”

A perfect example of why Amsoil discourages use of aftermarket additives is the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) recent lawsuit against zMax auto additives, seeking to halt false and misleading advertising and gain refunds for consumers who purchased the products. According to the FTC, the enhanced performance benefits zMax claims its products provide are totally unsubstantiated, and in the same tests cited to support performance claims, motor oil treated with zMax actually produced more than twice as much bearing corrosion than motor oil by itself. They further allege that the three different zMax products - an engine additive, a fuel line additive and a transmission additive - are nothing more than tinted mineral oil.

The complaint states that since at least May of 1999, zMax has aired infomercials promoting its “Power System,” a $39 package of three additives to be used in the engine, fuel line and transmission of automobiles. The infomercials are quite convincing, even going as far as featuring testimonials from various consumers and race car drivers making such claims as, “I was averaging about 22 miles to the gallon on the highway. I installed the zMax and so I jumped right up to about 28 miles per gallon” and “zMax guarantees a minimum of 10 percent gas mileage increase.” Other advertising claims “zMax with LinKite has the scientific, CRC L38 proof it takes your car to the Max!” and “Why zMax Works - Cuts carbon build-up on valve stems 66%; Lowers wear on valve stems 66%; Lowers wear on piston skirts 60%; Reduces blow-by leakage 17.7%; Increases combustion efficiency 9.25%; Lowers fuel consumption 8.5% - Results of an independent CRC L38 test.”

The CRC L38 test is a standard auto industry test which measures the bearing corrosion protection properties of motor oils. According to the complaint, in early 1997 an independent testing facility performed two CRC L38 tests of the zMax products. The results showed motor oil treated with the zMax additives produced more than double the bearing corrosion as motor oil alone. According to the FTC, the defendants eliminated the bearing corrosion results, as well as all other negative results, to produce one “report” from the two sets of tests, using this “report” in its infomercials and on its website.

The FTC charge alleges that zMax did not possess and rely on reasonable substantiation for the following product claims:

• increases gas mileage by a minimum of 10%
• reduces engine wear
• reduces or eliminates engine wear at startup
• reduces engine corrosion
• extends engine life
• reduces emissions

They also allege that the defendants falsely represent that the results of the CRC L38 test prove that zMax:

• increases gas mileage
• reduces engine wear
• extends engine life
• lowers fuel consumption by 8.5%
• lowers wear on valve stems by 66%
• lowers wear on piston skirts by 60%
• cuts carbon build-up on valve stems by 66%

Finally, the FTC charges that zMax does not have substantiation for the representation that the testimonials and endorsements shown in zMax advertising are “the actual and current opinions, findings, beliefs, and/or experiences of those consumers; and the typical or ordinary experience of members of the public who use the product.”

The lawsuit against zMax is the latest in a long line of FTC charges against auto additive manufacturers. The FTC has previously halted allegedly deceptive advertising by the marketers of Dura Lube, Motor Up, Prolong, Valvoline, Slick 50, STP and other major brands of engine treatment systems. Click here for the full details.

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