amsoil VS dino

[skorski]

I have been reading post and articles in the tdr about oil and oil Analysis for some time now only to be more confused then ever. I sold a 95 with power up grades and 225k using dino with no problems towing a 5th weighting 13,000 . I now have a 05 with 30k and just switched to amsoil at the coast of 100 bucks and they told me i could go 25k on the change I still have a hard tim with that long of a change and if I keep doing samples at 15. dollars a pop thats half an oil change with dino . I don't see any advantages to syntec except for the transmission. I think I will go back to dino when I get home from this winter trip Thanks and all coments welcome :-{}

 

[roperteacher]

I am in the same boat as you are with regards to my 06. I have always just used Dyno but I never get the oil analysis. Never needed too. I heard that Synthetic would be better for Engines with ULSD. Not sure. I definately run Syn in Trans, diffs, Power steering, etc... . I only have 7000 on mine so I have a few more thousand miles to decide. .

 

[HRDROKN]

Always an interesting topic... many opinions!



I have run Amsoil for 20 years... this has been with much debate as to extended drain interval, oil analysis and all that vs new base oil technology. Today I run a quality synthetic for all my gear oils and ATF. When I religiously used Amsoil in the engine, I changed the oil twice a year (every 6months). Some will say that I was just throwing good oil away and I agree, but I also feel that along with that, I was getting rid of many harmful combustion byproducts.



I don't subscribe to the oil analysis theory, I have no need to stretch every bit of life out of a lubricant... additives have a finite life and need to be replenished. I don't run a fleet or production machinery with significant lubrication cost... . I have a truck, a car and a couple motorcycles, so I change my oil at what I feel to be a reasonable interval and be done with it.



IMO, having worked in research for one of the top two additive producers in the world I have found no test or research data to change my current process... .



Remember that synthetics such as PAO are manufactured from petroleum. So what it comes down to is not so much dino vs syn, but more so... it's the quality oil you choose vs what drain interval you choose.

 

[DSass]

I know that debates like this can go on and on, however I have to dispute HRDROKN's last statement about how PAO's are manufactured. Here is a statement right from Mobil: "Synthetic motor oils contain a high proportion of base stocks created from pure chemicals. Since synthetic base stocks such as PAO are essentially pure chemicals themselves they avoid the performance limitations imposed by the impurities present in conventional and hydroprocessed base oils. PAO synthetic base oils are therefore pure compounds containing none of the impurities found in conventional base oils derived from crude oil, as mentioned earlier. "



A 100% synthetic oil is just that.

 

[DeezelDood]

Tdr#55, Pg 12.

 

[HRDROKN]

I know that debates like this can go on and on, however I have to dispute HRDROKN's last statement about how PAO's are manufactured. Here is a statement right from Mobil: "Synthetic motor oils contain a high proportion of base stocks created from pure chemicals. Since synthetic base stocks such as PAO are essentially pure chemicals themselves they avoid the performance limitations imposed by the impurities present in conventional and hydroprocessed base oils. PAO synthetic base oils are therefore pure compounds containing none of the impurities found in conventional base oils derived from crude oil, as mentioned earlier. "



A 100% synthetic oil is just that.

:-laf :-laf :-laf



Read what you will... . I work for a major producer of lubricant base stocks and oil additives. Synthetics such as polyalphaolefin are manufactured in part from a monomer of ethylene (a component derived from crude) that goes through various refining processes. Back in the day... these processes were cutting edge lubricant technology! But we no longer live back in the day...



Today the same processes that enabled PAO to be classified as synthetic are applied to many base oils... the benefits of PAO's are no longer unique as other processes are producing competitive stocks.



Bottom line PAO's are still derived from crude oil!

 

[Buffalo]

It seems to me that one of the greatest benefits of a synthetic motor oil is if it is used in conjunction with a bypass oil filter, to keep the expensive oil extremely clean.



If one does a huge amount of driving, as in commercial towing or hauling, then the use of synthetics, along with the bypass filtration, seems to make more sense because of the ability to use extended oil drain intervals.



If you are not driving an extreme number of miles, then you are probably just as well off sticking with conventional oils & normal oil drain intervals. Conventional oils, especially Chevron Delo-400, 15X40, CI-4+, are quite robust, nowadays. Many trucks have gone beyond one million miles without an engine rebuild, using them.



I just went 9626 miles, on Chevron, in a bit less than one year. The oil analysis said that the oil was still in good shape. Seems to me that some of the conventional oils are much better than many of us thought they were.



Joe F. (Buffalo)

 

[HRDROKN]

Buffalo makes some good observations and some good points!!!

 

[cruiser_2]

I know I have chimed in on more than one occasion on this topic. I personally like dino oils. I change mine aproximately every 7000 miles and now have in excess of 491,000 miles on my vehicle. I ended up changing my oil every 5 to 6 weeks, did it myself and only took about 2 1/2 hours at most. I used Amsoil for a period of about a year, did about 3 oil changes before I went back to dino. The Cost of oil changes/analysis were more costly than regular oil changes. Oil Pressure was also a concern as it was MUCH lower with synthetics than dino, and I also noted more engine noise with Synthetics.



I went back to the dreaded Shell Rotella dino and the even more infamous Wix filter and that was about 250,000 mile ago. I think this bodes well for this type of use... even under extreme duress.

 

[JHardwick]

I've got 275,000 miles on my '03 changing the Rotella every 15,000 miles and doing a sample every 3rd change. I also use the Wix (NAPA Gold) oil filter. I never have less than ~7,000# on me, and never more than ~15,000#.



I've often thought about a bypass filter, synthetic oil and 30,000 mile oil changes. But, I don't really see much, or any cost savings and my current method always gains me a good analasys from Blackstone.

 

[mberry]

I have been reading post and articles in the tdr about oil and oil Analysis for some time now only to be more confused then ever. I sold a 95 with power up grades and 225k using dino with no problems towing a 5th weighting 13,000 . I now have a 05 with 30k and just switched to amsoil at the coast of 100 bucks and they told me i could go 25k on the change I still have a hard tim with that long of a change and if I keep doing samples at 15. dollars a pop thats half an oil change with dino . I don't see any advantages to syntec except for the transmission. I think I will go back to dino when I get home from this winter trip Thanks and all coments welcome :-{}

I think a lot of this has to do with your driving style and the amount if miles you put on your truck along with the environment it is operated in. 25K miles between changes is why I use Amsoil in the first place. For me, that's about 2 years of driving. I have no problem with anyone using dino oil. For me I like the protection in the heat and easy starts in the cold.