Amsoil vs. Delvac 1

[toddler]

Hey Bob,
I just read through the entire thread, since oil change time is coming, and I'm with you. It's interesting that some people want to go to court to defend not following the manufacturer's service rec's. When the issue of compliance with those rec's came up for my brother in law down on cape cod, it turned out the state had already addressed it and the auto companies can't void your warranty unless you exceed 7500miles between oil changes, and the problem might have been related to that. So they can't refuse to fix the brakes because you didn't change the oil.

It would be a bummer to see Amsoil or Delvac users try to fight the auto mfgr's and the state. Funny that everyone gets so worked up about an arbitrary number. 3000miles in one engine might equal 5000 and another and 2000 in a third when it comes to oil contamination and degredation. Me, I'll change at about 4k simply because that's what the countdown to service meter on my car uses, and when it beeps, I get the oil changed. With my tractor, I'll go with Kubota's rec's plus an end-of-summer and end-of-winter change. If synthetic is on sale, maybe I'll try it, otherwise, I've got better places to put my money.

Congrats on your NEW 4300. It's an great machine.
Be safe.
Todd

 

[hoghead]

Well Guys,Let me throw anther wrinkle in the story!!!My father was a diesel mechanic for many years.Athough synthetic oils were not around before he passed, he gave me some important tips on changing oil...Frequently!!!!He recommended changing oil in gas engines at 2000 miles.I took him for his word and my 1976 olds(bought it new) has 200,000 miles on it and still doesn't use any oil!! As for brands of oil he recommended havoline in gas engines... That is after 40 years of trying other brands..I used Valvoline in the Olds from day one...Now to the next story..My brother continued the tradition of having a diesel mechanic in the family, and he told me it didn't matte what brand you used but to change frequently. But he introduced me to a product that no one has mentioned here, called Energy Release. I've been using it in about every thing around here and have had no problems yet.But I still change oil frequently.. It is an oil additive that is compatable with just about every oil.I guess we we will never know if it works until we tear down a engine and inspect parts for wear,,Don't think I will do that any time soon.For those of you that are interested the website is energyrelease.com. I dont use the synthetics because of the added cost , but will not bash them as I am sure that they are as good as convetional oils...To each his own!!


Hoghead

 

[campster]

Engines and oil have both improved significantly since the '70s when the 3k intervals were really valuable.

Synthetics do have a real advantage at low temperatures (particularly below 0°F) but they don't handle soot as well as high quality petroleum stocks do (important for Diesel service.) The additive packages in most synthetics are better mostly because the oil is priced higher and sold as a premium product. There are petro oils that cost as much or more than Amsoil and there are highly sophisticated customers (like SoCal Gas Co) who choose them for very demanding applications (like turbine bearings in power plants.) Surely the engineers who choose these oils (as well as the military/jet guys who choose synthetics) can afford anything they want to protect these multi-million dollar machines. They probably have good reasons for those choices.

FWIW, Castrol Syntec is NOT a true synthetic oil but a highly refined petro basestock. Castrol was sued (I think by Amsoil) and won the right to use the name which confuses things a bit. Oil engineers & the lab I use (Cat certified) tell me that Delo 400 uses better stocks than Rotella does. Lucky for me 'cause I can get it cheap at Costco and WallyWorld.

 

[gsxr1100]

Castrol Syntec is NOT a true synthetic, you are correct. Synthetic is a very loose word in the oil industry

Thanks
Mike


<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by burnickas on 03/20/01 06:16 PM (server time).</FONT></P>