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Amsoil or is it scamsoil?

11K views 68 replies 37 participants last post by  sandguy356 
#1 ·
I have a good buddy that sells amsoil and is always telling me this stuff is the best oil ever. I put the OE amsoil in my taurus, and run the dominator in the 2 strokes. It has been fine oil for me, but I have talked to some people in the industry and they claim that this oil is an overmarketed scam. They were saying that most of the amsoils dont meet the OE certifications for oil. I havent looked into these claims but im curious if anyone on here has looked into this or not? Any time I ask my buddy any kind of technical information on this oil all I get is some BS answer with no supportings facts or data....which is making me leary of using it anymore.
 
#5 ·
I've run it off and on for years without any real opinion gathered. However, I know a guy with a fleet of service trucks who has run it for years and swears by the results on his fleet. But, that may boil down to someone who is good at maintaining his fleet and nothing to do with the specific oil used.
 
#9 ·
Its funny you should bring this up, I was just wondering about Amsoil this week. Here is the underside of a customers 4.0 valve cover off a 01 Grand Cherokee that swears by and will only run Amsoil....the picture actually makes it look better than it was.

 
#13 ·
I hate the way they market and sell it. And I hate that they refuse to submit samples for testing and certifications on some of their products. For instance, they state that their trans fluid is good for Allison, but won't submit it for TES-295 testing to use data to back up their claims. Maybe because they know it won't pass the tests? And I really hate all the reps that tell everybody that nothing else even compares to Amsoil.

That being said, I've been using their stuff in some applications for almost 20 years and have had good luck with it. For instance, their Interceptor 2-stroke oil absolutely cured the problems with the exhaust valves sticking on my F7. As long as you buy into their preferred membership program, the pricing on a lot of their stuff (not all of it) is on par with other synthetics.

Hard to really tell how good their shit is, since they only data you can find on its performance is typically what they publish themselves (obviously very biased). Again, I REALLY hate that they purposely exempt themselves from many of the certification tests.
 
#18 ·
I am skeptical of synthetic oil, but even more skeptical of amsoil.

I do believe that a synthetic will allow you to go go longer between changes, but I am not under the impression that synthetic will protect better than a regular oil which is also changed at proper intervals.

I don't believe you see very many oil induced failures of engines that are properly maintained. Which leads me to the conclusion that either oil will sufficiently protect your engine if you maintain it like the manufacturer recommends that you do.

I primarily use old school oil, and have always had good luck in doing so. However, my cars are starting to get newer, and are starting to require it from the manufacturer.
 
#26 ·
When i ran amsoil in diffrent engines over the years, didnt matter what engine but i would always end up losing at least a quart between changes and could never figure out why. I hated it and didn't buy into the 10k oil changes, i always changed mine at 5k regardless and it still looked like shit.

Oh and im also a huge rotella fan myself, run it in my diesel, and was very happy to find out the PO ran it to. and my step dad has had many big rigs running this oil that were all high mileage motors going to a million miles or more, lots of them still running out there today.
 
#31 ·
I think the only reason amsoil claims you can run 80k oil changes is so they can give a way to justify to the customer the increased price over other synthetic oils on the market.

Im not against amsoil Im against a product that hides behind not being certified and there marketiting model is to go after friends and family to buy the products. I love how they claim you can get 20k miles out of amsoil on a Ford 6.0L diesel when there are many people that have had blackstone reports with consider amount of oil shear at 5k miles on the best synthetics on the market. If I can afford to drive a diesel I can afford to change the oil and keep fresh oil in the engine.
 
#41 ·
The Scam with Amsoil is they do not meet specs. To confuse you they use words like

"AMSOIL Signature Series Synthetic Motor Oil is excellent for use in all types of gasoline-fueled vehicles. It is recommended for all domestic and foreign vehicles requiring any of the listed performance specifications:

10W-30 (ATM): API SN (Resource Conserving), SM…; ILSAC GF-5, GF-4…; ACEA A5/B5, A1/B1; GM LL-A-025, 6094M, 4718M; Ford WSS-M2C205-A; Chrysler MS-6395"

Nowhere does it say they meet the specification. That alone means you should not run it. they are recommending you use their oil, but do not say it is any good.

If the oil was good they would use

"Mobil 1 High Mileage 5W-30 synthetic motor oil meets or exceeds the requirements of:
ACEA A1/B1, A5/B5 API SL"

Why would you run an oil that does not meet the minimum specifications for your engine? Why don't they meet the specification and why do they try to BS you?
 
#42 ·
my buddy had an 03 TJ and put Amsoil signature in it and he had a horrible valve train noise. He swapped out the oil with less then 500 miles on it and put in a standard valvoline and the noise went away. He only put the amsoil in to try it and the engine never had a noise before he put that oil in. Both oils were the same weight.
 
#43 ·
I used to only run this stuff. I then just got tired of scouring around to find a place that sells it then paying 8 bucks a quart for it. I switched to Mobil 1 full syn for everything now so I can get that stuff anywhere. Plus the place by me sells it in the 5.1 quart jugs which saves a bit of $
 
#53 ·
Amsoil's marketing dept. is the secret to their success. Back 5 years ago I ran Ams Dominator in my sleds, not because of scientific proof, but mostly because it was advertised as being the most awesomest. All the cool kids were running it in their snow cross sleds, and I liked the sweet Amsoil stickers.:woot::sonicjay:

As far as running synthetic oil in your diesel trucks, if for nothing more than your own piece of mind then by all means go for it. In my own findings through analysis (w/ both Blackstone and MI Cat) Rotella T and Chevron Delo LE dino oil held up just as good, if not better than some of the fancy synthetics when pulled with anywhere from 5k to 10k miles.

The bottom line here is run what you like, regularly scheduled maintainence is key no matter what oil you choose.

:beer:
 
#60 ·
Amsoil is for ricers like Tupperware is for Moms and Mary Kay for ugly middle aged women and Cutco is for college kids and Meleleuca is for psycho lonely religious old people and Visalus Sciences is for meatheads and and and and.

If it is moved using multi-level marketing (or one of its many other names) it is not to be trusted.
 
#61 · (Edited)
1) To the people questioning synthetic, I have to laugh. What's next...FI is a lousy technology and crank seals should still be made of rope? Cold performance alone is reason enough for me to put syn in things I plan to keep, plus oxidation performance at elevated temperatures is far superior to dino oil

2) IMO, any full quality synthetic oil is going to be better than a standard petroleum/syn dino blend. That opinion is based on things I've read, various oil analysis readouts, and real experience with various oil testing equipment (four ball wear, saybolt viscometer, etc.). There's a reason (numerous) why OEM's are moving towards synthetic in more and more new engines, and there's also a reason why many fleets run it.

3) To the people questioning Amsoil - is the cost worth the payout? I'm not sure. I don't sell Amsoil, but have used it. Their 2 stroke saber oil does what it claims....half the oil and still makes the engine live. That said, there are plenty of positive reviews of Amsoil by non-bias second party reviewers out on the web. Is it worth the extra $$ over say mobil 1? That I'm not sure of. I believe that there are far too many other variables that play a role in oil life degradation to simply state "brand x is better than brand z."

And also, some have said Amsoil spends way too much $$ on marketing....have you looked at Royal Purple :sonicjay: Lucas:sonicjay: Again, they may be good products, but I think there are other brands just as guilty of advertising.

Bottom line, I'll take any good group IV synthetic over a petro based oil - amsoil, penzoil, RP, M1, ashland, castrol, motul, klotz, shell, etc. Buy what you can get a deal on and change it regular interval based on your usage.
 
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