Has anyone used or looked into Amsoil's extended drain oil changes. They claim that you can extend your oil changes up to 1 year or 35000 miles with there series 2000 oil. Filter changes at 12500 miles or 6 months. Sounds like alot of time savings, any thoughts or has anyone tried there products.
Charlie
Has anyone used or looked into Amsoil's extended drain oil changes. They claim that you can extend your oil changes up to 1 year or 35000 miles with there series 2000 oil. Filter changes at 12500 miles or 6 months. Sounds like alot of time savings, any thoughts or has anyone tried there products.
Charlie
Not in a Nissan, but dad had a Ford F-550 with the Powerstroke diesel that they used as a 5th wheel RV hauler. They're full-time RVers, and they would put 2000-3000 miles per month on. The normal change interval for that diesel was about 10k miles I think, but that still meant them changing the oil every few months...and pretty expensively too (I think it held like 16 quarts).
He put an Amsoil bypass filter kit on it (which consisted of two oil filters), and just sent an oil sample in for testing every 3 months or something. He would change the oil once a year...but he also sold the truck within a year after doing that kit (truck wasn't big enough; went to a Ford F-650), so I don't know how it ended up. Probably fine, though. The Ford Powerstroke engine is one of the more common in RV land, and a LOT of people are running Amsoil oil and a bypass filter kit, for WAY extended oil change intervals.
I've been running synthetic oils for years - I've seen and heard enough positive results to warrant their additional costs. I use to go 5K miles before changes. I just switched to Amsoil this year and will be doing once per year oil changes with filter changes every 6 months. What's required is a very good quality oil filter (no Fram or generic stuff. I'm using the new Bosch filters, but other HQ filters like Mobile1 and of course Amsoil will work as well). Wish I had 250K miles to give actual long term use feedback, but that will take me a couple of more months
Cheers
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There's no such thing as extended oil changes. I wouldn't go over 5,000 miles on any type of oil. I use synthentic now, and it get changed every 3,000 miles.
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There's no such thing as extended oil changes. I wouldn't go over 5,000 miles on any type of oil. I use synthentic now, and it get changed every 3,000 miles.
Kenny, the days of 3000-mile oil changes are LONG GONE. Those change intervals were from the days of SC and SD oils, which WERE actually depleted in that short a time frame. Now we're up to SH and I think SJ oils, which are far superior to oils of just a decade ago. Especially with synthetic, you're changing oil WAY too often at 3000 miles. That's Jiffy Lube's mantra (3000 miles or 3 months). I bet even your owner's manual recommends longer change intervals than that.
Changing your oil too often certainly won't hurt anything, but it's also wasteful, both to your wallet and to the environment. You should (could) be going at LEAST 5k miles between changes on synthetic. In my Cadillac, I generally go 6-7k miles on conventional, especially during the summer (it has an oil life monitor, so it varies the change intervals based on the type of driving I do). On my Nissan, I generally go about 3k miles between changes, but that's only because I don't know the past maintenance history of this truck and I want to keep the engine cleaned out as good as I can.
Personally I would not excede 5000 miles on any oil synthetic or conventional. My neighbor had a Mercedes M class and Mercedes recommends like 10-12k services and they put a motor in it at 34k. I run synthetic and change every 3000 miles in my vehicles. I run synthetic in my Buell and I change that every 1500 miles, I run it hard. Even the synthetic is really black at 1500 in my bike. Im a firm believer in sythetics but stick with recommended service intervals. My 2 cents take it for what its worth.
My neighbor had a Mercedes M class and Mercedes recommends like 10-12k services and they put a motor in it at 34k.
I guarantee it wasn't because of the oil change interval. What's in it for Mercedes to recommend oil change intervals that will damage the engine and require returns under warranty? My family has followed the oil life monitor on our Cadillac since new (now with 130k miles), which will recommend a change anywhere between 3000 miles (in the dead of winter with short trips) up to 7500 miles max during the summer. That maximum mileage was set because of certain characteristics of the engine (direct acting cam followers). Newer Northstars, for example, have roller followers, and the maximum change interval was extended to 10,000 miles.
Even Nissan recommends 7500 mile change intervals for the "normal" drive schedule. The "severe" drive schedule is every 3750 miles. Engine design and lubricants are simply much better than they used to be, and 3000 mile oil changes are still preached by Jiffy Lube and your local Nissan dealer because they don't want to lose your business! They can't make as much money if you only come in every 8000 miles to change your oil! The auto manufacturers have NOTHING to gain by spec-ing longer change intervals. But Jiffy Lube has EVERYTHING to gain by continuing to preach that old mantra ("3 months or 3000 miles").
It's simply not necessary to keep pulling the drain plug as often anymore.
billie on another board uses amsoil, he has the by-pass and changes his oil ever 25,000 or 30,000miles he has about 160,000 on his 98 frontier. Ive seen it my self.
"billie on another board uses amsoil, he has the by-pass and changes his oil ever 25,000 or 30,000miles he has about 160,000 on his 98 frontier. Ive seen it my self. GO figure"
I don't doubt it. However, a bypass filter is a whole other universe when it comes to filtering oil. They filter down to 1-3 microns while normal, full-flow filters filter out only 10-30 micron particles.
Be aware that the filters with the densest media trapping the smallest particles (Pure-One, Mobil 1, etc ...) also tend to be the most restrictive ... and this can increase wear as you get periodic oil starvation ... especially at high RPM.
Plus, when you periodically swap out the filter cartridge (sometimes a roll of toilet paper) you have to top up the oil and it can take up to a quart, depending on the system. This fresh oil helps out a great deal.
Diesels which recommend extended drains (even without bypass filtration) have monstrous sumps ... often measured in gallons, not quarts. Many of the European makes recommending longer drains have larger-than-average sumps. Porsche comes to mind.
Conversely, for engines like the Xterra V6 with a tiny sump, you'll want to do more frequent oil changes ... the "severe" schedule should be your default drain interval until you prove you can go longer to yourself by monitoring UOAs. Read the descriptions for "normal" and "severe" and you'll see that "normal" is actually pretty rare.
I've seen mineral 5W30 oils thin out to a 5W20 in about 2,000 miles. They usually thicken back up to as 30 weight ... but this due to oxidation and the resulting goo is not exactly an ideal lubricant. So, Unless you have a large sump (4-5 quarts in a 4-cylinder, 6+ in a V6, etc ...) I wouldn't go over 4,500 miles on a typical dino oil. Add a little for a real synthetic blend (the good ones are rare) and consider 7,500 miles a cap for most PAO/ester-type synthetics like Mobil 1, Red Line, Amsoil, NEO, etc ... unless you confirm the longer intervals with UOAs.
In addition to the oils being better, most anti-wear additive packages were recently reinforced with molybdenum and boron. Also, fuel injected engines fuel-foul their oil less.
Lots of factors. But for Amsoil to simply imply that using their oil for 25,000-35,000 miles is OK is terribly misleading. For most applications, that is simply abuse.
"Add a little for a real synthetic blend (the good ones are rare) and consider 7,500 miles a cap for most PAO/ester-type synthetics like Mobil 1, Red Line, Amsoil, NEO, etc ... unless you confirm the longer intervals with UOAs." I use Amsoil and the rep that I buy from and Amsoil themselves will tell you that Amsoil is the only one of the oils you mentioned that is 100% synthetic.Is this not true?
troutman: "I use Amsoil and the rep that I buy from and Amsoil themselves will tell you that Amsoil is the only one of the oils you mentioned that is 100% synthetic. Is this not true?"
The higher grades of Amsoil (not their cheapest stuff) is a PAO-based synthetic with a bit of synthetic ester added to condition the seals.
PAO all by itself is not good for seals and this contributes to the old rumor (mostly untrue now) that synthetics cause leaks.
Their cheaper line is now a Group III hydrocracked mineral oil ... the type of stuff they used to make fun of.
BUT, the oils I mentioned are in fact 100% synthetics ... Group IV (PAO) and Group V (ester). There are also a few other brands ... although some of them have up to 10-20% of mineral oil in them for one reason or another (Royal Purple, Synergen, etc ...).
Amsoil is generally very good stuff ... but their sales hype and some sales reps go way over the top with their nonsense.
I may be wasteful and polluting, but at least I have never been in the market for a new engine. I run Mobil1 to the 3K mark (up to 100K miles on my Nissan PU, still driving). I ran Amsoil for a little longer, around 3500-4000 (300K miles on my Cavalier). I would hesitate to run to the extended interval unless I was putting massive road miles on it. My driving conditions are too severe.
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Aaron Ford
95 2WD Nissan PU E
2002 Oldsmobile Intrigue GX
"The hard part about playing chicken is knowing when to flinch" Scott Glenn in The Hunt for Red October
I may be wasteful and polluting, but at least I have never been in the market for a new engine.
Hey, me neither! Actually, I did replace an engine once before, but it was to gain extra displacement, 101 cubic inches, to be exact.
Actually, without the benefit of an oil life monitor, it's better to change early rather than late. Like I said before, I generally keep it to 3000 miles on the Nissan, half because I can't keep track of my own driving and half because I don't know the past maintenance history on it. If the oil life monitor is really keeping track of things, it could very well tell you to change the oil WAY BEFORE 3000 miles, during severe driving conditions ("severe", meaning short trips in the winter time or other similar oil-degrading driving cycle). 3000 miles may be too long in some cases.
Either way, I just try to recognize the context from which the "3 months or 3000 miles" statement was born -- during the days of vastly inferior lubrication and engine technology. To me, changing the oil every 3000 miles just because that's what's ingrained in your mind is like filling the gas tank twice a week, just because your old Impala guzzled gas that quickly. The industry has advanced past 10 mpg gas guzzlers, and it's advanced (for the most part) past those short oil change intervals, although exceptions obviously exist.
I just went a bit less than 6,000 miles on the Red Line 5W30 in my QR25DE and I'm having it analyzed. I'll be sure to post the results in that section when I get them.
For people insisting on changing their oil every 3,000 miles, I tell them that Mobil 1 or any other $4-5+ per quart oil is a waste of money. A "conventional" oil will protect just as well in the short term since preventing wear is more a function of the additive package when the oil is fairly fresh. Mobil 1 only comes into its own when you push the interval past 4,500 miles or so and its resistance to oxidation keeps it from thickening up too fast.
It's other main advantage is cold-start capability.
But, you could actually get better short-interval engine protection by going with a specialty oil like a Schaeffer synthetic blend (just drained my Red Line and added this stuff) for $3 per quart delivered to your door.
For a product listing, click on "Technical Data." Their 700 (#700-703) series "Schaeffer Supreme 7000" synthetic blends are hard to beat for intervals lasting less than 4,500 miles. The key is their additive package; more moly than most other oils and a secondary ingredient they call "Penetro." I've looked at hundreds of UOAs and this stuff is consistently at or near the top.
Most "conventional" oils are a lot better now than they were even 5 years ago. Most have switched from a group 1 mineral oil to a more refined Group II base stock. This implies a higher degree of hyrofinishing which makes the lubricant more uniform, more stable, etc ...
Most store-bought blends from Pennzoil, Castrol, Quaker State and others are mere Group III mineral oils. Good stuff ... but not worth $4+ per quart. Their "blends" are merely a blend or Gropup II and Group III mineral oils for $2.25 - $2.50. Big whoop.
But you still want something better which is cheap and probably available locally? Many of the "high-mileage" oils are actually real synthetic blends. They are a Group II or II+ highly refined base mineral oil with 10-15% synthetic ester (Group V) added to the mix. Their additive package tends to be stronger as well. I like the Pennzoil High Mileage Vehicle oils for $2 per quart ... and have heard really good things about Chevron but I've never seen it or tried it. Other brands are probably OK but I don't think the base oils are as good (mixture of Group I and Group II).
Another route less travelled are the dual use diesel/gas oils which have an extremely potent add pack. Higher in barrier anti-wear as well as detergents. Both Chevron Delo 400 and Pennzoil Long Life are available in 10W30 if you can find a local distributor who stocks their entire line. You won't find this weight of either in AutoZone, Walmart, etc ... These also run about $2 per quart ... often less. Great anti-wear and nothing will leave you motor cleaner.
jadcock, I wouldn't put too much faith in that oil monitor. It's algorithym-based and doesn't take temperature and other things into account ... such as the coolant leaks which plague GM cars. Plus, it tends to wait far too long for most car/truck enthusiasts. We were ribbing them on BITOG a couple months back.
But until someone else starts paying my repair bills, I will use the best that is available to me and change it often. I recycle my used oil, (though admittedly its often clean). Yes, it may be wasteful, but I change my own oil and Mobil1 costs me about the same as if someone else changes it with dino sauce. 4.76 x 4 + filter, and I know the plug is tight....
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Aaron Ford
95 2WD Nissan PU E
2002 Oldsmobile Intrigue GX
"The hard part about playing chicken is knowing when to flinch" Scott Glenn in The Hunt for Red October
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Actually, I did replace an engine once before, but it was to gain extra displacement, 101 cubic inches, to be exact. 
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