SMITTY wrote:The reason I trust them is because they back up their product with tests, white papers, etc.. and they ENCOURAGE you to send your own oil samples out for a lab test, either through them, or whoever. If the stuff is ruining your engine, the lab will pick up on it & tell you exactly what is failing, and why it's failing. If the lubricant sucks, they'll tell you that too.
When I first started selling the stuff, my brother bought a bunch of it for his Duramax. He's got it all tricked out, and it puts out around 600 ft.lbs. right to the ground. I told him he could run that oil for 15,000 miles ... and he didn't believe me ... so he sent a sample to a lab at 10k miles. They told him the oil looked (by "looked" I mean all the additives where there) just as good as any fresh oil does. They also found high levels of silica in the oil, which indicated his air filter was a piece of *censored*. Wouldn't have known that otherwise!
I have used AMSOIL ATF and gear lube with great results. I'm sure their engine oils are excellent as well, but my driving patterns (short trips) make it tough to get a return on the additional cost.
Your example of the air filter is a great example of using oil analysis as a "tool". In large equipment, an oil sample is much less expensive than an oil change...so it makes sense to pull a sample every couple hundred hours and make sure there is no glycol, dirt, fuel, or excessive soot in the oil...if it checks out, keep on running it. I recently got a report on a 844 cubic inch diesel that showed 6% fuel in the oil; the lab recommended checking the fuel injection system for problems. Sure enough, one of the injectors was pretty lazy and not atomizing the fuel properly. All injectors were replaced, and after 100 hours of operation another sample was pulled...no more fuel, good to go. 50 quarts in the sump on this one...it is important to get your money out of the oil.
Most major oil companies have an oil analysis service, but many people don't take advantage of it.
