AMSOIL vs. Mobil 1

[AlexJet]

I've been using Mobil 1 Synthetic Oil for a while. Few days ago, when I passed by the guy where I'm usually picking up my K/N Oil Filter, he offered me to switch to AMSOIL Synthetic oil.
What do you think guys? Which one is better: AMSOIL or Mobil 1? I'm using 5W-30 Fully Synthetic Oil.

 

[T4RMatt]

In all honesty, in this scenario there is no right answer. Given the performance perameters of your vehicle either is going to be just as good as the other. If we were talking about a 15000rpm Indy car motor then maybe we could have a decent debate, but we arent. Stick with the cheaper of the two.....likely the mobil.

 

[Boaz]

You cant go wrong with M1 or Amsoil.

In fact M1 is in my crankcase right now! I went to the shop to change my oil, drained it and realized that I left my Amsoil at home. So I walked to the parts store and got M1. Oh well! My first Used Oil Analysis (UOA) was with M1 and I had great wear numbers. The oil I changed was 5W30 Amsoil. I am sending it off to the lab tomorrow to get an analysis. When i get the results back I will post it side by side with my M1 UOA.

Both oils run great in my 4Runner. I honestly doubt you will be able to "tell" a lick of difference between the two oils. They are both very well made products.

M1 is cheaper, hands down. If you are a costco member you can get it for about 4 bucks a quart. Sometimes auto parts stores run specials on M1. Amsoil doesnt allow "specials". I get tired of paying shipping on oil that costs more than M1 to begin with.

The only place Amsoil shines over M1 is if you plan on running extended oil drains. If you are going to change your oil at toyotas recommend intervals, save the money and use M1. If you want to change your oil once a year, and put up to 35k on the oil, use Amsoil. You can save money using Amsoil, but only if you do extended drain intervals.

I hope this sheds some light!

Jake

 

[peter78]

You cant go wrong with M1 or Amsoil.

The only place Amsoil shines over M1 is if you plan on running extended oil drains. If you are going to change your oil at toyotas recommend intervals, save the money and use M1. If you want to change your oil once a year, and put up to 35k on the oil, use Amsoil. You can save money using Amsoil, but only if you do extended drain intervals.

I hope this sheds some light!

Jake

Some good points. Here is my take.

1.) If you examine the specs, it is clear to me that Amsoil is better.

2.) But, Amsoil is not API certified and if you should ever have a oil failure, Toyota may not cover it as you are using a unapproved oil.

3.) If you go over the recommended change interval set by Toyota, once agian Toyota may not cover your repairs. Amsoil does have it's own warranty, I have heard of one case in which a Lexus formed sludge going on the extended oil change and Amsoil did not cover it.

4.) When I changed last week, I noticed Mobil 1 specs have gone down since my last change. In other words they are cheaping it.

----------------------------

Conclusion, at least for me: If you are under warranty go with Mobil 1. Then change after the warranty if you want. Also, I would not go with extended oil change. I thought 25,000 was high, but in my opinion going 35,000 miles is simply asking for trouble, not matter what oil you use.

 

[AlexJet]

You cant go wrong with M1 or Amsoil.
...
The only place Amsoil shines over M1 is if you plan on running extended oil drains. If you are going to change your oil at toyotas recommend intervals, save the money and use M1. If you want to change your oil once a year, and put up to 35k on the oil, use Amsoil. You can save money using Amsoil, but only if you do extended drain intervals.

I hope this sheds some light!

Jake

Thanks Jake,
Actually I'm thinking of getting from 12000-16000km (7500-10000miles) between oil changes. According your information should I switch to AMSOIL? Which one will be better:
- Series 2000 Synthetic 0W-30 Motor Oil http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/tso.aspx
- Series 3000 Synthetic 5W-30 Heavy-Duty Diesel Oil http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/hdd.aspx
- XL 5W-30 Synthetic Motor Oil (XLF) http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/xlf.aspx
- SAE 5W-30 Synthetic Motor Oil (ASL) http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/asl.aspx

 

[AlexJet]

2.) But, Amsoil is not API certified and if you should ever have a oil failure, Toyota may not cover it as you are using a unapproved oil.
...
Conclusion, at least for me: If you are under warranty go with Mobil 1. Then change after the warranty if you want. Also, I would not go with extended oil change. I thought 25,000 was high, but in my opinion going 35,000 miles is simply asking for trouble, not matter what oil you use.

Are you sure it's not API certified? I was thinking that if it officially sells in North America it API approved.
About mileage. I would never go to 25 or 35k without oil change. Toyota has 8000km (5000miles) and 16000km (10000miles) service intervals. On 8k it's just oil change, so I thought to go with regular 16s.

 

[Boaz]

Some good points. Here is my take.

1.) If you examine the specs, it is clear to me that Amsoil is better.

2.) But, Amsoil is not API certified and if you should ever have a oil failure, Toyota may not cover it as you are using a unapproved oil.

3.) If you go over the recommended change interval set by Toyota, once agian Toyota may not cover your repairs. Amsoil does have it's own warranty, I have heard of one case in which a Lexus formed sludge going on the extended oil change and Amsoil did not cover it.

4.) When I changed last week, I noticed Mobil 1 specs have gone down since my last change. In other words they are cheaping it.

----------------------------

Conclusion, at least for me: If you are under warranty go with Mobil 1. Then change after the warranty if you want. Also, I would not go with extended oil change. I thought 25,000 was high, but in my opinion going 35,000 miles is simply asking for trouble, not matter what oil you use.

Whoa, Amsoil is API certified.

As of my last batch of M1, the additive pack looked fine, and I still had a fair amount of additive left when I changed it a 5200 miles.


Even if you had a oil related failure, it will still fall on the owner. (ie, not enough oil in the engine)

 

[Boaz]

Thanks Jake,
Actually I'm thinking of getting from 12000-16000km (7500-10000miles) between oil changes. According your information should I switch to AMSOIL? Which one will be better:
- Series 2000 Synthetic 0W-30 Motor Oil http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/tso.aspx
- Series 3000 Synthetic 5W-30 Heavy-Duty Diesel Oil http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/hdd.aspx
- XL 5W-30 Synthetic Motor Oil (XLF) http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/xlf.aspx
- SAE 5W-30 Synthetic Motor Oil (ASL) http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/asl.aspx

the 0W30 is great, but its pricey even at my cost.

If you plan on running 7500k intervals use the XL7500 line of oils,
I can get them for about 4 bucks a quart at dealer cost.

 

[bulldog-yota]

This might be some interesting reading for you
http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/oil-life.html

It is a pity that they didn't finish the second run on M1 as the wear metals looks even better than the Amsoil on the second run. On the first M1 run it seems that the engine was still breaking in.

I think there is very little difference between M1 or AMsoil, and if you look at these test Amsoil does not last longer than M1 and I doubt will have less wear metals either (see second run and flush tests for M1). Both are very good oils, but neither would do 25K miles. I'm still very sceptical about that claim as I have yet to see analysis done in 1k or 5k intervals for the 25K period.

Till you are out of warranty I would not go beyond the 5K mile oil change.

 

[Bluto]

Toyota requires an API SJ certification. First post in this thread.

It looks like all Amsoil Motor Oils now are API SJ.

Mobil 1 does change their oil formula. So I guess the stuff before summer 2004 was of lower quality? Way to go Mobil.

You have to analyze the oil in your vehicle to judge which is better. A Chevy 5.7 push rod has nothing in common with a Toyota V8 or V6. Driving habits will also affect the oil. Boaz will have some numers for the V6 soon.

Analysis in my last vehicle a 2 years ago showed Amsoil had a far superior oil and additive package.

Bottom line, dino oil at Toyota intervals is fine. Toyota designed the engine, they should know. Most owners won't keep their vehicle long enough to know the difference.

I buy Amsoil from a local shop. I like to support the independent shop, and small company (Amsoil).

 

[bulldog-yota]

Toyota requires an API SJ certification. First post in this thread.

It looks like all Amsoil Motor Oils now are API SJ.

Mobil 1 does change their oil formula. So I guess the stuff before summer 2004 was of lower quality? Way to go Mobil.

You have to analyze the oil in your vehicle to judge which is better. A Chevy 5.7 push rod has nothing in common with a Toyota V8 or V6. Driving habits will also affect the oil. Boaz will have some numers for the V6 soon.

Analysis in my last vehicle a 2 years ago showed Amsoil had a far superior oil and additive package.

Bottom line, dino oil at Toyota intervals is fine. Toyota designed the engine, they should know. Most owners won't keep their vehicle long enough to know the difference.

I buy Amsoil from a local shop. I like to support the independent shop, and small company (Amsoil).

True, that it is better to get the tests on the engine you are using. AT least a 5.7 chevy V8 has more in common with my engine than a ball bearing test

Bobistheoilguy has plenty of examples of the V8 on M1 and they all look great. I have not seen any with Amsoil, but there might be which I just missed. I have not seen many V6 (4.0) examples on there. I however still have to see guys doing 25k miles on the same oil and the analysis of that.

 

[olliebear]

I expect Toyota to last 250,000 miles

with regular oil changes at 5,000. In fact I'll bet there are a lot more Toyotas on the road owned by people who change the oil somewhere between 5,000-10,000, and still have 200,000-250,000 miles on the clock, than people who send the oil to Blackstone and lose sleep over Amsoil or Mob1........

I plan to change my oil the way I have changed it all my car owning life....every 5,000. I will change out the tranny and diff fluids every 36,000 miles just as I've always done. I expect to have very few problsms for the next 250,000-300,000 miles. By that time I will sell it and buy another Toyota. All this gnashing of teeth and philosopohical discussion has to answer one question.....how much longer will it keep your Toyota going beyond the reasonable life span of the car?

15-20 years or 300,000 miles? Most of you will have long since traded it in or sold it or gave it up long before that anyway......even if the engine is still cranking, the tranny will be smokin', the gear box will be grinding, the a/c wil have long since stoped working, the knobs have fallen off, the power windows have ceased to function, the 4x4 system would have fried, the dash would be cracked and peeling, the seats would be fluffing foam.....you're going to need a new car anyway....

It's almost like the guys who worry about going to a car wash because the brushes will leave swirl marks but don't think about the road chips and stone dings that is part of life and owning a car and actually driving it over real roads.

 

[Boaz]

Olliebear,

You always crack me up dude! You sound just like my old man!

"Its transportation not insparation!"

 

[toybox]

Re: I expect Toyota to last 250,000 miles

It's almost like the guys who worry about going to a car wash because the brushes will leave swirl marks but don't think about the road chips and stone dings that is part of life and owning a car and actually driving it over real roads.

Difference is that someone chooses to go to the carwash and pay for some swirls.

I can't stop a rock hitting my truck but I can keep swirl marks off my truck, rather simply and inexpensively too.

Oh and I like all the parts on my truck to stay where they are..............that is ON the truck. chooses

 

[Bluto]

Even if synthetic oil cost $20 more every 5000 miles, $800 after 200,000 miles?

Cheap insurance.


Although the oil analysis is very useful, for the average driver, it is more for entertainment purposes.

 

[olliebear]

that's cuz I'm probably old enough to be your old man....

Olliebear,

You always crack me up dude! You sound just like my old man!

"Its transportation not insparation!"

Funny how a few decades and living through good and bad times can change your priorites....Don't sweat the small stuff.