My Amsoil experiment

[olympic]

As many of you already know, I run a taxi service in my home town. Currently I have 3 cars and 4 vans. Like any business owner I'm constantly on the lookout for anyting to improve my bottom line. 2 of my biggest expenses are fuel and maintenance/repairs. So with all the great things I've heard about synthetic oil, especially Amsoil, I decided to run a little experiment on my own before plunging in to unknown waters. Here's some background info:

The test vehicle: 2003 Pontiac Montana Extended 3.4l V6 FWD with 65000km(39k miles) on the odometer at the start of the test. It had organic 5w30 oil all it's life changed every 6k miles, paper air filters and still had the factory fill of ATF in the transmission.

I chose this particular van because it does four 445km(275 mile) hiway trips per week with the same driver, same number of passengers, on the same road, at the same time of day and even fills up at the same pumps. So I figured it was the best candidate for the experiment to get accurate results.

Test A:

5w30 organic
paper air filter
factory ATF

Results:

4179km using 421L of fuel=9.93km/L

Test B:

Amsoil Series 2000 0w30
dual remote filtration
Amsoil synthetic ATF
Amsoil 2-stage foam air filter

Results:

4093km using 397L of fuel=10.31km/L

The math: I gained 3.8% in fuel mileage or around 1mpg. I was hoping for more but it's still pretty descent considering all I did was change the oil. Over the course of 1 year that works out to a savings of about $350 in fuel plus another $125 or so in oil changes. That's just about enough to pay for the conversion to Amsoil. After that point it's all profit in my pocket.

If I can extrapolate the same savings to my entire fleet, it works out to over $3000 per year! Not to mention the reduction in engine and transmission failures that could total thousands more.

Needless to say, I'll be ordering up enough Amsoil and dual filter kits to do the rest of my cars. It'll cost a small fortune but in the end I think it'll be worth it.

P.S-I posted this for informational purposes only. I know most of you would not consider doing this to your SHO's for various reasons, but I thought you might find it interesting.

 

[olympic]

I forgot to mention the "subjective" gains. The engine is definitely smoother and quieter than before. There's no valvetrain noise at startup and it's dead quiet while idling. With the hood open all you can hear is the belt whirring and the injectors ticking. The foam filter seems to muffle out the intake noise better than the paper filter. The intake roar during WOT is alot less with the new filter in place. The transmission is also smoother and feels more confident in its shifts.

I was kinda shocked to find the tranny pan magnet covered with a layer of metal powder on a vehicle with this low of mileage. I don't know if this is normal or not so I'm interested to see what it looks like next time.

I'll also draw a sample of the oil at the first filter change(12,000 miles) and post a picture of it.

 

[Bizzy]

I noticed similar gained MPG %'s on my 95 SE (SLO) that I used to commute to and from work 90 miles a day in.

I also love the AMSoil foam panel filter for my SHO, but since I am running a Pro-M 80 MM i have no use for it anymore.

 

[shojuan]

Wow, I think that's pretty impressive Bryce! I don't have a controlled study of my truck but I know that when new, the best it ever got was 18-19 mpg. After a long, hard, abused life in the service of my dad's company and several cylinder heads it would get at best about 16 mpg. It's a 1991 Mazda B2600i 4X4. I changed the rear axle, front axle, transfer case, and transmission to redline fluids. I replaced the front wheel bearings and packed them with redline CV2 grease. The truck always gets 21-22 mpg now. Not bad for the really ****** shape that it's in. Some of the gains are likely coming from the fact that when the differentials and gear boxes are cold the fluid isn't thick like molasses. So I don't have as much drag for the first few miles it takes for those fluids to heat up.

 

[olympic]

I know what you mean. I have a Dodge Caravan AWD and it's a totally different vehicle from summer to winter. In the summer it has tons of power and gets 25+mpg. When the temp drops to -30 or lower, it's a total dog and struggles to maintain 21-22mpg. I'm positive it's being caused by the 80w90 gear oil in the rear diff. It has no source of heat so the oil in there stays thick. I would like to convert this van to Amsoil but it has 330,000km on it and will be replaced in less than a year. Plus it has developed some very minor oil leaks that would only get worse with synthetic in there.

From now on it's Amsoil in all my vehicles, starting after the break-in period and first oil change. I'm looking forward to the increased mileage and possibly going 500,000km on the same drivetrain. I've been in business 6 years and have had 15 transmission failures and I'm sick of it.

 

[sideSHO]

I know what you mean. I have a Dodge Caravan AWD and it's a totally different vehicle from summer to winter. In the summer it has tons of power and gets 25+mpg. When the temp drops to -30 or lower, it's a total dog and struggles to maintain 21-22mpg. I'm positive it's being caused by the 80w90 gear oil in the rear diff. It has no source of heat so the oil in there stays thick. I would like to convert this van to Amsoil but it has 330,000km on it and will be replaced in less than a year. Plus it has developed some very minor oil leaks that would only get worse with synthetic in there.

From now on it's Amsoil in all my vehicles, starting after the break-in period and first oil change. I'm looking forward to the increased mileage and possibly going 500,000km on the same drivetrain. I've been in business 6 years and have had 15 transmission failures and I'm sick of it.

You say the oil leak would get worse with synthetic.
Why is that?
This is pretty interesting to say the least.I would consider changing my 200,000 mile SHO over with results like these.

 

[olympic]

Synthetic is thinner so it can escape through a failing seal easier. Plus it is very good at cleaning out all the gunk built up in your engine. Some of that gunk may be sealing a possible leak. If your engine is healthy, has no leaks and doesn't burn much oil, then you should have no worries switching over to synthetic.

I highly recommend Amsoils dual remote bypass filter system. It removes dirt particals as small as 1/10 of a micron, your average spin on filter is only good down to 20 microns or so. I think better filtration would go a long way towards reducing cam wear and rod bearing failures.

I converted vehicle # 3 of 7 today to Amsoil, an 01 Montana with 150k miles. It had it's tranny professionally flushed every 30k since new and I was shocked at the amount of built up crap in the pan. The magnet was completely covered and the rest of the pan had a layer of black grit covering it. Frankly I'm surprised the tranny is still functioning.

I never did agree with the new method they use to flush a tranny ie-exchanging the fluid through the cooler lines without dropping the pan. Now I have proof that it doesn't do a very good job. So for now, changing the filter and cleaning the pan when doing a flush is your best defense. I'm going to investigate the possibility of adding an external filter for the tranny fluid. If I can keep the Amsoil ATF clean and cool, there should be no reason to ever do a flush again.

 

[shojuan]

I should really start a new thread but I'll use the posting before morning coffee defense! I've thought about drilling a hole in the valve cover and running a clear hose from the bypass end of a bypass filter system. I'm sure that there's gotta be a spot in there that would appreciate .5 gallon per minute of oil streaming right down on it. Anybody have any GOOD ideas for which would be the ideal spot? I also figure that direct oiling some spots might not be such a good thing too.

Also, at the risk of not getting any answers to my above question I'll throw in another idea for those worried about leaks switching a high mileage car to synthetic. If you could live with the risk of increasing leakage here's something you can try: Get a couple bottles of Auto-RX and treat the engine with that before switching to synthetic (use dino oil for treatment, and the next oil change or two after). Frank, the inventor claims that the way auto-rx cleans the gunk between engine metal and engine seals actually helps with the leaks, even if you plan on switching to synthetic after. Since he's got a "no questions asked, if it doesn't do for you what you want it to do then get your money back" guarantee if you end up getting more leaks after switching your 200,000 mile beast to synthetic then just get your money back and the spotless engine internals are yours to keep! Seriously, call the guy and talk to him about his claims and your concerns. He's more than happy to chat. With my 178,000 mile SHO it seems I'm getting a bit more leakage but I think it's just the oil level sensor getting worse (I have a new one waiting to be installed. Too lazy, just going to replace it when I drop the oilpan) and net oil consumption is the same or slightly improved from before. I notice that the oil stays more or less spotless between changes. At 2500-3000 miles the oil looks cleaner than some brands of oil look brand new! It wasn't like that before. Going back to synthetic after I replace my rod bearings. Gonna replace my rod bearings when I do my clutch. (Gonna do my clutch when I can afford a clutch!)

 

[SolidState]

amsoil is good stuff...it worked really well in the 91, and it lasted alot longer and was better on start up, especially in winter, and handled the heat of summer alot better.

I highly recommend it.

 

[AREA 91]

I run nothing but synthetic in all of my vehicles.