Hey guys,

Anyone knows or has done any research on which is the best Engine oil, and why? I'm comparing Amsoil, Redline, Mobil1. Anyone who wanna say...all oils are the same...Please save that answer for another thread. I'm asking if anyone has done any research, had past experience, or read online to find out the differences. I'm new to Amsoil, but found lot of good info on it online. Redline is the best that I knew of, it still is in the tops. These top quality oil manufacterers make not only great oils for engines, but also for automatic transmissions and rear diff. I'm looking to change the A4 trani oil and rear diff oil. So doing my research. Also wanna stick with THE BEST engine oil available in USA. Not all synthetic oils are the same. Plz share your knowledge and input. I will post some more info and facts later...

Thanks in advance...

 

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/

 

You will get as many opinions on this as there are oils. Everyone seems to have a personal favorite.

I stick with Mobil 1. Unless you race the car on a regular basis I seriously doubt that there is any measurable difference in real world driving that makes one synthetic better than another.

 

Here is some info.

http://www.1st-in-synthetics.com/dyno_test.htm

http://www.amsoil.com/performancetests/amsoil_vs_mobil1.aspx


AMSOIL the WINNER!!

 

Duplicate post in the tech section, but since you asked twice...

I am the forum vendor for AMSOIL, but that doesn't mean I don't respect the other oils you mentioned, they are both very good.

Here are my personal experiences, and why I switched to AMSOIL. They are not meant to stir up another debate, only to share some info.

- I lost an LS6 to a seized bearing in July 2003 while running Mobil 1 15w50. While I don't really blame the oil on this failure, none of the bearings looked good and at least two had seized. A better oil may or may not have prevented the destruction of my engine until a planned rebuild in Aug 2003.
- I read hundreds of used oil analysis reports, and the above site is a good compilation of them, and came to my own conclusion that AMSOIL was consistently among the best.
- Redline is clearly very good, but is also expensive. What turned me off to Redline is the lack of real data on their website. That notwithstanding, I know lots of other SCCA T1 driver's using Redline and they seem to get good results with it.
- AMSOIL is an American company blending its synthetic lubricants in Superior WI using American workers.
- AMSOIL was founded in 1972 by a retired AF LtCol which sat well with me given my "day" job.
- AMSOIL will not sell its products in stores with large chains (e.g. Walmart), keeping a more "mom and pop" corporate position.
- AMSOIL marketed the first synthetic lubricant to surpass API standards in 1972. Castrol and Mobil 1 didn't join the market for almost two decades. Not sure when Redline came out ( early 80s maybe?).
- AMSOIL has been promoting longer drain intervals for over three decades. Mobil just joined in this year with their new line of Extended Performance oils.
- I ran AMSOIL Series 2000 in my engine for the entire 2004 season and took the motor apart twice, once in April (resulting from a broken timing chain) and once for a rebuild in Sept. In both cases the bearings were so good I didn't put new ones back in, but reused them.
- Last weekend, while leading an SCCA National T1 race here in Memphis, I developed a severe left axle seal leak in my differential, losing at least a quart of diff fluid over the course of the 26 lap race. The diff got so hot, I got a tranny high temp warning (comes in at 277F) with about six laps to go. Given the tranny temp sensor is on the tranny cooler return line, the tranny and the diff were probably both well over 300 degrees. Despite these severe conditions, I ran the car until the end of the race for the victory. I have AMSOIL ATF in my tranny and last years version of AMSOIL Severe Gear Extreme Pressure Synthetic 75w90 in my diff. Would the tranny and diff have held up with another lubricant in them? Who knows. But I can say, they did hold up with AMSOIL in them.

 

Up until the last change, I was running Amsoil 5W-30. Now I am running German Castrol 0W-30. Both of these oils have high temp viscosity numbers in the upper 11 to low 12 range. Mobil-1 had a high temp viscosity number of 10, almost in the 20W range. I have had a used oil analysis done after every oil change, and had the results interpeted by Terry Dyson. My result with Amsoil have been excellent to date. My only reason for changing to the Castrol was it was a little less money, easier to get and the Amsoil thickens to a 40W with miles.

 

Google for "Neptune Oil Life". They did a year long test with Mobil-1 and Amsoil, both were great oils, neither was perfect. Read all about it...

 

I've always been a fan of the German Castrol 0w-30...With Subdriver's help, we have an ongoing experiment, comparing German Castrol vs. Amsoil Series 2000... results should be within a month or so...

 

I have to mention (for reasons that should be obvious) that my brother-in-law drove his Toyota van for over 300,000 miles (hi-revving 4-cylinder) before selling it (in perfect running condition) and used only dealership and Jiffy-lube petroleum-based oils. My point? Almost ANY oil will protect the average driver's engine for longer than most people need. Looking at things from afar, the type of oil has very little influence on ultimate life. Oil changing habits have a far-greater role.

 

German Castrol for me

 

This one???

http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/s.../oil-life.html

 

Looking forward to your results, didn't know you were doing this.

 

I guess you could say that it really doesn't matter.

 

I love oil debates. I used to own a 6 cylinder 4x4 truck. I used the cheapest dino oil I could find for it. I changed the oil every 5,000 to 7,000 miles. Never had one oil related engine problem with that truck and it was still running fine before I traded it in with 160,000 miles. Now maybe I was just lucky, I don't know. One thing I have always done was to change out the oil filter with every oil change.

 

Totally agree. I personally used to use Valvoline SynPower 5w30 simply because it was readily available from a local trade counter for a good price.

Cheers,
Ian.

 

Heres my experience with synthetic oil and particularly Mobil 1. In 1976 I worked for a company that supplied mowing equipment to the City of Phoenix. We were involved in testing for a new synthetic oil and as part of the testing we put synthetic in 50 lawnmowers with no oil changes and regular oil in 50 with regular oil change procedures. After 1 year of use we brought all the mowers in and they were checked for wear with micrometers. I remember that the 50 regular oil units were pretty much shot. The synthetic oil units showed wear levels so minimal that the parts were within tolerances for new parts! I was impressed! Later that year I bought a new car and had the recently introduced Mobil 1 put in it. The labeling at that time said 50,000 miles between changes with filters every 5,000 miles. I decided to go with 25,000 between changes and was told by everyone including every auto service Place that I would "burn up" my engine doing that. I drove it 105,000 mles in 3 years, no problems. I gave the car to my girlfriend and she drove it to 134,000. She sold it and we ran into the buyer 2 years later . She had over 160,000 on it with no problems. I bought an 81 Buick Regal after that and continued the 25,000 mile routine. About that time Mobil changed their labeling to 25,000 miles. I called Mobil to find out why and they said they weren't selling any Mobil 1 oil because of the long mileage labeling and that many people were not changing their filters for extended periods and blaming subsequent problems on the oil. In short, I owned the Regal for 15 years, put 258,000 miles in it, NEVER had an engine part failure except for 1 timing chain, and had the compression tested at 250,000 miles and it was at 98% or better on all cylinders. I called Mobil many times over the years that I owned that car as they periodically shortened the oil change intervals. Since then I have used Mobil 1 in every car I have owned and recommended it to everyone I know for so long that Mobil should give me a commission on the sales in Arizona! Oh yea, that Regal was so USED that I actually had to replace door and trunk hinges that broke from 15 years of everyday salesman use. Finally, the Regal was stolen from my driveway in 1995 and I have heard that it is still running fine somewhere south of Arizona! FLYZLOW in PHOENIX

 

The late Smokey Yunick said only one synthetic was worth a darn and that was Mobil 1

 

If Smokey Yunick Said it, I believe it!! Doubters read his bio on his webpage.