which is better?

 

Just change my 2003 Q/C 1500 5.9 V8 to Mobli 1 last week could tell a differents right away sounds better smoother and 1 mpg better in town have not been on a trip to tell the road milages.

 

Well here is my two cents worth..........and yes it is a long drawn out one again.

I used Castrol GTX exclusivly in the early 90's in my Audi GT. The guy I bought it from did tell me a little story though. The car was purchased in Alaska when new ('83) and shortly after he bought it he had a friend in a lab do a simple experiment. This guy took small sample cups filled with motor oils. He said that there where about 4-5 conventional oils and Mobil 1. They were taken down to about -30F. It was from then that the car used Mobil 1. He said that it was the only one that poured like water at that temp.

I did not get on the sythetic bandwagon until the late 90's. I had started using sythetic Mobil 1 in my (now ex-) wifes '94 Thunderbird. She was putting about 4000 miles a month on the thing and I could not keep up with the oil changes fast enough. I did this starting at 75K miles with no adverse affect (i.e. no leaks). Synthetic oils tend to resist breakdown better over time and hold particulates in suspension better than conventional oils. Her '92 SABB 900S also had the Mobil 1 treatment.

I was able to keep that T-bird in the "D" (as well as my Ram of course). Even after it blew a head gasket (not just common, but it was expected to happen with the Ford 3.8L V6's) at 137K miles it was clean as could be on the lubed parts. The car just turned 150K miles and it still runs strong.

My Ram has had nothing but Amsoil in it (after break-in) and it is changed every 7.5K miles along with a new filter. My girlfriends '01 Diamante was promptly changed to Mobil 1 as soon as she bought it in November (@27k miles). I will probably change to Mobil 1 in my Ram on the next oil change. I am sure that the Amsoil is a slightly better oil on extended oil change intervals (i.e. 10K -25K miles) but I just don't have the ***** to let it go that far. I am sure that the Mobil 1 is just fine given my climate (S.F. Bay Area) and chang intervals.

Let me sum it up. IMO if you are going to change your oil every 2K-3K miles then conventional oil is probably just fine. Mobil 1 is an outstanding oil. Amsoil is the also at the top but can be (at least in my area) a pain to find and I am not sure that the $7 a quart is for me. I can go to any auto parts store, Walmart, or Costco and get Mobil 1 for about $3.50 - $4.25 a quart and get an excelant oil.

As far as the cars that I have used synthetics in and them running better....well I can say that milage has gone up a little. As far at the engine running better.......my mind tells me that it goes a little faster and is a little quicker when I wash the silly thing or even hear a great song on the radio. This is to say that the power of the mind wanting to feel a difference with any upgrade is a strong one.

Like I said......my two cents worth.

Eric

 

Have you considered Amsoil's Preferred customer plan? $10.00 for six months and $20.00 for 1 year will give you the same pricing as any Amsoil dealer. For Example a quart of the SAE series 10w-30 (1 year or 25,000 mile oil) costs $5.85 at full retail and $4.55 at wholesale / preferred customer pricing. The rates get even better when buy by the case or in bulk. You also have the advantage of ordering via their toll free number and having your oil shipped to your front door. To me, a phone call is more convienant than driving to the auto-parts store.


Both Mobil 1 and Amsoil make good synthetic oil that is superior to any petroleum oil. They have nearly identical base stocks but, Amsoil has a more expensive additive package that helps it last longer during extended drain intervals. The advantage of Mobil 1 is it's easy to get and cost isn't prohibitive. Buying Amsoil from Kale, who sponsors Dodgeforum has several benefits. One, you help the "little guy" build a small business, (2) you support DodgeForum because he pays to advertise here, and you make your car and truck run smoother cooler, produce less emissions and you also change your oil less often.

Both Kale and I live in the Hot desert region of the Southwest. He is in Arizona and I'm in the Mojave desert of California. Amsoil has done the same thing for us and all of our customers, we have all noticed a signifcant decrease in engine temperatures. When i'm in bumper to bumper traffic during the summer, my engine temps do not raise more than 1 to 2 degrees. My Ram always got hot in traffic when I used petroleum oil,


Three thousand mile oil changes are the biggest scam ever used on the American public. All the too short intervals do is waste oil, harm the enviroment, and make Jiffy Lube rich. Here are some facts about too short intervals:
http://www.amsoil.com/environment.htm
http://www.amsoil.com/lit/lng_article/index.htm
http://www.amsoil.com/usa.htm
http://www.amsoil.com/articlespr/articleenviro.htm

If you want to see how well the best oils stack up against each other, read this.
http://www.amsoil.com/performancetests/g1971/index.html




Bill,

 

Being a new Dodge Ram owner, and a non-motorhead, I trust the people who KNOW more than I do. After asking around to the people I do trust, and who run lots of different types of vehicles/equipment, it was Mobil 1 all the way.....

At 1500 miles, I switched out, and I haven't been sorry. I did notice the truck ran a bit smoother.... When I've got more miles on her, I'll know more...... But from the research I've done, I think I've made a good choice, even if it is more expensive....

I'm sure Amsoil is a great product too, but for me, I'll stick with Mobil 1 unless it stops performing as promised...... Tim

 

http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/s.../oil-life.html
http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/mobil1.html

Currently Amsoil is showing 25% less wear metals. The numbers are parts per million PPM.

Here is a quick comparison of M1 at the 3k mark and Amsoil at the 3k mark:



Mobil 1 / Amsoil
Aluminum 4 / 2
Chromium 1 / 1
Iron 14 / 10
Copper 81 / 63
Lead 4 / 3
Tin 4 / 0




Bill,

 

Now this is what I like to read. Getting into the nuts and bolts of things with as solid a study as is possable. It sounds like the Mobil 1 is pretty good stuff. But I can't wait to see how the Amsoil does. Looks promising at this point.

It was interesting to read about the accerated wear with new oil. I guess that I will have to change my thinking a bit.

So at this point.....do I change my Ram over to a really good oil (Mobil 1) or do I stick with a possabily better oil (Amsoil)? For now I wil stick with the Amsoil until this report is done. Then I will be able to make an educated decision. Thanks for the info SGBOFAV. I now have more cocktail party trivia to share.

Eric

 

More 1st hand info... last summer had a premature engine failure (metal parts where they don't belong, use loctite)1 in an Jeep Grand Cherokee w/318 motor and decided to swap it out. After getting the jeep back on the road, I decided to pop off the head to see the damage and to my supprise, there was NO ridge on the cylinder wall. Keep in mind this motor had 200k on it, with 100k (my miles) of it on Mobil 1. I was convinced after seeing the inside of the motor it would have easily gone another 100-150K miles before needing a rebuild.

Mobil 1 changed every 3.5~5K miles.

-steve

 

Oh yeah... you may ask Why don't I have it now? ... Deer are so stupid... $4700 in damage.