[junkcollector82]

Hi. I've been investigating Amsoil and have found a dealer in my area. He says his Amsoil 15-40 is good for up to 40,000 kilometres or almost 20K miles. That's fine and dandy, but my question is if I only put on about 15,000 miles a year is it still worth it? Where do you draw the line between satisfying warranty requirements and running a good oil the duration of it's lifetime? I'm thinking that if I change oil once in the spring and once in the fall the cost would be the same as the 4-5 oil changes I did every year with regular oil in my F-150.
Has anyone had any troubles with warranty issues because you were running longer on better oil and not coming in for a service every 4 months??
Also, I live in Canada, so it's cold 5 months of the year. Do I need to switch to a lighter oil in the winter if I keep the truck in a heated garage, keeping cold starts to a minimum??
Thanks for any insight you may have to my thoughts!

 

[alkyhaul]

Oily oil

I know on the North Slope of AK they run summer grade oil all year. It is often -50F and the pickups are always shutdown and plugged into the bullrail if its above -30F. They fire up cold every morning and rattle like crazy. Sounds like a rod is comin out. They still get 100k miles and more out of those rigs. (not saying I agree with cold starts and heavy oil)

Thin oil is better than thick gel....at any temp.

I would run the Amsoil in the OEM recommended grade by the temp chart for your rig, and change it in the spring and fall. Thats what I do and I drive about 15k a year like you. I have 248,000 trouble free miles on my 91 chevy, and it doesnt use but a quart between oil changes when just normal driving, when I am running it hard, then it uses a half quart or so every other tank of fuel. I think that is very healthy oil consumption for a 250k mile motor. I am very pleased with Amsoil.

If you park in a heated garage, and tow/haul heavy loads I would consider running summer grade all year.
My .02

 

[Diesel Nut]

You are fine with the 15W40. Amsoil flows much better cold than other oils, which is one of the major advantages of synthetic oil. Now, Amsoil reccomends the oil changes at 15k miles or once per year, which ever comes first. So, you can do one oil change a year and still be safe on the oil. I have seen vehicles go WAY over the recommendations and the oil still come out in good condition. For example, there are many people out there not doing any oil changes. Just using bypass filters and oil analysis regularly with filter changes. 100K+ miles. 15k really isn't all that bad.

 

[TravelswithCharly]

Also, I live in Canada, so it's cold 5 months of the year. Do I need to switch to a lighter oil in the winter if I keep the truck in a heated garage, keeping cold starts to a minimum??
Thanks for any insight you may have to my thoughts!

I would still use 5W- oil. A warm garage is still a cold start. But you are at least aware of the problem. Your batteries will benefit most from the garage.

It's a small point, so do what makes you comfortable. In those months, unless you tow, your oil won't get over 170 degrees. In cold weather, with daily driving and cooloffs, condensation is your biggest sludge enemy. So I would not use synthetic and change every year. But if you tow heavy, then oil can get to over 320 degrees, and you should have synthetic for sure, regardless.

 

[junkcollector82]

Thanks everyone. I know technically starting up a cooled off engine is a "cold start", but then there's the "outside, plugged in and minus 25 degrees....." thats a COLD cold start! Obviously I've got more research to do yet. I have another quick question. While looking for someone who sold Amsoil in town (The only place to sell it doesn't have 15-40 and probably won't get it in either). People asked me if I'd thought of "Deep Purple" (THINK that's the name) synthetic. Our race shop here in town uses it in their HP engines, but I haven't heard anything about it so likely wouldn't go for it....just wondering if any one else has heard it? Oh, and also picked up another little toy. an older truck camper for the back of my rig. only 1600 lbs, but man what a treat to have a truck that could handle it like it wasn't even there!

 

[junkcollector82]

Well now I feel kinda dumb. The oil I was asking about was "Royal Purple" not to be confused with the one hit wonder Deep Purple. "smooooke on the water" hahahaha. Anyone out there heard of Royal Purple? Still going to use Amsoil as that seems to be the most used one within this site.

 

[dundee204]

Several of my "Hotrod" buddies use Royal Purple and swear by it, however I'm not sure if its available for diesels. With my boat, car and truck I've always used Castrol and found it great, but again no experience with Castrol diesel.

I found a couple of Amsoil reps but they seem to carry limited supply of oil weights. Our temps in the winter often hit -35/-40F so proper SAE is important.

As a sidenote, this past January at -34F I poured some 20-50 Castrol into my oilcan, and I was surprised how well it poured. I use that heavy stuff in the 4 stroke outboards.

 

[05_LLY]

I voted no but i dont think its a waist , its just my preference to run dino oil!!!

For the record i run castrol tection 15/40!

 

[Monster truck]

I added the poll thinking it would be a good one, seems to be working so far, I run sythetic in all of our cars. I noticed it to make a huge difference in the Cummins by making the valve train alot smoother when hot or cold.

 

[alkyhaul]

Hey Junk,
I know a tiny bit about the purple stuff and I can say it is a good product that makes many claims similar to many snake oils out there like Dura Lube and blah blah, its development was backed by Castrol for base stocks and the additive packages were engineered by "the queens men" at BP, originally designed for industrial turbine applications and yes they do make oil for nearly every application like your dmax.

I choose not to support them as they are from Jolly old England and not from the good ole' USA. Amsoil is a solid American product. Spend your money as you wish.

 

[Hellsivin]

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