Attention AMSOIL Users

Dave N

Dave N

My PC goes to 7...
This discussion was brought up on a Toyota Tacoma message board -- What color is your Amsoil motor oil when you change it?



Some people's oil (including mine) is black as tar when changed, while others' drains out a golden honey color even after 15K miles. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to this, as the trucks are very similar. Does anyone here have any theories as to the cause?



If you use Amsoil motor oil, could you please post the following? I'm curious as to whether or not this is a common occurrence.



Automobile Type (year, model, make)

Amsoil Oil Type used (Series2000, original, 7500, etc.)

Oil Filter Brand

Miles per change

Type of air filter

Color of Oil When Changed



Here's mine:

2001 Toyota Tacoma V6

Original Amsoil synthetic oil

Amsoil oil filter

7500 miles per change

OEM paper air filter

Oil is black as tar when changed



Thanks.
 
dave, g2 www.bobistheoilguy.com for a discussion on your amsoil. You'll get all the answers you need about oil. Your toyota engine sludges up oil because all v6s from toyota are designed that way from the factory. I would do an engine flush with auto rx(again, goto bobs site) then go back to running amsoil.
 
Certain gasoline brands can affect that color too, dyses used to distiguish grades, not like the old days but still happens in some markets



Just throwing it out......
 
Thanks for the input so far guys. That is a great website, and I've just begun to read through it.



I'm aware that Toyota engines have a propensity to sludge, but the odd thing is that various Toyota Tacoma V6's all running Amsoil can have such a variation of oil color. Maybe it's the environment, gasoline, air filter, or whatever... It has to be something, right?
 
Dave N said:
Thanks for the input so far guys. That is a great website, and I've just begun to read through it.



I'm aware that Toyota engines have a propensity to sludge, but the odd thing is that various Toyota Tacoma V6's all running Amsoil can have such a variation of oil color. Maybe it's the environment, gasoline, air filter, or whatever... It has to be something, right?
Click to expand...



Were they all running the same grade or weight Amsoil? That could be the difference. The formula could be completely different depending on the weight of the oil. The only real comparison is if they were running the same grade and weight. I also understand that Amsoil changed their formula. That was some years ago but, there is no way to know how much old stock is floating around.



Any particular reason you run Amsoil over say Mobil1?
 
The black color is caused by the carbon and dirt (sludge) that is in suspension in the oil.



You didn't say how long your engine was run on regular oil before you switched. If the engine was run for a long time on regular oil, particularly with long change intervals, the engine could have gotten sludged up and now you are seeing the sludge in your oil.



Synthetic oil has a greater tendency to break down sludge that may have built up in the engine before you switched to synthetic. This is a common thing for old engines that were switched to synthetic oil. Alternately, if an engine has a lot of blow by, the oil will tend to get more dirty than otherwise.



I've never heard that Toyotas have a tendency to dirty the oil. That is probably due to blowby.



You should be cautious about using a flush. It's pretty harsh stuff and you can damage your engine. If you try this, be careful to follow the directions and be sure to change your filter afterwards.



You may also want to be sure your PCV is working properly. A clogged PCV can cause blowby.



If your oil is getting really dirty, you shouldn't try and set a world record for long change interval. You should also be changing your oil filter more than normal. I change my synthetic oil and filter every 6 months - spring and fall. Oil is cheap compared to a new engine. My oil comes out clean.
 
Dave N said:
This discussion was brought up on a Toyota Tacoma message board -- What color is your Amsoil motor oil when you change it?



.



Automobile Type (year, model, make)

Amsoil Oil Type used (Series2000, original, 7500, etc.)

Oil Filter Brand

Miles per change

Type of air filter

Color of Oil When Changed



Here's mine:

2001 Toyota Tacoma V6

Original Amsoil synthetic oil

Amsoil oil filter

7500 miles per change

OEM paper air filter

Oil is black as tar when changed



Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
Dave N said:
This discussion was brought up on a Toyota Tacoma message board -- What color is your Amsoil motor oil when you change it?



.



Automobile Type (year, model, make)

Amsoil Oil Type used (Series2000, original, 7500, etc.)

Oil Filter Brand

Miles per change

Type of air filter

Color of Oil When Changed



Here's mine:

2001 Toyota Tacoma V6

Original Amsoil synthetic oil

Amsoil oil filter

7500 miles per change

OEM paper air filter







Oil is black as tar when changed



Thanks.
Click to expand...



1998 Ford Ranger

Series 2000 0w30

Amsoil SDF34 Filter

5000 per change

stock air filter (soon to be Baldwin)

black as anything when changed



I dunno what it is with my engine, I have the 2.5L dual plug 4 banger in my ranger, ticks like a mofo! Starts up, ticks and pings, hold it at around 1700RPM, tick tick tick tick tick!!!!!! ping ping ping:mad: or letting off the gas to slow down, still ticks and pings. It may be my oil but something in there is really ticking away and TICKING ME OFF TOO!!!!!!!:mad: :mad: :grrr :grrr :grrr



I dunno maybe switching over something alittle heavier, like 10w30 Original Synthetic will make it shutup, I know it's coming from the engines internals somewhere,,,,,,,,,91
 
Any particular reason you run Amsoil over say Mobil1?



No particular reason. I just heard that Amsoil was "the best". Actually, my last oil change is with Mobil1 (oil & filter) because I ran out of Amsoil and forgot to order more. It will be interesting to see if the color is any different.



You didn't say how long your engine was run on regular oil before you switched...



I bought the truck new a little over 2 years ago and used regular Penzoil for the first oil change at 1000 miles. At 3000 miles I started using Amsoil oil & filters and have used Amsoil ever since. I change every 7500 miles, which is even within the regular Toyota service interval for organic oil. What I can see of the engine in under the oil fill cap looks good. A guy on the Tacaoma mssg board had his oil pan replaced, and the mechanic told him that his engine looked like new. He has 75K on the motor and his Amsoil comes out black, so I guess the Amsoil must be doing its job.
 
Dave N said:
This discussion was brought up on a Toyota Tacoma message board -- What color is your Amsoil motor oil when you change it?



Automobile Type (year, model, make)

Amsoil Oil Type used (Series2000, original, 7500, etc.)

Oil Filter Brand

Miles per change

Type of air filter

Color of Oil When Changed







Thanks.
Click to expand...

Here's mine:

1991 Toyota MR2 Turbo

Original Amsoil synthetic oil

Amsoil oil filter

3000 miles per change

K&N air filter

Oil is black when changed

The car was on dino oil first ~1000 miles then Mobil1 or Amsoil for the last 68,000 miles



Here's my other:

2003 Subaru WRX Turbo

Original Amsoil synthetic oil

Purelator oil filter

3000 miles per change

OEM paper air filter

Oil is black when changed

The car was on dino oil first ~1000 miles then Amsoil for the last 14,000 miles



I stick to the 3000 miles due to the high heat of turbos.
 
Dave N said:
Any particular reason you run Amsoil over say Mobil1?



No particular reason. I just heard that Amsoil was "the best". Actually, my last oil change is with Mobil1 (oil & filter) because I ran out of Amsoil and forgot to order more. It will be interesting to see if the color is any different.
Click to expand...



I wouldn't particularly say that Amsoil is "the best". Most synthetic oils today are made with Mobil base stock as was Amsoil. They broke from Mobil though and started using their own stock. There was a lot of discussion about whether Amsoil is even a true synthetic as the term is used pretty much the same way 100% cotton is used :) Mobil actually sued Amsoil some time ago trying to get the courts to stop them from using the term "synthetic". I don't recall what came of it.



I have run Amsoil and went back to Mobil1 the next oil change. I compared them side by side before the oil change and Amsoil just felt thinner to me. I thought maybe I was just being too picky. I didn't like the way my engine ran with Amsoil.



These are just my observations. Your mileage may vary :)
 
I like 'em both, and will use either one. They're both overkill, but for a couple extra bucks I figure I'm hedging my bet.



My Amsoil on my '97 Miata (Mobil 1 or original Amsoil since I bought the car with 13,792 miles) with 32,000 and Mazda filter drains honey colored after 7500 miles/1 year, btw.





Tom
 
rjstaaf said:
I wouldn't particularly say that Amsoil is "the best". Most synthetic oils today are made with Mobil base stock as was Amsoil. They broke from Mobil though and started using their own stock. There was a lot of discussion about whether Amsoil is even a true synthetic as the term is used pretty much the same way 100% cotton is used :) Mobil actually sued Amsoil some time ago trying to get the courts to stop them from using the term "synthetic". I don't recall what came of it.

Click to expand...



Hmm...I was nearly 100% sure that Mobil sued Castrol for calling their new oil Synthetic even though it was made from dino basetock.



As for Amsoil Oil, they have three different types. Their XL-7500 series oil is called a synthetic, but like Syntec is not 100% synthetic - it is still very good stuff though (better than Castrol aka "the brown death"). They also have the simply named SAE 5w-30 (or whatever appropriate #'s w/product code ASL) which IS 100% synthetic (their mid-grade). Lastly they have their highend Series-2000 synthetic which is of even higher quality - you can go something like 25,000mi on it *depending on how hard your engine is on oil*.



anyhow...these oil discussions are always frigged up and confusing :nixweiss ...like someone else said check out that bobistheoilguy website and forum...much info there...as much as this place has for detailing....



okay i'm done
 
here you go!



Automobile Type: 1999 Toyota Tacoma V6 w/69k mi

Amsoil Oil: SAE original 5W-30

Oil Filter Brand - Amsoil SD-34

Miles per change - Only 2 changes so far w/ amsoil, 3k first change, black black tar, then 6k next change, still black as tar. I was running Mobil 1 for awhile before that, and Havoline before that for about 3 regular changes which goes to where I bought the truck at 40k mi.

Type of air filter - K&N for awhile, now using Amosil airfilter to get rid of dust.

Color of Oil When Changed - like I said...always black...but with the amsoil it doesn't stink when I run it through to 5200rpm and quick shift to bark the tires...used to smell when I did that before.



Hey off topic - are you a TTORA guy? I am from Colorado...just wondering if that's the Taco board you mentioned.
 
Mobil did sue Castrol over the use of the term "synthetic", not Amsoil.



However a Mobil 1 product has NEVER been a group III basestock. Mobil is now, and has always been, Group IV PAO "real synthetic". Mobil is the largest producer of group IV basestock in the world. If your using a "real" synthetic oil the basestock came from Mobil. Including Amsoil.
 
Dave N said:




If you use Amsoil motor oil, could you please post the following? I'm curious as to whether or not this is a common occurrence.



Automobile Type (year, model, make)

Amsoil Oil Type used (Series2000, original, 7500, etc.)

Oil Filter Brand

Miles per change

Type of air filter

Color of Oil When Changed
Click to expand...



Ok, here's mine. I've been using AMSOIL since 1974l, almost when the company started. I'm not going to go into details on why it's better than Mobil1 or other quasi-synthetics, Bob's site does a good job of dealing with that.



And the lawsuit wasn't between Mobil and AMSOIL.



Here's mine:



1999 3/4 ton Chevy Suburban 454 Gasoline Engine

Series2000

AMSOIL filter (Hastings makes them I think per AMSOIL spec)

25,000 miles per change. But (per AMSOIL spec,) I change the filter at 12,500 and that requires a quart to be added at that point.

K&N Air Filter

Color of oil: Dark brown, certainly not black nor golden.



I've had the heads off twice for gasket work and they are flawless. Look like they were polished and assembled yesterday.
 
Thanks everyone for posting your Amsoil experiences and specs. As far as I can see, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the color of used Amsoil oil. I know it's still good, even when it drains dark, but it would really be nice to see it come out honey colored!



JonnyOzero3: Yes, this is a discussion from the Delphi TacomaTerritory board. If you check through the past few days worth of "Performance/Engine/Exhaust" postings you should find it. I think there are maybe 3 or 4 other TTORA members who have found their way to this board.
 
ShowroomLincoln said:
Mobil did sue Castrol over the use of the term "synthetic", not Amsoil.



However a Mobil 1 product has NEVER been a group III basestock. Mobil is now, and has always been, Group IV PAO "real synthetic". Mobil is the largest producer of group IV basestock in the world. If your using a "real" synthetic oil the basestock came from Mobil. Including Amsoil.
Click to expand...



You all are right, it was Castrol not Amsoil. It has been such a long time since I went through all those oil debates that I kinda mixed up the info.



I do still stand by my preference for Mobil1 over Amsoil. I change my oil every 3K miles so I seriously doubt that either would really make a difference anyway. I have tried both and I may be crazy but, my motor just seems to run better with Mobil1.



Look at the auto manufacturers that use Mobil1 as their factory fill. If it is good enough for Porsche and Mercedes than I think it is good enough for me :)
 
2003 hyundai tiburon 2.6 V6

9900 miles

0 - 1500 stock dino oil and filter

1500 - 4500 mobil1 5w30 and pure one filter

4500 - 8000 amsoil original 5w30 and amsoil filter

8000 - current amsoil original 5w30 and amsoil filter

The mobil 1 was still honey colered when changed, amsoil is very dark after 1000 miles or so. It was so dark that I changed it after 3000. I wonder if it is just a natural darkening of the additives in amsoil. Doenst look dirty, just really dark.
 
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