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| FAQ #2 | |
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How do I Install AMSOIL Synthetic Motor Oils? |
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If you're considering installing AMSOIL products in your vehicles and/or equipment, the first thing you really need to do is to make sure that AMSOIL is a good choice for you. In many cases it is. In some cases it may not be. We're not interested in trying to sell AMSOIL to someone who is not a good candidate for the product. Not only would that be unethical, it could cause us a great deal of grief down the road from customers who never should have been using AMSOIL in the first place.Is AMSOIL Right for Your Vehicle?The first thing to consider is the age and mileage on the engine. If the vehicle's engine is over 8-10 years old and/or has over 125-150,000 miles on the odometer and/or the engine has been poorly maintained, there is a possibility that AMSOIL synthetic motor oils MAY not be the best choice for your vehicle.Since diesel engines are designed for longer life and harder use, I would not be concerned about putting AMSOIL into a diesel engine unless the mileage was considerably higher (probably more like 300-400,000+ miles). Either way, seal/gasket leakage CAN be an issue on these older vehicles with higher mileage (and on vehicles that may not be as old or have that many miles but have been poorly maintained). Over time, seals and gaskets can dry out and begin to crack, developing potential leak points. However, petroleum oil usage will often seal up these potential leaks because the deposit build-up that is left behind by petroleum oils tends to fill in these cracks and crevices. When an engine flush type product and/or high detergency synthetic oil is introduced, these deposits are cleaned out and the leak points are exposed, seamingly CAUSING seals/gaskets to go bad (when, in fact, the engine flush or synthetic oil is only EXPOSING a problem that already existed but was being hidden). So, consider carefully whether to change an older vehicle or higher mileage vehicle over to AMSOIL or not. Although the risk of leakage may be slight (especially if the vehicle has been well cared for), their is still the possibility. If you are unwilling to expend the time, effort and/or money required to replace that leaky seal/gasket (in the off chance that it develops), you may end up with an expensive leak on your hands. Should You Do an Engine Flush?Once you've established whether your vehicle is a potentially good candidate for usage of AMSOIL synthetic oil, then the determination you need to make is whether or not you should do an engine flush. Any vehicle over about 20,000 miles should flush the engine prior to installation of AMSOIL synthetic oils**.Use of AMSOIL Engine Flush makes certain that the engine is clean upon installation of AMSOIL synthetic oils which will help assure that you can get the full life from the products without excessive contamination from prior engine contaminants. Exceptions to this "rule" include any vehicles that have already been using a synthetic oil for at least the last 20-30,000 miles. ** ANOTHER IMPORTANT EXCEPTION: AMSOIL Engine Flush is not recommended for use in transmissions, differentials, air-cooled engines, engines that share a common oil sump with the transmission (motorcycles & ATV's) or engines not equipped with an oil filter. Engine Flush Procedure (If You Need It)Once you've determined whether you should do a flush or not, and established what AMSOIL products you'll be using, it's time for the actual installation of AMSOIL Synthetic Oils. So, for those vehicles that need it, we start with the engine flush procedure.The first important issue to consider is that you should change your oil filter before doing the engine flush. Don't drain the old oil, just change the oil filter. Why? Two reasons. One, by removing the filter, you are removing some oil from the system, making room for the 16 oz can of engine flush that you're going to pour in. Second, the engine flush is going to clean out ALOT of gunk. You don't want to have an already saturated (or at least partially saturated) oil filter trying to handle all of that particulate. It will clog up in a heartbeat, and then you'll have all that stuff floating around in your engine for the 20-25 minute idle time. Not good. So, make sure you change out your oil filter. Now, if you KNOW your engine is pretty clean (ie. you're already using synthetic oil, but wanted to flush anyway, or the vehicle is nearly new, or you just did a flush not too long ago) then the filter may not be as critical, since it won't have to collect so much contaminant. An "off-the-shelf" oil filter may do the trick in this instance, and should only cost you a few dollars at most. However, for absolute best flushing conditions, I still recommend the AMSOIL Ea Oil Filter, which is certainly more expensive, but has higher capacity and much higher filtration efficiency than any other oil filter available. If you're not sure how clean your engine actually is, then I definitely recommend the AMSOIL oil filter for the flush. So, change the filter. (You might want to put just a bit of oil on the gasket of the new filter for easier removal. Once the filter is installed, pour in the 16 ounce can of engine flush (with the OLD oil, not the AMSOIL oil). With the flush in the crankcase, run the vehicle at a low idle for about 20 minutes. DO NOT DRIVE THE VEHICLE ANYWHERE!! The engine flush is very thin and will thin the viscosity of the oil in the crankcase. The film strength of petroleum oils is not that great to begin with. To decrease the viscosity that much and then drive the vehicle would be a very foolish idea. So, don't drive it. Just let it sit and idle. When you're done idling, you're done flushing. Replacing the OilOnce the idling process is done, pop your oil fill cap to allow air to come into the crankcase as you drain the oil (the oil will drain more quickly and you'll make sure you get more out because the "vacuum" has been relieved). Remove the filter that was installed for the flushing procedure to replace with it with a brand new oil filter.Again, as with the flushing procedure, technically ANY oil filter can be used with AMSOIL synthetic oils. However, it is not necessarily advisable from a performance, protection or economic standpoint. The next few paragraphs are going to explain why, from a very realistic standpoint, I feel that the vast majority of people would be FAR better off using the AMSOIL Ea Oil Filters (even if they weren't using our oil). So, if you are already planning on using one of our oil filters, you may feel free to skip this section. Otherwise, I highly recommend that you read through it and then decide what you'll do about filtration. Reasons to Use the AMSOIL Ea Oil FilterStandard filters are cellulose based. Cellulose breaks down over time when in the presence of the contaminants generally found in used motor oil (such as acids from combustion by-products and water contamination, etc.).As a result, even if you weren't putting much mileage on your vehicle, an off-the-shelf oil filter (which is going to use either entirely cellulose media or at least partly cellulose media) should be changed at least every 4-6 months to be sure the cellulose media has not broken down (which would compromise the filtering ability of the media). Each time the filter is changed, oil is lost with the filter, so you have to top off the oil system, which adds expense to the filter change. Even though such an off-the-shelf filter might only cost a couple bucks, if you're using AMSOIL Synthetic Oil, the top-off oil will cost another couple bucks or so (depending upon the size of your filter), making each additional filter change about $4 or $5. In contrast, the AMSOIL Ea Oil Filter is changed only once each year (or every 25,000 miles), when the oil is changed. This is because it is COMPLETELY synthetic based media, which does not break down like cellulose media does. So, even though you'll probably pay $5 - $10 more for the AMSOIL filter than for a filter off the shelf of your local auto parts store, when you account for a filter change every 4 months (for best protection) you'll spend about as much anyway - not to mention wasting your time changing a filter when you don't have to. Moreover, the AMSOIL Ea Oil Filter is more efficient than any other filter on the market. Nobody else out there will give you an absolute efficiency rating for their oil filter. It gives you something concrete with which to nail them down. Instead, every company out there uses their own special "version" of a number of different industry tests to measure filtering efficiency. In this way, you can't compare to anyone else. An absolute efficiency rating is a simple way that filter efficiency can be compared. If you were to call and speak with a representative for any other oil filter manufacturer, you could ask for that number. Ask for the absolute efficiency rating of their oil filter. They HAVE the information. If they give it to you, you'll see that AMSOIL betters them by a wide margin. If they won't give it to you, it will be pretty obvious why. An AMSOIL Ea filter WILL protect your vehicle better than the other guys. In fact, in paper 881825 the Society of Automotive Engineers indicates that a joint study was performed between AC Spark Plug and Detroit Diesel Corp. The study found that finer oil filtration significantly reduced the rate of engine wear. According to the paper, the tests regarding engine wear within a diesel engine were performed using four levels of oil filtration. They chose filters whose efficiency rating was very high for particles of 40 micron, 15 micron, 8.5 micron and 7 micron sizes. The same was done for gasoline engines, except that the relative sizes were 40 microns, 30 microns, 25 microns and 15 microns. To make a long story short, the researchers had this to say: "Abrasive engine wear can be substantially reduced with an increase in filter single pass efficiency. Compared to a 40 micron filter, engine wear was reduced by 50 percent with 30 micron filtration. Likewise, wear was reduced by 70 percent with 15 micron filtration." The AMSOIL Ea Oil Filter has an ABSOLUTE efficiency rating of 15 microns. No matter what numbers any other oil filter manufacturer wants to throw at you, if you simply ask for the absolute efficiency of their filter NOBODY else can touch that number, which means that an AMSOIL Ea filter will significantly reduce engine wear, and isn't that one of the reasons you're using AMSOIL synthetic oil to begin with? So, again, I would say that, although ANY oil filter can be used, you'll end up better off by using the AMSOIL Ea Oil Filter. Completing Your AMSOIL InstallationSo, with that off my chest, let's continue on with our installation. You've done the flush (if you needed it), you've pulled the oil fill cap, and you've removed the filter that you used for the flush. Before you put the new filter on, go ahead and pull your drain plug and drain the oil from the engine. You should make sure that you do this while the oil is still warm from the flushing procedure. Don't wait for the oil to sit and cool or all the contaminants that were broken loose by the engine flush will settle out of the oil and won't come out when you drain it.At any rate, drain the oil. Once the oil has completely drained, reinstall your drain plug, and put on the new filter. Remember to oil the gasket and you might even want to fill the filter with some oil, if you can do so without making a complete mess when screwing it on. Once this is done, simply pour in the new AMSOIL synthetic oil of your choice, put your filler cap back on, and you're done. Congratulations! You have just done the very best thing you could ever do to increase the life of your engine - you've switched to AMSOIL. |
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Star Fleet Enterprises
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Star Fleet Enterprises
Grand Junction, Colorado
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