Maud Last year I was planning a trip from Vermont to California. I mentioned my plans on another list looking for restaurant suggestions and an Amsoil dealer contacted me suggesting I give their oil a try.. The main selling point is that they claim you can go 25,000 miles on an oil change, thus dramatically reducing your use of materials and not using any fossil-based oil at all. Secondary selling points are that you may get a slight improvement in mileage due to the synthetic's higher lubricity and the engine should last longer with less sludge accumulating. Finally, if you normally change your oil at 3,000 to 5,000 miles, you will save money and time by changing the oil every 25,000 miles. The oil itself costs about four times the cheap dino oil, but you use a fifth to an eighth as much oil.
I tried it out in my 1996 Honda Civic. At the start of the trip the car had 214,000 miles on it and was running like almost new. It did have a slight knock when it started that would go away as the engine warmed up. On the way out to CA, I tracked our mileage very carefully. In San Bernardino, I flushed the engine and filled it with synthetic, same grade as I had been using. On the return trip, I again tracked the mileage very carefully. We have since driven about 30,000 miles and changed the oil once (at 234,000). The only difference we have noticed is that the cold-start knock has gone down significantly. We still get right around 40 mpg and the oil still comes out of the drain plug looking black and ugly. However, it is nice to change the oil once or twice a year (filter at 10,000-12,500 per Amsoil) and throw away a quarter of the used oil we were generating. At this point, I'm changing the oil at 20,000, mostly because it's hard to believe I can go 25,000 having grown up with the 3,000 mile mentality. When I was researching the switch, there were many testimonials from truckers and other heavy equipment operators who have gone 100,000 to 400,000 miles on the same oil through oil analysis. Most of these were on web sites selling the stuff, but I did find a few uninterested parties that spoke favorably of the oil. I have nothing to sell. I know that Amsoil is not the only brand out there, but I like the company and their attitude, so I will be sticking with them. I'm planning to switch our other two cars to synthetic and I'm thinking about it for our aged backhoe as I rebuild the various components and repair the leaking seals (no point in using synthetic if much of it ends up on the ground). The guy who turned me on to it is at [EMAIL PROTECTED], but there is no special reason to buy through him. My impression is that he deals mostly with large fleet contracts Small users do just as well to buy directly from Amsoil (http://www.amsoil.com/), although you may be able to find it locally. Good luck with your 300 DT. John >I'm starting to working on getting my newly-acquired 1984 Mercedes >300 DT (I have no manuals) into roadworthy condition. > >What are my options (if any) for synthetic oil and grease so I can >avoid fossil fuels associated with a lube and oil change? Is there >anything biofuel-related that I should consider when selecting new >tires? > >Thank you. > >Maud >St. Louis, MO ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for Your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at Myinks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/l.m7sD/LIdGAA/qnsNAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
