Amsoil Recommendation

[Bulldog]

I recently purchased a '04 Pilot Ex. Previous new vehicles I always performed the initial oil change at 1000 miles and then followed the mfg's recommendations there after. After reading the oil change posts on this forum I became totally confused as to the correct procedure to follow. I called my original dealer and he recommended I bring my truck in at 5000 miles and he would use Valvoline 5w30. I checked a other Honda dealers and each had different a different answer. Since I have used Amsoil products in the past with good results I decided to e-mail them to see what they had to say. Here is their reply.
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Our AMSOIL XLM 5W20 is an excellent choice for this application. You can change to XLM right away! We do recommend however to operate the engine up to its first normal drain interval with the factory motor oil. There are a couple primary reasons for this recommendation.

1. New engines or engine components generate high wear metals to begin with and generally contain debris from machining and assembly. It is more beneficial to allow these wear metals to collect in the factory motor oil than to circulate throughout the crankcase for extended periods in synthetic motor oil. By operating the vehicle to its first drain interval with the factory oil, these wear metals and manufacturing debris collect in the oil and are then flushed out of the crankcase when drained. This allows for a much cleaner operating environment for the synthetic lubricant.

2. Within the first miles of operation, if there are any defects in the assembly or workmanship of the engine components, then they may be corrected before installing the more expensive synthetic motor oil.

Thank you,

Ed Kellerman

Manager, Amsoil Tech Services
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Since they are oil experts my reaction is to follow their recommendation.

[tvanhouten]

Thanks for post on Amsoil. I completly agree with you. I have a buddy who's an Amsoil dealer who also agrees. The test data for all leading oils speaks for itself on his website below. I will also be using Amsoil AFTER the first reccomended oil change on my '04 Pilot (on order).

www.amsoilboise.com

tvanhouten

[seadog]

Does AMSOIL have a product to use in lieu of the VTM-4?

[Aggie Pilot]

AMSOIL does not have product to replace VTM-4.

However, their ATF is approved for use in Honda automatic transmissions. I changed out the Honda ATF to AMSOIL ATF about 5000 miles ago. I also use the Series 2000 0W-30 motor oil. Made that change about 10,000 miles ago. Should have the oil analysis back in about a week.

[regrus]

Would you please post the results of the amsoil oil analysis when you get it. I use 0-30 also and would love to see your results. Thanks in advance.

[tvanhouten]

I have an e-mail into user "Aggie Pilot" to see what the oil analysis turned out like from the 0w-30 Amsoil.

I just clicked over 1,000 in my pilot and will be changing the factory oil at the severe service mark of 3,750.

Seems like only two oils come up repeatedly on this board - Amsoil and Mobil 1. There are good arguments on both sides. Although I have made the decision on oil weight (0w-30), I am still not sure about the brand.

With oil cost not being an issue, I am leaning towards the Amsoil from what I have read on "bobstheoilguy.com" website.

Your thoughts/recommendations are welcome on oil brands bewteen Amsoil and Mobil 1...

P.S. If you haven't seen the pictures of my pilot under the Gallery link - check out my Pilot pictures at: www.troyalden.com

[gilberttribe]

We changed the oil and filter at 3750 miles to Mobil 1 0w20. I will do an oil analysis early next month at 7500 miles, and will post the results then. If AMSoil had a full synthetic 20 weight oil, I would have really considered using it. The XL7500 oils from AMSoil are not their best oils (from what I've seen on Bob's site), and the 0w20 Mobil 1 looks like one of Mobil 1's best oils. Mobil 1 at WalMart is also a little less expensive.

Mr. Gilberttribe

[colorider]

Originally posted by tvanhouten

With oil cost not being an issue, I am leaning towards the Amsoil from what I have read on "bobstheoilguy.com" website.

It's not? Why pay $4 or more a quart when you can buy a good quality dino for $1.50?

Just my $.02

[gilberttribe]

It's not? Why pay $4 or more a quart when you can buy a good quality dino for $1.50?

I look at it this way. Even though our driving conditions fall under the "normal" category, I don't believe a regular dino oil will last for 7500 miles, so I personally would change it at 3750 miles. I have a lot of data that suggests synthetic oils typically will last at least 7500 miles under our driving conditions. Therefore, I would do half as many changes with synthetic. From a pure cost standpoint, a dino oil change will cost:

$1.50 x 6 quarts + $5 filter = $14 or $28 per 7500 miles

A synthetic change will cost:

$4 x $6 quarts + $5 filter = $29 per 7500 miles

Consequently, I would save $1 over a 7500 mile period, but I would have to do two changes instead of one, and I would be dumping twice as much oil per 7500 miles. Obviously the environmental impact is tiny, but it does factor into my decision.

I think Colorider stated he changes his oil every 5000 miles so the cost savings would be greater and may be an excellent approach. I have wondered about buying the cheapest oil and filter I could find, so the oil change would cost $8 or less. I'd love to see someone else test (used oil analysis) the really cheap oil change route with their Pilot. Colorider?

Mr. Gilberttribe

[colorider]

Originally posted by gilberttribe


I look at it this way. Even though our driving conditions fall under the "normal" category, I don't believe a regular dino oil will last for 7500 miles, so I personally would change it at 3750 miles. I have a lot of data that suggests synthetic oils typically will last at least 7500 miles under our driving conditions. Therefore, I would do half as many changes with synthetic. From a pure cost standpoint, a dino oil change will cost:

$1.50 x 6 quarts + $5 filter = $14 or $28 per 7500 miles

A synthetic change will cost:

$4 x $6 quarts + $5 filter = $29 per 7500 miles

Consequently, I would save $1 over a 7500 mile period, but I would have to do two changes instead of one, and I would be dumping twice as much oil per 7500 miles. Obviously the environmental impact is tiny, but it does factor into my decision.

I think Colorider stated he changes his oil every 5000 miles so the cost savings would be greater and may be an excellent approach. I have wondered about buying the cheapest oil and filter I could find, so the oil change would cost $8 or less. I'd love to see someone else test (used oil analysis) the really cheap oil change route with their Pilot. Colorider?

Mr. Gilberttribe

Good numbers!!! Yes, I change my oil/filter every 5K in all my cages. I followed a little different routine for my last motorcycle, but have used the 5K routine for the last umpteen years representing a LOT of miles. I used to run nothing but Castrol but now move around a bit with others like Penzoil, QS and Valovline.

[devin1955]

I too make a habit of doing oil changes every 5000 miles. It's more often than the factory usually recommends, and it's easy to keep track of on the odometer.