Using AMSOIL synthetic motor oils can help you extend your oil change intervals, while providing excellent protection properties.
How often you change your oil depends on what AMSOIL motor oil you use and and the type of driving category you are in. If you use:
- AMSOIL Signature Series motor oil, you can go up to 25,000 miles in normal service conditions or 15,000 in severe service.
- AMSOIL XL motor oil, you can go up to 12,000 miles in normal or severe service conditions.
- AMSOIL OE motor oil, you can go the vehicle manufacturers recommended mileage for normal or severe service conditions.
- AMSOIL Signature Series Max Duty diesel oil can go up to 2x the manufacturers recommended oil change mileage or 1 year for normal conditions.
- AMSOIL Heavy Duty diesel oil you use the OEM mileage recommendations for changing oil.
- All AMSOIL motor oils have a 1 year recommended change time regardless of mileage.
To find out what factors can reduce the extended oil change intervals and see how they apply to you, read on.
What are Severe or “Average” Service Conditions
AMSOIL defines severe service for gasoline and diesel engines as conditions that include:
- commercial or fleet vehicle use
- excessive idling
- Daily short trips of less than 10 miles
- frequent towing, hauling or plowing
- driving in dusty conditions or on dirt roads
However, vehicle manufacturers may have different items they list for severe service conditions, so AMSOIL recommends checking your owners manual for these as well.
Most drivers fit into the average or severe service category due to their daily in-town commutes during peak traffic hours (rush hour) two times a day. This stop and go traffic, excessive idling, coupled with todays start/stop technology in gas engines can cause issues with blow-by exhaust soot, raw gas or diesel fuel dilution and moisture contaminating the oil and remaining there. Then add in the wear damage to metal parts in the engine caused by the engine stopping and starting.
Short trips begin to compound the issues above, because the engine can’t warm up sufficiently to eliminate these contaminates. The more short trips the worse the contaminate buildup gets. Driving on dirt roads or in dusty conditions throws even more contaminates at the oil, along with small metal flakes common to engine operation.
It’s obvious to see that most drivers, about 80%, fit into the severe or “average” service conditions. If you are not sure what category you fit into, it doesn’t hurt to go with the severe service recommendations.
What Happens To The Oil In Severe Service Conditions
The oil itself does not wear out, but the additives do. Unless the additives are replenished, the oil can not function properly in todays engines. This is why it’s important to use a high quality synthetic oil like AMSOIL, because they use premium additives that don’t wear out as fast. The purpose of oil changes are to remove the harmful contaminants and replenish the additive package in the oil.
What properties do additives provide to motor oil? Additives provide very important qualities like:
- anti-wear
- anti-foam
- corrosion / rust protection
- acid neutralization
- viscosity maintenance
- detergency (cleaning)
- dispersancy (suspension / removal)
As you can see with this list, as the additives wear out, the job performance of the oil suffers. Significant damage can be caused to the engine, overtime, if these additives aren’t replenished.
How Does The Oil Filter Effect The Oil
An oil filters job is to remove as much harmful contaminants from the oil as possible. Efficiency is the oil filter’s ability to capture those contaminants. AMSOIL oil filters trap particles as small as 20 microns with 99% efficacy, which means a lot of debris is captured in the filter. The higher the quality the filter is, the better job of removing debris it does.
Oil filters also hold onto used contaminated oil. How much remains in the filter is about 3/4 quart of used oil in gas engines and about 1 full quart of used oil in diesel engines. That’s a lot of contaminated oil that mixes immediately with the new clean oil if you don’t change the filter. Changing your oil filter at every oil change is a must.
Here is an article we wrote more in-depth on AMSOIL oil filters
How Do Routine Oil Changes Help Me
If you want to make your vehicle last a long time and reduce long term maintenance costs, scheduling or performing routine oil and filter changes is a great place to start. Other maintenance practices like checking and topping off your brake fluid level, coolant level, power steering fluid and air filter condition are easily done while changing your oil. Don’t forget to check your engine oil level between changes.
A lack of basic preventative maintenance, like regular oil changes at the correct interval, will harm performance and fuel economy in addition to reducing the years of service your vehicle will give you. It will lead to expensive repairs or buying a newer car, which is even more expensive.
Related Questions
Should I use an Engine flush before changing my oil? Engine Flushes help dissolve sludge, varnish and harmful deposit buildup in preparation for new motor oil. Using a detergent based engine flush like AMSOIL’s Engine and transmission flush is safe for use at every oil change.
Reminder – When using an Engine flush product, it’s important for you to drain all the old oil out and change the filter.
Can I switch to a synthetic motor oil after using regular motor oil? Yes you can. You can switch between synthetic and conventional oils anytime you want with no issues, but with all the benefits of synthetics oils why would you want to use conventional. It is recommended to use an engine flush before switching to synthetics, especially if you have an older vehicle with high mileage or haven’t had regular oil changes in the past.
Will synthetic oil cause my engine to leak? No synthetic oils will not cause your engine to leak. In fact, AMSOIL synthetic motor oils are formulated to work with all modern seal materials and formulated to help condition them to stay pliable and not crack. What can happen is already cracked, damaged and worn seals are exposed as the deposits plugging them are cleaned and they may begin to leak.
How can I save money on AMSOIL products? As a Preferred Customer, you can save up to 25% off retail prices.
What Other Products are offered? Check out the Synthetic Oil Depot for all your oil, filter, lubricant, and fluid needs.
