I'm realively new to diesel, i just have a couple of questions. What makes amsoil good. I have 179,000 miles on a 96 powerstroke ford, what would the correct type and oil weight i need to use, Thank you.

 

Gentry, first off, welcome to the forum.
To address your first question of what make amsoil good? Compared to other synthetics, it does hold its own. They are a company that is not out to compete and be the cheapest on the shelf. Price is not a driving force in developing their products. They tend to have "beefier" additive packages. Almost all of their products are made with group 4 and 4 basestocks. Many "synthetics" on the market today are made with group 3 basestocks. A little less expense and not quite as good, but still a good product. OA reports show consistently good results.

As for your truck, anything over 100,000 miles you should consider a few things first. Is your truck currently using or leaking any oil, and to what rate? Chances are when you switch, this will not get any better, and likely will get worse. If it's a rate you can live with, than by all means make the switch.

I'm assuming you just purchased this truck...do you know the maintenance history on it? If not, there is always a slight chance that it could be in "used" condition. There could be significant sludge and varnish buildup, some of which may be acting as gasket plugs. Synthetics can clean this out and possibly spring new leaks for you.

Any truck over 100,000 miles that switches should consider either doing an engine flush, or running a couple of short intervals (5-7K) to do the cleaning. Then you are good to go 15,000.

With all that being said and you think you are in good shape to make the switch, then our product of choice for your truck would be the 15W-40 marine and diesel oil (AME).

If you get to that point and would like some pricing, or have any other questions, feel free to contact me.

Heath

 

thanks for the info heath. I recently found atf leaking around the bellhouse today, not a bad leak. But i am flushing the engine and getting everything checked out. Thanks for your info and i will check that out.

 

Hi Heath, just wanted to toss in an observation. Sometimes when one switches to Amsoil, an oil leak may look worse but most of the time, it is only just that; looks. Synthetic oil tends to travel farther from the leak than conventional oil before it hits the ground and gives the appearance of a larger leak. The true story with either type of oil is how much the level goes down on the dip stick. Chaplaintoo

 

Agreed

 

why is a marine oil suggested instead of an auto/truck? those engines run an entirely different rpm range and operating temperature.

 

My engine leaks all over the place with AMSOIL in it. That should **** me off but the fact is that it doesn't leak any oil with conventional and leaves spot every place within a few miles of changing to the AMSOIL and that tells me that the AMSOIL is doin one hell of a good job at cleaning the motor likes it's supposed to. A few changes of conventional and the leaks are all good and plugged up again. About like leavin you bathroom sink clogged up cause it don't leak that way.

Pick your priority, a clean motor or a clean driveway.

 

I run amsoil 15w 40 marine and diesel oil in my 04 powerstroke with 201,000 miles on it. I change it every 15 to 20k miles. With amsoil my magnetic drain plug get a very thin layer of sledgey material on it. When i ran conventional 15w 40 castrol heavy duty diesel oil, it looked liked a small shrub on the end of the plug while changing it every 5 to 7k miles. I'm a firm believer in synthic oils to reduce wear.

 

i just had my mech. rebuild my tranny. its a complete billet tranny. mech is a puller buddy of mine and he wants me to run amsoil in it. he says he knows it works better in trannys.

 

It can be a little misleading but this oil is more than appropriate for diesel engines in marine applications...same engines. It can also be used in gassers if desired. It is within most marine viscosity ranges. Merc is typically a 20/40 oil if I remember right, maybe a 25/50?
It would still work in that case.