Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Amsoil in 1997 Cummins

Anybody have any thoughts on using Amsoil in my 1997 Dodge 2500 with the 12 valve with almost 200,000 miles? Most local guys I talked with said if it doesn't have leaks, not to worry. I've been using Shell Rotella, but have noticed a significant difference in the viscosity between the two. I think the Amsoil may make cold weather starts much easier.

I'm also not too sure about running it for 10,000 miles.

Thanks for any input.

I personally wouldn't use Amsoil in anything. I don't like their deceptive marketing schemes, they just come across as a shady company. Reading through some of their advertisements reads like an Obama speech on economics, full of BS and fancy buzzwords but no substance or basis in reality.

If I lived in a cold environment like yours I'd be inclined towards shell rotella T6 5W-40 synthetic. I use it in my 2006 jeep liberty diesel that calls for synthetic. My 1998.5 dodge 2500 24 valve has gotten shell rotella 15W-40 it's entire life, it's got 375K now, still pulls like a freight train and uses no oil.

The shell rotella series is great oil, I trust it a whole lot more than anything from Amsoil.

Amsoil is a good product , I would have used it alot more thru the years , but there just isn't any good local source and I like to be able to pick up oil right off the shelf when I need it

It is entirely feasable to run a good synthetic for 10000 miles in your Dodge , the Cummins is very easy on oil

and yes , there is a noticable difference in cranking ease with synthetic in cold weather

I've been running Mobil 1 5-40 turbo diesel in my '06 cummins. I definatley noticed a difference in cold starting vs. the Delo 400 I ran when I was breaking in the engine.

I run 15000 miles between changes, and change the filter at 7500.

I would run the T-6 Rotella 5w-40 synthetic. Not that Amsoil is bad, but the Rotella synthetic is much easier to find and cheaper. Wal Mart carries the Rotella 5w-40 for about 20 bucks a gallon. Bill

Its feasable to run a quality conventional to 10K in a Cummins. Cummins recommends a 7500 mile severe service schedule on the newer Rams. They recommend 15,000 on a non-severe schedule.

If I was faced with extreme heat or cold,and planned on using a synthetic,I'd go Rotella as well.

Easy to find,and a good bang for the buck.

I have had fantastic luck with amsoil and actually switched to amsoil, from Dino, at 170,000 miles. The synthetic 5w40 is awesome where I live.

Please elaborate on your beef with Amsoil

Shady pyramid marketing scheme. Misleading marketing. Refusal to submit most of their oils to API testing. I've read the stuff on why they don't API certify most of their oils and quite frankly, it's bull. My college degree is in polymer chemistry and while that and 75 cents will get me a cup of coffee, one thing I did take away from the experience is that scientific claims that aren't backed up by independent testing aren't worth the paper they're printed on. Claims that their oils are superior based on some analysis by Billy Joe Jim Bob's oil testing lab and Pizzeria don't cut it for me.

Here's a link to some of Amsoil's justification for not submitting their oils to API testing.

http://www.synthetic-distribution.com/Amsoil_API_certification.html

There's too much stuff there to refute point by point but it's like listening to Obama try and justify his economic policies, all buzzwords & bull, and no substance.

Here's another link to some of Amsoil's misleading marketing:

http://www.synthetic-distribution.com/Dodge_Cummins_Owners.php

Note that this is put out by one of their "dealers" and not Amsoil itself. That's typical of Amsoil, they distribute their deceptive marketing through their "dealers" so they can't be held accountable for it directly. In there it makes claims about going 25,000 miles between oil change intervals and claims advantages to their bypass filtration system. It implies, although it doesn't specifically state, that you can use that 25,000 mile change interval with Amsoil and their bypass system and maintain your warranty through dodge on your dodge diesel. That is patently misleading, if you show up with an oil related problem on your dodge diesel and the dealership sees an aftermarket filter setup then finds out you haven't changed the oil in 24,000 miles I can guarantee they'll void your engine warranty on the spot. The whole advertistment looks to have been carefully worded to give the impression that their practices are acceptable to dodge and won't affect your warranty, I absolutely don't believe that's true.

It all adds up to too many shady practices for my comfort level. Whether Amsoil likes it or not, API is the industry accepted standards agency for petroleum products. If you make claims for your oil but won't submit it to API testing then as far as I'm concerned the claims are meaningless. I'm not putting a non-API licensed oil in any of my vehicles. Amsoil's whole marketing scheme seems to center around the theme of: API and manufacturer's standards are bull, they're trying to take your money, trust Amsoil because we're here to help.

There are too many good oils on the market now to deal with stuff like this. I can't prove that Amsoil is poor oil, but THEY can't prove to my satisfaction that it's as good or better than the oils on the market that I trust. I have a 98 dodge diesel with 375,000 miles on it, it's never had anything other than shell rotella 15W-40 conventional oil in it since it's first oil change and it still doesn't use a drop of oil. You can't tell me that shell rotella isn't good oil, my experience in a hard worked long lived engine tells me otherwise as well as the experience of a large portion of the OTR truck market. I'll never trust Amsoil like that.

I have read that caution should be taken when changing oil types in high mileage engines, the concern being that the change may loosen up a large amount of deposits in a very short time frame. Rotella is mentioned as an oil with an agressive additive package, so you might not have anything to worry about. I have been running Mobil Delo 1 in my 2006 Cummins and oil anaylysis has shown the oil good at 9,000 miles, and a 1997 is a lot easier on oil than a 2006.

don't think the older 12 valves like the original poster mentioned have that long of oil change recommendation....if you look at he specifications in an owners book for "severe" service , you will see that just about any normal driving of a pickup truck will be considered "severe" service


as far as switching a "high" mileage motor to synthetic , I started using the 5w40 Rotella in my 97 Cummins at around 190000 miles.....no problems noted

Every oil on this link is API rated.
http://www.amsoil.com/a/Synthetic-Diesel-Motor-Oil-Engine-Oil

Every oil on this link except the last two which are specially made with higher ZDDP levels are API rated as well.
http://www.amsoil.com/a/synthetic-motor-oil-engine-oil

Better check the writing on that oil can, son. There's Mobil 1, and there's Chevron Delo

Wrong.

I see several there that are not API rated. Read the fine print, some of them claim they meet or exceed the requirements for API XXX, but you won't find the API certification symbol on the bottle because they haven't been API tested. Amsoil just claims they beat the requirement, but they haven't let API test it. The wording of their advertising certainly makes the consumer think otherwise though, it fooled you and countless others.

That's some of the deceptive advertising I was talking about that drives me nuts with that company.

Some Amsoil products are API. Some Mobil products are not, same for Quaker State, Royal Purple, Redline, etc....

Doesn't make them bad oil products.

I use peanut oil. guaranteed to bring fat chicks from miles around. sorry its early

No, but it makes the claims about them unverified by independent testing and therefore they won't go in my vehicles. One of my main beefs with Amsoil is their slickly worded advertisements that misrepresent their product. You have to read very carefully to tell which ones are API certified and which ones aren't. Their deceptive advertising makes it seem like all their oils are and you have to really pay attention to the wording to tell the difference. If they're that deceptive then what else are they lying about? It's like dealing with slick Willie Clinton and his "it depends on how you define is" BS.

Where did you come up with that number Paul? Did you do oil analysis or just wing it? I'm guessing a guy with your background doesn't guess on that sort of thing, but that sounds like a lot of miles.

I change oil/filter at about 3-4K in my 06 cummins, and did the same in my 04. Oil is cheap, oil changes are easy...

While I'm certainly not going to say that changing oil in a cummins motor every 3-4K is bad for the motor, I will say from my expereience your draining out oil that has over half its life left. At work they have gone from changing the oil in our engines and ladder trucks every 4000 miles(they go by engine hours but it comes to an avreage of 4000 miles) to doing oil analysis every 4000. Our mechanics say they change the oil at 8000, because the analysis says the oil has 2000 miles left on average. I can assure these engines get worked harder than most. They go from sitting cold to running full bore in less than 60 seconds all the time. As well as lots of idle time. I have an 05 cummins that is my work/ranch truck I change the oil every 7500 miles, did the same with my 99 cummins. Over 350000 between them.

Btw , cummins recommends 7500 oil change for severe service in the 5.9, 15000 for "light duty".