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New ATV/UTV Oil Change Kits Offer Maximum Convenience

Written by Charleen
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New ATV/UTV Oil Change Kits Offer Maximum Convenience

AMSOIL ATV/UTV Oil Change Kits combine everything needed to perform an oil change on the most popular models of Polaris* ATVs and UTVs in one convenient package, including…

To find the correct ATV/UTV Oil Change Kit for your machine, consult the appropriate Product Guide.

Look up My ATV

Look up My UTV

WHY YOU SHOULD UPGRADE YOUR ATV/UTV PROTECTION

Accessories equal weight. It’s common to burden your UTV or ATV with accessories designed to increase power or productivity, especially for UTV owners. Enthusiasts often add roof and door panels, a winch, a plow, skid plates and other accessories. Plus, how often do you haul a load of gravel or pull a trailer or other implement?

This all adds weight, and a good rule of thumb is that extra weight equals extra heat. Heat, in turn, causes lubricants to break down sooner, which places your engine and differentials at risk of wear.

Heat invites engine wear. The oil’s primary job is to form a protective layer on metal parts to keep them separated so they don’t rub together and wear out. High heat from the stress you place on your machine, however, can cause oils formulated for standard service to become thinner (lose viscosity). Oil that has lost viscosity can fail to develop an oil film of adequate thickness or strength to protect against wear.

Plus, high heat invites sludge and performance-robbing deposits inside the engine. Sludge can clog oil passages and starve the engine of oil, while deposits can cause the piston rings to stick or interfere with proper valve operation, leading to reduced engine compression.

Since compression equals power, over time your engine can make less power, limiting your ability to ride or work as effectively as possible. Eventually, deposits and sludge can wreck the engine completely.

Shift to better performance. The story is similar inside the transmission, differential and front drive. All the extra weight and stress of hard work and performance riding concentrates intense pressure on gears. The lubricant coats the gear teeth during operation, guarding against metal-to-metal contact and wear. The added stress, combined with high heat, can break the fluid film and literally squeeze the lubricant from between the gears, leading to wear. As with the motor oil, high heat causes the lubricant to thin, which negatively affects wear protection.

Upgrade to synthetic lubricants. So what’s the solution? Ride more conservatively? Haul lighter loads and work less?

Never. Upgrade to high-quality AMSOIL synthetic motor oil, differential and transmission fluid, front drive fluid and other lubricants, especially if you’ve modified your ATV or UTV for greater power or productivity. AMSOIL synthetic ATV/UTV lubricants don’t contain the impurities inherent to conventional lubricants, meaning they deliver better performance and last longer. Their naturally tough base oils resist extreme heat and maintain a strong protective film better than conventional products.

Think of synthetics as just another performance upgrade. You don’t think twice about dropping a few hundred dollars on a snowplow or work trailer. Over the course of your machine’s life, the few extra dollars you spend per oil change or transmission/differential service is a drop in the bucket by comparison.

*All trademarked names and images are the property of their respective owners and may be registered marks in some countries. No affiliation or endorsement claim, express or implied, is made by their use. All products advertised here are developed by AMSOIL for use in the applications shown.

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Transmission Pan Drop vs. Flush: Which is Better?

Written by Charleen
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Transmission Pan Drop vs. Flush: Which is Better?

John Baker|

It depends on what you want to accomplish. But, first of all, check your owner’s manual to see if your vehicle manufacturer recommends one instead of the other.

If you want to ensure removal of nearly all the old transmission fluid, then have your transmission flushed.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

What is a Transmission Flush?

The benefits are self-evident: all the old, dirty fluid is replaced with fresh, high-quality fluid. (And, as you can see in the image, new transmission fluid is preferable to old fluid). As a result, your transmission should run cooler and receive maximum protection against wear to clutches, gears and bearings. It should also shift consistently and crisply since the new fluid will provide the correct frictional properties (old fluid loses its frictional properties over time).

Not only that, but performing a flush helps clean the transmission. Sludge and other contaminants can accumulate in the fluid due to extreme heat breaking down the fluid. These contaminants circulate throughout the transmission before lodging in the filter. Before the filter can safely capture the contaminants, however, they can lodge in the narrow fluid passages inside the valve body, leading to poor shift quality.

The narrow fluid passages in the transmission valve body can easily clog with debris, reducing shift quality.

Performing a flush also allows you to use a flush additive to help clean the transmission and more effectively remove accumulated sludge and other contaminants.

Any downsides?

Potentially.

For one, it’s more expensive. And some people warn against performing a flush on a transmission using old, dirty fluid. The flushing procedure may direct the fluid in the opposite direction of normal flow, which may increase the risk of dislodging debris and causing it to settle somewhere it shouldn’t. Since the way each shop performs a flushing procedure varies, you can’t know for certain.

What is a transmission flushing machine?

A typical flushing machine uses hoses that connect into the transmission cooling lines. It drains the old fluid and holds it inside the machine while replenishing the transmission with new fluid. Unlike a simple pan drop, a flushing machine removes just about all the old fluid, including the fluid inside the torque converter.

Since the procedure uses new fluid to perform the flush, it requires several quarts of new fluid beyond the transmission’s final capacity. Those extra quarts are where most of the added cost lies.

(Find out how an automatic transmission works.)

The good ‘ol pan-drop

If you have reservations about a flush, go with a pan-drop instead. While it reduces the risk associated with flushing old, dirty fluid through the transmission, a pan-drop also has downsides.

  • Removes only about a third of the fluid
  • Can be a mess
  • Can be a pain on some vehicles

I can tell you from experience that a pan-drop can be a bigger job than you think. You may have to remove plastic splash guards or metal skid plates to access the transmission pan. In case you haven’t been under your vehicle in a while, plan on encountering rusted, stuck bolts if you drive in wet, snowy conditions. Don’t be surprised if you crack a splash guard in one or two places as you try to remove/reinstall it.

Tips for performing a pan-drop:

  • Have a large catch pan handy. Otherwise, once you loosen the pan bolts, fluid is going to ooze from the pan/transmission interface and end up all over the floor.
  • If you’re crafty, you can back out the pan bolts in one corner further than the surrounding bolts, effectively tilting the pan so the fluid drains from a single corner instead of overflowing the entire pan. This reduces mess quite a bit.
  • Wear safety glasses and gloves.
  • Don’t forget the new filter and pan gasket.
  • It’s a good idea to know the torque specs on the pan bolts and use a torque wrench to reinstall them. Otherwise you risk overtightening and ruining the gasket.

You might get lucky, though

Some vehicle manufacturers install a drain plug on the transmission, similar to a motor oil drain plug. This allows you to easily and cleanly drain some fluid from the transmission minus the hassle of removing the pan. Again, though, you only get a third to half the fluid out.

You can then drive the vehicle for a while, then drain the fluid and change it again. Do this 2-3 times and you’ll remove nearly all the old fluid and perform a sort of poor-man’s transmission fluid flush.

Bottom line: Visit a pro and have the transmission flushed for best results and least hassle (unless your vehicle manufacturer specifically warns against it in the owner’s manual). But, if you have reservations about dislodging debris due to old, dirty fluid, a series of pan drops works just as well.

FIND AMSOIL TRANSMISSION FLUID FOR MY VEHICLE

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From The Presidents

Written by Charleen
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From The Presidents

AMSOIL INC CEO

You’ve probably read a lot recently about claims of “fake news.” Whether you buy into that or not, a thoughtful look at our society reveals why many people are distrustful of the information they read, including information reported by reputable news sources. It seems that everything is overhyped or spun to lead the reader or viewer to a specific conclusion. Rather than getting the straight facts, we’re given the facts with opinions. News organizations have changed dramatically in the last 20 years.

But news organizations are not the sole provider of information. While they are guilty of spin, they still typically report facts. The Internet has changed everything and given a voice to anyone who wants one. As fantastic as the  benefits of this revolution are, there is a downside. People don’t know who to trust. You can find arguments and supporting “facts” for and against just about anything under the sun. Expert advice comes from amateur videos, blogs, websites and forum posts. Those who are convincing enough garner a following and are viewed as experts.

Soon after, opposing opinions are put forth. Those who lack expertise on a given topic are then left to sort fact from fiction. Trouble is, oftentimes both opposing arguments make sense to the uninitiated so it’s hard to identify the right path. This is usually true in situations where people are trying to predict the future. “The stock market is going to crash.” “The housing market will never recover.” “Beta-max is the future.” The truth is, most of the time people don’t know. It’s  unpredictable. There are too many factors affecting large-market topics.

Electric cars are a great example. They’ve generated a lot of hype in the last year, and predictions of their dominance in the years ahead are running wild. Conversely, others predict further adoption of electric cars, but to a much lower degree than most popular reports. So what does the future hold? What do electric cars mean for your dealership?  We’re not going to pretend to know exactly how everything will unfold, but we will give you all the information we have on the topic. We’ve consuled nearly 40 sources from a variety of organizations within and outside the automotive field and presented our conclusion in this issue of AMSOIL Magazine.

The bottom line is this: As long as you’re vwilling to go after it, there will be boundless opportunity for you for the foreseeable future. It’s up to you though. You have to go get it. And that’s no different than it is today.   An unbelievably large amount of the market is unfamiliar with AMSOIL right now, and they just need to hear from Dealers like you. Don’t hasitate. Take action today and chart your own future. If you set your goals and put in the work, we predict success.

Presidents Desk - AMSOIL INC,

Soot isn’t just for diesels anymore

Written by Charleen
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Soot isn’t just for diesels anymore

Today’s gas engines can produce as much soot as yesterday’s diesels.

Matt Erickson | TECHNICAL MANAGER – PCLT PRODUCTS AND MECHANICAL R&D

I bet most of you reading this have some level of emotional attachment to traditional vehicles. The muscle-car era of the 1960s and 1970s kindled a lifelong passion for cars in millions of Americans and Canadians. And how many of you who grew up in the 1980s had a supercar poster or two on your bedroom wall? Today, based on sales, big pickup trucks seem to be everyone’s favorite vehicle.

With fuel-economy regulations slowly reshaping the industry, it’ll take more than nostalgia to maintain the viability of the internal combustion engine. They must continue to become even more efficient and clean-running.

That’s one reason for the proliferation of turbocharged gasoline-direct-injection (T-GDI) engines over the past several years. Directly injecting fuel into the combustion chamber as opposed to an intake port upstream of the cylinder, as with a port-fuel-injected engine, offers more precise control over fuel delivery. This arrangement increases fuel economy and reduces CO2. T-GDI engines are also smaller and lighter than traditional engines that make similar power, helping automakers reduce weight and boost efficiency.

It’d be great if the story ended there. We’d all drive into the sunset in our pickups that deliver the perfect combination of comfort, functionality and efficiency. But somewhere along the way engineers noticed a strange phenomenon: Some T-GDI engines were experiencing abnormally high rates of timing chain wear, and many think soot is at least partially to blame.

You’re probably thinking, “But diesels produce soot, not gasoline engines.” Wrong – at least with T-GDI engines. When engineers borrowed the practice of directly injecting fuel into the combustion chambers of diesel engines and applied it to their gasoline counterparts, soot production tagged along. In fact, on some light-colored T-GDI vehicles, you can see a ring of soot on the bumper near the exhaust.

Soot, which is made of carbon, is the result of incomplete combustion. In a port-fuel-injection engine, gas and air mix in the intake port prior to entering the combustion chamber. This arrangement allows ample time for the gas and air to mix more completely, which results in more complete combustion. In direct-injection engines, the gas doesn’t have as much time to mix with the air since it’s injected directly into the combustion chamber. Plus, it’s injected later during the operating cycle, further reducing its ability to completely mix with the air. As a result, direct-injection engines can result in less-complete combustion – and increased soot. Believe it or not, some modern T-GDI engines produce more soot than older diesels not equipped with particulate filters. That’s one reason gasoline particulate filters are in development now and could soon end up on your next T-GDI vehicle.

All that soot is bad news for the timing chain. The particles can agglomerate into larger particles that wear out timing-system components and other sensitive engine parts prior to lodging in the oil filter. If bad enough, the chain can elongate and jump the teeth on the sprocket, throwing off timing enough to kill the engine. The chain could also break, which can result in catastrophic and expensive damage if, for example, a piston strikes and breaks a valve.

Fuel dilution may also be to blame for timing chain wear since excess fuel in the oil causes the oil to lose viscosity, which reduces wear protection. Though experts are still studying the problem, they have soot in their sights and are working hard to develop a test that measures an oil’s ability to protect against soot-related wear. The current test under development uses a Ford* 2.0L Ecoboost* engine to evaluate timing chain protection. The final details of the test are still being ironed out, but it’s well on its way and slated for inclusion in the forthcoming GF-6 motor oil specification, set for introduction in 2019.

We’ve already run the test, and I’m happy to say that Signature Series Synthetic Motor Oil performed extremely well. Oil formulation, specifically additive systems, plays a huge role in how the oil handles soot. The oil needs the correct dispersant and detergent additives in the correct concentrations to hold soot particles in suspension and prevent them from agglomerating into larger, wear-causing particles. Our oils are formulated with potent additives that keep soot in suspension to protect your engine.

Good filtration is just as important in today’s engines. Our Ea® Oil Filters’ synthetic media offers improved efficiency and capacity, helping ensure agglomerated soot is safely trapped in the filter and doesn’t ruin your engine.

As engines grow more complicated, so do the challenges they present. That’s why we remain diligent about identifying problems to engine life and developing solutions. That way we can all drive off into the sunset in the vehicles we love without worrying about wear.

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