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AMSOIL vs. Mobil 1: How We Perform

Written by Charleen

AMSOIL & Mobil 1 – Compared

Andy Arendt|

Most lists of top-10 performance mods include a turbocharger, supercharger, nitrous oxide or updated engine tune. Increasing the engine’s oxygen intake also increases fuel, which boosts power.

“If you love Mobil 1 you should  use Dollar General motor oil. It’s real good too” lol…

While all that extra power is great, it puts additional demands on your engine oil.

(See our 5 Ways to Boost Horsepower for Under $500.)

Horsepower riding on a sheet of paper

Your main bearings – and, for that matter, the time, money and effort invested in your vehicle – rely on an oil film that’s thinner than a sheet of paper. Adding horsepower increases rpm and engine stress, placing even more stress on the oil. Many enthusiasts make compensatory upgrades to the crank, pistons, cam, etc. to handle the additional pressure.

The shear importance of oil 

In this scenario, upgrading the motor oil is often overlooked. But it’s an important consideration since engine upgrades can increase shearing forces, which result in viscosity loss. And viscosity is the most important property of oil.

Check out this post for details: What Does Viscosity Mean (and How Does it Affect Your Engine)?

Shear results when one layer of fluid moves in a direction different from another layer of the same fluid.

Shear (often called mechanical shear) occurs when one layer of oil moves in the opposite direction of another layer of the same oil. A great example occurs between the piston and cylinder wall. These two oil films move in opposite directions under intense heat and pressure. This is why high-horsepower, high-rpm engines create increased possibility for viscosity loss due to shear.

This scenario can shear, or tear apart, the molecules of viscosity-improver additives, which are used to extend the viscosity range of the base oil. The application and type of base oil determine the type of viscosity improver. Some viscosity improvers resist shear better than others. And some synthetic oils don’t need viscosity improvers at all due to their ability to withstand shear.

A breakdown in protection

If the oil loses viscosity due to shear, it can fail to provide the required level of wear protection. Think of the force transferred through the piston, rod and crank to the thin oil film protecting the bearing. There’s not much room for error.

AMSOIL uses naturally shear-resistant base oils combined with top-tier, shear-stable viscosity improvers. AMSOIL synthetic motor oil withstands extreme heat and shearing forces, exceeding industry standards and outperforming competing brands. In fact, it fights viscosity breakdown 46 percent* better than Mobil 1. It stands up to the devastating effects of high-horsepower, modern engines for maximum protection.

 

FIND AMSOIL FOR MY VEHICLE

*Based upon independent testing of Mobil 1 Annual Protection Full Synthetic and AMSOIL Signature Series 5W-30 in the Kurt Orbahn test, oils purchased on 05/03/18.

Maintenance, , , ,

Weed Eater Won’t Start? Try This

Written by Charleen

We’ve all been there – Weed Eater Starting Foes!

John Baker|

No matter what you call it – weed eater, weed whacker, string trimmer – chances are at some point it won’t start. Few things are more annoying than destroying your shoulder trying to start the weed eater when there’s work to do.

Fortunately, gasoline weed-eater engines are pretty simple, so most DIYers with a few tools and some basic know-how can get a stubborn trimmer running.

Here are our guidelines for troubleshooting a weed eater that won’t start

1) Check the gasoline

Gasoline can break down in as little as 30 days, especially today’s ethanol-containing gas. Homeowners sometimes stash their string trimmer in the garage at season’s end without stabilizing the gas. Oxygen has all winter to break down and ruin the gasoline, leaving you with a trimmer that won’t start in the spring.

If your trimmer falls into this category, empty the old gas from the fuel tank and replace it with fresh fuel.

2) Clean the carburetor

Once gas breaks down, varnish, gums and other debris can form inside the carburetor and clog the tiny fuel passages. This prevents fuel from reaching the combustion chamber and igniting.

Remove the air filter and spray carburetor cleaner into the intake. Let it sit for several minutes to help loosen and dissolve varnish. Replace the filter and try starting the trimmer.

If this doesn’t solve the problem, consider disassembling the carburetor to give it a more thorough cleaning.

Beware, however – taking apart a carburetor marks a point-of-no-return, of sorts. Understanding how the delicate gaskets, tiny screws and needle valves go back together can be a challenge, even on a relatively simple string-trimmer carburetor. Take pictures with your phone throughout the process to help reassembly. Clean all the openings and passages with carburetor cleaner.

If you’re reluctant to take apart the carb, visit the servicing dealer.

3) Clean or replace the spark plug

Oil deposits and carbon can foul the spark plug in a two-stroke engine if a low-quality oil is used. Deposits on the electrode prevent the plug from firing properly, which can reduce performance or prevent the engine from running altogether.

Plugs are inexpensive, so replace it if it’s fouled. If you don’t have a new plug available, clean the deposits from the electrode with light-duty sandpaper and check the gap. Consult the owner’s manual for the correct gap size.

If you know the spark plug is good, but the engine still doesn’t produce spark, the coil is likely to blame and requires replacement.

4) Clean or replace the air filter

A clogged air filter prevents the engine from receiving sufficient air to operate properly.

Before removing the air filter, brush away loose debris from around the filter cover and filter element. Tap rigid filters on a tabletop or the palm of your hand to dislodge any dirt or debris. Compressed air also works well. Make sure you direct air through the filter from the inside to avoid lodging debris deeper in the filter.

Avoid washing paper filters as this can collapse their micro-fine structure. Foam filters, however, can easily be washed using mild detergent and warm water.

As with the spark plug, however, replacement is often the best practice, especially if the filter is excessively dirty.

5) Clean the spark-arrestor screen

On many trimmers, a small screen covers the exhaust outlet and prevents sparks from exiting the muffler and potentially starting a fire.

As with plug fouling, too much oil in the gasoline, inferior oil and continued low-rpm operation can plug the screen with carbon deposits. This prevents exhaust-gas flow, which leads to power loss. In extreme cases, heavy deposits choke airflow enough to leave you with a weed eater that won’t start.

To fix the problem, remove the spark arrestor screen and spray it with a heavy-duty cleaner, like AMSOIL Power Foam®, to soften the deposits before cleaning the screen with an abrasive pad. Reinstall the screen and test the trimmer.

Replace the screen altogether if it’s excessively plugged with carbon.

6) Switch to a better two-stroke oil

Low-quality oil that leads to heavy carbon is often to blame for most of the problems on this list.

Using a good two-stroke oil that burns cleanly and helps prevent carbon deposits is one of the easiest maintenance practices you can perform to ensure your trimmer starts easily, runs well and last for years.

Buy SABER Professional

AMSOIL SABER Professional Synthetic 2-Stroke Oil withstands high heat to fight carbon in gasoline string trimmers and other two-stroke equipment. It’s tested and proven at any mix ratio up to 100:1, offering the convenience of one mix ratio for all your equipment. Plus, it’s formulated with gasoline stabilizer to help keep fuel fresh during short-term storage.

The images here show AMSOIL SABER Professional’s superior cleanliness properties. It’s just one reason professional landscapers, like Duluth Lawn Care, only trust AMSOIL products.

2-cycle mix ratios

AMSOIL SABER Professional mixed at 100:1 delivers better protection against power-robbing deposits than other oils mixed at 50:1.

View the complete test results here.

Follow the guidelines on this list to get your string trimmer back up and running…and to give your shoulder a break.

Small Engines, , , , , ,

Help! How Many Quarts of Oil Does My Car Use?

Written by Charleen

How Much Oil Does My Car Need?

John Baker|

The answer seems simple: probably about five quarts.

But, if you drive a small car with a four cylinder engine, it’s likely closer to four quarts. However, the V-8 engine in your truck could require about seven quarts. My in-laws’ RAM diesel pickup takes 12 quarts of motor oil.

You can see how the answer isn’t so simple after all.

To find out precisely how much motor oil your car needs, do one of the following:

  1. Check the owner’s manual

Dig the owner’s manual out of your glovebox and look up the information in the index. Eventually you’ll find it.

  1. Check the AMSOIL Product Guide

You can skip the hassle and use our Product Guide instead. Just input your vehicle information and, below the motor oil recommendations, you’ll find motor oil capacity (circled below in red).

What if the oil level is too low?

It could be due to a couple issues, including insufficient oil added during the last oil change or oil consumption. There are several reasons for oil consumption (in fact, you can read about 40 of them here). But here are a couple of the more common.

Leaking seals or gaskets – your engine uses seals in various places to ensure oil stays inside the engine while contaminants stay out. A prime example is around the crankshaft where it sticks out of the engine and connects to the transmission. Gaskets seal the uneven metal surfaces between parts to ensure, in part, that oil stays inside the engine. The cylinder head gasket is a notable example.

If the seals and gaskets become worn, brittle or deformed over time, they can result in oil leaks. The engine oil level will drop, depending on the severity of the leak. If your engine leaks oil, visit a mechanic and have it fixed.

Volatility – engine oil can evaporate when exposed to heat. The less stable the oil, the more readily it evaporates. As the engine is running, a thin film of oil coats the cylinder wall and piston skirt. Given its proximity to the fiery cauldron inside the combustion chamber, the oil in this area of the engine can easily volatilize, or evaporate. The by-products can exit the tailpipe as emissions. But they can also form harmful carbon deposits inside the engine that reduce efficiency and eventually lead to engine failure.

Synthetic motor oil is more resistant to volatility than conventional oil, so use a good synthetic to reduce oil consumption due to volatility and help keep your engine clean.

What if the oil level is too high?

It’s likely due to operator error; someone simply added too much last time the oil was changed or topped-off.

Too much oil is a bad thing. The spinning crankshaft and churning engine parts whip air into the oil, which can cause foam. The tiny bubbles travel between moving parts, where they rupture. When they do, nothing is left to protect metal surfaces from wear. Foam also increases heat, which causes the oil to chemically breakdown sooner.

If the crankcase is overfull, drain the excess oil until reaching the correct level.

Increased oil level can also be due to fuel dilution. This is when fuel enters the crankcase and contaminates the oil. In severe cases, enough fuel can enter the crankcase to noticeably increase the oil level. This is bad. Very bad. Fuel dilution leads to sludge, varnish and engine wear.

Check out this post for more on fuel dilution.

The presence of coolant in the oil can also increase oil level. Again, this is bad. Anytime something that shouldn’t be in your motor oil is present, wear protection suffers. Coolant in the oil is likely due to a bad head gasket, which is a costly repair.

One last word of advice: check your oil at least monthly to ensure the proper level. Make sure the vehicle is parked on a level surface to get an accurate reading. Finding out the oil is too low or too high before something goes wrong can save you a ton of grief in the long run.

Knowledge Base, , , , , , , , ,

Where Oil Goes and What it Does

Written by Charleen

The Responsibilities of Your Motor Oil

A typical engine contains hundreds of parts, none of which could function properly without oil. Far from a simple commodity, oil is a dynamic enabler of performance. It must lubricate, cool, protect, seal, actuate components and more. And it must do it all while exposed to tremendous heat and stress. Here, we highlight key areas where oil goes inside your engine and what it does once it’s there.

Variable Valve Timing (VVT)

To increase fuel economy and reduce emissions, most modern engines use VVT systems to adjust when the valves open and close. VVT systems use motor oil as a hydraulic fluid to actuate cam-phaser components. Solenoids, like the one shown here, control cam-phaser timing. These solenoids contain tiny openings through which the oil must flow. Even minimal varnish or deposits can disrupt the system, triggering a check-engine light. The oil must maintain viscosity to function as a hydraulic fluid while resisting deposits to maximize VVT system performance.

Valves and Seals

Valve seals prevent oil from running down the valve stems. This keeps the oil on valvetrain components and prevents it from entering the intake and exhaust ports and burning, increasing oil consumption. The oil must condition these seals to prevent drying, cracking and leaking. The oil also helps cool the valves and control cylinder-head deposits, helping prevent valve sticking.

Main Seals

The seals at the ends of the crankshaft keep the oil inside the engine. The oil must condition seals to prevent drying, cracking and leaking.

Wrist Pins & Undercrowns

Crankshaft eccentrics splash-lubricate the cylinders, wrist pins and piston undercrowns. Some engines have small nozzles that spray oil directly onto the wrist pins and undercrowns. The rapidly spinning crankshaft causes air entrainment in the oil, creating foam. If foam bubbles in the oil pass between metal parts, they collapse and cause metal-to-metal contact. The oil must contain anti-foam additives to quickly dissipate foam. The oil must also contain detergent additives to help keep the wrist pins and undercrowns clean.

Connecting Rods & Main Bearings

Combustion drives the pistons down the cylinder, creating intense pressure between the connecting rods, main journals and bearings. Oil molecules act like microscopic ball bearings that support this pressure and allow the rods and crankshaft to rotate without metal-to-metal contact. The oil must maintain its protective viscosity despite increased pressures, temperatures and shearing forces. If the fluid film weakens, the oil will squeeze from between the journal and bearing clearances, resulting in metal-to-metal contact and bearing wear.

Camshaft

The camshaft and lifters open and close the intake and exhaust valves. To prevent wear, the oil must form a strong fluid film that separates the cam lobes and lifters. It also must contain robust anti-wear additives to maximize the life of the camshaft and bearings. As the image below shows, AMSOIL Signature Series 0W-20 Synthetic Motor Oil did an excellent job protecting against cam wear in rigorous, third-party testing.

Pistons, Rings & Cylinders

The pistons compress the air in preparation for combustion. The piston rings perform several critical functions: they must seal the combustion chamber, return excess oil on the cylinder walls to the sump and transfer extreme piston-crown heat to the cylinder walls.

To prevent wear despite intense heat and shearing forces, oil must maintain a strong, consistent film between the rings and cylinder walls. It also must prevent deposits that cause ring sticking, increased oil consumption, compression changes and low-speed pre-ignition (LSPI).

Signature Series Synthetic Motor Oil achieved 100 percent protection against LSPI1 in the engine test required by the GM* dexos1® Gen 2 specification – zero occurrences were recorded throughout five consecutive tests.

Oil Galleries & Passages

An engine contains an intricate network of oil galleries and passages that carry oil to components. Passages in the crankshaft, for example, carry pressurized oil to the rod and main bearings, while similar passages in the upper end carry oil to the valvetrain. Oil that thickens in the cold can fail to flow through narrow passages and starve the engine of oil. Sludge, meanwhile, can plug passages and have the same effect. The oil must remain fluid when the temperature drops, and it must prevent sludge.

Oil Pick-Up Tube Screen

The oil pump draws oil through a fine screen and pressurizes it so it can flow through the oil galleries and passages to the bearings and valvetrain. Sludge can plug the screen, starving the engine of oil. Oil that thickens too much to pass through the screen has the same effect. Therefore, oil must remain fluid when cold to pass through the screen and flow throughout the engine at startup (when most wear occurs). The oil also must prevent sludge to keep galleries and passages clean, ensuring maximum oil flow.

Knowledge Base, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,