Dyno testing Amsoil against other oils.

[txab]

Easy to do. I like the Rotella T6, you can catch it on sale or with rebates and get it very economically. full synthetic

[customboss]

9 minutes ago, Atlas said:

 

I missed the part about the also-flush with the test oil. I was perhaps listening with one ear open while I did other things. 

That’s a first. You are falling into the mode here!

[Z45]

He uses Rotella as a flush because that's all its good for. 

 

Friend been driving 18-wheelers most of his life 30+ yrs and he calls it, MacDonalds Oil.  Said if I use it in my truck he'd have to kill me.  

 

Quote

"Commodity motor oil" generally refers to standardized, mass-market engine lubricants that meet basic industry specifications, as opposed to highly specialized or premium blends. They are widely available and often priced based on supply and demand, much like other commodities.

 

Edited December 7, 2025 by Z45

[Chuck FB]

2 hours ago, OnTheReel said:

This is in a modified 6.2 Hellcat running E85 and higher boost. Measurable wear reductions as I climbed the viscosity ladder. 0w40 is the factory spec, went to 5w40 and now 5w50. Going to try HPL 5w50 next. Should be a little better in cold weather and curious how it’ll compare.

 

That doesn't sound like your run of the mill every day engine,  certainly not on the same playing field as my naturally aspirated regular fuel using HD work truck L8T with factory tune !. 

 

However that theme of your engine pushing the power out, I look at the variety of factory tuned turbo gas engines and the amount of power they produce for their size, are they really running a factory recommended viscosity that is protecting the engine as well as it could be and the F150 eco boost, Toyota turbo engine currently blowing up in their pickups/suv's, the Ram turbo in the half tons as examples. After all at least with the F150 its the same Dexos 1 Gen 3 5W-30 oil with a Ford approval that they use as in a thinned version of what had been a true 30 grade. 

 

Speaking of the boutique oil brands, HPL I have yet to ever set my eyes on that brand here in Canada, attempting to find sources for purchase in Canada by internet searches so far and have not found one peep. Its tough enough to find anyone that handles Red Line. Amsoil surprisingly enough has a distribution Wearhouse in Edmonton Alberta which surprised me as I never had known that until recently, not that as person one can walk in there to purchase but just that it gets shipped from there up here to distributors.

[Black02Silverado]

I found it interesting on the graph showing the first flush and how the oil still held a little bit of the previous oil, Redline, and then the continued flush changed the rest.  Goes to show how much is held inside the engine from oil change to oil change.

 

Also found it interesting on the turbo deposit test. The oils that did well on wear did not so well on it. Which makes sense since like he stated those oils were designed for HP and performance and short oil drain intervals.  Since turbo's seem to be very popular now to produce the numbers with smaller displacement. I would think wanting protection in that area would be one of the top things to consider.  The oil baking inside the turbo bearing area after shutdown is an area to protect from deposits, especially some vehicles having twin turbos.  Plus the average person doesn't bother letting their engine idle a little before shutting down to help cool things down, especially those that run it hard like in the Ford F150's with Ecoboost doing daily work hauling and pulling loads.

 

HP is a newcomer I think and has a great product. They are working with a group on formulating an oil for the Stelantis Ecodiesel, trying to get the aluminum wear down that it seems to have issues with. It will be interesting to see how well they evolve on accomplishing this. Considering the Ecodiesel has a very small footprint in todays automotive market. 

 

The test engine he used is a good test  bed if you ask me.  Now what most don't realize is the total time, ie days it took to complete this test not to mention the cost for use of the dyno and all the oil used as well as testing each oil.  

 

Didn't surprise me on AMSOIL's results. To me it's basically the best covering all area's, Not one oil can be top dog on all area's, to many factors come into play, just like stated Driven was made to keep the engines cool, to accomplish this other area's have to suffer.

[OnTheReel]

4 hours ago, Chuck FB said:

 

That doesn't sound like your run of the mill every day engine,  certainly not on the same playing field as my naturally aspirated regular fuel using HD work truck L8T with factory tune !. 

 

However that theme of your engine pushing the power out, I look at the variety of factory tuned turbo gas engines and the amount of power they produce for their size, are they really running a factory recommended viscosity that is protecting the engine as well as it could be and the F150 eco boost, Toyota turbo engine currently blowing up in their pickups/suv's, the Ram turbo in the half tons as examples. After all at least with the F150 its the same Dexos 1 Gen 3 5W-30 oil with a Ford approval that they use as in a thinned version of what had been a true 30 grade. 

 

Speaking of the boutique oil brands, HPL I have yet to ever set my eyes on that brand here in Canada, attempting to find sources for purchase in Canada by internet searches so far and have not found one peep. Its tough enough to find anyone that handles Red Line. Amsoil surprisingly enough has a distribution Wearhouse in Edmonton Alberta which surprised me as I never had known that until recently, not that as person one can walk in there to purchase but just that it gets shipped from there up here to distributors.

0% chance I’d follow the 0w20 spec in the standard output Ram 3.0TT. The high output version calls for 0w40, at least. F150 went from 5w20 in earlier models to 5w30 in the current 5.0. And 5w50 gets the call when you put a blower on one. We all know where GM stands currently. Will be interesting to see if they make any changes for the next gen V8.

 

I don’t use it in everything but HPL is a great company to work with, and hope you get their products up there eventually. Not many oil companies are as “open” as them. You can literally just talk to the plant manager if you have a question. Very cool.

[Grumpy Bear]

I watched about 5 minutes of the video. Garbage in, garbage out. Whatever oil was first in that motor was going to show the highest wear rate. Whatever order came after would fall in whatever order they were run. Lake got to cute on this one. This test would not pass a peer review and as done, not repeatable. 

 

He could have run the same oil seven times and got near the same results. IMO. YMMV. 

 

On 12/6/2025 at 6:48 PM, OnTheReel said:

Hear me out. RL was tested first, and Pennzoil second. RL had highest iron, Pennzoil had second highest. RL had highest temperature, Pennzoil second highest. Torque rank…RL worst, Pennzoil second worst. These two oils are complete opposites as far as chemistry, viscosity and HTHS are very far apart. So you have to wonder about flawed methodology…

 

Nailed it. ^^^^^^

[Chuck FB]

1 hour ago, Grumpy Bear said:

I watched about 5 minutes of the video. Garbage in, garbage out. Whatever oil was first in that motor was going to show the highest wear rate. Whatever order came after would fall in whatever order they were run. Lake got to cute on this one. This test would not pass a peer review and as done, not repeatable. 

 

He could have run the same oil seven times and got near the same results. IMO. YMMV. 

 

 

Nailed it. ^^^^^^

 

That would have been a very interesting UOA comparison to have re run the RL once again at the end of the test after a RL flush, then an actual run. Then compare those two results 1st and last although I do have to wonder if that result comparison would throw too much doubt into all the results, but we will never know. 

 

What are your thoughts on the viscosity vs heat differential that the tests showed, certainly there is a difference in viscosity between the various oils but what the viscosity chart would not show is the vis at the actual temperature that the oils were being run at which was a lot hotter than that 100C standard and the thinner oils allowing for more power output but at what long term detriment as some of them would have continued to sheer down further I am guessing while others would have been able to maintain viscosity.

 

Unfortunately they could run tests like this until they are blue in the face and I assume never fully duplicate the same outcome as a real world test of time with cold starts and varying distance drives including plenty of short runs would test an oil to in being able to prevent corrosion, sludge, wear etc with combustion contamination and worse fuel dilution etc, over quite a period of time on the calendar.  

Edited December 8, 2025 by Chuck FB

[Chuck FB]

2 hours ago, OnTheReel said:

0% chance I’d follow the 0w20 spec in the standard output Ram 3.0TT. The high output version calls for 0w40, at least. F150 went from 5w20 in earlier models to 5w30 in the current 5.0. And 5w50 gets the call when you put a blower on one. We all know where GM stands currently. Will be interesting to see if they make any changes for the next gen V8.

 

I don’t use it in everything but HPL is a great company to work with, and hope you get their products up there eventually. Not many oil companies are as “open” as them. You can literally just talk to the plant manager if you have a question. Very cool.

 

In a way its amusing, not to the person that runs the thin oil and possibly has their engine fail on them after the warranty is past but the very idea that they can lie and push their weight around telling the customer you MUST run 0W-20 in your engine while the vehicle sitting next to it with the same engine only cranked up in power has the manufacturer/dealer telling the customer you MUST run 0W-40 in this truck, make sense of that !. 

 

I have a feeling although hope I am wrong that be it GM or the other manufacturers will keep right on this path of engine design or concept of over complicated problematic engines and at some point throw the gas particulate filter at them, I don't get the impression that this roll back is as rolled back as one would have wished for. As to the oil they will go with, that is a good question. 

 

I actually haven't a clue how long HPL has been around as a company blending and selling oil, I believe it was this forum that clued me in that the company even existed. 

[Z45]

 

[Black02Silverado]

8 hours ago, Grumpy Bear said:

I watched about 5 minutes of the video. Garbage in, garbage out. Whatever oil was first in that motor was going to show the highest wear rate. Whatever order came after would fall in whatever order they were run. Lake got to cute on this one. This test would not pass a peer review and as done, not repeatable. 

 

He could have run the same oil seven times and got near the same results. IMO. YMMV. 

 

 

Nailed it. ^^^^^^

You need to watch the entire video.  He shows some good points on all the oils.  Redline isn't bad like you might think, just like I posted, one oil can't be great on all factors.  

 

No matter what anyone person or research lab does on testing oil like this, it seems there will always be those that just don't agree. It's hard to control all factors.

 

I would be more than willing if someone would front the cost to do test of all these oils and maybe even more like RLI. I would basically use each oil for 10k miles, driving the same course around the area on country roads and on the interstate, basically a 100 mile loop for those 10k miles., Then test each sample after that and at 10k miles. This would take some time and be expensive considering the cost of fuel and oil/filters. Not to mention fast food stops for my meals.

The flush would be the same Rotella and driven for 500 miles, drained and repeat, then move to the next oil but a flush with that oil for 500 miles before I began the 10k loop.  Oh man would this be fun, but like I said, I would need an income to support this and we all know that isn't going to happen. Unless I win the Powerball or Megamillions. 

 

Even after this, I'm sure someone would point out the flaws.

 

One other thing is, what would be a good test vehicle?  One with a turbo for one to be able to see how the oils perform with having to lubricate the turbo bearings of course.  So would the Ford Ecoboost be a choice, or maybe the GM 2.7 Turbomax or the Stalantis Hurricane 3.0 twin turbo?

[Black02Silverado]

2 hours ago, Z45 said:

 

Interesting video.  You will never change the minds of those that say thicker is better.  Even with the hundreds of thousands of vehicles out on the road with over 300k miles on them that have been using nothing but 0w-20 or 5w-20. 

 

It's not the oil, its the manufactures cutting cost using inferior quality parts all to save money. The days of "Like a Rock" and "Quality is Job 1" are long gone.

 

Even Honda and Toyota are going the way of money over quality, sadly.

[Atlas]

28 minutes ago, Black02Silverado said:

One other thing is, what would be a good test vehicle?  One with a turbo for one to be able to see how the oils perform with having to lubricate the turbo bearings of course.  So would the Ford Ecoboost be a choice, or maybe the GM 2.7 Turbomax or the Stalantis Hurricane 3.0 twin turbo?

 

A nice 100 mile loop would be too kind. I'd suggest something that mimics a typical daily duty where most people tend to live (congested areas) including a few short cycles / trips under 3 miles, lots of stop/go in traffic, and idle.

 

Automatic start/stop: ON

 

And use a modern DI, small-displacement turbo with at least an 8-speed trans. Maybe a 2.0L hurricane (Stellantis), Ford 2.0 or 2.3, VW 2.0, etc.

 

I think that would be a true oil torture test.

[Grumpy Bear]

57 minutes ago, Black02Silverado said:

You need to watch the entire video.  He shows some good points on all the oils.  Redline isn't bad like you might think, just like I posted, one oil can't be great on all factors. 

 

 

 

Ever hear me say "There is no perfect oil"? Like a thousand times. I'm not pushing back on results but on method. 

Edited December 8, 2025 by Grumpy Bear

[Grumpy Bear]

12 minutes ago, Black02Silverado said:

It's not the oil, its the manufactures cutting cost using inferior quality parts all to save money. The days of "Like a Rock" and "Quality is Job 1" are long gone.

 

Even Honda and Toyota are going the way of money over quality, sadly.

 True every statement.