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Amsoil Oil Change Interval....

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Somthngfrce

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 28, 2007
Messages
213
Ok guys,

Here's a question for everyone. I run Amsoil on my 04 xb12s. The shop tech tells me that I should change the oil every 3,500 miles. I thought with Synthetic you can go to 5k. I dont mind changing the Oil every 3,500 miles but really. In my Volvo, I run full synthetic and even the dealer agrees that I can go 5k intervals as opposed to regular Oil being 3,500.. Anyone know?
 
Yes you can go 5k. The reason it's been 3 months or 3k for so long is because oil breaks down and becomes less effective. Synthetic oils don't break down like natural oils do. Natural oil doesn't protect as well so it gets "dirty" faster. Synthetics protect so much better that it takes longer for them to get dirty. So you can change it every 5k. If you ride hard, do it every 3,500, if your an easy rider then do it every 5.
 
I just went 4500-5000 on my last run of amsoil 20w-50 with a k&n oil filter. The oil came out black as hell, but it still smelled fresh and didnt have that sticky feeling that a regular oil has after 3k. I don't know that I would go that long again though. $20 worth of oil twice a summer sounds like cheap insurance to me... (i have a buddy that races Legends cars, sponsored by amsoil... they run a 20w50 v-twin oil. He gets the stuff for less then $50/case. w00t)
 
I just changed my 20w50 amsoil last weekend after about 4200 miles since it's getting colder and I switched to 10w40 for the winter. I don't have any problem going 5000 miles on it.
The amsoil I used in my car recommended 30,000 mile oil change intervals with 7,500 mile filter change intervals.
 
I run Royal Purple and change it at about 3k. With an air cooled motor it seems to me that the oil would break down faster than in a liquid cooled motor. Anyone ever done a comparison?
 
Y OIiterval wi synthetic on my BMW is 12-15,000. I would think once per season or every 5k would be fine on amsoil.
 
The Nub, what kind of car do you have that calls for 30,000 mile oil change and just filter changes in between? Also, what kind of oil is it calling for?

MrDozer, I would think your right with natural oil, but with synthetic it sounds like the difference would be minimal because of it's resistance to breaking down with heat, that being one of the big advantages. I'm not sure how you would do a comparison though. Someone on here was talking about a company who will analyze the things floating in your oil, maybe that's something they could do also. You would have a hard time doing a scientific test though, you would need the same riding conditions for each interval. So if you hit a really bad rainstorm, or crazy traffic, it would change the consistancy of your tests.

Rocco, BMW's with what kind of oil, the stuff from BMW?
 
The Nub, what kind of car do you have that calls for 30,000 mile oil change and just filter changes in between? Also, what kind of oil is it calling for?

This was Amsoil's recommendation for a diesel engines... I know that has nothing to do with an air cooled motorcycle engine, I was just throwing it out there.
 
Rocoo, thats crazy, maybe I'm just not used to fancy cars.

The Nub, that makes it even more interesting, deisel oil gets freakin nasty, I can't believe they say to wait that long. Very weird
 
I had an old car that never needed oil changes!! It leaked and burned so much oil I was constantly topping it off.....always had fresh oil, never needed changing :p
 
I thought it was crazy too when they first told me the intervals but it seems to be fine. I'm closing in on 100,000 miles on my car and it hasn't had any engine issues.
 
Its not crazy, diesel oils have the best additive packages in the industry. Do some research on diesel oils. H-d even recommends diesel oil if you can't get theirs. The big rigs put big miles on before changing oil. I use to sell diesel oils like shell rotella, mobil devac,ect to 5600-10,500horsepower towboats that push 30+ barges at a time and run 24/7 some running months with shutting down. You have to have good oil for that. Looking at it that way most of us are easy on our bike oil.
 
Holy crap! Maybe diesel oil is the way to go haha. I guess I didn't think of it in those terms, I just know when you change the oil how black it is. I have some underpants that are still stained after 3 years from dumping some oil on my nuts.
 
I have some underpants that are still stained after 3 years from dumping some oil on my nuts.

[up] for the laugh [down] for the visual... That's something I just didn't need to think about.
 
I figured I'd bump this thread, instead of starting a new one.

With synthetic oil change intervals every 3k miles, let's say you only put on 1k of miles each year. Would you have to change your oil once every 3 years? Or should the oil be changed more frequently?
 
I think the recommended TIME interval was like 3 months or so .... i wouldn't go much longer than 6 months ... a year maximum before I changed it ... regardless of mileage ...
 
I've been doing 6k+ miles on my 1125 with no fears on damage (amsoil) and once a year on my cars (15k+ miles average) with the same. I just checked the oil in the 2011 altima, oil still looks clear/ light brown in color after about 13k miles, they said it can go as far as 25k miles or once a year for oil changes.

I can't give much of a status report for mileage on my xb since I have to tear the motor apart now, but I guess I managed to get 1500 miles on it since I got it. 1st thing I did was changed the oil in both swingarm and primary.
 
I use to sell diesel oils like shell rotella, mobil devac,ect to 5600-10,500horsepower towboats that push 30+ barges at a time and run 24/7 some running months with shutting down.
Shell Rotella is one of the best kept secrets in the art of motorcycle maintenance!
 
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