[Vwdiesel] PD cam

[pmdolan at sasktel.net]

I will be as careful as I can regarding this subject.  As a former 
lubricants manufacturer, I have a little different take on Amsoil and 
others who make all kinds of claims that they will not back up. 

To start with, while they were early adopters, Amsoil is hardly a 
pioneer.  Synthetic motor lubes were around in Europe before WWII and 
in the current form for automotive use, I believe SynLube in Canada was 
in production long before there was any Amsoil company.  ANYONE who 
met one particular US Mil spec in 1968 was producing a full synth motor 
oil. 

What irks me is that Amsoil will not submit their product for engine 
testing to certify that they have met the API standards for the 
performance required by OEMs in order to be used in their vehicles 
(thus why you will not see them listed EVER as recommended or approved 
lube).  They claim to be better than the standard - but so is everyone 
else (which means almost EVERY independant blender as well as 100% the 
big brand names) since they have all also exceeded the minium standard 
in order to be able to display the API doughnut.  Their advertising 
claims are missleading at best or dishonest in this respect if you get 
right down to it. 

As a technical person, I have to say that I can not and will not EVER 
trust anyone who makes such patently ridiculous statements publicly. 
 How could I ever trust anything else they have to say about their 
product. 

Referring to formulating lubricants:  most of the science involved is 
NOT done by the blenders, it is done by a tiny handful of additive 
manufacturers.  Once they know your base oil characteristics, THEY 
tell you what additive chemistry will give you an API compliant product 
(there are not that many base oils out there).  Making a decent lube 
oil is a long way from brain surgury.  Even some fool (such as I) can 
do it.   The rest is pretty much all marketing hype. 

Modern lube oils are so good, there are none that meet the current API 
standards that are bad, per se.  HOWEVER: in the case of PD cams the 
lube requirement is so difficult, if you do not use a lube PROVEN BY 
ENGINE TESTING to meet VWs requirement you are simply inviting 
disaster.  I have to ask why anyone in their right mind would trust a 
supplier who refuses to abide by such industry standards and makes 
outrageous claims based on nothing but trust-my-dogma  in such a 
borderline situation (honestly - it is a VW screw up more than a lube 
quality issue - but you need the right lube to survive and VW has 
specified what they know to be that oil). 

regards - Pat

On Fri, 2 Dec 2011 22:33:08 -0800, William J Toensing 
<toensing at wildblue.net> wrote:
One of the submitters to this blog said they were afraid of buying 
Amsoil. They pioneered making & selling synthetic oil for automotive 
use back in 1972. I have used it since 1974 when I first found out 
about it. 
>
>
> they are not a fly by night company but use primarily use a 
> multi-marketing system but also have an "on the shelve" program where 
> auto parts houses & garages can handle it. However, there are other 
> synthetic oils out there which, although they may not be as good as 
> Amsoil, are probably still good synthetic oils. ZDDP was removed from 
> modern oils because it harms & probably destroyed catalytic 
> converters. Perhaps this is why VW specifies a particular spec oil 
> due to adverse effects on its pollution control system. However, 
> Amsoil does have a "European" spec oil which meets VW  TDI specs. If 
> you have any concern about whether Amsoil would have any adverse 
> effect on your VW TDI they have a technical division of which you can 
> contact directly to ask questions. Go to www.amsoil.com & get the 
> phone number for their tech division. The only problem I have had 
> with Amsoil is that the oil won't break down under extreme heat so if 
> your engine overheats, it will keep running till somethi
>  ng else fails. In my case, the valve springs got so hot they lost 
> their temper so get to know your water temperature gage & if it 
> starts running hotter than normal, investigate. Bill Toensing, Nevada 
> City, CA
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