Hi - I just ordered some Amsoil engine oil for my 4Runner's motor, and Amsoil synthetic for the diffs and transfer case. I went for it because of the fact that I can go a looooong time between changes (babies are coming soon, and I don't want to worry about maintenance...). Opinions on synthetics in general, Amsoil in particular? Did I get sucked in by the hype?

Yes you got sucked into the hype. Let me guess, your a "preferred customer" now and you buy at a discount?

There are better and cheaper oils out there. For gear oil, the best is Redline MT-90

Amsoil is good oil, but overpriced.

Thanks - I'll remember that. A buddy of mine used to make Redline oil - worked at the plant in Martinez, CA. Of course, I found this out AFTER I placed my order. Oh well. Lesson learned. Hope I don't get spammed now that I'm a preferred customer, with all the rights and privileges thereof <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

I still like Amsoil. I use it for most fluids on my 4Runner. Be aware that you can't realistically use the oil past something like 7500 miles unless you also get a dual remote bypass oil filter that filters it really well. One of those 2 large filters has a much finer filter media. Only in that situation can you use the oil for a really long time (like the claimed 25,000 miles) and THEN it still has a chance to look like new after all those miles, and you can do the oil tests to see how long you should use the oil. Without that additional ultra-filtration system, it still gets dirty and looks bad like any synthetic oil after several thousand miles. So there's no need to do the oil tests to see how long you can push it since the oil is obviously dirty and black by that time.

It's nice that the preferred customer thing can be purchased for only 6 months at a time now rather than per year. Then you can stock up on all filters and fluids for quite a while so the membership is a very minor expense.

According to Amsoil, if you use their oil filters along with their oil, you can run it for 25k (less under severe use). So...I ordered an oil filter, too. I figured that the oil is just about the same cost as Castrol Syntec, and the oil filter is a few bucks more than a K&N oil filter or another premium filter. Add on shipping and it's about the same or a few bucks more. So...realistically speaking, I'll probably change the oil 2x a year instead of 4 or 5x. That still saves me money and hassle. And NOW that I know that it's a MLM thing, maybe I'll look around a little more next oil change...