Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Best for Fleets

Mercy Regional Ambulance Service in Benton, Illinois has 22 ambulances and 6 cars. They need to be "ready to roll" at a moment's notice, no matter what the weather. Before they switched to AmsOil synthetic oil, it took their chief mechanic a lot of time every month to keep them running. "These engines, especially the 6.0 liter, are prone to injector problems along with EGR valve problems." About a year ago they switched to AmsOil synthetic lubricants and Dustin Larkin (their chief mechanic) says "My expenses on parts are down 70% from 2007 and overall downtime is down 80%!" In 2007, Larkin changed a total of 85 injectors on the ambulances. He also had to change at least four injectors per unit. Each ambulance averages 100,000 miles per year. Two 2006 models have more than 250,000 miles on them. Larkin said, "Sometimes ambulances run three or four days without shutoff in real hot or cold weather. That's hard on any equipment." They now change oil at 20,000 miles and have had to change only TWO injectors in the last 10 months. That's a hefty savings for any fleet. Using synthetic lubricants can mean a similar savings for ANY fleet, or any private vehicle. The savings on just the cost of the oil and filters alone can be $250 a vehicle per year when you look at it as "cost per mile," rather than cost per quart. That's the difference between 40 quarts of fossil oil and 8 filters (if you change oil every 3,000 miles) and four or five quarts of synthetic oil (depending on your engine capacity) and two filters (the first fill requires a filter change because synthetic oil cleans out the engine very quickly). (Source: Action News)

Synthetic Oil Myths

There are many myths being told yet about synthetic oil, mostly by makers of fossil oil, and repeated by mechanics and others who do not know what they're talking about. They just accept what they're told at face value and pass it along, with nothing behind it except the lies being told about synthetic oil to keep people from changing over, which would seriously reduce their business if it happened. Every time I talk to someone about changing to synthetic oil I hear again one of these "old saws," none of which are true. Now I hear about one oil company, one which copied the "leader" in synthetic the originator of synthetic lubricants for automotive use), CLAIMING to be selling "pure synthetic oils. They have three levels: one that claims 5,000 miles, the next claming 7,500 miles, and the third claiming 15,000 mile drain periods. What they really are is "para-synthetics ("synthetic blends") and don't dare claim the 25,000 miles you get from the leader. This article contains just a few of the more popular myths (lies) about synthetic oil. (Ray Thomas 101)