Do you have a Ford Expedition and have been thinking of installing the Amsoil Dual Remote Filtration System but were looking for ideas where?  Here is one that was recently sent in:

The Dual Remote Filtration System (BMK23) was installed on a 2008 Ford Expedition equipped with a 5.4L V8. Since it’s 2WD, there is a lot of room for mounting in front of the axle, behind the front bumper. The kit comes with all the necessary hardware, but I custom made part of the bracket in order to fit it where I wanted. A spin-on adapter was used to attach the feed and return lines to the engine. Installing the system behind the front bumper requires no more than 18” of hose for either line. The EaO15 Full Flow Filter and EaBP90 By-Pass Filter used sit well above the frame rails and are easy to get to. System capacity increased from seven quarts to almost nine.

2008 Ford Expedition 5.4L V8 2WD

The area behind the front bumper allows ample room
for installation.

Less than 18” of hose is required for either the feed
or return lines.

Filters are easy to access and sit well above the
frame rails.

Amsoil released this information on why they have introduced new Ea Oil Filters that address some of the concerns of certain engines:

Group includes reintroduction of Ea Oil Filters for several popular Toyota applications.

Modern engine design trends have resulted in some vehicles that present multiple challenges to filtration engineers, especially those who are focused on delivering extended service life. In order to remain serviceable for an extended period, a filter must ensure adequate capacity while maintaining sufficient efficiency throughout the specified interval. This is often accomplished in part through the use of high efficiency media and a slightly larger can to increase capacity.

Barriers to Extended Service

Vehicle manufacturers are under tremendous pressure to provide fuel efficient vehicles that produce fewer emissions than their predecessors. In fact, government mandates require automakers to meet specific fuel efficiency and emissions benchmarks or face steep monetary penalties. Vehicle original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) employ a variety of techniques to improve efficiency and reduce emissions, and nearly all of them negatively impact motor oil and oil filtration.

Smaller Sumps, Smaller Filters, More Contaminants

To meet the demand for greater efficiency, OEMs are offering smaller, more aerodynamic cars. They have also introduced several new engine technologies designed to deliver greater power out of smaller, more fuel-efficient engines, which often rely on turbos or unique fuel injection systems that can increase the amount of contaminants introduced into the oil. As these cars have become smaller, engine compartments have become too tight to use a filter of increased size. This, coupled with the trend toward smaller oil sumps in many of these applications, results in an extremely challenging task for oil filters.

Additional Contaminant Generation

To meet the demand for reduced emissions, OEMs are applying a number of methods, including exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). EGR works by recycling a small amount of spent exhaust gas back into the combustion chamber. Some of the side-effects of EGR include less-efficient combustion, increased temperatures and increased acids; all of which add to the oil filter’s workload.

AMSOIL Overcomes Obstacles

For some of these applications extending the service life of the oil filter would seem impossible. Smaller sump sizes, some historically sludgy engines and smaller filter sizes, combined with increased contaminants in the engine oil, present a serious challenge to filtration engineers. AMSOIL has overcome all those obstacles with its introduction of 15,000-mile Ea Oil Filters (EA15K). There are 11 15,000-mile Ea Filters in all, including some that were previously available as 25,000-mile filters. While AMSOIL has had no issues with these filters, the engine technologies used in the vehicles to which they apply are simply too demanding on an oil filter to continue offering 25,000-mile intervals. Also included in the group of 15,000- mile Ea Oil Filters are a number of filters (EA15K09, EA15K10, EA15K13) that were either discontinued or available only at OEM-recommended intervals due to the engine design issues outlined in AMSOIL Technical Service Bulletins.

15,000-Mile Ea Oil Filter Notes

Ea Oil Filters recommended for 15,000- mile service intervals are designated by the product code EA15K. These filters have been redesigned, but still feature the same premium nanofiber synthetic media as their 25,000-mile counterparts. In addition to some slight packaging modifications, AMSOIL has identified existing Ea Oil Filters moving from 25,000- to 15,000-mile intervals by placing stickers on the boxes.

Amsoil has announced this month that they have a new formula for their XL Line of Synthetic Oils.  Previously this oil was rated for 7,500 mile or six month drains, but the new recommendation has extended this to 10,000 miles or more, if longer drains are recommended by the vehicle manufacturer or oil analysis shows the oil is good for continued use.  This is a 33% increase in the interval, however, the pricing on this new formula will remain the same as the previous XL Line.

Another change in the oil is that it now meets the new ILSAC GF-5, API SN, and GM dexos 1 (5W-30) oil specifications.  It uses premium base oils, a robust additive package and, what Amsoil is calling “extended-drain boost” technology.  They are API certified.  The oil is compatible with the previous XL oils, but if mixed, use it at the previous recommended 7,500 mile drain.

With this new oil, you can use any filter for the full 10,000 mile interval, Wix being an option, however if you want the best filter protection, use the Amsoil Ea Oil Filter to help reduce engine wear.

To read more on these new oils, you can visit the Amsoil Corporate Storefront with pricing and all the specifications, or contact me directly.  The new XL Line of oils comes in the same viscosities as before:  5W-20, 5W-30, 10W-30, and 10W-40.

Should you be interested in drains longer than 10,000 miles or six months, the other Amsoil oil lines still offer drains of 15,000-35,000 miles or one year.

Amsoil has released an announcement for anyone using their EaO9 and EaO10 Absolute Efficiency Oil Filter or planning to use one.  The most common applications are in the 1.8 liter Toyota built engine found in Toyota, Lexus, and the Pontiac Vibe.  Apparently these filters are getting clogged quickly with sludge produced by these engines.  Toyota has yet to explain the cause of the sludge development, but because these filters are of such high quality and filtering capacity, they are catching the formations and prematurely filling the filter before the rated 25,000 or one year lifespan is up.  For this reason Amsoil has released a warning, and there are now labels being adhered to the boxes, recommending this filter for the standard OEM recommended drain for these vehicles.

Other brand filters are not effected, since they do not offer these extended intervals, and in many cases, since the quality of the filter is less, it won’t capture this sludge which will continue to circulate within the engine.  If you are planning an Amsoil purchase in the near future, unless you want the higher quality of the Amsoil Filter, cost effectiveness might warrant the purchase of the Wix filter counterpart also available through Amsoil.  This is still a good quality filter which will go the standard interval.  If you already have the Amsoil Oil Filter, there is nothing wrong with this filter, in fact it is doing it’s job only too well.  If you are still looking for the best engine protection, then this filter is still for you.  If your reason for purchasing this filter was to save money in the long run by only needing one filter for the standard Amsoil recommended drain, then consider the Wix as a better cost effective choice.

There is still nothing wrong with using the Amsoil motor oil at the recommended extended drain interval, just change the filter.  The question comes to mind, if this is the findings of using a high quality synthetic in these engines, just imagine what the standard oil others are using must be doing.

This gives flashbacks to the early 2000s when Toyotas had problems with their V6 engines.  At that time there was an oil circulation issue that didn’t permit the oil to flow as freely and was literaly baking petroleum oils in 300+ degree temperatures.  Even some synthetics were having problems.  Because of this, Amsoil considered these engines Severe Duty and only recommended drains of 15,000 miles or one year.  I believe later Toyota acknoledged the design problem and may have had a recall, or at least a TSB.  This effected many V6s in both Toyota and Lexus brands.  If you have one of these, and weren’t aware of this issue, you might wish to look into it more.  Your engine may not be protected as well as it could be.

About two weeks ago, it was time for my friend to get an oil change on the family Honda CRV. He’s been running Amsoil in his Tran Am for years, and the free changes the Dealership was offering since buying the car used were now up.  So he asked me to convert this car over as well, in particular, so that that he or his wife wouldn’t have to worry about changes but once every year.

The car is a 2004 Honda CRV with a 2.4 Liter i-VTEC engine.  Looking up the Amsoil recommended proucts, it showed that the AeO13 was the correct Amsoil Ea Oil Filter, and we used the Amsoil 0W-20 Synthetic Motor Oil.  Both products used together will keep him on the road for 25,000 miles or one year.

We also decided to run the Amsoil Engine Flush through the engine, just to help clean out any deposits that may have accumulated over the years using the petroleum the Dealer had been putting in.  So the changes were pretty regular.  We purchased a simple Fram filter for the flush. A good filter should be used to help capture what the flush loosens and not let it circulate in the engine.  While this filter wasn’t the best, just for a flush, it was a cost effective option.

The below videos I had to break up into two parts in order to get them onto You Tube. If you know how to change your own oil, none of this should be new, but thought if I was doing it anyway, might as well document it for those that might be interested.

In the past few weeks there have been a few small changes in products I thought I’d sum up here in a post:

New Slip Lock™ Tube Packaging

The Amsoil Slip Lock additive changed packaging and is no longer found in bottles but tubes.  Please note that tube packaging is indicated by the suffix TB. Now that AMSOIL Slip Lock™ is available in tubes rather than bottles, its product code is ADATB rather than ADABA.

Amsoil SDF88 Oil Filter Available

The EaO88 Oil Filters for the Ford 6.0/6.4L Power Stroke Diesels was cancelled a few months ago.  I don’t know the exact reasoning, but rumor has it the design with the Ea Media wasn’t up to par with what Amsoil wanted them to be.  I understand that a newer model is in the works, but no date of release is known yet.  We had access to Donaldson and Wix for this filter, but these will no longer be available as Amsoil has rereleased their previous SDF88 filter to cover this application.  If you used the Amsoil filter before the Ea Oil Filters were released, then you know the media it has.  Still an excellent filter, and the current cost on them is better than the costs we had for the Donaldson and Wix replacements.  Don’t feel you’re settling with the SDF, or Super Duty Filters.  These were the norm for Amsoil for many years and ranked as one of the top filters on the market.

Amsoil notice on this filter:

AMSOIL Now offers AMSOIL SDF88 Filter for Ford 6.0/6.4L Power Stroke Pickups
The AMSOIL SDF88 Oil Filter for Ford 6.0/6.4L Power Stroke Diesel Pickups is now available. The SDF88 oil filter features cellulose media and is designed for OEM-recommended change intervals. It is compatible with the AMSOIL BMK11 and BMK21 By-Pass Systems and replaces Donaldson P550528 and WIX 57312 filters. The Donaldson P550528 and WIX 57312 filters are discontinued.

Mother’s Products

On May 1st Mother’s Car Care and Marine Care products were discontinued in Canada.

New Automatic Transmission Fluid

Watch here for an announcement soon on the new transmission fluid Amsoil is releasing.  This new fluid will cover some applications that the standard Universal Automatic Transmission Fluid currently is not able to.  This will include DEXRON® VI, MERCON® LV, SP and Toyota WS.

I wrote this short article a few years ago for a magazine I was advertising in soon after the new Amsoil Motorcycle Oils and Filters were released and the White Papers that compared various popular brands to these new oils. It also was presented in one of our local Amsoil meetings and I believe a few Dealers might have used it in some of their own promotional material. Today I stumbled across my original copy and thought I’d reprint it here and try to claim a little of the credit for it:

Are Amsoil Synthetic Motorcycle Oils and Filters for Your Bike?

Today most riders have at least heard about Amsoil Motorcycle Oils. Amsoil was the company to develop the first API rated synthetic oil on the market. Today many OEM fluids are synthetic and all the major oil manufacturers have one. “Synthetic oil” is now associated with quality.

Last year Amsoil reformulated their Motorcycle Oils, offering the most advanced oil on the market. Common feedback when switching over is a smoother engine and lower operating temperatures.

To show how well the new oils perform, Amsoil contracted an Independent Lab to perform standard ASTM tests comparing their oils and other popular brands, such as Bel-Ray EXS, BMW, Castrol V-Twin, Golden Spectro 4, Mobil 1 V-Twin, Royal Purple Max-Cycle, Screaming Eagle Syn3, and more. The results are available in a White Paper. In some cases Amsoil didn’t perform as well as other brands, but overall, they outperformed them all. Tests included High Temperature/High Shear Viscosity, important for protection of bearings during high temperature operation; Wear Protection, used to measure the robustness of oil minimizing wear during metal-to-metal contact; Volatility, measuring how much oil evaporates causing an increase in consumption and viscosity. Another benefit of this formula is its Rust Protection characteristics. The oil also has a Gear Lube rating, making it an even better choice for all cavities. Amsoil was ranked as number one overall by the lab.

In July Amsoil jumped further into the motorcycle market by upgrading their existing Motorcycle Oil Filters to their new Ea technology. “Ea” stands for “Absolute Efficiency.” These filters use nanofiber technology, currently used in Abrams M1 Tanks and other heavy duty applications. They outperform the best cellulose/synthetic blend media of any other filter on the market, by capturing smaller particles with less flow restriction. These filters have an “absolute” efficiency of 98.7 percent at 15 microns. Check some of the other brands, and they offer a “nominal” rating, which is a much lower percentage of capture.

The new Ea Motorcycle Air Filters use this same technology in a reusable dry filter. These filters have a four year service life and offer superior filtration, higher holding capacity while still providing high flow characteristics. They are available for 1988 to 2006 Harley Davidson models including those equipped with S&S carburetors and cleaner housings.

AMSOIL is now offering two new Injen Air Intake systems for BMW vehicles:

AMSOIL/Injen Intake part #ASP1130
For 2008 BMW 535i 3.0L 6-cyl Engine Code N54 B30A Twin Turbo

AMSOIL/Injen Intake part #ASP1125
For 2007 – 2009  BMW 335i 3.0L 6-cyl Twin Turbo
For 2008 – 2009 BMW 135i 3.0L 6-cyl Twin Turbo

In late November, AMSOIL depleted its inventory of EaO47 Filters and discontinued the product until the next generation could be fully developed. Now, AMSOIL introduces the replacement for the EaO47, the EaO50. The EaO50 carries the following applications:

2007, 2008, and 2009 GM vehicles with, 4.8L V8, 5.3L V8, 6.0L V8, 6.2L V8, & 7.0L V8 engines including:

Chevrolet Silverado
Chevrolet Tahoe
Chevrolet Suburban
Chevrolet Avalanche
Chevrolet Impala
Chevrolet Malibu
Chevrolet Trailblazer
Chevrolet Corvette
Hummer H2
Pontiac G8

There were several vehicles on display at the 2008 SEMA show that featured Amsoil logos and products, with one even winning 1st place in the annual Scion Tuner Challenge.  Here are some pictures:

About the Winning Scion Tuner Challenge car taken from the Amsoil Blog:

John Pangilinan is no stranger to winning car builds. His first project car, a 2000 BMW 3-series, won over 40 awards, including NCCA Best BMW nationwide in 2003. The BMW gained national and international media coverage that included magazine features in over a dozen titles with numerous covers. From the start his work became a source of inspiration for other builders.

At the 2008 SEMA Show earlier this month Pangilinan’s AMSOIL lubricated, hot blue Scion won 1st place in the annual Scion Tuner Challenge. The award consists of a trophy, gear from Sparco, and $10,000 cash.

The car will be at the upcoming LA Auto Show and Detroit Auto Show. After that, the Scion will go tour across the country for various events as a display vehicle. It will also be featured in Max Power UK and Modified Magazine with details on the build.

Pangilinan, a veteran builder with 8 years under his belt, knows that a winning build requires both styling and performance. Thanks, John, for recognizing the contributions AMSOIL synthetic motor oils and drive train fluids can make toward achieving your endgame.

Below is the Mustang Injen/AMSOIL intake that was on display and underneath is Marketing director Roger Tibbetts of Injen with Ed Newman, director of advertising at AMSOIL, holding the award it received:

Roger Tibbetts of Injen and Ed Newman, Amsoil Director of Advertising