After browsing the site and admiring your rigs for a while, I thought I'd jump in and ask for some advice. I have a 91 4runner and am wanting it to last forever. I have been running full synthetic in it since it had 79k on it (it currently has 156K) and have changed the oil every 3-4 thousand miles. I am interested in the amsoil I saw some of you talking about and did some research of it on the net. My questions are: is the stuff as good as they make it out to be, and do you really go as long as they say (7,500-25,000 miles) before changing it? That long with the same oil in my engine kind of freaks me out. What have you guys found?
Thanks.

 

It's kind of freaky to me too & although I've stuck with Amsoil in 3 of my vehicles (Toyota MR2, Acura 1.6EL, Toyota 4Runner), this is the first time I've left it in for longer.

I flushed the engine and did the Amsoil oil/filter change at the end of May of this year. After that I can honestly say I've never seen oil so clean. Anyhow, from May to Oct I've put on about 7500 miles. I changed only the filter last month and the oil has gotten some brown to it, but is by no means dirty. All seems to be great but I think I'll end up changing it all out every 10 (or even 8) months instead of their suggested 12, and change the filter every 5 (or even 4) months instead of their suggested 6.

Anyhow, to sum it up, I've been hesitantly using it for over 7500 miles & it still seems to be almost good as new.

Al

 

I run the Amsoil Series 2000 and change it out at six months, whatever the mileage. The filter gets yanked at about 3 months.

It's kind of strange to leave the oil in longer, but the easiest way to set your mind at ease is to get your oil analyzed a couple of times. When the results come back looking almost like new oil, it begins to become easier to picture leaving it in for longer and longer.

 

How do you take off the oil filter and not change the oil, i had always assumed you had to do both?

 

Just the same way that you would change the filter if you were doing a full change

A bit spills, but not much. Actually, it's really no more than when you are doing a full change. In fact, if you use the trick where you put a plastic bag over the filter before you completely remove it, you can get the spillage down to nothing but a few drops.

Once you get the new filter on, run the engine for a couple minutes, shut it off and let the oil settle a bit. Check the dipstick and you will be low by the amount spilled and what was in the filter. That will be about half a quart with the stock size filter and just slightly more with the extended duty filter.

Top it up and you are done.