Mike Ford - AMSOIL Independent Dealer

How To Dispose of Used Motor Oil Josh Kimmes | Mar 15, 2017 11:11 AM Changing your own oil may not always be enjoyable, but it is fulfilling and worthwhile. DIY projects such as changing your own oil promote self-reliance and extra peace of mind that the job was well done. One of the often-overlooked aspects of changing your own oil is properly disposing of the used motor oil. Here are a few essential tips before your next oil change. Contain used oil First, you need to safely catch the used motor oil. While draining the crankcase and removing the oil filter, it is ideal to catch every drop of used oil. I use a GarageBOSS drain pan , which has a screen on it to catch the filter or drain plug, a feature I sought out after dropping the drain plug in my bucket on many occasions, causing me to fish it out. Some oil may end up on the ground. Absorb it with kitty litter (or an oil-absorbent powder), sweep it up and clean with a degreaser  to help rem...

Written by Daisy Quaker, AMSOIL Inc. Why does honey flow more slowly than water? Because of the difference in its viscosity. Viscosity is the measure of a fluid’s resistance to flow. Water, for example, flows much faster than honey or maple syrup (if you prefer that in your morning coffee) when poured from a container. Thin and light  describe fluids with low viscosity Thick and heavy  describe fluids with high viscosity What causes differences in viscosity? Molecules, honey (get it?) I think best in visuals, so let’s think of molecules as a group of people in a room. In one group everyone is holding hands very lightly. It’s flu season and they don’t want to get sick. On the other side of the room, everyone is holding hands fairly tightly. It’s a close-knit group, that one. If you weave through both groups and break through the chains of people, you have an easier time weaving through the first group than the second. ...

  Ed Newman | Jul 06, 2016 9:29 AM My first car was a 1961 Mercury Meteor, which I got for $125 and drove for four years. I have a lot memories associated with that car. One memory has to do with a problem butterfly valve in my carburetor. Sometimes the engine would stall when I was idling at an intersection. When this happened I had to pop the hood and shove a screwdriver down the throat of the carburetor to hold the valve open so I could get it started again and head on down the road. I became very quick and efficient at jumping out of the car to deal with this. The problem was a sticky valve that didn’t open and close as it should have. The valve controls the air/fuel mixture that is essential for an internal-combustion engine to run. Had I known about AMSOIL Power Foam at the time, I would have used it to keep the valve clean so it wouldn’t stick. AMSOIL didn’t exist when I was in school, but engines with carburetors continued to be sol...

John Baker | May 16, 2016 2:04 PM Although gas is hovering around only $2.00 per gallon these days, increasing fuel economy is still a top priority for most automakers, due in large part to more strict corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) requirements on the horizon. One strategy automakers are using is widespread use of synthetic lubricants. How do synthetics increase fuel economy compared to conventional lubricants? Reducing viscosity increases fuel economy At one time, most passenger cars/light trucks used 10W-40 motor oil. Then it was 5W-30. Today, many vehicles call for 5W-20 and 0W-20 oils. And an even lower viscosity, 0W-16, is on the horizon for certain newer vehicles. The lower the oil’s viscosity – defined as its resistance to flow – the more readily it will flow. Imagine a jar of honey and a glass of water. Stirring water with a spoon requires less energy than stirring honey. The same principle applies to your engine and motor oil. ...