AMSOIL Preferred Customer Mark Tweedale, Neenah, Wis., learned about the quality and cost savings he can depend on with AMSOIL Series 2000 2-Cycle Synthetic Racing Oil after a hard lesson using Pennzoil-Quaker State oil in his watercrafts.

The watercrafts are stock Kawasaki Ultra 150s, bought new in 1999 and 2000. They have a triple cylinder 1200cc motor that puts out 145 horsepower with a top radar speed of 65 mph.

"They are Kawasaki's top of the line muscle crafts," Tweedale said.

The machines use a race spark plug that costs "a whopping $15 each," Tweedale said. "I began fouling plugs almost immediately into their use."

In fact, he fouled out 30 plugs in the first year. He took the watercrafts back to the dealer to try to identify the source of the problem. "The dealer found nothing mechanically wrong with my watercrafts," Tweedale said. The dealer told Tweedale none of his other Ultras had experienced this plug fouling problem.

Tweedale began to suspect his oil and he contacted Pennzoil-Quaker State about the problem, explained the expense of the plugs and that the machines were mechanically sound. "I asked them for help and possible reimbursement for my plugs," Tweedale said.

Pennzoil-Quaker State sent a letter requesting Tweedale send in some of his oil for analysis. After the oil had been analyzed, Tweedale received a letter from the oil company stating that, while the oil's additives showed signs of breakdown from aging, it was not to the extent that it would foul plugs in his watercraft. "They offered me no reimbursement toward my plug expense," Tweedale said. They did offer him a gallon of their synthetic oil.

While talking with coworkers, he discovered Gary Yashinsky, an AMSOIL Preferred Customer in Green Bay, Wis. Yashinsky "had only positive things to say about AMSOIL," Tweedale said. "He truly went the extra mile to help me solve my problem and also to promote AMSOIL."

Tweedale was convinced. He had the Series 2000 Racing Oil installed in the watercraft early in the spring of 2002.

"I went the entire summer with no fouled plugs in either watercraft," Tweedale said. "Unbelievable. What a difference oil can make."

He became a Preferred Customer and does everything he can to promote AMSOIL products to his friends and coworkers. "I will be an AMSOIL Preferred Customer forever," he said. "Thank you AMSOIL for putting out a quality product which in turn solved this problem for me."

He does most of his watercrafting in Lake Superior, the world's largest freshwater lake. Generally, Tweedale starts his trips on the big lake at Munising Bay. He plans this summer to complete a ride started last year with his friend Todd Olson of Gwinn, Mich., that traverses the shoreline along the entire Upper Peninsula. "We completed half of it last summer and simply ran out of nice weather," he said. "It's one cold lake and can get downright violent at times. That's what makes it a challenge."

This year, the trip takes them from Little Girls Point north of Ironwood, Mich., around the peninsula and back to Houghton; the final leg covering the distance from Grand Marais to Sault Ste. Marie.

When their journey is over this year, the two—along with Olson's wife, Gina Olson, and Tweedale's fiance, Kristi Krajewski, who will join them at different stages along the coast—will cover nearly 400 miles. That's in addition to a nearly 200-mile trip last year. They plan the trip in stages because the lake takes its toll on their bodies.

"We move on as soon as our bodies and muscles recover from the pounding of the first (stage)," he said. "We tend to get beat up a little bit out there on (Lake) Superior. North winds are bad."

This article appeared in the AMSOIL Action News, May 2003