Lucas oil additives.

Barn Owl · April 21, 2009, 05:57:33 PM

I am about to do an oil change, and having searched the archives, I only see people parroting testimonials on Lucas oil additives that I have read on the web. After doing a web search, I still don't see any hard proof that would convince me to put the stuff in. However, a part of me wants to be a believer. After all, my engine is tired and has low oil pressure. Even a little fuel mileage increase would be welcome on this trip I am going to take. The stuff is expensive and I don't want to be one that has spent money on "snake oil". What say the ones with experience and/or opinion? Anything new to add to this topic?

buswarrior · April 21, 2009, 06:14:25 PM

Change the oil and filter and be done with it.

I'm assuming you're using the proper 40wt 2 stroke oil. Multi-grade will lower oil pressure.

Hoist a cold one, using the saved Lucas money?

Every opportunity to get my hands on an engineer with some sort of petroleum background, everything I've read in balanced reporting, has yielded no recommendations to use aftermarket products. Some will yield unintended outcomes.

Seductive, these aftermarket cocktails, aren't they?

The "engineering reports" used by the product manufacturer are indeed valid, according to the narrowly defined "test" they conducted. The trouble is what did they measure and what is the relevance to your intended situation?

Hype, hype, hype, appealing to our loose wallets.

keep your stick on the ice!

happy coaching!
buswarrior

jjrbus · April 21, 2009, 07:27:23 PM

I have never seen any reputable studies done on aftermarket products. Lots of hype and fancy ad's, nothing that would convince me. I would follow the above advice, spend the money on a few cold ones. KInda like lubricating your own crankcase. Jim

Lin · April 21, 2009, 09:34:57 PM

It is extremely difficult to tell if there is any value to oil additives, maybe impossible for people like us. However, as I believe I have mentioned before, I did use a Lucas power steering additive in our '97 Volvo. It had been steering weirdly for a year, and I had kept delaying changing the rack and pinion, which I had been told was the only cure. The Lucas additive corrected the problem in less than a half hour of driving and has been fine now for about a year. This anecdote does not say anything about the benefits of an oil additive, but merely that the company is not all hype.

PADoug · April 22, 2009, 06:47:55 AM

I don't know if this is relevant, but I believed I screwed up a perfectly good VW 1.6 liter non-turbo engine with the "Teflon" stuff.

My engine was somewhere over 200K miles. I'm unsure exactly because it had a common VW problem of odometer working only when it wanted to. But the car was driven an average of 250 miles weekly, sometimes more, that part is easily verifiable. I must state this very clearly: Except for glow-plug replacement, that engine was RELIABLE to a FAULT. Case in point; Winter of 2001-2002, when we had the -10 (F) temps, the car started after 4-5 hits with the glow plugs and only 3 seconds of cranking. The fuel was cut, of course, with a little bit of gasoline as per owners manual (not recommended, just allowed). Unfortunately, that engine start meant that I just HAD to go out and deliver newspapers that morning (Semester break job).

Anyway, later that spring, after getting a lot of suspension work done on the car, I decided to "reward my hard working little diesel with some of that Teflon "compression enhancer" crap. Unfortunately, being a man, working on a Masters degree of Communications, led me to totally ignore the instructions until after I poored the crap into a hot engine. It stated: "shake vigorously". I noticed some of the...no color mention here... stuff stuck to the bottom and side of the can oozing out into the crankcase before I realized what I was doing. After thinking a bit (Big mistake considering I didn't read the instructions), I concluded that the stuff would be caught by the oil filter, right? Right??

Wrong. Why? Loss of oil pressure. The reason: Most likely it clogged the oil pickup screen near the bottom of the pan. That was the death blow to my wonderful little car. I needed some very minor welding done, and with a now possibly bad engine, and a deal on a decent replacement, I decided to scrap it.

I still feel bad about the mistake. Had that engine been running reliably, I probably would have kept the car. It only had 50 hp and around 50 ft/Lbs of torque, but it ran beautifully even on the PA Turnpike. It seemed to like 70 mph, and no matter what I did, foot on or off the throttle, it would seem to go there by itself and stay there. And yes, I was getting a true 50 mpg+ at times. 500+ miles to DC and back from the Pittsburgh area on less than 10 gallons of fuel. Unbelievable. But then again, I bought the car just to prove the fairytale stories about them false. The car did not have AC, power brakes, power steering, or other power-robbing items. Yet it was easy and fun to drive. Sound familiar to older bus owners?

I can appreciate your concern and care. But as others have said: If you value your big old reliable DD (like I valued my little old reliable 1.6 VW), I wouldn't recommend doing anything that could screw it up. Just my humble experience and opinion.

Doug

bigjohnkub · April 22, 2009, 06:49:06 AM

I went to an engine rebuilding school that was taught by an "engine Engineer. He stated that all additives were junk. In my nicest tone , I said prove it! he took the whole next day and heated oils and tested viscosity. He convinced me. (But I still put Lucas in my engine, guess I'm just a sucker for the hype). As a service manager for Kubota, I do not reccommend additives.
My two cents.

TradeCities · April 22, 2009, 07:36:54 AM

I have had a lot of experience with Lucas and I like it. We can debate its statistical irrelevancies all day and come up empty handed. I do know last week when our shop accidentally ran our 10 year old air compressor out of oil and smoke stared pouring out of the crank case we let it cool down and then filled it with a Lucas/oil mix. The high pitch squeaking noise from the bearings being burned stopped and now the compressor works like normal. Also I have been an engine builder for many years. The fleets that have ran Lucas from day one do not get my hands near as dirty and the inside of the engines appear to be much cleaner. I can also barely hold on to the parts b/c they are so slimy.

Does Lucas improve fuel economy,oil pressure, etc. who knows, I Sure don't. I do know if for some crazy reason I run my engine out of oil or loose oil pressure. I feel that the extra lubrication may be Just enough to save my crank in those critical few moments before I am able to get her shut down.

Respectfully,

Aaron

poppi · April 22, 2009, 08:05:10 AM

I'm surprised not to c sea foam used in the same breath as Lucas

Skip

JohnEd · April 22, 2009, 08:38:47 AM

I added Sea Foam to my toy Cressida trans when I hit 150K miles. It was shifting fine and that was a wicked quick car that never ended surprising BMW's and the like. Great car! After the sea foam was added the thing went nuts. It slipped, it slammed into gear, it hunted....whatever could go wrong did and it started the same day I added that crap. Drained the system and refilled with Toy fluid and within a month it was all good again. It was in there less that two days. NEVER>>NEVER>>NEVER use that crap.

HTH,

John

jjrbus · April 23, 2009, 04:07:17 AM

Quote from: TradeCities on April 22, 2009, 07:36:54 AM
I have had a lot of experience with Lucas and I like it. We can debate its statistical irrelevancies all day and come up empty handed. I do know last week when our shop accidentally ran our 10 year old air compressor out of oil and smoke stared pouring out of the crank case we let it cool down and then filled it with a Lucas/oil mix. The high pitch squeaking noise from the bearings being burned stopped and now the compressor works like normal.
Respectfully,

Aaron

Would the same thing have happened if you had just added oil

Expireing minds want to know. JIm

TradeCities · April 23, 2009, 08:09:10 AM

Jim it is very possible . I do not feel strongly enough about the subject to debate it. I simply enjoy the product.

Lin · April 23, 2009, 09:19:54 AM

Again, not saying the Lucas oil additive is good or not, but Sea Foam is a different story. That is an engine cleanser. Even if it does what they say it will do--loosen up all of your accumulated gunk-- it could make things noticeably worse. Apparently John's Toyota was quite happy with its gunk.

JohnEd · April 23, 2009, 11:11:28 AM

Lin,

I think the catastrophe was that the stuff employs a "seal swell" ingredient. With the thousand odd "O" rings in that thing that control every blessed thing it does, well, it lost it's mind. Auto tx have two families of atf and I am told that to confuse them is a disaster. I am also told that modern tx seals are compatable with either. Not a theory to be proven. Every AT Mech that I have EVER spoken with has told me to NEVER add anything to atf.....nothing....ever. only change the fluid with the proper type. I didn't suffer anything more than a big scare for that. Could have been worse.

Funny story about that TOY TX: I asked a friend that owns a shop what he thought about that Toy TX and he answered that it was one of the best TX's ever manufactured. I said "are they built really stout inside?" and he answered "haven't a clue". I said "how do you know they are good if you don't know anthing about them?" He said "I have never seen one because NOBODY has ever brought one in because it had a problem and I figure, by that, they must be pretty darn good. I have been at this a long long time."
What a card!

John