Engines Tolerating LUCAS Oil Stabilizer

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CrackyWainwright

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Jan 15, 2016
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Location
Alabama
I was a regular user of Lucas oil additive at every OCI until I began reading this forum a few years ago. You fellows convinced me that oil alone really is enough to protect an engine. Now I only use Lucas in one of my old mowers whose engine both burns and leaks oil.

With that being said, I think most engines will tolerate Lucas better than some people fear here on BobIsTheOilGuy. For example, one of our neighbors has a 1996 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 with the 3.4 V6. He uses a quart of Lucas at every oil change; I mean this man believes in the stuff religiously. At this point he's at 470,000 miles on that engine with no rebuild. I see that truck regularly and know its history fairly well.

That man's son has a 2005 Toyota 4Runner with the V6 engine. He also uses a quart of Lucas at every oil change and currently has 335,000 miles on that engine.

I really don't know what to make of cases like this. Did the Lucas help with longevity in some way, or are some engines just very tolerant of thick oil?
 
How does an engine "tolerate" anything? Are you implying the Lucas additive will damage some engines and not others?

I have well over 400K on my old Sienna, does that mean my 1MZ-FE tolerated the absence of Lucas?

I haven't seen any evidence that a thicker oil is in any way harmful to any engine. Have you?
 
My son's old 2000 Mitsubishi Galant with 144K miles when I bought it as his first car in high school, finally had low oil pressure light that would come on and burned/leaked oil. I added one quart of Lucas Oil Stabilizer when I changed the oil and then drove it from New Hampshire to the Navy Nuclear Power School located at Goose Creek, South Carolina and delivered it to him. One way distance is 1,039 miles. Drove the whole family in the car. It burned no oil and did not have low pressure light on. We also drove it for a week in South Carolina while visiting. He then drove the Galant for a few more years after that including his being stationed in upstate New York, then Connecticut. So he drove it from SC to upstate NY when he was stationed there.
 
STP Oil Treatment will do the same thing-used to run it with 20W50 Maxlife in my old 350 TBI Suburban with low oil pressure (to the point lifters would tick at hot idle in drive)-brought the pressure up, slowed down the burning, eventually even cleaned the lifters enough to virtually eliminate the ticking. Guessing the cam bearings were pretty much gone at 220K, no blow by or rod noise, amazingly.
 
Originally Posted by CrackyWainwright
I was a regular user of Lucas oil additive at every OCI until I began reading this forum a few years ago. You fellows convinced me that oil alone really is enough to protect an engine. Now I only use Lucas in one of my old mowers whose engine both burns and leaks oil.

With that being said, I think most engines will tolerate Lucas better than some people fear here on BobIsTheOilGuy. For example, one of our neighbors has a 1996 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 with the 3.4 V6. He uses a quart of Lucas at every oil change; I mean this man believes in the stuff religiously. At this point he's at 470,000 miles on that engine with no rebuild. I see that truck regularly and know its history fairly well.

That man's son has a 2005 Toyota 4Runner with the V6 engine. He also uses a quart of Lucas at every oil change and currently has 335,000 miles on that engine.

I really don't know what to make of cases like this. Did the Lucas help with longevity in some way, or are some engines just very tolerant of thick oil?


I feel bad for the guy, he probably feels as if Lucas helped to get those engines to that mileage. Regular oil changes and the fact they are Toyotas.
 
Id say its like relating that ive used fuel system cleaner that ive never had a fuel related issue...i think most engines outlast the vehicles if oil changed regularly
 
Originally Posted by CrackyWainwright
I was a regular user of Lucas oil additive at every OCI until I began reading this forum a few years ago. You fellows convinced me that oil alone really is enough to protect an engine.
? That stuff are not "additive. Thats oil thickener.

It becomes currently a littlebit a kind of fashion for guys that want or must drive WWOs (wee-wee-oils) like GF-6 or LL FE or 508 etc., but have fear concerning wear of WWOs. Than make slightly stronger oil film (HTHS & co.)
Or if one have more oil in fuel (tuned, track, adverse driving profile etc.)

In such similar cases you can put NO MORE than 1% in a half of OCI or so. The classic stuff. Not the newer for synthetic modern oils blah blah. Why? Its the same, but thinner
laugh.gif
You can therefore buy the white bottle...
 
CrackyWainwright said:
I was a regular user of Lucas oil additive at every OCI until I began reading this forum a few years ago. You fellows convinced me that oil alone really is enough to protect an engine. Now I only use Lucas in one of my old mowers whose engine both burns and leaks oil.

With that being said, I think most engines will tolerate Lucas better than some people fear here on BobIsTheOilGuy. For example, one of our neighbors has a 1996 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 with the 3.4 V6. He uses a quart of Lucas at every oil change; I mean this man believes in the stuff religiously. At this point he's at 470,000 miles on that engine with no rebuild. I see that truck regularly and know its history fairly well.

That man's son has a 2005 Toyota 4Runner with the V6 engine. He also uses a quart of Lucas at every oil change and currently has 335,000 miles on that engine.

I really don't know what to make of cases like this. Did the Lucas help with longevity in some way, or are some engines just very tolerant of thick oil?
Click to expand...
Lucas didn't help, may have slightly hurt wear protection, but overall doesn't likely cause much damage. The engines still last because usually the people that use Lucas are at least trying and tend to keep up on other maintenance. The Lucas is a poor choice in a good working engine but if they take care of everything else the engine will probably last a long time.
 
I understand what you're getting at. I don't use it myself but have before in an engine with low oil pressure. Not surprisingly, it did work for that purpose. Years ago, I worked for O'reilly and had a gentleman that came in to buy a case of oil for his Dodge truck every few weeks. That thing burned oil like crazy. One day he came in and bought the Lucas because he needed to take a 2000 mile trip and knew he would go through a case. He came back a week later and said the truck had used ZERO oil since adding it.

My point is, it does have its place just not necessary in a healthy engine :)
 
panthermike said:
I understand what you're getting at. I don't use it myself but have before in an engine with low oil pressure. Not surprisingly, it did work for that purpose. Years ago, I worked for O'reilly and had a gentleman that came in to buy a case of oil for his Dodge truck every few weeks. That thing burned oil like crazy. One day he came in and bought the Lucas because he needed to take a 2000 mile trip and knew he would go through a case. He came back a week later and said the truck had used ZERO oil since adding it.

My point is, it does have its place just not necessary in a healthy engine :)
Click to expand...

He probably would have been better off with just running 20w-50 or something heavier, at least he'd have kept up the AW additive levels rather than diluting them.
 
No one will ever know what kind of difference it made, if any.

Sorry, sometimes the truth is so boring.
 
So the question is. Since Lucas only makes the oil thicker, why not use a thicker oil. Say this toyota with 500k uses 5w30, switch to a 15w40 instead, or possibly a 20w50. Thats why Lucas is doing but not giving the add pack the engine needs.
 
The only think Lucas does for an older engine as the tolerances become larger is fill those gaps. What was said. Id use 20w50 vr1 valvoline on top of a stout 5w40 or just run 15w50 and a few quarts of 20w50 vr1 FS. My car calls for 0w40. I run 15w50 6 quarts and 2.9 quarts of 20w50. Its my belief that it helps for timing chain issues in the 4.7 L v8s and bearing cushion. Thats a 2014 cls550 benz btw
 
My bet is that the added viscosity does roughly offset the add pack dilution. As long as one changes oil frequently enough, it probably does no harm. It just probably does no benefit either.

It’s when the miles build up and the VII shears that it seems problematic.
 
Years ago I worked at a local Honda dealer where we'd send used cars across the street to a local mechanic to PDI them before we put them on the lot. Every car he did for us got an oil change and a quart of Lucas Oil Stablizer. This guy swore by that garbage. I questioned management, they didn't care, they wanted the cars prepped for the line. He had a relationship with the dealer for several years before I got there. In any event I laughed, it appears they tolerated it.
 
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