Lucas UCL is odorless?

[JTK]

I've been through several gallons each of FP and LC the past few years and got used to their unique smell. I know it's real scientific, but the FP & LC smell kina gives me a nice cleaning property warm & fuzzy. Special blend of herbs and spices I guess. So I've been out of FP & LC for awhile & picked up a $10 quart of Lucas UCL to try. It looks, smells & pours just like motor oil?! What gives? In reality, I've never noticed a difference in perfomance or economy with Chevron techron concentrate or FP and LC in my applications (pretty clean engines to begin with IMO), so I don't expect anything different with Lucas UCL. It just makes you wonder if it's not just a $10 bottle of 5w-20.

Thanks for any insight!
Joel

 

[Snotty]

Hit up truck stops...they usually have it

 

[Strjock81]

Advance Auto has it as well. Saw it couple days ago.

 

[Dominic]

Oh its not motor oil and it doesn't smell like motor oil either. To our best efforts we believe it's some form of polyisobutylene. I've had pretty good success running it in mine for the past 2 months, and as a result I bought a gallon. I'll be posting my results in a somewhat scientific manner soon to the board. I have had nothing bad happen from running UCL, and I find my car runs better with it on all gasolines. I'm sure FP is good, but it just isn't available everywhere which makes it difficult to have on hand at all times.

 

[JTK]

quote:

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Originally posted by Dominic:
...I'm sure FP is good, but it just isn't available everywhere which makes it difficult to have on hand at all times.

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I know what you mean. Thing is, any place near me that carries lucas, only has the UCL in quarts. It's usually around $10/qt. I can still mail-order a gallon of FP for ~$44. Hard to say which is a better value.

Joel

 

[psudaytona]

Nah, I dont think it smells like motor oil. UCL has a unique smell all its own, not very good imo

I like the smell of motor oil,esp used motor oil. However I cant stand the smell of lucas UCL. Now MMO on the other hand....

 

[Zesty]

I heard Napa sells the Lucas UCL in gallons for about $25. I got the quarts on sale at Kragen for $6 each.

 

[JTK]

quote:

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Originally posted by Dominic:
Oh its not motor oil and it doesn't smell like motor oil either...

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Man, I don't know about that. I realize it's a matter of 'nasal perception', but I compared the scent of lucas UCL with a bottle of kendall GT-1 5w-30 and a bottle of Exxon superflow 5w-20 and the smell of the UCL is nearly identical to those oils. I then managed to spill about an ounce of UCL

while transfering some to one of my empty FP/LC squeeze bottles & the UCL is thick and oily, kind of unlike your typical fuel add.

G/luck
Joel

 

[porcupine73]

Been getting Lucas UCL by the gallon mail order, but plan to check out NAPA for maybe a better price. Since we're both in Buffalo Joel, I'll post if I find it retail anywhere.

I don't worry about UCL's relatively thick consistency because after mixing at such a low ratio with gasoline it surely isn't going to be thick after that.

I've had really nice results lately mixing about half Lucas UCL and half RedLine SI/R-I cleaner. I definitely notice a difference running that RedLine stuff but not so much with Lucas UCL alone. I use FP60 and LC20 too; FP60 I seem to notice a little smoother run. I don't seem to get much mileage difference no matter what I run, but I don't keep super close track. NY 10% ethanol gasoline probably doesn't help.

 

[surfstar]

I like that UCL and FP60 are thick and concentrated products - you only need 2-3oz / 10 gal. Those other fuel cleaners that are super thin, are just using kerosene or similar as a carrier and contain between 0-20% additives for the most part.

The nice snotty consistency of Lucas UCL, seems perfect for an UCL.

 

[JTK]

quote:

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Originally posted by porcupine73:
Been getting Lucas UCL by the gallon mail order, but plan to check out NAPA for maybe a better price. Since we're both in Buffalo Joel, I'll post if I find it retail anywhere..

---

Yep, I've seen where I can get a gallon of UCL shipped to my door for ~$34, which beats the typical $10/qt retail price. Figured I'd start off with a qt.

Joel

 

[surfstar]

http://www.storesonline.com/site/387339/product/10003
UCL gallon for $23.80 and free shipping if you order over $31, so add some other stuff and its a good deal or look for CSK coupons for 2 for $12 on the quarts, usually every few weeks I see one.

 

[rusty 63 model]

Lurking around, and decided to register and post a few comments. Just to chime in on Lucas UCL. I have been running it in my lawn mower the last 3-4 tankfulls. The last tank had a pretty bad odor out the exhaust. I felt a little nauseous when I was through. But I dont know if I can contribute that to the Lucas. Maybe heat exhaustion. I have used FP 60, and am appreciative of the light scent it has out of the bottle.

 

[JAG]

For me Lucas UCL was both odorless and useless. Gave my VW 1.8T engine worse gas mileage, not better. I think it can help some engines and hinder other engines, depending on the combustion situation in the particular engine.

 

[Mr Nice]

Flying J truck stops also carry the gallon of Lucas, so does NAPA for $24.99

 

[JTK]

Yeah, maybe it depends on the area/store. Gallons of the oil stablizer are easy for me to find. UCL, not so much.

G/luck
Joel

 

[muddawgs]

check your farm stores and big truck stops. the gal ucl at the farm store is 19.99 and 6.29 for the qt bottle. i've also noticed a little better mpg with and less without it.

 

[GT Mike]

quote:

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Originally posted by JAG:
For me Lucas UCL was both odorless and useless.

---

Ditto when used in my '01 Durango 4.7L. All it did was make it ping louder. Now that I think about it, the tank that first had UCL in it was the first time I ever heard this engine ping whatsoever. It hasn't stopped since. Only cure is to go one grade higher to 89 octane gasoline.

But it's a very light spark knock, so it's not really detrimental to the engine's longevity. Lots of my Dodge engines would ping worse than this one, and not one has ever had a problem.

Personally, I'd rather hear an engine pinging and adjust my octane accordingly, rather than have an over-sensitive knock sensor pull timing and kill performance like most GM and Fords do.

 

[Dominic]

You can buy the UCL from summitracing also for a good deal considering their flat shipping per order. I can get UCL and oil filters at a good rate

(K&N)

 

[Bror Jace]

JAG & JTK, I was posting in a thread recently about UCL having little or no smell and this made me suspicious ... like it's merely a light oil such as pale oil, hydraulic oil or ATF without the dye.

If you search here using UCL, you'll find the thread.

--- Bror Jace