What is wrong with Lucas gear oil?

[Chris142]

In a recent thread several people said not to use the Lucas gear oil.

I want to know why.

Is it an unsatisfactory lubricant?
Price? A higher price does not mean it won't lubricate gears does it?

Another reason?

I recently got some at a good price. The reason I bought it is because it says that it contains the additive for the posi type clutches in my jeep and was cheaper to buy the Lucas with that vs buying a bottle of additive to add to another brand of oil.

Lucas shows the gear oil to be GL-5 as well as a few other specs.

So can someone tell me why this particular oil will not properly lubricate the D44 in the back of my Jeep?

 

[maraakate]

Lucas makes a lot of oil honey junk, but I find their gear oil and red n' tacky grease to be good products.

My guess is that there may be something marginally better at a similar price range or just general anti-lucas because of their other junk products. Should be fine to use the gear oil.

 

[Hohn]

The objection to Lucas isn't that it's not actually a GL-5 oil or anything like that.

Rather, it's closer to the hatred of Rotella among some-- it's cheap, bare-minimum oil that's priced like it's something amazing because it's super heavily marketed.

I personally find a couple Lucas products useful, but that's a very short list:
-- Upper cylinder lubricant
-- XTRA polyurea grease

I personally won't use any of their actual oils or oil chemistry products. Certainly not the original "oil stabilizer" which is usually a net negative for any oil added to it.

 

[4wd]

The two I have used and liked:
Red n tacky
PS fluid

 

[GW.]

I’m sure some of their products are fine and we know some are money grab junk. I just refuse to support the company in general.

 

[Snagglefoot]

I have Lucas diff fluid in my son’s Silverado. So far the diff hasn’t complained. There is a spreadsheet of diff fluid put together within the realm of Bitog but I haven't seen the Lucas product on it last time I checked.

 

[Bailey28]

I am using Lucas primary chaincase oil in the 'primary' of my Harley road king. The primary contains the clutch and chain drive from the crank to the clutch. I ride fairly aggressively at low speeds in cone obstacle courses so the clutch is the first thing that heats up and takes a beating.

Lucas is the product I found that allows me to ride the longest with the most consistent clutch feel before I need to let it cool off. I says 'gear oil' and at 100*c the viscosity is 14.4 Cst.

 

[Chris142]

Im not talking about the Lucas goop. I'm not using that.

BTW I know of a Matco tool truck that had a 5.9 Cummins diesel in it that the owner put the goop in with every oil change

The engine ran well over 20000hrs with no rebuild. The Gruman body fell apart which parked the truck not engine failure,

Who likes Quake State oils but won't use a Lucas oil? Who remembers when QS used to sell oil with Slick 50 added ? Does anyone avoid QS over that?

The Lucas goop may have some usefulness. Like it's a great assembly lube for oil pumps. It makes a pump suck up oil quickly.

This oil drinker trooper we have may get the goop soon as my supply is dwindling. LoL

 

[GW.]

Im not talking about the Lucas goop. I'm not using that.

BTW I know of a Matco tool truck that had a 5.9 Cummins diesel in it that the owner put the goop in with every oil change

The engine ran well over 20000hrs with no rebuild. The Gruman body fell apart which parked the truck not engine failure,

Who likes Quake State oils but won't use a Lucas oil? Who remembers when QS used to sell oil with Slick 50 added ? Does anyone avoid QS over that?

The Lucas goop may have some usefulness. Like it's a great assembly lube for oil pumps. It makes a pump suck up oil quickly.

This oil drinker trooper we have may get the goop soon as my supply is dwindling. LoL

I would just suggest a higher grade fully formulated oil. Avoid the goop with no additives.

 

[Marcozi]

Joke: do you know why the brits drink warm beer? Their refrigerators are made by Lucas.

 

[Chris142]

Joke: do you know why the brits drink warm beer? Their refrigerators are made by Lucas.

That's a different Lucas....

 

[Wireman1987]

there's nothing wrong with Lucas gear oil. their synthetic gear oil worked great for me in a LS rear diff.. and I spoke with others that used it no one had anything negative to report back. if you hear negative flack it's a personal issue someone has against the Lucas brand.

 

[Chris142]

I would just suggest a higher grade fully formulated oil. Avoid the goop with no additives.

I have / had cases of 10w30 but that's dwindling.... Fast! I need to thicken up the 10w30.

If she goes up cajon pass like or a crazy lady it will blow a qt of oil out in about 10 miles.

 

[maraakate]

I’m sure some of their products are fine and we know some are money grab junk. I just refuse to support the company in general.

This makes sense. Too many just won't state this as a reason.

 

[GW.]

I have / had cases of 10w30 but that's dwindling.... Fast! I need to thicken up the 10w30.

If she goes up cajon pass like or a crazy lady it will blow a qt of oil out in about 10 miles.

Sounds like some serious problems. I don’t even think a 50 or 60 grade will help you at this point.

 

[kschachn]

Im not talking about the Lucas goop. I'm not using that.

BTW I know of a Matco tool truck that had a 5.9 Cummins diesel in it that the owner put the goop in with every oil change

The engine ran well over 20000hrs with no rebuild. The Gruman body fell apart which parked the truck not engine failure,

Who likes Quake State oils but won't use a Lucas oil? Who remembers when QS used to sell oil with Slick 50 added ? Does anyone avoid QS over that?

The Lucas goop may have some usefulness. Like it's a great assembly lube for oil pumps. It makes a pump suck up oil quickly.

This oil drinker trooper we have may get the goop soon as my supply is dwindling. LoL

As is usually the case with these claims, it is "in spite of" rather than "because of".

 

[thastinger]

I ride fairly aggressively at low speeds in cone obstacle courses so the clutch is the first thing that heats up and takes a beating.

You mean the course with the hotdog on a string?

 

[RDY4WAR]

The issue with Lucas gear oil is consistent with the issues of most all Lucas products. It's bottom shelf material promoted as a top shelf product through massive marketing campaigns. They have some rather significant QC issues as well.

The Matco truck lasted 20,000 hours despite using the "goop", not because of it. It's just a bright stock with no additives in it. The bottle it comes in is more valuable than the product itself. The only thing it does well is separate a fool from his money. The wholesale profit margin is ~35,000%.

If your engine is puking a quart of oil in 10 miles, no amount of exceptional unobtainium is going to fix it. That's an engine problem, not an oil problem.

I don't support Lucas in general due to their pushing of snake oils, lack of QC, deceitful marketing tactics, and exploitation of public gullibility for profit. They're a very unethical company. Thus, even though a few of their products are quite good such as the Red n Tacky grease, I won't purchase it on moral grounds.

 

[Chris142]

Sounds like some serious problems. I don’t even think a 50 or 60 grade will help you at this point.

Plugged oil return in the Pistons... Common problem on that model car.

 

[JavierH19]

Not a lucas fan but I got two tubes of their marine grease for $3 and change each on walmart clearance a few days ago. My rationale is that they're not making profit on it so I technically didn't support them.