2004 CAT C-15 Sample

[SHC]

First time having a sample taken off my C15 CAT enighe. It is in a 2004 Western Star and has 710K miles on it.

Sample had 23K miles on it, Lucas Oil additive was used and it burned NO oil during the 23K miles. Just want to get your opinions on the reading.....

 

[Smokefan1977]

How much Lucas did you use?

Lucas contains NO additives and with what you poured it it seemed to have watered down Delvacs Additive package and also thickened the oil. Sample again next OCI and watch the iron. It's elevated IMO but not real bad. Try not using lucas

 

[The motor guy]

That must be what it is. The additives are way low. Excellent wear though.

 

[The motor guy]

are the 710,000 miles original?

 

[oggb]

Leave the Lucas on the shelf and just run straight Delvac 15w-40.

 

[Rob_Roy]

Additive package looks diluted, but wear metals are low. Next time skip the Lucas.

 

[The motor guy]

Don't they call for 30,000 mile oil changes for that thing?

 

[daman]

Lucas is [censored]!!,there's no benefits to it stick with straight 15w40.

 

[SHC]

On a C15 it uses 44qts of oil, so you place 1 gallon of Lucas in lieu of 1 gallon of oil.

As for oil change intervals it is reccommended by CAT to change every 15-20k miles.

And yes, the 710,000 is original mileage, the motor has not been rebuilt.

 

[SHC]

Originally Posted By: Rob_Roy
Additive package looks diluted, but wear metals are low. Next time skip the Lucas.


I have always used Lucas and not had any negative effects. On the positive side, I do notice that my oil pressure stays between 58-63psi through out the entire 20-30k miles I run the oil. Without the Lucas it drops to about 50-55psi after about 5k miles.....

I know everyone has their own ideas about it, but I'm still on the fence about using it. I may try not running it for 2 changes and see how the samples come back.

 

[Smokefan1977]

Lucas is 100% and oil thickener that is why the increase in oil pressure. If you do some research on this site you will find Lucas has ZERO additives of anykind in it. It's snake oil that has truckers thinking it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Take a case in point. The little gears demo they have that shows 1 side doesn't climb the gears, but the lucas side does.....Lets just think about how much water would climb up gears compared to Karo Syrup.

If you look at a Delvac virgin oil analysis you will see the additives in the product in your UOA does not remotely look like an HDEO of anykind. Lucas will have people thinking its an oil booster or TBN improver when infact the lubrication people on this forum have found it has absolutly nothing in it.

Your oil pressure with regular 15-40 is more then fine for your C-15. I personally would want a stouter package over thicker oil. Also thicker oil does not disapate heat aswell either.

Here is another thread on the subject. I think you'll see the idea in the first few post when you see Virgin numbers.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=890161&page=1

I hope this helps some and I know it's not what you or a lot of other trucker dsrivers would like to know. Forrest Lucas surely doesnt want that industry to learn this

 

[SHC]

Originally Posted By: Smokefan1977
Lucas is 100% and oil thickener that is why the increase in oil pressure. If you do some research on this site you will find Lucas has ZERO additives of anykind in it. It's snake oil that has truckers thinking it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Take a case in point. The little gears demo they have that shows 1 side doesn't climb the gears, but the lucas side does.....Lets just think about how much water would climb up gears compared to Karo Syrup.

If you look at a Delvac virgin oil analysis you will see the additives in the product in your UOA does not remotely look like an HDEO of anykind. Lucas will have people thinking its an oil booster or TBN improver when infact the lubrication people on this forum have found it has absolutly nothing in it.

Your oil pressure with regular 15-40 is more then fine for your C-15. I personally would want a stouter package over thicker oil. Also thicker oil does not disapate heat aswell either.

Here is another thread on the subject. I think you'll see the idea in the first few post when you see Virgin numbers.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=890161&page=1

I hope this helps some and I know it's not what you or a lot of other trucker dsrivers would like to know. Forrest Lucas surely doesnt want that industry to learn this


Thank you so much for the info!!!!

 

[Gene K]

According to the MSDS Lucas is Heavy Fuel Oil. At current oil prices its likely still well under a buck a gallon. If you want to continue to add Heavy Fuel Oil to your crankcase I would just buy it from a direct source to avoid paying Lucas the extra $20 a gallon.

 

[Johnson615]

I manage a fleet with 6 C-15's and we do regular oil samples with them. Your sample looks normal. Not sure what oil filter your running but these motors really do well with the Cat 1R1808 High Efficiency filter. I would loose the Lucas. With the quality oil's these days there is just no need to use it. Caterpillar wont flag Iron until 50ppm I believe. If you have a Cat dealer in your area you might let them do your samples. Give them your engine serial number and their program will compare your numbers vs Caterpillars limits and give you a more accurate evaluation for your C15. IMHO your C-15 looks great. The Lucas isnt hurting anything other than your wallet. Thanks for the post.

 

[Johnson615]

Also just looked in my manual and Cat C-15 Acert min oil psi is 15 psi. So I believe your oil pressure is not a concern. Oil volume is probably more important than oil pressure in this case.

 

[rufushusky]

Originally Posted By: Smokefan1977


I personally would want a stouter package over thicker oil. Also thicker oil does not disapate heat aswell either.



Bingo, Delvac, Rotella, Delo...etc etc will do just fine without any help from Lucas oil.

http://www.lucasoil.com/images/medialibrary/03_Syn_Stabilizer.pdf

Look how thick that junk is...45cST at 100*C...put that in perpective Delvac is 15cSt at 100*C... no wonder your oil pressure is higher.

http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lubes/PDS/NAUSENCVLMOMobil_Delvac_1300_Super.aspx

 

[The motor guy]

People are fooled into thinking that using some expensive synthetic oil or some fancy additive will make your engine last longer. This is WRONG. Oil filtration, maintenance and operating conditions make an engine last longer. The best oil filter that I know of is made donaldson endurance. 15 microns at 100% efficiency and 7 at 50% The only way to get better than that is with bypass oil filtration. An engine such as the C15 may already have a bypass filtration on the engine from the factory. I don't know. Sometimes they have bypass filters combined into the full flow filter also.

 

[Gene K]

Basically a Diesel Engine if properly maintained can be expected to last so many gallons of fuel through it.

In my case dropping cruise speed from 75 mph to 65 mph and idle from 40% to less than 5% resulted in at least a 30% increase in life expectancy (Actually more because the idle actually increases wear more than just the fuel use would indicate).