I run john deere plus 50 II in my truck and change it around 5,000 miles depending on what I did with the truck. I run a quart of Lucas every oil change. Always have in everything. And have never had a problem with it. And when I tear into the engine its always spotless inside.

 

I change oil and filter at 10-12,000 miles, Mobil Delvac 15-40 in the summer and Rotella 5-40 in the winter. No additives or preservatives in my crankcase, 280,000 miles and counting.

When I pull my valve covers off it's always spotless inside.

 

5k intervals on Delvac (always cheaper than anything else at wal-mart). But, with the added oil by-pass, hoping to double that.

 

I only put @ 5-6000 miles annually on the truck. I change oil in the fall, and it is parked most of the winter with battery minder plugged in.

Using Rotella 5-40 and Motorcraft 1995.

Blackstone says go to 8000, but annual works for me. They showed trace fuel last sample, so will test before next change. Fluke or injector o-rings??? We'll see.

Oh yea, new member of the 100K club last week.

 

Ok well lots of replies. Apprently Lucas isnt all its cracked up to be? I started using it in my diesel for a number of reasons, 1 being I have a 1/2 1997 GMC that has 250K miles and never had any engine problems (I always used castrol high mileage and Lucas) and the 2nd reason being it said it wa good for your engine....I had been toldby several mechanics that was the best stuff out there....guess there are lot of different views.

 

Using a Racor bypass filtration system and full syn 5w40 oil, I'm running 15K between changes.

The problem with this issue of extended oil drains and the use of aftermarket additives can be rather emotional for some folks; and you're right, opinions abound. At the same time, there are also some facts which should be considered, and it can sometimes be hard to distinguish fact from opinion.

Speaking as an engineer and someone who is trained in lube technology, I'll share a few facts for you to consider.

1. Lucas does a tremendous job at marketing their product line... a really tremendous job!

2. The Lucas Oil Stabilizer is made predominantly of heavy viscosity oil with a viscosity modifier and a little bit of chemical soap. The viscosity modifier does nothing more than make your oil thicker... much thicker than it should be at the quantity you're using.

3. Heavy viscosity engine oil will sound quieter because the internals can't clap against one another as easily, but it also is more resistant to flow, especially as it gets cold. Therefore, on startups in the mornings, you can expect to have your turbo running longer than it should before it will ever see the oil pumped into it, and at the wheel velocities your turbo sees, that is NOT a good thing. This heavier oil viscosity will also cost you some fuel mileage.

4. Rotella is a well-built oil and has an effective additive package already built into it. I don't sell that oil because I rep a different manufacturer, but it is a good oil and you should not add anything to it unless your engine is at the end of it's life and has tremendous blowby and you're simply trying to postpone a rebuild.

5. Blending oils, especially high quality oils, is a science and an art. The chemistry created by a single manufacturer can be completed screwed up by either blending in a different manufacturer's oil or oil additive. Depending on the two chemistries, the use of either a second oil or oil additive can completely kill your base oil's ability to resist oxidation, corrosion, foaming, etc. You can also create a situation where your "home-blended" concoction is more likely to produce sludge. Example... There used to be a video online demonstrating what happens to your engine oil when Lucas is added and the oil is placed under agitation and shear in a gear box... it begins foaming like crazy! I expect the website hosting that video had to pull it due to threats from Lucas... don't know for sure, but it is not to be found any more!

All of the above is well documented by numerous third party organizations in the field of lubrication technology, and if you want some reading material on the subject, just let me know.

I hope this helps.

 

I pretty much said that but in about one sentence. But I like how you said it better

 

My apologies if I can off as an alarmist, my post was pre-coffee.

 

I run Shell T6 full synthetic and go 8000 miles between changes. I put 23k miles on it in the last 11 months, lots of long distance interstate and some 6-8000 pound towing. I use Ford filters and run a little diesel kleen in the tank from time to time to help lube the injectors.

 

I use a 50/50 blend of Mobil 1 & Rotella. Same oil now for about 89,000 miles (102K total).

I have a GCF O-2 bypass filter which brings my total up to almost 6 gallons. Change the spin on filter about every 15-20K and the GCF about every 10-15K depending on how much I've been playing with chip.

Whenever the GCF filter is changed I lose a little over a gallon which is added back using the fresh 50/50 blend. As long as Blackstone labs says my oil is still in parameters I'm not dropping it.

The lab checks are only about $5. A whole lot cheaper than $100+ every 3-5K.

 

The issue with Lucas is our oil system. We have a HEUI system where the motor oil is used like a hydraulic fluid to fire the injectors. We don't use an injection pump like most of the other diesels out there. When our HPOP pumps the motor oil up around 3,000 psi, it shears down the motor oil and causes things like the Lucas to foam. When the Lucas foams, the injectors don't fire correctly.

250k miles on the GMC is pretty good. I've got around 384k on my 7.3 without using any oil additives in it. The oil analysis comes back from the lab looking like it did a couple hundred thousand miles ago.

If you pull off the freeway or tow a heavy load and notice a rough idle when you slow down, or a rough idle when the engine is hot, then change your oil and get the Lucas out of there. Since cooler temps are settling in, you might be able to get by with running it for a while if you don't work the engine too hard.

 

Where are you buying Blackstone lab checks for about $5?

They are about twenty bucks where I live.

Care to share any of your reports with us as a reference?

Mine can be found at the bottom of this page:
http://springerpop.net/F350/lube_bypass.html

Pop

 

5,000 mi OCI with rotella UOA here; UOA 7.3 F250 @ 294,444 mi Rotellla T - Bob Is The Oil Guy

And here:
UOA 7.3 SD @338,000 mi. Rotella 15-40 Dino - Bob Is The Oil Guy

BTW after UOA's went from 4,000 OCI to 5,000. Now I am @ 6,000 mi OCI no shear as of yet with Rotella dino

 

I put my truck on a diet of Rotella semi syn. I go 10,000 with a filter change at 5k.

 

Back in 03 I bought 30-40 of them direct from GCF when I ordered the system, came out to about $5 apiece at the time.

I'll see if I can dig up a couple of my reports and get them posted. I think you'll be fairly surprised.