Hey! I just bought me a 2004 F150 5.4L V8, and I got it from a little mom/pop dealership. I want to do a oil change because I'm not sure what oil they put in it or if they even put any in it, maybe the oil is old. No idea! So, I bought me some A1 oil to put in it, and I was recommended to also add Lucas Heavy Duty Oil Stabilizer to it.

Was wondering if anyone knows about this, and has done it to their truck? The guy that told me about it, said to just replace one of my Quarts with a Quart of this stuff instead. Which my truck takes 7 Quarts, so 6 would be the A1 oil and 1 Quart would be this stuff. The bottle says 5:1 ratio, and the guy at the O'relies I talked to was like "no no no!!!!! Don't do that, you'll **** everything up, just put a very small amount"... So, I have no idea what to do.

Just wondering if anyone does this, and what ratio you do? Thanks! Btw, my truck is a 2004 with 160k miles on it. Thanks for our help, defiantly appreciated! Here is a link to the product I'm talking about: http://lucasoil.com/products/engine-...oil-stabilizer

 

Welcome to FTE.
Never heard of A1 motor oil, is that a brand, or euro specification?. What API specs, or Ford specs does the oil meet & is it the specified viscosity & service grade for this engine?
Look in the owner manual for the Ford engine lubricant & filter call outs. If you don't have a manual, one can be down loaded at no cost in a link in this forums Tech Info thread atop the index page.
Any engine lube labeled as meeting Ford specifications is fully formulated & doesn't need any additional additives, or oil thickening agent & none are recommended, as who knows what, or how much of whatever is in them, nor how they might upset the synergy of a fully formulated lubricants additive package, as after market additives aren't certified, tested to, nor have to meet any specifications, so we don't know what we're buying.
An engine oil can only hold so much of an additive, so if we come along meaning to do well but not having all the info or knowledge needed, we can upset our oils ad pack synergy, have the additives fall out of suspension, or react adversely with other ad pack agents & cause all kinds of synergy mischief that we don't need.
So if we're not a tribologist, better if we just use what lubricants Fords tribologists & lubricant engineers specify & change it as the IOLM, or drive cycle we use dictates.
If you think you need thicker oil, just use a fully formulated higher viscosity that meets the service grade call out & leave the additives on the shelf, they aren't needed in todays fully formulated lubricants.
A good read on the art of Tribology here Tribology - What is Tribology | STLE

 

Don't bother with the Lucas crap at all. All it is is an oil thickener with no beneficial additives. Just use regular oil that's the proper viscosity and change it regularly. That's all you need to get 300k+ miles out of your engine.

 

Just say no to Lucas. It brings nothing to the table, and is replacing a quart of stuff that does.
A high mileage oil like MaxLife would be my choice for your truck at 160k.

 

I see that this topic is nearly 2 years old and, with only 3 previous replies, it still seems to get a lot of page views. I hope the OP decided to only use a good quality, fully formulated (ie, meeting the specifications of the license) engine oil without any additional snake oil. With only a small amount of additives of its own, Lucas Oil Stabilizer (LOS) basically dilutes the additive package of a good engine oil while just adding viscosity. As previously recommended, it's far better to use heavier grade of good oil than thickening a thinner grade with LOS. The founder of the Bob is the Oil Guy forum (Bob Winters) built an apparatus back in 2003 to test the climbing ability of LOS. His tests showed that LOS caused major air entrainment in the oil with a resulting loss in lubricating ability. See Lucas Oil Stabilizer.

 

Hi, Lucas has that see through plastic goody you can crank ~ with just oil on one side and oil with Lucas on the other ~ Lucas is intending to show that the oil with Lucas stays on the gears whereas the oil alone drains to the bottom ~ you know like the cold dry start ~ so it could be helpful not as a thickener it doesn't claim to thicken oil ```

I've never used it but have been thinking about it due to the dry start thing with the Triton Engine that I hear about ~ it just might keep lube on the passenger side camshaft area for the how many seconds it takes the oil to get where it's needed ```

What's your thought ~ Over ```

 

I think the bigger problem is that you are diluting the additives in your engine oil with another additive that doesn't provide any real benefit and has a risk of oil foaming.

Oil will drain out of the oil passages if left to sit long enough so it might take a few seconds at most to refill them. If your oil pressure comes up immediately after starting, I won't think that you have a dry start issue. In cold weather, it sometimes takes longer for oil pressure to come up for a variety reasons related to excessive viscosity. See Engine Wear.

 

Fascinating link---reps sent!

Boeing Aircraft once published something to the effect the first few revolutions of any system where a pressurized oil film is necessary and its not present accounts for almost 50% of what we'd call "engine wear". They solved this by using a pre-oiler system which makes a lot of sense. I've installed one on a reman'd Ford 5.4 engine to eliminate the dry cranking if my van has been idle overnight or a few days. Because the lower viscosity oils used in the Modular Motors which in theory could drain away from the bearings top and bottom in that time this seems a good idea to me.

I'd much rather have my type system than Lucas or any other additive and keep to the recommended viscosity for my particular engine and climate.

 

In principle, this theory seems sound. But oil does not completely "drain away" when the engine is shut off. Nor does it dry out, at least not in the time limits that you are discussing.

Oil possesses a certain "tackiness" for lack of a better term, and clings to surfaces. Why there may be a "non-pressurized" start, there really is no such thing as a "dry start", once again, at least within the time lines you discuss.

Try dipping a screwdriver in motor oil and hanging it up over night. I bet that it is still slippery in the morning.

 

A hanging oil wet screwdriver is infinitely easier and less expensive to change than an engine.

 

There are two (maybe more) modes of thought for startup wear: 1) have a thicker/tackier oil that stays in place better to provide better film strength until oil pressure builds and 2) have a thinner oil that will flow better and reach components that need it faster, which shortens the amount of time that the engine is "dry." In my testing of different weight oils and subsequent oil analysis, at least in my 6.8L, running a thinner oil that builds pressure faster showed less overall wear metals over the life of the OCI than the thicker oil. For reference, this was a difference between 5W30 and 0W20.

 

Interesting. So the thinner oil, which hypothetically "drains out" quicker actually provided less wear.

 

0W-16 will be in every car in a few years. But some people will still put 10W-40 and 20W-50 in their cars.

 

Yep. With the 5W-30, I had startup clatter for 5 - 8 seconds on cold starts. With the 0W-20, it's 1 -3 seconds worth because the thinner oil can reach the top end and pressurize passages faster.