Might want to check the oil filter they put on them as well.

 

Well,possibly an update.I talked my employer in to bringing the other truck back from the dealership and installing a crank kit in our shop.I,being a rather impatient type,got tired of waiting on the rollback. We have heavy duty pipe bumpers with tow hooks so I just got the straps out of the toolbox and was going to go down the back roads to the shop. At this point the Wrecker shows up, I unhook strap and throw it in the bed of the truck. I heard the sound of a plastic bottle moving around. I didn't want it to blow out on the road while traveling so I jumped up in the bed to retrieve it and found a Empty Bottle of a popular oil additive. Upon returning to the shop I spoke with our maintenance guy and discovered that he dumped a full. bottle in each truck every time that they returned from an oil change. Not only did this overfill the engine it was also done at the end of the day never ran and mixed with the oil. Nearest we can tell the temperature dropped to about 11 degrees that evening. This is pure speculation but I believe the oil pump picked up a blob of cold product and possibly even block the pickup tube for a few moments. So I purchased a bottle and put it in the freezer. I know that I'm not going to reach 11 degrees, but I will see when I get to work this morning just how thick the product becomes when not mixed with oil. I made the comment to my employer that a shop employee thinks he knows more than a petroleum engineer and that there is no reason to be dumping snake oil into a motor. Details coming soon as I'm going to work and pull that bottle out of the freezer.

 

Not good! never do that.

 

A properly functioning freezer should hold around 0° F in normal use, so you should have no problems duplicating that temperature.

I don't think it's likely that a glob of additive blocked the pickup tube. I think it's much more likely that you're seeing the long-term consequences of contaminating your crankcase with snake oil.

Can I ask what additive you found? Would be good to know for posterity regardless of how this comes out.

 

I think you nailed it.

 

That sounds like a Paul Harvey, rest of the story moment....

 

The product is Lucas. And when cold is very thick. I don't know if the extra volume in the oil pan would allow the crank to essentially with air bubbles into the oil or a product that thick in cold weather not mixed with the oil when warm could cause this. I personally don't buy oil additives and such but advertising works. I would also caution placing the blame on the product seeing that it was over full concerning oil level. Oil sample is not back yet and this is all pure speculation. But it is the only common denominator

 

there is a recall for 2017 6.7 defective oil pump failures in cold weather had one fail with 1500 miles on it

 

Interesting. I appreciate the way you're reacting to all of this and not jumping to conclusions. It will be interesting to see what your oil analysis shows.

I'm not against any particular oil additive, I'm against them as a whole. Lots of folks have used Lucas without problem, but you have two failures that are both quite uncommon with a single common denominator. I don't think we will ever know for certain what killed these engines, but I think there's enough evidence to provide reasonable doubt that it was a defect.

 

The post(thank you) above is why I urged caution.My job involve failure analysis,although in a different industry.I work on German/Scandanavian engineered equip daily.I hate to admit it,but we are a bit sloppy compared to the Europeans when it comes to tolerances,build quality and materials used.90% of all parts failure in my industry can be directly tied to human error.Its my job to look for these lapses in judgement and produce documentation to back it up. A faulty report could easily cost someone their job so I have learned to have restraint in my analysis.

 

This whole thread just re-inforces my attitude toward additives!!!
They are mostly "snake oil" in my book! The design engineers have designed engines to operate with certain oils to be used for proper lubrication. Then Joe Supersalesman comes along and says to use XXXXXX and your new engine will last 10 times as long and suckers bite. They know more than the design engineers. Kind of like bolt on power/mileage adders! If the engineers knew there was an additive that "greatly reduces engine wear", don't we think the engineers would have asked said compound to be added to the oil when it is being produced at the refinery?? Ok, I am off my soapbox for now! Everyone have a great day! Oh, and BTW, I would have the afore mentioned technician that dumped in the additive without my knowledge's nuts in a vise by now!!

 

It's a touchy subject right now at work

 

I will bet so! Good luck.

 

Doesn't sound like this was an intentional act of sabotage by the technician, so I don't suggest going overboard. I'd establish a policy against this kind of thing going forward though.

 

If we put new,not reman in,the total for both trucks is right at 30k plus change.