Unless otherwise informed, I am going to add some during the fluid change I'm going to do tomorrow.

 

I have heard nothing but good things about lucas products.

 

I have not used the stuff personally, but I have a few friends that are fleet mechanics and they swear by the stuff. I figure if it's good enough to put in a bug rig, it's probably ok to use in our trucks. If you do decide to use it, let us know what you think.

 

Then you've heard wrong. Stay away from that lucas garbage.

do some reading

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/images/lucas/lucas.htm

 

You're talking gear oil. I'm asking tranny fluid.

I DO KNOW THIS: Lucas kept an old and dying diesel F250 of mine alive to get to Memphis from San Diego with near three hundred thousand on it's clock.

I'M GOING TO RUN IT.

I guess we'll see.

My experience is from EXPERIENCE with it. I just wondered if it made a difference with a standard shift running on auto-trans fluid. It sure looks like this Ranger will be a test sled...

However it comes out, I will not BS anyone on it

Right now the truck howls in many gears.

I'll see how it does on the test runs.


~Wolf

 

If he can prove that it will cause gear and motor oil to foam, I'd be willing to bet if he repeated the test with trans fluid it would still foam.

 

ive used it in my 3040 John Deere for many years, i dont car what "Bob" has to say, lucas works great, kept my tractor from eatting oil, it had a healthy apptite for 20-50w, was using upwards of a gallon a day, now it drinks about a gallon a week. this tractor has 20 years and god knows how many hours on it

 

i like the auto trans stuff in my auto trannies... it helps me... as for a manual i have no idea

Matt

 

Okay, here's the report so far.

I knew what I was going to see when I drained it - but didn't want to believe it. When I got the truck from Mr. Van Dingleberry (name changed to protect the guilty) there was an oil change sticker in the window. That should have told me the guy was incapable of routine maintenance, NOT that the truck was well looked after.

The capacity of the tranny (here I'm estimating, since the Haynes manual I have conveniently skips the capacity of the manual trannies) is around 2 1/2 to 3 quarts of Mercon.

About two pints of certifiable sludge came out of the drain hole... Bound to have been the original stuff, plus a fair quantity of grundge and metal from various bearing and gear surfaces.

I have to say, I'm impressed with this box. Most trannies would have grenaded long ago! It's never leaked a drop, so the trans fluid must have gradually boiled off or vaporised and left through the case vent. That would be a long process.

This tranny has definately suffered damage from lack of lubrication, and severe use. I noticed the problem worsening because I now have a 94 mile round trip commute some of which is on highways with a 70MPH speed limit.

It will have to eventually be replaced so I can rebuild it.

About the Lucas -
One thing I have seen with all Lucas additives (including power steering) is that it looks like nothing on earth you would ever dream of putting in an engine, PS system, or gearbox. It's almost like a thick jelly kind of stuff, and bright red. It will eventually make it down a funnel, but you're better off squirting it right in the filler hole.

The fill and drain are large holes with big cap nuts on the drivers side of the case and are conspicuously marked "FILL" and "DRAIN". I loaded it with a quarter bottle of Lucas and nearly three quarts of Mercon before it began coming out the filler.

THE TEST RUN:

I took it out about ten miles and back, partly on highway. It is considerably quieter, but this gearbox is definately damaged. I parked it and watched for any drips, and it's tight. So now it has proper lubrication!

Reverse gear has completely quieted down.

There is some whine in first, second, and third.

Fifth is still loud but less than it was.

Fourth never had a problem, and that's amazing because I run in that on the side roads the most...

At some point I need a kit to rebuild it, but it just may survive until I can get another set of wheels under me, sideline it, and go after the G-II project full force.

 

I would drain It again ta flush it better Wolf.

 

I will, but driving it in the mean time ought to break up and distribute whatever crud is inside. It may take three complete flushes.

Fortunately - O'Rielly's autoparts sells Mercon in GALLON JUGS!

 

When I bought my 99 last year with 76K on it I drained the trans fluid and am sure it was factory fill. CAme out dark black and some what thick, you could tell it was once mercon ATF but in sad shape. I filled it with generic mercon and drove for 1k miles then drained, I was surprised that no new gunk came out and the fluid looked good. I filled at that time with Royal Purple syncromax and ran that for 9 months and 10k miles. I changed it again with the Royal Purple, my trans is quiet but 3rd gear barks when hot if you don't shift slow. THe Royal Purpal is better for this than the mercon was and it shifts great when cold, not stiff at all.

I plan on continuing to change it once a year in the fall with the Royal Purple.
Dan

 

my dads f-250 has over 500k on the original tranny and the oil has never been changed. it does leak so some is added every oil change

Matt

 

Ya a couple hundred miles and do it again. Right on

 

I ran Lucas in the trans (same gearbox) for a while. The only difference I noticed was, when it was good and cold out, it was like rowing through molases until it got warmed up..