GTR
Brand - Mobil1
Weight - 10w30
Filter - Purolator pureone
How often - 3000 kilometers (or around 2K miles)
Motor - RB26
Power - 400whp

Any more info - i used to run rotellaT 15w40 with K&N oil filters, but just recently changed BACK to using mobil1/pureone filters after doing a shit ton of research...

Mustang GT
Brand - Mobil1
Weight - 10w30
Filter - Purolator Pureone
How often - 2.5-3K miles
Motor - 3V 4.6L V8
Power - 300CHP

Any more info - ran castrol GTX when i first got it when it was new in 07, then used to run royal slurp, and K&N filters, did research, shit's over rated, went BACK to mobil one

 

not going to break it all down...
but I ran mobil 1 in my old integra GSR and it would go for about 8thousand miles before it even started to turn color. it was only about 250 whp, but it was beaten on all of the time. it was an off day if it didn't see 9+k rpm's
so it is odd to me that you guys are burning through it in 2000 miles.

my old 240 used to just get castrol syntec. It just happened to fall when it was on sale pretty much every time.
i'd run mystery oil through it for a little bit just before changing the oil. then a bottle of engine flush. let it sit and drip for a while. pour a little bit of new oil down it to try and pull some more of the old crap out. toss in a bottle of lucus and top it off with oil.
I was running 20w50 for a while, but they didn't have enough one time, so I stepped down to 10w30. noticed a slight difference in the way the engine ran. Got crazy the next time and used 5w20. I doubt it made any more power, but it just felt better.

Ran Motul 10-30 in my bike. it would last between 2k and 4k depending on how I was riding.

 

^Lots of horror stories mixing Lucas additives w/ synthetic. You are quite the lucky one.

 

Brand: mobil conventional
Weight: 10w30
Filter: Nissan or mobil
How often: 500-600 miles
Motor: sr20det redtop
Power: 400whp

 

really?
hhmmm...
They do make a synthetic lucas, I just couldn't justify spending the extra few bucks on it for no reason.
I've always had good luck with it.

The only horror stories I have heard about it were when it was used with oils with lots of detergents in them. like high mileage ones and all of that.
I guess it would have to do with how the synthetic blended with a conventional oil. If they don't mix, then I could see it being a problem.
Don't know how true it is, but I was always told that if they sell a conventional/synthetic blend, then the synthetic will mix with the conventional just fine since they don't make a "blendable" and a "nonblendable" version of the same synthetic just to mix with conventional. Castrol sells a blend, which, as I understand it, is just GTX mixed with Syntec.
Maybe that's why I got away with it with no problems.

 

Think post oil pan. Lucas really likes to cling and will try to hold on to your turbo (My opinion, havnt had turbos for long so i cant prove anything)...Theres also a foaming issues causing lack of lubrication. Synthetics being thinner, will still cling to parts better then mineral, its just a property of synthetic. They never lose grabbing power because molecules never break down, they stay as viscous when you first get them to when you perform your oil change.... the additives are unnecessary because the oil will never "thin" It will most likely thicken if it gets too cold, too often.

Edit: I was worried when my first turbo was a dud so i read up like a madman on oils and stabilizers

 

Brand-mobile 1 full syn
Weight-10W30
Filter- fram extra guard
How often- 3k
Motor- fully built ka24de low comp
Power- slow

starts to get dark right around 2800ish..

 

lucas doesn't foam.
It is actually intended/designed to cut down on foaming.
and synthetic isn't any thinner than mineral. If it was thinner, then it would be a different weight.
Same with viscosity level. Just because it is synthetic doesn't mean it is more viscus.
And synthetic does break down. The advantage to synthetic is that it can take longer to break down because it can be designed to have a higher flash point and it is a bit more resistant to breakdown from the temperature change.
The idea is that synthetic is more resistant to breaking down. It can handle the searing forces a bit better, and the temperature changes better, and it handles a higher temperature level before it starts to burn. Beyond that, it is going to perform as well as its mineral oil counter-part. As far as the additives and stabilizers, no, most of them are not needed. However, many of them do have benefits. Especially on older dirty engines. But that is also only in the sense of adding more detergents to the oil to help clean the carbon deposits due to excessive blow by. The exceptions to that are products such as Lucas, simply put, makes the oil more sticky so that your head and valves and even turbo keeps some lubrication during start up before the oil pump can build pressure. The only other additive that I would say is any different but still helpful is Engine Restore, an old gear head called it a mechanic in a car. I've used it on several different engines with good results. Don't know that I would suggest it for a turbo car, but it does what it is supposed to do. With that said, the majority of additives are useless, even more so on the majority of cars. I would say lucas is a waste on anything with less than 100k miles on it, and even then it is dependent on the condition and care of the engine.
And more to that, most people change their oil way too soon anyway just wasting time and money. You should change your oil when it is needed, not just because you got to 2,000 miles. If your engine is running well and you have a minimal amount of blow by, then you can get away with keeping the oil in your car until it starts to break down. A quick way to test that is to just rub it between your fingers. Good 10w30, you won't feel the grooves of your fingerprints. If you're not sure, then get some new oil and compare the way it feels, if the old stuff feels thinner than the new stuff, then change your oil.
If you do have blow by, then you just need to pay attention to the amount of burnt carbon in your oil. This will feel gritty between your fingers when you need to change your oil. Also, a useful piece of information, mineral oil is going to darken when it gets hot, that doesn't mean it has gone bad. Synthetic oil that is made from mineral oil will darken as well, typically to a dark golden brown color. Again, doesn't mean it has gone bad. There is a notable difference between dark and black. Black is burnt. Black is bad. A very dark brown can still be good, assuming it hasn't begun to thin, or that it isn't full of burnt carbon crap.


the more I look into the horror stories you referenced, the more I'm finding that they are from people with turbo'ed cars, but even that doesn't seem to be a major factor because many semi truck fleets use lucas religiously and those trucks can have glowing red turbos for hours at a time. Leads me to believe that it is probably due to kids putting the whole bottle of lucas in addition to the amount of oil that the car needs which effectively put them a quart over filled, which would mean that the oil is up to the crank which causes all kinds of foaming problems which can then result in all sorts of problems all over the engine. hell, really foamy oil can cause the oil pump to loose prime and go dry and everything gets fucked.
Which, the more I think about it, is probably what happens because it is so viscus, it would have a really high surface tension so it would hold the foam even more than just straight oil. So the drop in oil pressure would be what burns out turbos and causes head problems.

not attacking or arguing, just sayin...

 

I understand your very knowledgeable from reading your post in tech... but your wrong.
First, search "Lucas oil foam" on google and you will see countless articles on it happening, including the truckers your referring to.

Your first claim on oil grades....Mineral based and synthetic oils are the same viscosity at operating temperature, but before reaching that point they vary alot. So much that at a low enough temp, your car wont start with a mineral, while the synthetic will perform fine.

And your idea about synthetic break down is way off too.... mineral oils have improver in them to keep them thicker, they wear and the oil thins.There is no improver in synthetic...there is nothing to break except additive. The synthetic molecules never break down.

And then the about you looking into foam in turbo cars and not the truckers that use it the most..... Almost all of us play with boost, almost none of us drive semi's, so why does this matter?

Thank you for the info on the "mechanic in an engine" though.

 

I did, and most of what I was finding was either incomplete, or would support the whole over full situation I was talking about. simply saying that "I added lucas to my oil" doesn't mean that they drained out a quart before hand. Simply over filling your engine with oil will cause all of the same problems. I wasn't finding anything that said anything that would have been specific to the lucas stuff itself.

I think we are saying the same thing here. Yes, synthetics are more resistant to the temperature changes. But a 10w30 is a 10w30 synthetic or not. it is 10w30 when it is cold and 10w30 when it is hot. Now, really really hot and really really cold of course alter that, however, just because it is synthetic, doesn't mean it is going to be better. There are some mineral oils that out perform many synthetics when it comes to extreme temperature performances.
I wish I still had those data sheets... maybe I'll be able to find them later.
Point being, by the time you get cold enough to thicken the oil up that much, I doubt you would be worried about driving a performance car.
I was simply trying to point out that the thought that synthetic oil is "thinner" is not true. If it is rated to be a 10 weight, it is the exact same as its mineral counterpart. The difference being, the synthetic can be more resistant to the extreme temperature differences. It won't thicken up as bad as a mineral oil will in the extreme cold, and it won't burn off, thin out, shear apart, at the same temperature as a mineral oil. Synthetics typically have a flash point much higher than mineral oil.

a multi weight oil breaks down. period. synthetic or not. the polymers eventually break down and instead of a 10w30, you're left with just a straight 10 weight. but at that point, enough of the oil has burnt up, and sheared apart that it has the viscosity far below 5 weight, and lubricates even less.
synthetic is simply more resilient than mineral oil. (again, this is a case of most synthetic and most mineral as some mineral outperforms synthetic) Because it is more resistant to the temperature changes, the polymers don't "relax" and "contract" as "easily" as the mineral oils do, so they don't wear out as fast. The polymers act just like a spring, and just like all springs, they eventually wear out. I know, it is a very very simplistic way of thinking about it, but that's pretty much how it works, in a nutshell.
So with that said, I will agree with you, the actual molecule itself doesn't break down. (it can get sheared apart, but that isn't the same as just breaking down) However, the polymers themselves are what break down. Once those breakdown, the oil won't thicken back up when it cools off, it will be in its thinnest form all of the time. continued use of broken down oil, eventually leads to the oil sludging up. It breaks down, shears apart, burns up, etc.
If synthetic oil never broke down, then why do you have to change your oil at all? I mean, If the oil itself doesn't break down, then why not just change the filter every few thousand miles and call it even? The additives, and detergents and all of that will eventually all break down, but they will be caught up in the filter. And the chunks of carbon from blow by can be filtered out. If the oil says at 10w30, then it would suspend any deposits long enough to get through the filter. A good filter would be able to pull all of that stuff out. If the oil isn't ever breaking down, then you could go 8, 9, 10 or more thousand miles on a single oil change, just gotta change the oil filter every so often. You would only need to change the oil when enough of it gets burned, and since synthetics have such a high burning point, that could take a while.
Not trying to be a dick, just making a point.
I know it sounds rudimentary but try it. Test it for yourself. Get a fresh bottle of whatever synthetic you are using. After about 2-3 thousand miles, take a little bit of the oil from the dipstick and rub it between your fingers. Do it first thing in the morning after the car has been sitting all night so it is nice and cool. That's when the oil should be at its thickest. Then rub a little bit of the new oil between your fingers. Compare the way the two samples feel. The old oil should feel a bit thinner. As if you don't have to press as hard to get your fingers together. It doesn't feel like it fills in the ridges of your fingerprint as well as the new oil. The new oil should even feel more slippery. If it doesn't, then make a note of it, and put some more miles on it. Depending on the oil and the condition of the engine, it could take several thousand miles. Like I said on the first page, that 4 door GSR integra I was working with for a while, we ran Mobil1 in it and it would last 7-8 thousand miles before it started to break down. The point is, you'll eventually feel the difference between the new oil and the old oil.

The point I was trying to make is that a weighed down semi truck has a lot more stress on the engine and turbo. So if the lucas was causing a problem because of a reaction to the heat then it would be more evident from a turbo that is red hot for hours at a time, more so than a boosted car that probably only beats on the engine enough to get the turbo that hot a handful of times its whole life. I also assumed that there would be more recorded issues with it related to semi trucks as it is much more commonly used in semi trucks than it is in cars.
The only issues I was finding related back to cars all seemed to anecdotal or they stated things like "I added lucas to my oil and my turbo blew up" Which is why I want on to theorize that those people probably just added a quart of Lucas to their already full oil pans which is what really caused their problems. I even found one where the person used only lucas and no oil. I think 4 or 5 quarts of that stuff would cause problems given just how thick it is. It makes 80w90 look like water.
Most all of the problems I was finding were all of the same, generic, "I did this to my car, and the engine blew up" type of stories. You can find as many horror stories of people's engines and turbos blowing up from using any brand of oil. I love the "Synthetic oil sucks, I used that crap and I tossed a rod" stories. Point being, if you look, sometimes not even that hard, you can find horror stories about anything.


Thats what I get for posting from my phone and not paying close enough attention. I meant mechanic in a can.



From what I can tell, Lucas stuff aside, you seem to be on the right path with what you're thinking about oil and all of that. you're just missing a few pieces. Like with the whole synthetic molecules don't break down. Well, that's pretty much true. Aside from burning off and shearing apart, they don't just "wear out" The part that does is the polymers that hold it all together.
So even if you only have 80% of the whole pie, that is still 95% more than the most people. so kudos for that.