Originally Posted by
Jared Noriega
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
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...