Lucas synthetic oil stabilizer

[NasteeNate]

Thoughts on this product from the svtperformance community? it really seems to help older engines out. I've heard mixed reviews but the majority likes this product. On a scientific level people say it doesn't hurt the oil that it mixes with and that it doesn't cause aeration unlike the boboilguy gear model which suppose to act like the inside of engine...

 

[UnleashedBeast]

Lucas Oil Stabilizer isn't the best option to use in an engine, and here is why.

It's a very viscous 60 grade base stock lubricant that has little to no additives. It does nothing more than thicken the oil you are mixing it with, while also diluting the additives. Why would you want to reduce the percentage of additives in the lubricant when replacing one quart of normal oil with LOS?

Do it correctly, simply buy a robust lubricant in a heavier 20W-50 grade. You will achieve similar viscosity grades, but you will not reduce the additive percentages.

OP, do you have a particular engine in question?

 

[SID297]

Lucas Oil Stabilizer isn't the best option to use in an engine, and here is why.

It's a very viscous 60 grade base stock lubricant that has little to no additives. It does nothing more than thicken the oil you are mixing it with, while also diluting the additives. Why would you want to reduce the percentage of additives in the lubricant when replacing one quart of normal oil with LOS?

Do it correctly, simply buy a robust lubricant in a heavier 20W-50 grade. You will achieve similar viscosity grades, but you will not reduce the additive percentages.

OP, do you have a particular engine in question?

Exactly, I'm not sure why people use that stuff.

 

[oldmodman]

Exactly, I'm not sure why people use that stuff.

Because it's on sale at Pep Boys!

 

[NasteeNate]

Lucas Oil Stabilizer isn't the best option to use in an engine, and here is why.

It's a very viscous 60 grade base stock lubricant that has little to no additives. It does nothing more than thicken the oil you are mixing it with, while also diluting the additives. Why would you want to reduce the percentage of additives in the lubricant when replacing one quart of normal oil with LOS?

Do it correctly, simply buy a robust lubricant in a heavier 20W-50 grade. You will achieve similar viscosity grades, but you will not reduce the additive percentages.

OP, do you have a particular engine in question?

I think the best possible reason I can think of is to control oil burn off, like valve seal wear or just normal run of the mill problems that aren't severe. If your constantly topping off an older engine that is using great oil it can get expensive. I just never saw negative effects from this and wanted to know people opinions. It definitely makes engines feel peppier, probably because it's a heavier grade oil which causes higher oil pressure correct?

Exactly, I'm not sure why people use that stuff.

Instead of getting rid of an old beater or rebuilding an engine it helps in a way.

Because it's on sale at Pep Boys!

Lol. Not on sale there are other alternatives out there...

 

[UnleashedBeast]

It definitely makes engines feel peppier, probably because it's a heavier grade oil which causes higher oil pressure correct?

Well, it does increase oil pressure due to a higher viscosity. Making the engine feel peppier...that's normally associated with a lighter viscosity or true synthetic base stocks that have lower frictional coefficients.

 

[NasteeNate]

Well, it does increase oil pressure due to a higher viscosity. Making the engine feel peppier...that's normally associated with a lighter viscosity or true synthetic base stocks that have lower frictional coefficients.

Thanks for info!

 

[Wildman113]

I remember a test performed by "Bob is the Oil Guy" showing that the Lucas oil stabilizer foams up pretty badly when used in high RPM applications.

Basically it compared regular motor oil with Lucas Oil Stabilizer, and the Lucas turned to foam when it was exposed to high RPM/windage. Obviously foam is not good and will cause the oil sump to suck air, resulting in a loss of oil pressure.

So while it may be fine for a tractor or low RPM diesel, its not reccommended for performance applications.

 

[NasteeNate]

I remember a test performed by "Bob is the Oil Guy" showing that the Lucas oil stabilizer foams up pretty badly when used in high RPM applications.

Basically it compared regular motor oil with Lucas Oil Stabilizer, and the Lucas turned to foam when it was exposed to high RPM/windage. Obviously foam is not good and will cause the oil sump to suck air, resulting in a loss of oil pressure.

So while it may be fine for a tractor or low RPM diesel, its not reccommended for performance applications.

I believe they proved it wrong because it doesn't cause aeration in crank case of the engine compared to the gear model. I read it on bobs forum.

 

[me32]

i have to say in older engines like the 302-351 ect. Lucus was great when it had high miles or small leaks. best stuff ever in old stuff. but id agree in the newer engines with much tighter clearences an high rpm its not the best choice.

 

[SID297]

If you use Lucas and thinks it help you should just use a thicker oil to start with and save the money you'd spend on the additive.

 

[Brutal Metal]

That stuff is a NO GO!

 

[4a7191a]

i liked it in my old FE 390 motor, it had around 225k miles on it and yes it needed more oil pressure due to age. it seemed to quite it down a little bit too. i change the mach1 and lightning oil at the same time so i splite a bottle of that stuff between the two. never really noticed anything from the useage though.

 

[UnleashedBeast]

The better alternative would have been a robust 20W-50 lubricant.

 

[NasteeNate]

Great responses! But I really believe for older engines it helps.

 

[wheelhopper]

I'll chime in, since I use the stuff.

The reason I use it is because Blackstone Labs actually recomended it to me. I figure if an independant lab that does oil testing recomended, it can't be all bad.

I was seeing some strange wear in my Terminator motor so I started running a quart of LOS in place of one of the 6 quarts of 5w20, that I normally would use, and my test results improved. I was open tracking the car at the time and would change my oil every other event, so my oil was getting changed about every 300 miles and seeing frequent testing. LOS actually has a viscosity of 45wt,not 60 as mentioned earlier. It is also a 70% sythetic base and 30% additives.

Also I believe that 5w20 is to light for a Terminator engine anyway and probably switching to 5w30 would give the same results. The 5w20 was probably used by Ford to squeeze out a little more fuel economy and HP numbers.

I also use a quart of LOS in my 7.3 diesel when I change that. Blackstone has recomended to me that I could extend my oil change intervals to 8K miles with the current oil and useage that I do. I just can't bring myself to wait that long so the 7.3 gets changed every 7K miles with petro based Motorcraft 15w40 and a quart of LOS. Currently it has 178K miles and still going strong.

I switched from my Terminator, to an old school '90GT for open track about 2 years ago. The motor has 97K miles on it and I am not as particular about whether it has to get replaced, since it probably will need it soon anyway and it is cheaper to build than a mod motor. I have been running diesel oil, 15w40 in that with 1/2 a quart of LOS. I have done no testing but, I will grab a sample this next oil change and report back what I find. I did change the heads over to iron GT40s recently, and when I pulled the original heads off you could still clearly see the cross hatch pattern on the cylinder walls. No unusual scoring of any kind.

I do think in most cases a switch to a next higher grade oil would be fine, but in cases like my diesel that is not an option. Also I am just looking for a little more robustness to the oil. In any event, so far it has worked great for me and I have been using it regularly for about 3 years.

 

[UnleashedBeast]

I was seeing some strange wear in my Terminator motor so I started running a quart of LOS in place of one of the 6 quarts of 5w20, that I normally would use, and my test results improved. I was open tracking the car at the time and would change my oil every other event, so my oil was getting changed about every 300 miles and seeing frequent testing.

You were open tracking your car with a 5W-20 grade lubricant? That's the strange wear problem you were experiencing. Minimal, you should have been using a robust true synthetic 10W-30.

Also I believe that 5w20 is to light for a Terminator engine anyway and probably switching to 5w30 would give the same results. The 5w20 was probably used by Ford to squeeze out a little more fuel economy and HP numbers.

Correct, 5W-20 was adopted for CAFE laws only. Road racing with a 20 grade lubricant is a bad idea.

LOS actually has a viscosity of 45wt,not 60 as mentioned earlier. It is also a 70% sythetic base and 30% additives.

The one VOA (Virgin Oil Analysis) I've seen on LOS doesn't support these claims. Viscosity was in the 60 grade range with no anti-wear additives to speak of. It was nothing more than a super viscous base stock used to increase the viscosity of another host lubricant.

 

[Boomer182]

Lucas Oil Stabilizer isn't the best option to use in an engine, and here is why.

It's a very viscous 60 grade base stock lubricant that has little to no additives. It does nothing more than thicken the oil you are mixing it with, while also diluting the additives. Why would you want to reduce the percentage of additives in the lubricant when replacing one quart of normal oil with LOS?

Do it correctly, simply buy a robust lubricant in a heavier 20W-50 grade. You will achieve similar viscosity grades, but you will not reduce the additive percentages.

OP, do you have a particular engine in question?

Exactly its never worked in anything I have ever used it in. Its snake oil IMO.

 

[silver03svt]

Bobby Bouche's momma invented Lucas Oil Stabilizer.......

I used it once in a Crown Vic Po-po car that I had ridden hard for 100,000 miles. It didn't make any improvement.

 

[NasteeNate]

I think there might be a difference between synthetic version, and non-synthetic version. 45wt for synthetic, and 60wt for the other. And I'm purely guessing here.