-
Lucas oil stabilizer Yes or No
Considering adding Lucas oil stabilizer on my up coming oil change. Research on the product pertaining to Detroit 60 series seems to be a mixed bag of yes and no.
Anyone have input on use of Lucas oil stabilizer for a 60 series?
Chuck
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
22 Replies
-
Won’t hurt anything, but it won’t help anything either. It will lighten your wallet a bit and make Lucas happy.
-
If your engine is talking to you about an additive then add it.
The only ones that say you can’t live without it are the companies making it.
Quality branded oil worked for me, Shell Rotilla.
AL
-
Due to my work I am gone 3-4 months at a time while coach sits in garage. Worry about dry starts. Fellow Prevost owner had to replace cam around 100,000. Most likely from long term sitting and dry starts.
Chuck
-
I doubt it. On the Bus Grease Monkey web site there are members bringing coaches and engines back to live after they sat for decades.
They put new batteries in, check the oil and start them up. Then they run the hell out of them getting 70 year old coaches driven on 50 MPH roads onto interstates and running then as hard and fast as possible to keep up with traffic.
-
Just a WAG…. That “CAM LOPE” would be on #6 or #1 cylinder ?
AL
2005 XL Thompson Coach
Rarely tow anything behind us.
Sold: 1993 Liberty that we loved for 12 years. -
Definitely yes, I have seen first hand how well Lucas products work added to conventional motor oil as well as synthetic oil. It literally can double the life of conventional oil. I have used there products for years in my own personal vehicles as well as the fuel additives. I spend 9 years working with a NHRA team and we always used the oil additive in the engine oil of the dragster. Even now we are no longer racing and not sponsored by them I still purchase there products for my own vehicles.
1 gallons per oil change for our Prevost (series 60)
2 gallons if over 100k miles.
-
I’m worry about dry start in any motor I have. In the ARCA and Cup motors we preheat the oil to 140*F to 190*F, prime the oil system with a cordless drill on the external oil pump while we spin the motor over with starter and ignition off to get all the oil passages opened up and well lubed. Then don’t hammer it until we get some heat in the coolant and water. Use Joe Gibbs Racing Oil.
I wish I could spin the Series 60 to build oil pressure before firing it off. But I suspect the DD engineers don’t think that’s necessary.
Having been to two Joe Gibbs Racing Oil seminars, I get the impression that today’s synthetic oils address some of our cold start concerns much better than dino 🦖 🦕 oil did.
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
Interesting input, a mixed bag of yes and no just like I was seeing on the trucker web sites.
I did see a discussion on on of the trucker web sites noting NOT to put Lucas in the early (late 90s to early 2000s) 60S unless they had the upgraded/up sized oil hoses added to accommodate the thicker oil. Anyone else heard or seen anything about Lucas reducing oil flow due to its thicker viscosity? A web site also noted not to use Lucas if you have hydraulic lifters because the thicker viscosity degrades the hydraulic lifters ability to work. 60s don’t have hydraulic lifters do they?
Chuck
-
If I don’t know the answer for sure, I like to guess.
Since we’re supposed to get our S-60 valves adjusted periodically, I’d say the S-60 probably has solid (mechanical?) lifters.
OHC? Solid cam followers?
-
Dick, Good guess, thus the need for valve adjustment around 100K miles.
I know Truk has some pics of his routine valve adjustment and what the service tec found.
AL
-
We found problems when I did the overhead on my 02 Marathon at DD in Ocala that could have been a big deal if left go. There were several Jake rocker clips that had fallen off and laying on the head. They installed an upgraded rocker that didn’t have the clip. The engine also was smoother after the adjustment.
The first picture is the updated rocker, the second picture was the original rocker and clips.
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
Didn’t Tom find a shop cloth laying on the head? Or was that someone else.
-
This is not specific to the Lucas product, but does relate to the question and all of this type.
Anytime a product is advertised or sold on the basis of improvement such as better fuel economy, more power, longer life, or any other we can accept the claims at face value, or do an analysis. I challenged a claim by a seller of fuel additive that claimed it would take care of bad stuff in the fuel tank, remove moisture and improve mileage 15%. The mileage claim got my attention and I called the claim bogus.
To evaluate that claim or any other the first thing needed is a benchmark. As a purchaser you have to know exactly where you are prior to the use of the product. If you do not possess the history or the hard data you are accepting advertising claims.
In my case I had the data. The first assumption made by the seller was that they could polish my fuel to prove I had crud in the tank that they could claim is what their product gets rid of. They did the fuel polishing on my fuel tank which has never had a drop of additive in it. The fuel polishing they did proved I did not need their product because my tank was clean and water free.
That left them with only their claim of fuel economy improvement to justify their product. I have today a log book that shows every gallon of fuel ever added to my coaches. Further it lists the mileage when the fuel was added. Then to complete the picture, all of my travels with rare exception have been at a certain speed. I cannot control winds, hills, etc. but with tens of thousands of mileage and gallons recorded I have an accurate record of fuel mileage at the start of the test.
For the test I bought a gallon of the additive and added the prescribed amount of additive. It took a year to complete the test and it was in excess of 10,000 miles so I could compare that data with any other equivalent block of miles.
There was no change in my fuel economy.
How that story relates to products such as on this thread is unless someone has enough documentation to know exactly what is going on without the additive and is able to reproduce the same conditions with the additive, and accurately measure the results, the responses are opinions and not based on facts.
Reliable data for example would be fuel mileage and oil sampling history, and then the same information after the product has been used for a significant amount of time under the exact same conditions as the base benchmark.
It is neat learning of new products, but to make buying them a smart choice there needs to be a benchmark to use as a starting point, and then a controlled usage period and a way of measuring the results against the benchmark.
FWIW we tend to use Transynd in our transmissions. Its price is outrageous but it clearly is the best choice. Dextron was used in our transmissions for a long time, but Transynd was proven to make a big improvement. We have a member who has reported instant results and measurable ones. When he made the switch his transmission temps dropped. Just that alone is sufficient proof so setting the benchmark does not need to be difficult. It can be as simple as a temperature reading.
-
Thanks Jon.
When I bought my coach it was maintained but is what not used often. I used what I would assume is the exact same additive that you did (without naming names). I also did the tank polishing. When I used the additive my fuel filters clogged many times within 2500 miles or so. The racor filter was completely blocked to the point that the coach shutoff within 250 miles when I first added it. Over the next 10,000 or so miles I replaced all of my fuel filters probably 7 or 8 times. Paying attention to the boost gauge was a great indicator of when it was time to change them.
I also had the polishing done. Just my opinion, but I did not see any difference whatsoever from that process. They could not show me anything that came out of the tank during the process. As I continued to use the additive even after the polishing I still had excessive contaminants in the filters. 35,000 or so miles later it seem a lot better, but honestly I still question how clean my tank really is.
Bill III
-
Many times the stations pump contaminates into your tank. As most know I deliver mega yachts. I have literally have crawled inside of 8-10,000 gal tanks before they were filled for the first time. After a 3 week trip to Florida from the great lake through the Saint Lawrence canal in Canada and a 3-4 refills of the tanks from a tanker truck that took on fuel from the major fuel ports just before delivering to us, we had algae and rust in the tanks when arriving in Florida. 3 Weeks is not enough time to grow the amount of algae that was in the tanks. It was delivered to us.
On a second note per the cleaners/anti algae treatments: They do work, as noted in the previous post. Just add some to your tank and you will be changing filters quite frequently because it breaking down the algae and your filters are catching it. Another good way to clean your tanks and clog your filters is to use some high percentage of Bio Diesel. Not recommended in older engines because the Bio Diesel will damage rubber seals on the older engines. I have seen Bio Diesel permeate through regular older fuel hoses.
Chuck
P.S. Having a oil change done and will get a oil sample. Think I will add 1 gal of Lucas, monitor oil PSI and temps then compare to the oil sample at the next change.
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL
Log in to reply.