Lucas Oil, is it any good?

[Bob570]

I'm having a very hard time finding information about Lucas Oil's various oils, specially the 20w50 synthetic.

The reason I ask is because a friend of mine uses Lucas Oil Synthetic 20w50 in his cammed/blown 5.3 LSX for his dune truck (I live close to Silver Lake dunes) His dad has a 1000+ HP twin turbo LS2 sand rail which I'm assuming also uses this oil. His family is huge into the whole Silver Lake "scene" (sorry, I hate that word but I'm not quite sure how else to put it). They pretty much know everyone who spends any significant amount of time there and all the shop owners that build the insane dune rigs that you see all over Silver Lake. And according to my buddy, everyone at Silver Lake uses this oil. He said they use it to keep the oil pressure up.

I honestly didn't know Lucas Oil even made anything other than that awful oil stabilizer additive, so my thought is that it's probably mediocre at best. I'm also thinking he should use an oil cooler to keep the temps down instead of letting them skyrocket and hoping that a thicker oil will keep the pressure up. I also cringe thinking about how much wear is happening with that thick oil in start up.

So what do you guys know about it? I have a hard time believing it would be any good with how hard it's been for me to find any info on BITOG about it.

 

[gryffinwings]

I wouldn't touch Lucas even if I was paid to, not much current info on, saw a VOA and from what it looks like it's mediocre at best.

2007 Lucas 5w30 VOA

I honestly don't know what your friend is using such a heavy weight oil and an oil that's probably not as good, when he could be using a much more well known oil.... Or even a racing or like Valvoline VR1 oil.

 

[bioburner]

Would be interesting if any racers actually use the stuff. They are a major sponsor of BRI and couple other race venues

 

[Donald]

Why be the guinea pig on Lucas oil when you know for sure Mobil 1 or PP or Rotella T6 or Amsoil (and others) are high quality oil based upon UOA.

 

[bbhero]

Exactly Donald. I would add Valvoline VR-1 to that list as well.

 

[Nick1994]

If he wants a really thick oil he can use some Mobil 1 15w50.

I'd try a 5w40 and see how the oil pressure is though.

 

[Bob570]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Why be the guinea pig on Lucas oil when you know for sure Mobil 1 or PP or Rotella T6 or Amsoil (and others) are high quality oil based upon UOA.


I never planned to use it. I was mostly just curious if it's as bad as I think it probably is.

 

[901Memphis]

Lucas is basically an API minimum meeting spec with a top shelf price tag. They under treat with additives compared to the top players. The Mobil 1 15w-50 is vastly superior and available in 5 quart jugs at Walmart or auto parts stores if want to pay a little more.

 

[CourierDriver]

I have not read in here of anyone who has blown their engine to bits on Lucas oil, but then, anyone can say they did and you know how that goes..............if you read it on the internet, its gotta be true....

 

[askani79705]

With so many better choices out there. I'm not sure how they're still around.

 

[Bob570]

Originally Posted By: askani79705
With so many better choices out there. I'm not sure how they're still around.
They market to groups of people who rely on word of mouth instead of researching things for themselves and trying to fully understand how things work. These people generally view blown up engines as a normal consequence of driving them hard. A lot of them rebuild their engines every couple of years just to upgrade them anyway.

This is just my own observation, which is why I was skeptical about Lucas Oil in the first place.

 

[PeterPolyol]

I've only ever bought Lucas Oil once over a decade ago out of curiosity. There was only one grade on the shelf: 5w20. It ran fine without incident but was overpriced at Canadian Tire.

 

[FCD]

I've mostly read negative reviews about Lucas motor oils, i haven't heard of any engine failuresbcaused by it, but on paper they seem mediocre, if you want a good stout 50 grade use :
M1 15W-50
M1 20W-50 V-TWIN
Valvoline VR1 20W-50
Amsoil Z-Rod 20W-50
Brad Penn 20W-50

 

[askani79705]

Originally Posted By: FordCapriDriver
I've mostly read negative reviews about Lucas motor oils, i haven't heard of any engine failuresbcaused by it, but on paper they seem mediocre, if you want a good stout 50 grade use :
M1 15W-50
M1 20W-50 V-TWIN
Valvoline VR1 20W-50
Amsoil Z-Rod 20W-50
Brad Penn 20W-50

Castrol,Motorcraft, and QSUD are all good 5w50s for the list as well

 

[BironDanmum]

The builder of my 4.6 PI used it as a break-in oil, but that's the only time I knowingly had it in any of my vehicles. I changed it out at 500 miles and if "not blowing up" is a measure of success, then I guess it was a good oil. But on paper it's mediocre at best.

Stay FAR far away from the Lucas gear oil. The VOA I saw on the 75w90 (may have been 75w140) indicated that it didn't meet SAE standards for that viscosity.

Come to think of it, the ONLY thing that I've ever used from Lucas that seemed to do what it stated on the label was the power steering stop leak. I discovered a pinhole leak while on a road trip and grabbed a bottle of the Lucas PS Stop Leak from Autozone. Within 20 miles the steady stream of fluid slowed to a trickle, then eventually stopped. It gave me enough time to replace the hose the next day.

 

[FCD]

Originally Posted By: askani79705
Originally Posted By: FordCapriDriver
I've mostly read negative reviews about Lucas motor oils, i haven't heard of any engine failuresbcaused by it, but on paper they seem mediocre, if you want a good stout 50 grade use :
M1 15W-50
M1 20W-50 V-TWIN
Valvoline VR1 20W-50
Amsoil Z-Rod 20W-50
Brad Penn 20W-50

Castrol,Motorcraft, and QSUD are all good 5w50s for the list as well

Castrol is ok but kind of lacks in ZDDP
Motorcraft 5W-50 is known to shear quite badly out of grade ( even down to a 30 )
I don't really know much about Quaker Statde UD.

 

[BobFout]

Given the number of people who use Lucas engine oil in their bikes, race engines (land and water) it remains a popular choice.

 

[userfriendly]

More doctors smoke Camels than any other brand.

 

[fdcg27]

There are so many known-good oils as well as sources of solid advice on what to use that I can't imagine why anyone would use Lucas, especially in an expensive built engine.
Their oils appear to be no more than mediocre at best.
There are many proven choices out there. Maybe you should convince your friend to try M1 15W-50 if he really needs to run anything that thick. Better as well as cheaper.

 

[BobFout]

Originally Posted By: userfriendly
More doctors smoke Camels than any other brand.


Contact with used motor oil can cause cancer.