Engine Oil Additives

[zonianbrat]

First off it's not for a nissan. It's for my new to me Explorer. (I know, I know). I've switched it over to Mobil 1 full synthetic. I need this truck to last me as long as possible or until I give it to the wife and buy another Pathfinder! My father still swears by Slick-50 but I have heard mixed opinions on it. I have also been told that Lucas is the best out there. Money is not a problem as I am going to be switching all the fluids to Synthetic and trying to do everything to make this truck last me. Thanks in advance. BTW it has a 4.0 ltr SOHC V-6.

[Simon]

I use Lucas, and have had excellent results. No lifter tap at startup when I use it, and I do get some without. Also, it's helped slow my RMS leak. Great stuff.

 

My dad also uses it every 2nd oil change or so in his 95 Explorer with the 4.0L engine, and has never had a motor issue. He's got 250,000kms on it, and it still runs great.

Edited September 4, 2008 by Simon

[zonianbrat]

Thanks Simon, I am trying to do a bit of research and I stumbled on this. Still no definitive answer at all but a somewhat interesting read none the less. The page gives mixed signals about additives but I want to see more real world results and opinions. Seems like most of them are nothing but "Snake Oil".

 

http://www.carbibles.com/additives.html

[Slick]

lucas alllllll the way. been using it fer years in all my trucks

[5523Pathfinder]

So why use a additive with the synthetic oil? Mobil 1 is one of the best synthetic oils that is out there and they have there own additives already installed. We used several additives at my old Nissan dealership and I found no evidence that what we put in helped, or hurt anything. I was taught, and I believe in strongly, that you need to keep your vehicle well maintained to achieve higher mileage. Thats not to say something wont fail along the way. I think you are just wasting money which, at this day and time, is what I would rather have more of right now.

Now, if you are bad about maintaining your vehicle normally, maybe a additive will help keep you on the road longer, but maybe not.

Edited September 4, 2008 by 5523Pathfinder

[zonianbrat]

So why use a additive with the synthetic oil? Mobil 1 is one of the best synthetic oils that is out there and they have there own additives already installed. We used several additives at my old Nissan dealership and I found no evidence that what we put in helped, or hurt anything. I was taught, and I believe in strongly, that you need to keep your vehicle well maintained to achieve higher mileage. Thats not to say something wont fail along the way. I think you are just wasting money which, at this day and time, is what I would rather have more of right now.

Now, if you are bad about maintaining your vehicle normally, maybe a additive will help keep you on the road longer, but maybe not.

 

Excellent point. I do try take care of my engine by doing regular oil changes. I also try not to abuse it. Until I did some research this morning on these additives I was kinda in the dark. I do realize now that you are correct, there is no point in me adding anything if I am already using Mobil 1 since they have their own additives already in the oil. From this article (link at bottom of post) it seems that additives could disrupt the balance that my Mobil 1 additives achieve therefore actually making the metal to metal contact worse. Although in both articles I have posted I have not seen anything involving Lucas. I also do not know who lucas is made by. I got more research to do!!

 

http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/snakeoil.htm

[5523Pathfinder]

Another thing that we do here at Infiniti, and we also did at Nissan, is that we perform engine flushes. We do this with a machine that uses a mineral oil based cleaning solution(actually not sure what is all in the fluid, bear with me), that is pumped backwards through the engine(backflush). I was a skeptical of this unit I performed it on my old 1981 Cadillac Coupe Deville. That engine had nearly 100,000 miles on it and it ran kind of goofy. I had tried the transmission fluid cleaning trick with little results. On a whim, I hooked up the machine and flushed the engine. New oil was added(non-synthetic, IIRC) and I was amazed how much better it ran. It had much smoother idleing and accleration(well, as good as it could get for a 8-6-4 engine) and no longer smoked out the tailpipe. After 3000 miles I changed the oil and it was a light brownish color, not black. The oil stayed like that until I sold it about a year later. Just thought I would share as I was sold on that thing from that moment on.

[westslope]

5523,

 

I agree; I have come across little evidence in favour of the usefulness of oil additives.

 

I did flush the engine near 100,000km but have read mixed reviews on the benefits of engine flushing.

 

Now that I am running Mobil 1 synthetic oil, I see no need to flush it again.

[adamzan]

My dad also uses it every 2nd oil change or so in his 95 Explorer with the 4.0L engine, and has never had a motor issue. He's got 250,000kms on it, and it still runs great.

Yeah Simon that truck looked good, like no rust or anything from what i saw. What about the trans after the weekend

[GrimGreg]

...they have there own additives already installed....

 

All off the shelf oils have addatives in them already. Unless it's a real POS you should be fine with those only.

[mws]

Based on 30 years experience and 6 years of Engineering education:

 

I use straight Mobil 1 or Valvoline full synthetic

 

Unless engine is leaking or so worn it is on last legs and burning lots of oil. Then I use cheap dino oil with Lucas oil stabilizer to milk another few 10's out.....

Funny, all the engines I ran only straight Mobil 1 in NEVER became one of the ones needing Lucas.

[zonianbrat]

I have also been hearing good things about Mobil 1. The engine is in good shape so I will just stick with Only using Mobil 1 and a Mobil 1 filter.

 

On a seperate note what do you guys think of Lucas transmission additive? Currently the tranny has standard Tranny oil in it but I will be switching that over to a synthetic too. Till I get around to doing that is it a good idea to run Lucas tranny additive?

 

I am just full of questions today!!

[Precise1]

what do you guys think of Lucas transmission additive

 

Is that for a automagic? I put some lucas oil stabilizer in my tranny when I did the overfill with GL4. I can't tell the difference, but it shifts nice and has no bearing whine at 130k miles.

 

B

[zonianbrat]

Yes it is for a Autotragic.

[Precise1]

Try canola oil...

 

B

[laxman0324]

If I use dino oil I use an additive, lucas oil and restore have both worked great for me...that being said:

 

I used lucas oil the FIRST time i used fully synthetic mobil1 and will not use it again, just straight full synthetic.

 

My old 99 Mercedes ML320 had Mobil1 full synthetic in it since it drove off the lot, changed every 6-7k up until 230k when I sold it. I will NEVER use anything other than mobil1 based on my experience. Yes a little more costly but worth every penny.

 

Now to add to the questions, how often do you guys change your full synthetic oil? I usually do 5-6k, but I know some people that go as far as 10k...

[adamzan]

Every 5000km for me. Although I might start doing 10,000km changes as it is 45 dollars for 4.4 liters of it

[laxman0324]

Every 5000km for me. Although I might start doing 10,000km changes as it is 45 dollars for 4.4 liters of it

I use adult units, miles please :tonguefinger:

[laxman0324]

and the 3.3 uses less than 4 quarts all told, I have no idea how that is enough

[adamzan]

I use adult units, miles please :tonguefinger:

Dude, 1 mile is 1.6km, you do the math. And everyone knows that it's 3k miles or 5k km for the standard oil change frequency.

[Precise1]

Dude, 1 mile is 1.6km, you do the math. And everyone knows that it's 3k miles or 5k km for the standard oil change frequency.

 

*snort*

 

.62 miles to the KiLoMeTeR if you want to be backwards...

 

B

[BowTied]

Look here for info on additives and oils: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/images/lucas/lucas.htm

 

 

Don't ask those guys to get with the rest of the planet and go Metric. That is like asking your grandfather to change from plad pants to jeans; not gonna happen.

[Simon]

On a seperate note what do you guys think of Lucas transmission additive?

 

A guy at work with a Hyundai Sonata had some issues with his transmission, long shifts, and it seemed as if the torque converter was remaining locked up, which didn't really allow the car to accelerate very well. He used a container of Lucas Transmission fix, and it has actually improved quite a bit. He had even had the fluid replaced in the tranny recently which didn't help, but the Lucas stuff did.

 

Long term, I couldn't tell you....but I've never ever heard of it causing issues, and only ever heard positive accounts using Lucas products.

[zonianbrat]

Well I have determined that I will just stay with Mobil 1 and a good filter for the oil and I am going to put in a bottle of the lucas tranny stuff to get me by until I switch to full synthetic transmission fluid.

[mws]

If I use dino oil I use an additive, lucas oil and restore have both worked great for me...that being said:

 

I used lucas oil the FIRST time i used fully synthetic mobil1 and will not use it again, just straight full synthetic.

 

My old 99 Mercedes ML320 had Mobil1 full synthetic in it since it drove off the lot, changed every 6-7k up until 230k when I sold it. I will NEVER use anything other than mobil1 based on my experience. Yes a little more costly but worth every penny.

 

Now to add to the questions, how often do you guys change your full synthetic oil? I usually do 5-6k, but I know some people that go as far as 10k...

 

How often to change? That is a great question and you will get many answers.

For me, the answer is "it depends".

 

The biggest benefit of paying for synthetic oil is the additive package. It is usually the best the manufacturer has - which is why the synthetic costs so much more. Many studies have shown the additives will keep the oil stable and the engine protected for many, many thousands of miles under the right conditions.

 

The things that cause any oil to "wear out" or consume its additives:

- Thermal cycles. Each time you start engine from cold, consider it a cycle.

- Extreme heat. Driving through Death Valley in August stresses everything!

- Extreme work. Like towing.

The more you do any of those, the sooner you should change the oil.

 

The other factor is contamination build up. The two nasty contaminations to be concerned with are combustion blow by and good old dirt. Blow by contains a lot of acids, dirt is just abrasive.

 

So.... Factor in all of that and decide for yourself!

 

For example, my situations are as follows:

In our BMW 318is: This engine has been on M1 all its life. So despite almost 200K miles, it has very little wear with almost no blow by. Only street driven, no dirt. So the oil is still honey gold at 5K miles, getting darker at 10K. Based on this, it could easily go 20K miles without contamination issues. BUT, it it heavily used by my wife to commute back and forth to work. And lunch errands. So all the thermal cycles become a factor as they consume the start up protection additives. Based on that, I back intervals back down to about 10K miles.

 

Nissan Maxima: Only 40K miles. No engine wear. Honey colored at 10K miles. Used mostly for long freeway drives. 20K mile change intervals is my norm, but this is the kind of application where studies show 50K miles may be OK....

 

Pathy: Unknown miles on this engine. Oil is dark brown at 5K, so some blow by. Used offroad, so dirt as well. Used by me for commuting and short hops. Usually change around 6K. Less often if long trips or no offroading. If it looks black, change it sooner.

 

F250: Used for heavy towing, usually on hot days. Would really hate to lunch this expensive engine and be stranded. Change every 5K miles.

 

Side note: I use high quality paper air filters on all, so minimal dirt intrusion. If you are running a cotton gauze filter (K&N et al) then you will be getting a lot more fine dirt contamination into cylinders and into oil, so need to change more frequently to minimize wear.

Edited September 5, 2008 by mws