Ok I used to work in a big rig shop. I started out in the lube pit and most of the owner operators who were real picky about their trucks and had the big Petes with Cat motors ALL ran Rotella 15-40 with a gallon of Lucas. Equivalant of my truck being Rotella with a quart of Lucas mixed in. Now I'm readin in a couple places that Rotella AND Lucas are junk? I don't know NEARLY enough to make an educated decision cuz I don't know about all the technicalities that some of you here seem to know. So I appreciate the vendors will want me to use what they sale and I'm open to hearin what they have to say, but I really want to hear from the unaffiliated third part guys to see what's worked for you.

 

This has to be taken in context. Lucas gets a bed rep for the wrong reason sometimes. Post links to the threads or places where you are seeing they are saying "a couple places that Rotella AND Lucas are junk?" and I'll give an opinion.

 

What about Additives?

There's a thread over on Comp D regarding Rockers being destroyed by oil and oil additives. Cant remember the details but it did have a mention of rotella problems, not sure if it's specificly rotella.
I can also say that the last two trucks with rocker damage I've seen were running rotella. With that said the oil had been pushed to far with bad filtration!

The lack of Zinc dithiophosphate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The thread that hosted this information was : Rocker Arm/Trunnion Wear - Competition Diesel.Com - Bringing The BEST Together

There's probably 50 threads regarding this if you do some research!

---AutoMerged DoublePost---

And I second Heath on additives. Every truck that I've ever seen use additives had some pretty major issues!

Now, I will say this. After researching a little more, I have found that MOST of the complaints about Rotella have been from the 6.0L Ford guys and claiming the Rotella "foams up" and somehow causes injector problems in their trucks.

 

Kinda hard to blame that on the oil.
I wonder if Wikipedia also has an article outlining the current/latest anti-wear technologies being employed by the big lubricant companies to replace the old zinc-related stuff? You know - the ones that are superior to and actually perform better than the old lubricant technlogy? Probably not. Wikipedia needs a little more time for the contributors to catch up/on. Check that in another couple years.

I can't comment on the CompD thread because I don't have an account there and so cannot search. If you want to post a link I'll be happy to read it. I've done more research on this subject than you could ever imagine. I posted regularly on BITOG for the first four years of it's existence, but I'm not going to elaborate on that.

The bottom line is that most of this type stuff you are seeing around the Internet is purely anecdotal evidence. Some good, some bad, but mostly just people talking and spreading rumors and myths. There's nothing wrong with Rotella, and as far as Lucas is concerned, there's nothing wrong it per se, either. It's not a magic elixir to solve any and all heavy duty lube problems like the manufacturer would have you believe. But it won't harm anything either, used as directed.

Personally, I'd rather simply use a quality oil and filter spec'd for my application and changed on an appropriate schedule and leave the additives for someone else to experiment with. But that's just me.

 

As I understand it (and I may very well be wrong) - is that with the newest API certification of oils (CJ-4) is that they have changed the formulation (like less Zinc) to meet emissions for the newest diesels.

As for oil additives - I wouldnt do it. Theres mixed reports on Lucas all over the place.

Get some Amsoil HD Marine Deseil Oil - its still rated CI-4

 

I agree with the Dr. on the additives when i was wrenchin was told by my boss as to not use them that didnt necicerily do any good, just regular PM and you will be good to go. So just IMHO i dont belive in using additives. As for the rotella 15w40 I always thought of it to be a good oil and have always used it in diesels. So I too am looking to see what you guys think on using it as well. And BTW Dr. Evil what is the cost of the amsoil vs rotella seen that some guys are using an amsoil MTF for the 5&6spds and are getting better shifts by using it and i was going to put that in my trans but didnt know about the engine oil.

 

 

Nadir, I didn't mean to include that Wikipedia part. Personally, I don't put much salt in that place cuz any hoodlum can get on there and write whatever they want. My main point was the link to the demonstration about the Lucas.

I'm just really confused and don't know enough about the technicalities of oil to make an educated decision on what's best for my truck. So really all I can go on is what's typed in these forums. However, from what I can see from the link, the Lucas or probably any other additive or "snake oil" as I refer to em are probably not a good idea.

 

I don't remember what all is in the Lucas oil stabilizer, but it is mostly VI enhancers or something similar, IIRC. That would not necessarily be a "bad thing" for long-running oil in hard-working OTR engines and probably explains why truckers use it. Good for them. The Lucas demo thing was for gear oil, and hardly makes a good representation of what goes on in your typical differential. Lucas makes some good stuff, no doubt about it. Would I use their products blindly? Nope.

But I think you hit on the psychology behind it, and why it seems to be a continually recurring topic. If you don't know something about the "technicalities of oil" it's easy to be swayed by the snake oil marketers, or even claims of reputable companies like Lucas and Amsoil, who market heavily in order to sell their specialty or niche products. You should not be adding things to a finished product and expect it to perform as the maker intended. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. If you do know a little about what you are doing, why you are doing it, and what it actually does, then great - go for it.

Having said that, the best way to go and the way you can't go wrong is just use a good quality oil and filter designed for your application and follow a proper maintenance routine.

OBTW, WRT the thread topic - personally, I believe all variants of the Rotella brand are very good oils, use them myself. Shell's been around the block a time or two.

 

I like Lucas, it has slowed leals for me and been good. I dont like Rotela because as soon as you put it in it is black and i ve known people that have had problems and switched, but i think its all about opinon. I use DELO or DELVAC.