Mobile 15w50 w/ Lucas Oil Stabilizer (synthetic/synthetic)

[Jon K]

Ok so I changed my oil yesterday... I was using Mobile 1 5w30 and after reading reports, and burning a ton of it for a long time, I switched to 15w50 synth. It seems that the mobile 5w30 is a rather crappy oil. Its already pretty thin (you can tell just swashing around in the bottle) and then I read that it breaks down to less than a 20 weight after only 1500 or so miles. Well when I pulled the drain plug I can definitely vouch that it did look a little thinner than used oil does. No ticking or anything in the motor though.

So I switched to 15w50 to help with my burning issue. A friend and fellow bimmerforums.com'er used a little bit of Lucas Oil Stabilizer (for synthetic oils) in his car ('97 M3) because he too was burning oil. After the oil change (and usual filter change, Mahle, oem) I mixed about 1/4 of the final quart of oil with the Lucas additive. They said to use 20 - 25% for "old engines) and 60% for really abused engines. I didn't use the 20%, maybe closer to 10% since its 6.1 qt total and i did 1/4 of 1 quart, but whatever I wanted to see if it helps. Car idled very smoothe upon startup. I drove back out to school (75 miles) and the first thing I noticed once on the PA Turnpike is that i pulled significantly better mpg. The OBC read 31 mpg for about a mile or two in cruise control at 75 mph, I changed to clock (because otherwise i stare at the mpg to watch it) and noticed when I got to school my total average was 26.6 which was with the stop light traffic for the last 5 - 8 miles back to school. I don't know if anyone can relate a story like this but I think this is a pretty good thing! The motor seems to run a little better also. I know people rated the Lucas oil additive poorly but I believe bobtheoilguy.com reviewed the old formula (white in color) and not the new one (clear). Either way, I have no issues with it and for those looking to stop some oil burning, i hope this may help! Opinions?

[Jay 535i]

I'd like to know, too. My car has 225,000km (140,000mi) on it and has always used petroleum oil. I'd be willing to do almost anything to make the car run better or last longer, but getting a consensus on what oil to use seems impossible.

I switched my other car (a 1986 Celica GT-S) to synthetic oil at 120,000km. Besides burning more oil, there have been no negative effects, and the car has run faultlessly since (now with 200,000km on it). But I worry about what some people have said about a mid-life change to synthetic causing oil leaks.

[Kalevera]

Jon, because I'm not versed in Lucas's claims or products (beyond messing with that little gear display that practically every auto parts store I've ever been in has), what exactly is their oil additive supposed to do?


best, whit

[uscharalph]

I'd like to know, too. My car has 225,000km (140,000mi) on it and has always used petroleum oil. I'd be willing to do almost anything to make the car run better or last longer, but getting a consensus on what oil to use seems impossible.

I switched my other car (a 1986 Celica GT-S) to synthetic oil at 120,000km. Besides burning more oil, there have been no negative effects, and the car has run faultlessly since (now with 200,000km on it). But I worry about what some people have said about a mid-life change to synthetic causing oil leaks.

My car almost has 228,000 miles on it. I just switched to Mobil One 15w50 synthetic around 800 miles ago. I developed a maybe 2-3 drip a night leak from the oil pan, nothing big (It doesn't even happen every night). I might change that gasket on the next oil change if the problem persists, but I'm not real worried about it. I've heard the prblem should correct itself over a little time.

[uscharalph]

My car almost has 228,000 miles on it. I just switched to Mobil One 15w50 synthetic around 800 miles ago. I developed a maybe 2-3 drip a night leak from the oil pan, nothing big (It doesn't even happen every night). I might change that gasket on the next oil change if the problem persists, but I'm not real worried about it. I've heard the prblem should correct itself over a little time.

By the way, I'm very happy about the way the car is running since the switch.

[infinity5]

I'm doing 15w50 next time, for the record. I hope it works out as well for me as all of you.

I have a feeling my engine burns a bit of oil (i'm too lazy to keep acurate check of level), so we'll see what happens going from a 0 wt to a 15wt.