A lubrication expert reveals the truth about off-the-shelf auto parts store motor oil additives, including three popular products that are the worst possible you could use for your car’s engine.
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Your car’s recommended fuel and motor oil already comes with special additives to help fuel burn cleaner, more completely and lubricate moving metal components respectively under a wide range of operating conditions. But is this enough? Can you improve on what is already under specific industry and governmental standards with off-the-shelf fuel and oil additives that are not as closely monitored for quality and performance?
These are important questions addressed and answered by the host of The Oil Geek YouTube channel—Lake Speed, Jr.―a tribologist who specializes in the fluids used in car engines.
Science, Not Speculation
To answer these burning fuel and oil additive questions, Lake Speed, Jr. let’s science do the talking as he puts several commonly found off-the-shelf oil and fuel additives to the test to show just what happen (if anything) when added to your vehicle’s fluids.
In his tests, the host uses PAO (Polyalphaolefin) oil as the control test fluid. PAO is the most common major synthetic base oil used in industrial and automotive lubricants and is used extensively in automotive fluids, hydraulic oils, gear oils, bearing oils, and wide-temperature-range greases. PAO is especially applicable in automotive engines as this formulation performs well in extremely cold climates and hot applications.
In each of the tests, the host adds the recommended amount of nine different commercial additives to the oil, mixes them thoroughly, and then observes the results both visually and through chemical analysis by an independent testing lab.
Related article: Consequences of ailing an oil stop leak product to your car to dry to put a stop to that oil drip that is staining your garage or driveway.
Truths About Fuel and Motor Oil Additives
Truth #1. Commercial bottled additives are a lot like dietary health supplements—there are no (or very few) regulations ensuring that the additives are safe or effective for their intended use.
Truth #2. Your motor oil is already specially formulated with up to 14 different additives. Adding to this complex mix with a commercial product has the potential to either have no effect, improve some (but not all) properties of your motor oil, or damage your engine. In other words, it is playing chemical Russian Roulette with your car.
Truth #3. There is a significant financial incentive for additive manufacturers to make sponsored claims that may or may not be true.
Truth #4. If you really need to put an additive into your motor oil, then you are using the wrong motor oil.
Truth #5. No OEM recommends pouring any additive into your car’s fuel or motor oil.
Truth #6. Adding any additive to your car’s motor oil physically and chemically dilutes its specially formulated mix concentrations, thereby risking making the motor oil subpar in its performance characteristics such as its viscosity, ability to withstand heat, foaming resistance, etc.
Truth #7. The only additives that are good additives are those used in some commercial fuel additive products. The reason for this is that many are designed to perform one primary function—cleaning the fuel injectors and the deposits in cylinder combustion chambers.
Truth #8: Too much of a good additive can cause harm. For example, too much zinc in your motor oil.
Truth #9. Additives from a commercial product can interfere with the additives already in your motor oil. For example, change the acidity to one that is harmful to your engine by eating away at crucial components.
Truth #10. Commercial additives can shorten the life of your motor oil.
Related article: Is the Cheaper Costco Kirkland Oil Miserly on the Additives Your Car’s Engine Needs?
The Worst Motor Oil Additive Products for Your Car
While using any commercial oil additive is a risky proposition, some are worse than others. Here are three standouts The Motor Oil Geek lists as harmful to engines:
- Sea Foam—boils off BEFORE an engine reaches its normal operating temperature; and worse yet, sucks moisture into your oil.
- Rislone ZDDP—significantly increases the acidity of the oil resulting in decreasing the life of the oil.
- Oil Extreme—can cause some engines to blow up due to a preignition effect from overly high concentrations of sodium and calcium, especially in turbocharged direct injection engines.
Real World Additive Damage Results
For more about why using motor oil additives is a bad idea, here is the video posted below that offers some real-world additive damage results from the lab when car owners make the mistake of falling for marketing hype.
If You Love One of These Additives, Don’t Watch This Video!
For additional articles on your car’s engine oil, here are a few for your consideration:
- Avoid the Diagnosis Trap When Smelling Burning Oil
- Why You Should Not Trust This Motor Oil for More Than 5,000 Miles
- Toyota’s New 0W-8 Motor Oil is Too Thin?
Timothy Boyer is an automotive reporter based in Cincinnati. Experienced with early car restorations, he regularly restores older vehicles with engine modifications for improved performance. Follow Tim on Twitter at @TimBoyerWrites and Facebook for daily news and topics related to new and used cars and trucks.
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Image source: Deposit Photos
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