Engine Oil Additives: Know it all!

Engine oil is the lifeline for your bike and is very much responsible for its tension free running. It provides the optimum level of cleansing and protection for the engine parts whilst putting out the best possible performance.

It basically comprise of two primary ingredients, the base oil and the additives. The primary function of the base oil is to allow the engine to perform its vital functions and lubricating the cycle parts in a bid to protect them against wear and tear caused by heat or friction. And the additives provide the additional protection to the engine by preventing the oil from deteriorating under the extreme temperatures where the mill has to perform.

In short, engine oil takes care of your bike’s engine and additives guards the engine oil to let it function properly and ultimately benefiting you. Enlisted below are some of the most common benefits with the usage of additives.

Enhances engine oil life-
Repetitive torture from heat, moisture and air leads to oil degradation due to oxidation. Therefore, to slow down this process, additive oil acts as a coating for the engine oil.

Maintains viscosity-
The willingness of the engine oil to flow freely through the parts and coat them wherever needed, is determined by its viscosity. The over viscous engine oil will be reluctant to flow and will gum up the works and oil with too low a viscosity will flow through the engine like water, not sticking around long enough to do its job. So to maintain the viscosity of the engine oil in any temperature is taken care by the additive oils.

Prevent build up of sludge-
The detergents or dispersants in the additive oils helps in dispersing sludge formed due to dust and unwanted particles, which can cause several problems when present in bulk.

Avoids corrosion-
Most of the additive oils have Zinc in them. This is done to protect metallic surfaces from rust.

Beneficial or not?
Having said all this, controversies around the additive oils is also very common. Majority ingredients comprising the ‘additives’ are already present in engine oil. Hence, they don't technically have to be added, at least not by you. So some basic questions such as- Are these additives worth buying? Will they do a better job than the additives already in the engine oil? Or are they just redundant and possibly even harmful?