When you want your car to be in tip-top shape, oil additives can really help. These additives can go a long way in preventing excessive wear and tear on the internal parts of your engine that’ll lead to costly damage.
So in order to help you protect your vehicle’s engine, we’re going to give you an overview of how oil additives work and the benefits they offer. We will also talk about the different types of oil additives available, as well as their functions and applications. After reading all of this, you should have a good idea of which oil additives will work best with your particular car or truck.
Engine Oil Basics
Every motor in the world needs to have oil in it. Oil is what keeps all of your engine’s lubricated so that they are able to move past each other without causing any friction or heat.
Oil adds a thin coating of lubrication between the metal engine parts so the lubrication that it provides can keep all of the running smoothly. This helps reduce the amount of friction, absorbs heat, and helps to prevent corrosion and rust.
Engine oil also works as a sort of coolant. It does this by removing some of the excess heat away from parts that are prone to overheating.
As the oil circulates throughout the engine, it also collects dirt and other contaminants. It keeps these contaminants suspended in the oil so that they don’t end up clogging oil lines and creating gunk that can damage your engine over time. All of these particles are thrown away when you do an oil change. Another reason to be sure to do regular oil changes too!
The Role of Oil Additives
Oil additives work in order to boost the effectiveness of the oil in some way. They can help with engine noise problems like lifter ticks and other common problems. Each type of additive has its own unique way of working and their own specific uses unless it’s more of an overall additive. Combined with good oil, they can really be worth their investment if you plan to keep your car for a long period of time.
Here are a few types of the more widely used types of oil additives:
- Detergents – Helps keep your engine clean by preventing dirt buildup.
- Dispersants – Helps keep impurities suspended until your next oil change.
- Corrosion inhibitors – Helps protect metal parts from rust and corrosion.
- Viscosity improvers – Helps make it easier for the engine to circulate the oil.
There are also other highly specialized additives available depending in your needs. For example:
- Zinc-based compounds – Helps to reduce the wear and tear on components such as camshafts.
- Friction modifiers – Helps to reduce sludge buildup and improve engine efficiency.
Each type of additive serves a unique purpose and the one you’ll need to keep your engine running smoothly will completely depend on what problems you’re having. Just remember to add them to each and every oil change!
How Oil Additives Work?
Most oil additives work by boosting the already existent lubricating properties of your engine oil. The additives do this by reducing friction between the metal moving parts inside your engine in order to reduce the amount of wear and tear.
More specialized additives can even protect against corrosion from water and other liquid type damage.
And that’s not all they can do. Oil Additives also provide an extra form of cooling for your car’s engine. This can be really useful in hotter climates or if you have a work truck that you’re putting under a lot of stress.
The additives can work to remove the extra heat from the engine as the oil moves through the parts before any damage can occur. They can help keep the engine running at an optimal temperature without putting too much strain on the vehicle’s cooling system.
And friction doesn’t just create heat. The more friction that’s produced, the harder your car’s motor needs to work which in turn means the more gas it’ll burn.
So by reducing the amount of friction using oil additives, you’re also reducing the amount of fuel your car is burning. This kind of makes oil additives and ‘no cost’ additives due to the savings they can create.
Not only will you need to ‘fill up’ less often, but you will also reduce the amount of emissions your vehicle emits.
Oil additives are pretty important when it comes to maintaining your engine’s overall efficiency. Without additives, your motor is working harder than it needs to be working which means additional stress and wear and tear.
Oil additives are a fraction of the price of a new part or extensive repairs that could result if not used. Ultimately, they will save you money on both fuel consumption and upkeep.
The Benefits of Using Oil Additives
You should be able to start seeing the benefits of using these additives by now. But just to be clear, here’s a quick list of them:
- Reduces wear and tear – Oil additives reduce friction between moving parts and thus prevent wear and tear on components such as camshafts. This prolongs the life of your parts and helps prevent the need for costly repairs.
- Reduces friction and heat – Oil additives help transfer heat away from hot components. Too much heat can cause severe damage to your engine. They keep everything running at optimal temperatures without putting too much strain on the vehicle’s cooling system. They also reduce internal friction between moving parts. Less friction results in smoother operation of the engine and improved fuel efficiency.
- Improves fuel efficiency – Oil additives reduce friction, improve cooling capabilities, and protect against corrosion and contaminants. As a result, your vehicle becomes more efficient when it comes to fuel consumption. This means using less gas while also reducing your vehicle’s emissions.
Using these additives as part of a complete vehicle maintenance routine has a ton of benefits for your car, and even the environment. They not only help improve the overall efficiency of your car or truck, they literally extend the life of the engine and reduce the amount of costly repairs. Obviously some great benefits!
Wrapping Up!
I hope this article has helped make it clear how oil additives work to help maintain your engine and even help it to last longer. In addition you’ll have to spend a lot less on repairs and you’ll even save money using these additives making them practically a no cost additive!
Then there’s the fact they can even assist in keeping your engine cooler. This not only helps your motor to run smoothly, it helps the car’s entire cooling system. Another benefit people don’t always take into consideration.
So as you can see, there really are a lot of benefits to using engine oil additives in your car. And if you ever sit down and do the math, you should clearly see how even after the cost of buying them, they are still saving you a lot of money and more importantly, your time and frustration of dealing with mechanics and maintenance issues.