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Oil additives

tibork

tibork

New member
Are there any products like oil additives that I can use in the bike that help with compression, gas mileage and engine wear? With my cars I regularly use oil additives with each oil change but not sure if there are any products out there for the bikes, or if I can use the same product in the bike. Thank you!
 
Depends on if you have a wet or dry clutch, but most people will straight up say "no" with a BMW. Wet clutch is a definite no, as the additives will mess up the clutch.

If it need additives for compression etc to be in spec, it's just time for an overhaul.

Sent from my SM-N970U1 using Tapatalk
 
tibork said:
Are there any products like oil additives that I can use in the bike that help with compression, gas mileage and engine wear? With my cars I regularly use oil additives with each oil change but not sure if there are any products out there for the bikes, or if I can use the same product in the bike. Thank you!
Click to expand...

Most of the stuff is just snake oil. I tried a can of a product called Engine Restorer and Lubricant. It’s a thick dark blue oil additive. All of my bikes are high mileage motors. They all burn some oil. I didn’t measure compression, but there are videos that profess improved compression. Didn’t change mpg, but I did see a reduction in oil loss. The Oilhead crankcase holds four quarts of oil. I think I used half of the can in the Oilhead, and split the rest in the Airheads which only hold a little over two quarts of oil. I would not say that I am a zealot, but I would consider using it again.
 
IMO opinions, over-the-counter additives are going to have a tough time truly integrating with the oil in a realistic way. That's why petroleum engineers earn their bucks in the design of additives for their oils. Just throwing in some STP or whatever I really don't think is going to do anything but lighten your wallet and give you some good feelings.
 
I generally agree that additives are not needed with one notorious exception. Classic K bikes (K75, K100, K1100, and K1200) have a well known issue with sticking pawls on the one-way starter clutches buried somewhat deeply in the engine cases. These almost never wear out but somewhere between sometimes and often they are noted for sticking, causing them to slip. Whirrrr, but no crank!

On these bikes the use of a good oil detergent, such as CD2 or Valve Medic, in the oil for a hundred miles or so prior to an oil change is preventive maintenance. I like to use it when preparing to do a major (12,000 mile) service. Once the clutch is sticky the alternatives are bump start the bike and a long ride with detergent/solvent in the oil, or a $$$ teardown removing the transmission and auxiliary case to remove the starter clutch to manually clean it. Take your pick.
 
Last edited:
20774 said:
IMO opinions, over-the-counter additives are going to have a tough time truly integrating with the oil in a realistic way. That's why petroleum engineers earn their bucks in the design of additives for their oils. Just throwing in some STP or whatever I really don't think is going to do anything but lighten your wallet and give you some good feelings.
Click to expand...

Snake oil or not?

How do you know what you are buying is what it says it?

Remember the Slick 50 or Duralube adds at midnight?

But, sticking hydraulic lifters, and our bikes don't use them, an additive with Stoddard Solvent works very well.

Yes, this is the same dry cleaning fluid that has been banned in Canada and will kill you after about 1 minute.

Be careful about the graphite, ZDDP's and so on but, depending upon the problem you have, could be a solution.

I'm still very comfortable calling some of these additives snake oil, but companies that make additives, do supply some effective solutions.
 
Don’t know for sure but I’ve been told that Stoddard Solvent is the mystery in Marvel Mystery Oil. I do know that Stoddard is closely related to mineral spirits which we used to dump in the crankcases of old tractors and trucks that sat behind the barn for decades without moving to “break ‘‘em loose” an clean the gunk out. I wonder where those tractors are now?
 
on my old 2002 R1150RS 2 ounces of marvel mystery oil adds 1.5 to 2 mpg.

Does nothing on my 1200 GS. I used to have a 2.8 5 speed S10, Marvel mystery oil added about 30 miles per tank. It has not had any effect on any other of my vehicles.

4417 bosch plugs are the best to minimize surge.

Rod
 
The additive I am using in my higher mileage cars for years is the product 'm_stock10506' mentioned (the thicker blue stuff), it fills scratches (at least for a while) inside the cylinders thus increases compression and reduces oil burning in high mileage vehicles. With my cars I definitely feel a significant improvement in performance pretty much as the product claims it (a few hundred miles after putting it in). I decided to go with it with my bike too (since it's a dry clutch as 'r0ckrat' pointed out to be careful with), I guess I'll see what happens. My bike is approaching the 100K so if it also works here I should really fee the difference. With my busy, limited time for riding I'll try to report back after going through a few tanks of gas.
 
 
Pauls1150 said:
Dow-Corning Gear Guard is a moly additive for transmissions and final drives; if used in the engine, it quickly makes the oil sight glass too dark to see the level.
https://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?15866-Final-Drive-Fluid-Additives
https://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?97706-1985-K100RS-gearbox-and-differential-moly-additive
https://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?21858-Transmission-Oil-Question
https://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthrea...-base-gear-additive-compatable-with-syntetics
And of course there are more...
Click to expand...

The additive I use is for engine oils, says on the bottle 'add to engine oil ...', have been using them on our cars for many years. I added some to by bike but unfortunately due to rainy days I am not able to ride the bike to put enough miles for it to kick in. In our cars it's been really great, that's why I want to try on the bike too.
 
tibork said:
The additive I use is for engine oils, says on the bottle 'add to engine oil ...', have been using them on our cars for many years. I added some to by bike but unfortunately due to rainy days I am not able to ride the bike to put enough miles for it to kick in. In our cars it's been really great, that's why I want to try on the bike too.
Click to expand...

If your cars use sight glasses instead of dipsticks to check the oil level then comparing a bike to a car is OK. But if your motorcycle has a sight glass to check oil then using a moly engine oil additive is not a good idea. Assuming the additive actually has enough moly to make a difference it will coat the sight glass and make checking the oil impossible. When I screwed up and did it, it took two oil changes and 10,000 miles before I could actually check the oil level.

And, what are the features that allow you to tell it has really "kicked in?"
 
PGlaves said:
If your cars use sight glasses instead of dipsticks to check the oil level then comparing a bike to a car is OK. But if your motorcycle has a sight glass to check oil then using a moly engine oil additive is not a good idea. Assuming the additive actually has enough moly to make a difference it will coat the sight glass and make checking the oil impossible. When I screwed up and did it, it took two oil changes and 10,000 miles before I could actually check the oil level.

And, what are the features that allow you to tell it has really "kicked in?"
Click to expand...

I'll monitor the sight glass, thanks for the heads up!

Kick in means it takes a few hundred miles until it works and this thing really works, performance increases significantly with high mileage vehicles, only drawback one need to add it at every oil change as it only lasts so long.
 
That's it Omega Man, that's the one. Thank you! It fills scratches and creates a smooth coating on the cylinders inside increasing compression and reducing oil leaks around the piston rings. It really works on higher miles vehicles, have been using it for years on several of our former (and current) older cars.
 
PGlaves said:
I generally agree that additives are not needed with one notorious exception. Classic K bikes (K75, K100, K1100, and K1200) have a well known issue with sticking pawls on the one-way starter clutches buried somewhat deeply in the engine cases. These almost never wear out but somewhere between sometimes and often they are noted for sticking, causing them to slip. Whirrrr, but no crank!

On these bikes the use of a good oil detergent, such as CD2 or Valve Medic, in the oil for a hundred miles or so prior to an oil change is preventive maintenance. I like to use it when preparing to do a major (12,000 mile) service. Once the clutch is sticky the alternatives are bump start the bike and a long ride with detergent/solvent in the oil, or a $$$ teardown removing the transmission and auxiliary case to remove the starter clutch to manually clean it. Take your pick.
Click to expand...

This also true with the starter sprague clutch on the f650. I used sea foam transtune a few times and left it in a while before oil changes, it helped but did not 100% cure the issue yet. I will try the cd2 and see if that does more.
 
PGlaves said:
I generally agree that additives are not needed with one notorious exception. Classic K bikes (K75, K100, K1100, and K1200) have a well known issue with sticking pawls on the one-way starter clutches buried somewhat deeply in the engine cases. These almost never wear out but somewhere between sometimes and often they are noted for sticking, causing them to slip. Whirrrr, but no crank!

On these bikes the use of a good oil detergent, such as CD2 or Valve Medic, in the oil for a hundred miles or so prior to an oil change is preventive maintenance. I like to use it when preparing to do a major (12,000 mile) service. Once the clutch is sticky the alternatives are bump start the bike and a long ride with detergent/solvent in the oil, or a $$$ teardown removing the transmission and auxiliary case to remove the starter clutch to manually clean it. Take your pick.
Click to expand...

chrisinsc said:
This also true with the starter sprague clutch on the f650. I used sea foam transtune a few times and left it in a while before oil changes, it helped but did not 100% cure the issue yet. I will try the cd2 and see if that does more.
Click to expand...

I’m not familiar with that specific problem but have used a kerosene fill with light agitation (careful it gets foamy) and on another internal problem, 0-40 full synthetic oil relieved a sticky automatic compression relief.
OM
 
A mentor of mine who was a Porsche/Audi service manager in the 80s and 90s had me put diesel in the engine of an Audi 5000 I did the head work on and made me drop the pan and clean it as well to clean all the residual coolant and crap out of it after I got it back together. No driving it under load but running it for 5 mins or so. Replaced it with oil and ran it till warm and then replaced it again and the filter. Your kerosene mention reminded me of that.
 
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