6 Types of Oil Additives (For 2021)

Your oil engine is the one that is making your vehicle run smoothly. The engine oil is known to be the bloodline of every vehicle. Oil makes the vehicle perform excellent and smooth. 

This is why you need to do a lot of maintenance in terms of your engine oil. There is an oil change that you must do regularly. There is also an oil filter that will filter your engine oil of any impurities and contaminants. 

And now, we have the oil additive. The oil additive is a lubricant. Sometimes, changing your oil is not for the long run. Eventually, you will need to replace your oil with another one. 

So this is why oil additives are invented. You must already know that your engine oil provides lubrication to your engine. Your engine oil additive will improve the lubrication of your motor oil. 

This oil additive can also extend the life of your engine oil. This might be the dream every driver wants. Oil change requires time, effort, and money. 

The oil additive can also add to the viscosity of the engine oil. This will then provide well lubrication to your car’s engine and positively affect your car’s performance. 

If you want to know more about oil additives, you are on the right page. So keep reading

Types of Oil Additives

What Are Types of Oil Additives?

If your car and its engine are already getting oil, replacing your engine oil might not be enough anymore. You will need a secondary effort to maintain the excellent performance of your car’s engine. So these oil additives can be your secondary help. 

The objective of this oil additive is to complement the effectiveness of your motor oil. The oil additive will not be your next engine oil. Instead, you will mix this oil additive to your engine oil so that they will complement each other. 

With the two of them, they can make your car’s engine run very smoothly, and they can also keep the engine oil good as new. Here are some of the types of oil additives.

  • Antioxidants
  • Viscosity Modifiers
  •  Friction Modifiers
  • Detergents
  • Anti-Foaming Agents
  • Rust And Corrosion Inhibitors

Buying oil additives can give you a lot of benefits.  These oil additives can prevent any corrosion in your car’s engine. When you mix the oil additive to engine oil, this will improve the engine oil lubrication, which will reduce the friction made by your car engine’s moving parts. 

This is just one of the benefits of getting an oil additive. Let us look further into each type of oil additive to know which one to get for your vehicle.

Antioxidant

If your engine parts get exposed to oxygen, your engine parts will deteriorate because of oxidation. So you will need antioxidants so that you can have protection for your engine in terms of oxidation. This antioxidant oil additive will do the job for you by making a protecting layer. 

This will slow down the oxidation process. This oil additive will also prevent any corrosion on your engine parts. This kind of oil additive will also prolong the lifespan of your engine oil. 

Oxidation must be avoided at all costs. Oxidation causes corrosion and other contaminants that will accumulate in your oil. This is why it must be avoided at all costs. 

So these antioxidants will serve as an oxidation inhibitor. They will be the ones who will extend the working life of your engine oil. Their job is also to protect your base oil. 

You must put to mind that the rusting can cause a very great deal of deterioration in your base oil. This is one of the reasons why you need oil additives to your engine oil. These two complement each other.

Viscosity Modifiers

If your oil is exposed to high temperatures, your oil will become thinner and watery. To avoid this, you will need a high level of viscosity to modify this change. This viscosity modifier will be blended with regular oil, and it will decrease the chance of your oil becoming thinner and watery. 

This oil additive can improve the flow of the engine oil through your car’s engine. This oil additive can improve your fuel economy and, at the same time, prevent any wear in your engine’s parts. 

This oil additive is very significant because oil additives can increase your engine’s performance. You need to maintain the excellent quality of your engine oil so that you will also maintain your car’s excellent and smooth performance. 

If your oil will get too watery or if your engine is burning too much oil, this will be a harmful effect on your car’s performance. So it is essential to use oil additives. This will further improve the performance of your car by improving the quality of your oil.

Friction Modifiers

The job of this friction modifier is to lessen the friction that is being produced by metal surfaces in your engine. In theory, if you can lessen the friction caused by your engine’s moving parts, you can improve your fuel economy, and you can also use this as an anti-wear agent. 

Most of the oil additives you can find will usually have the anti-friction formula. When your car is running, your car’s engine is at work. This friction modifier is used to alter and moderate the friction caused by the engine and the transmission components. 

This oil additive is mainly used in engine oils and automatic transmission fluids. Your car’s engine will get damaged over time because of the friction that the engine’s moving parts create. Because of that, you will need to do something to lower the friction caused by these moving parts. 

You also have to modify the heat from the friction because this can make your vehicle overheat. This oil additive will be able to clean your engine. 

This oil additive has detergent characteristics. As a result, this oil additive will be able to clean any impurities and contaminants to your car’s engine and engine oil.

Detergents

Over time, there will be contaminants and impurities that will build up in the components of your engine. The job of this detergent oil additive is to remove any impurities that have already accumulated in your engine. This oil additive has two functions. 

This detergent oil additive can remove any deposits from the hot metal components. This detergent oil additive can also counteract some acids that can build up in your base oil. This detergent oil additive is mainly used in engine oils. 

This oil additive is also alkaline. It would be best if you had this oil additive because one purpose of an oil additive is to stop excessive smoke from your car. You might notice some cars that blew up a thick black smoke. 

If you are also experiencing this issue, you have to try using oil additives. This oil additive might solve your problem. This oil additive can also reduce the noise of your engine.

Anti-Foaming Agents

This anti-foaming agent oil additive is equipped with chemicals that will lessen foam and air bubbles built up in your engine. You need to remove these air bubbles because they will play a massive role in the oxidation process. This oxidation will then result in corrosion. 

This oil additive can also prevent any oil leakage in your vehicle. This will save you a lot of money in the future.

Rust And Corrosion Inhibitors

This oil additive will take away any corrosion you have. This oil additive can form a protective barrier made by chemicals. 

This will then repel moisture from metal surfaces. This oil additive is an inhibitor, and they are primarily inhibitors to certain metals.

Summary

In summary, the oil must be kept new and of high quality. Sometimes, having an oil change is not the solution to every car’s problem. Old vehicles might not be satisfied with a good oil change. 

You might need to have some oil additives. Oil additives will help in the regulation of your engine oil. This oil additive will work for hand in hand with your engine oil.

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My name is Hank, and I've been in the automotive industry for 27 years. I've been working in my own auto repair shop for the last 13 years, and now I want to help you here, on my blog. Let me know if you have any questions. Read more