Motorkote is an oil additive that claims it coats metals and reduces wear and friction in the engine, gearbox etc.
My motorcycle has a problem with harsh gear changes and I decided to give it a shot after hearing good things about it from various sources.
I added 50ml in 2,5 liters of oil (recommended dosage is 2oz per quart of oil which is about 30ml per liter, so I should have added about 20ml more) and the first impression is that it works! The gear changes are much smoother now.
So, what’s in this stuff? Other similar products warn against using with a wet clutch, but Motorkote doesn’t have this warning and I didn’t feel the clutch slipping.
The United States Federal Trade Commission seems to do a fairly good job of checking the claims made by the companies that make oil additives (and spark plugs, “fuel maximiers” and whatever else.) Google searches on their website show that they have successfully sued Slick50, Dura Lube and Motor Up and Prolong to stop them from making false and unsubstantiated claims about their products. A search for Motorkote on ftc.gov did not match any documents.
I’m not a fan of oil additives for noncommercial engines, but I am surprised by this.
Wild guess is it’s what they call a “friction modifier”. You routinely have to add it to some limited slip differentials (the additive is specified by the auto maker).
In a transmission it can help with hard shifts, although I did read a service bulletin from Ford warning against adding friction modifiers to manual transmissions as it may improve shifting short term but can cause quick wear of some parts.
Friction modifiers make the syncromeshes in manual transmissions to slip (this is a bad thing). Also they make wet clutches slip. But I know several people who have used it succesfully in their manual tranny.
Somebody did a Used Oil Analysis after having added Motorkote and they didn’t find any of the usual additives (zinc, moly, bases, etc)
This is very strange and I can’t find anything on the Internet.
As someone above said, it’s a friction modifier. Might be something like ZDDP in an oil base, or teflon flakes, like the infamous Slick 50. Think about that. Teflon flakes. Actual particles floating around in your engine, potentially clogging up narrow oil passages.
I don’t know what kind of motorcycle you’re riding, but if you’re riding a typical Japanese motorcycle with a wet clutch, with a common oil supply for the engine, transmission and that wet clutch, friction modifiers can cause the clutch to slip.
If you’re riding a Harley-Davidson or BMW, which have separate oil supplies for the engine and transmission (and in the case of HD, the clutch), clutch slippage won’t be a problem, but the manufacturer’s specification calls for a certain kind of gear oil for the transmission, and you’re altering that.
My thinking is that the manufacturers, and the oil companies, know what they’re doing, and you’re best sticking to what they recommend.
Is it likely that Motorkote, whoever they are, has a bigger R&D budget than Honda? Or Castrol?
my standard refrain for these types of questions is:
“The people who designed and built your car/truck/motorcycle know what kinds of fluids it needs to function properly and maximally. They certainly know better than you do, so don’t just dump random crap in your engine/trans/gas tank.”
Motor oil, gear oil, and ATF are engineered fluids. They have very specific properties designed for the job they have to do. When you alter those properties by adding “Bob’s Motor Oil Conditioner and Fish Marinade” then all bets are off. For example, some oil additives cause oil to foam which is a very bad thing.
I’m surprised. I would have thought that a real engine oil manufacturer would want to stay far away from this stuff. Slick 50 is snake oil, and I vaguely remember that about ten years ago, or maybe more, they had to come to some kind of settlement with the FTC over false claims for their product.
As to Motorkote, I was a bit curious about what’s in it, so I looked up their MSDS (material safety data sheet). Doesn’t list anything but petroleum oils.