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Additives

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Bines said:
How about Engine Ice. It's not an additive. It's a replacement for factory coolant. It's the blue radiator fluid they sell at Cycle Gear. Has anyone here used it? My bike doesn't run hot as it is. Any cooling system issue I've had on a vehicle was mechanical, not due to the coolant itself.
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I have engine ice in my ZRX, they run hot in the summer so I decided to give it a try.
It has had no effect, it runs the same temps it did on yamacool
 
focus frenzy said:
I have engine ice in my ZRX, they run hot in the summer so I decided to give it a try.
It has had no effect, it runs the same temps it did on yamacool
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Unless a bike runs hot enough that the thermostat is wide open all the time and it still gets hot, I don't see how you can see the difference. If you have a 180 thermostat, that's what the bike is going to run no matter what is in the cooling system.
 
I've never seen an additive clean a gunked up carb by running it through the tank. I always end up taking it apart to clean the innards.
 
KenH said:
Anyone advocating Rotella should list the type and viscosity. None of the T1 single viscosity are appropriate for modern bikes. Rotella T is JASO MA in 15W45 but apparently not in 10W30. Rotella T5 has avoided revealing any JASO MA certification I can find , but T6 has the compliance info all over its pages. I actually see Shell Rotella® T6 Full Synthetic Heavy Duty Engine Oil 5W40 as one of the best values in oils for many common wet clutch, single sump motorcycles and ATVs today. There are several better quality oils I know of, but at quite inflated prices.
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A lot of guys on Wings and ST-1300s run Rotella T6, I think its sold for diesels. I just run Castrol Synthetic on all my modern bikes. The Trophy has a 10K oil change interval so it's not that expensive.
 
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Here in nowhere Okieville, most gas is just crap. Very short shelf life and very inconsistant from one station to the next. I personally use StarTron in my gas for several reasons. Extended sitting intervals in generator, and lawn equipment over the winter. All of my stuff starts right up with no issues, even after 6 months of sitting.

I recently, within the past few weeks, read several articles about Dino oil vs full synthetics. In side by side wear comparisons they were the same. Problem is they did not test for the other benifits of full synthetics. Pour point when extremely cold, break down with severe heat, ease of cranking resulting in less wear and tear on the starter and battery or reduced friction due to flow etc resulting in better mileage and or HP. Dyno results prove the HP gains of full synthetics over Dino oil. Me personally, I just use Walmart full synthetic. Recently pulled the right engine cover on the GPZ with 98k miles to work on the clutch for slipping. Fully expected to see it all burned up etc. I was shocked, the inside of the engine looked brand new. The clutch looked brand new. The plates and disc had ZERO wear. Turns out it was the springs had just gotten weak.

I was working at a John Deere dealer in 2013 when they lost a class action lawsuit. One of thier mowers did not meet the advertised HP. So how did they fix it? They changed the oil specification to full synthetic which boosted the HP by 10%!

How about something simpler, like WD40 Rust Release Penatrant? I was skeptical, saw it on Spike TV Engine Power and thought I'd try it. I was shocked at how good it worked. Its one of those things that sometimes you just have to try for yourself.

As far as Full Synthetic oils, I'm sold. Personal experience and in my professional experience I've clearly seen the benifits first hand.
 
KenH said:
Anyone advocating Rotella should list the type and viscosity. None of the T1 single viscosity are appropriate for modern bikes. Rotella T is JASO MA in 15W45 but apparently not in 10W30. Rotella T5 has avoided revealing any JASO MA certification I can find , but T6 has the compliance info all over its pages. I actually see Shell Rotella® T6 Full Synthetic Heavy Duty Engine Oil 5W40 as one of the best values in oils for many common wet clutch, single sump motorcycles and ATVs today. There are several better quality oils I know of, but at quite inflated prices.
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So it's my job to tell someone which oil to put in their bike? I think they should just, you know, look for that JASO rating on the bottle and make their own decisions in life.
 
I was using Castrol ActEvo in my C50. I was raised on Castrol for all my four cycle oil uses. Haven't had a problem that traced back to bad oil. My NCX has Honda oil in it now. It'll be due for a change in a few weeks. I'll probably use ActEvo.
 
bmcdonau said:
Unless a bike runs hot enough that the thermostat is wide open all the time and it still gets hot, I don't see how you can see the difference. If you have a 180 thermostat, that's what the bike is going to run no matter what is in the cooling system.
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Was running 207 on the highway in to work today, thermostat was wide open.
 
Similar to the oil I mentioned, the test on Water Wetter is flawed. The test only tested the "top tank" temp or the upper block temp monitored by the engines temp sender. Of course the thermostat is controlling and trying to maintain a constant temp at the "top tank".

What products like Water Wetter do is to basically allow more or better contact with the engine and radiator surfaces to make the heat transfer more efficient. What the test do not show and did not do, was measure the delta T across the radiator and engine before and after the application.

In my professional experience, I find that these products do work as advertised. The easiest way to check is to measure the heat loss across the radiator. Typically (not always) the temp drop across the radiator is 10 to 15 degrees on the machines I was testing. After the Water Wetter was added the temp drop across the radiator was 15 to 25 degrees. An obvious and measurable difference that was repeatable over and over.

I looked at several 2015 Kawasakis and the full open temp on the thermostat was 182. Now that doesn't mean that the engine will never get hotter than that. The fan on a 300 Nija doesn't come on until 212. So a temp of 207 on a hot summer day is not unusual. It also has an 18psi cap. With that and coolant, the boiling point is like 245.
 
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running down the road at highway speed if it improves cooling it should have improved cooling. it didn't.

it might improve cooling on a motorcycle that doesn't have a cooling issue, but if it doesn't have a cooling issue it doesn't need it.

it doesn't over heat, it gets close but manages to keep it in check, Kawasaki this time was careful at giving the ZRX just enough cooling capacity to work in Texas heat.
 
I've never had an issue running down the highway, but my Gold Wing and Trophy both would trip the fan in very short order in stop and go traffic or just idling.
 
bmcdonau said:
I've never had an issue running down the highway, but my Gold Wing and Trophy both would trip the fan in very short order in stop and go traffic or just idling.
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My Strom is like that. Anything under 40 and the fans will kick on in pretty short order in any weather hotter than 80.
 
while it is not an additive, I use synthetic blends or full systhetic depending on the application. I had a Bandit 1200 that I turned into a "sleeper" back when most young sport riders favored race replica machines. While adjusting the tappets, I dropped one down into the sump. The master mechanic at the shop helped me recover the tappet and while the "pan" was off he took the time to look at the general wear of the motor. From what he could see from that vantage point, and the history he knew of my motorcycle, he commented that the engine looked almost brand new. That motorcycle was well loved and it was modified for maximum acceleration. By using a synthetic and changing it at regular intervals, the visible wear was minimal at 40k miles.
 
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