[vsaravind007]

Hello BHPians!

As promised, here is my review on the Liqui Moly CeraTec, which is an oil additive that claims to improve NV levels along with mileage & also claims to increase engine life. I switched from Shell Helix to Liqui Moly TopTec 4100 on my Skoda Laura a few months back (Done a review on it here) and it has since then improved/multiplied my trust on the Liqui Moly brand. I was planning on adding CeraTec & some of you guys suggested that I must use it. Now, oil additives are one of the highly debated topics among car guys. Many say that they don't really work, yet an equal (or more) number of guys claim that they do work. I have never used any oil additive on any of our cars before & honestly I was among the people who think that oil additives are total bullsh*t like blinker fluid because of 2 main reasons :

1. Every manufacturer wants their engine to be quiet & smooth - they’ll try their max to improve these through less expensive, more obvious things like better lubricants & bearings.
2. Adding something to the oil will modify its properties - may increase/decrease the viscosity - I always thought this is bad for the engine because it drifts away from the manufacturer specification

Liqui Moly CeraTec is one of the first names that come up if you do a search on Google for ‘engine oil additive’. It is quite famous among enthusiasts & is commonly added while changing the engine oil. It is available here in India at a cost upward from about Rs.2500/- depending on the source. I was planning on adding it along with the oil, but it wasn’t available in stock with Land Rover Labs(from where I bought Liqui Moly TopTec 4100 oil) when I bought the oil. Didn’t try other sources & was delayed because I wanted to see how the oil performed. Also, wanted to make sure that the smoothness & responsiveness I felt after the oil change wasn’t just placebo. The car has now clocked around 7100KMs after the oil change, you can find more on my thoughts here. I’m particularly interested in knowing what CeraTec can do on top of the improved NV levels after switching over to TopTec 4100. I wasn’t expecting miracles, but after reading all the praises about the product on the interwebs, I was keen on trying this.







Bought CeraTec from Land Rover Labs, they’re one among the authorised Liqui Moly(and a host of other performance & detailing product brand) distributors in India. Like before, the package arrived at my home in a neatly packed box in just 2 days, all the praise to LRL Motors! CeraTec claims to be based on a micro ceramic compound that sticks to metal parts, creating a lasting lubricating effect. On their product specification document, they’ve mentioned that CeraTec is based on Hexagonal Boron Nitride(Read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boron_...e#Hexagonal_BN) which is used in lubricants & in cosmetics! The container looks & feels awesome(ah the Germans!) for an oil additive, it comes in an aluminium bottle of 300mL which is for use with 5L of oil. The package also comes with a sticker inside, which is used to note down the reading on the ODO when adding CeraTec, which is quite nice. I stuck it along side of a warning sticker on the car.







Adding it is straight forward, bring the engine up to temperature, turn the engine off, remove the oil cap and empty the bottle in. I was pretty much sure that I won’t be able to notice any difference at least for a few hundered(or thousand) kilometres. Hence, thought about measuring the before & after NV levels so that a scientific comparison can be carried out instead of just sticking to my senses!

Test Setup

Measurement was carried out using the Android app iNVH by Bosch running on my One Plus 2. It is a free app (For advanced features like FFT plot and all, you’ll have to spend Rs.650, which wasn’t necessary for my purpose). The app uses various sensors built into the phone to carryout the measurements. This is not a perfect setup to test out the NV levels, but it gets the job done & accurate enough for this.



Sensors, especially the high precision gyro & dual microphones on the phone makes the setup pretty accurate for the purpose of measuring engine noise and vibration. For measuring the NV levels, the phone was stuck to the steering wheel using this double sided tape which is not thick enough provide damping, which could mess up the readings. Measurements should be accurate with the setup. The iNVH app has a data logging(recording) feature builtin which makes it easy to plot the data later on a laptop. Generated data was plotted using DataGraph, a Mac App for charting & graphing.

Measurement

The measurements were carried out while:

1. The engine was at its operating temperature, 90 degrees.
2. The AC was kept completely off since it will affect NV levels when the load on compressor changes(Which is quite often since the car has a climatronic unit which keeps on running the compressor adjusting the load).
3. All windows/doors closed (It was an oven!!)
4. Head unit was off
5. Car was on a flat concrete floor with 34bar pressure on every tyre with hand brake.
6. Ambient noise outside the car was almost nil (Lazy Saturday morning to the rescue!)
7. Phone was stuck to the centre of the steering wheel running iNVH app

‘After’ readings were taken after adding CeraTec and idling the engine for about 5minutes.

Results

Noise & Vibration readings were taken before and after adding CeraTec. I didn’t feel any difference in noise at the time of measuring. But the findings are quite interesting:

Noise
Even though I couldn’t sense any difference in the noise level, iNVH was able to pick up a very slight change. Noise sample rate was 10.79 samples/second

Before CeraTec, the peak noise level recorded in a period of about 32 seconds was 46.66dB and the lowest recorded level was 42.62dB - the cabin is pretty quiet. While a bird call is around 44dB(Source), this cabin does a very good job at keeping the noise levels low. Checkout the plots below(Black line along the centre is a LOESS Curve):



After CeraTec, the peak noise level recorded in the same period of about 32 seconds was 46.5dB and the lowest recorded level was 42.45dB. CeraTec managed to lower the upper level by 0.16db & the lower level by 0.17dB - pretty much the same value.



This slight change is not at all audible/detectable to me. But CeraTec did arguably lowered it by 0.16dB!

Vibration
Now this was noticeable right after adding CeraTec, though the difference wasn’t that significant then, I could feel a slight change in the vibration that I’m used to while holding the steering wheel. Felt like the vibrations were a bit muffled, just like sensing the vibration of a phone that is in a thick flip case. Vibration sample rate was 202.47/second. Vibration along the coordinate axes are in m/s2, if anyone is interested unit conversions & the math behind vibration measurement, go through this: http://blog.prosig.com/2011/09/05/vi...-displacement/.

This image should make a bit of sense about the coordinate axes with respect to a phone. The phone is stuck to the steering wheel on top of the logo - Ideally(Steering kept steady without moving), moving the car forward or backward will result in large changes in the z-axis while humps would change the y-axis & sideways movement should reflect on the x-axis. There could be measurement errors since the steering axis is not exactly straight & the phone was mounted at a slight angle.



My car has a straight inline 4 engine with the flywheel mounted(and rotating) in parallel with the wheel. Hence, with our mounting setup, the flywheel’s axle is roughly in parallel with our phone’s x-axis. According to right hand rule for torque(http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/tord.html), our z-axis should record higher acceleration values since the force due to the flywheel is acting that way. It was evident when I plotted the values.


Before CeraTec, the peak x-axis acceleration recorded for a period of 1 second was 0.8057m/s2, y-axis acceleration recorded was 0.6681/s2 and z-axis acceleration recorded was 1.42m/s2. While the trough recordings for the axes were -0.6768m/s2, -0.4328m/s2 and -1.215m/s2 respectively.



After CeraTec, the peak x-axis acceleration recorded for a period of 1 second was 0.7096m/s2, y-axis acceleration recorded was 0.6242m/s2 and z-axis acceleration recorded was 1.392m/s2. While the trough recordings for the axes were -0.7287m/s2, -0.516m/s2 and -1.136m/s2 respectively.



Definitely lower values after adding CeraTec. Though by small numbers, this can be felt.

Engine vibrations were reduced noticeably & after a quick test drive, it was even more evident. I drove about 20 kilometres post adding CeraTec. I know it isn’t much, but the difference in vibration levels are noticeable. This has definitely given me confidence in CeraTec, I’m planning on ordering 3 more bottles for use in other cars at home. Would I recommend this? I am a converted believer of CeraTec & Land Rover Labs, of course I will!

I’ll be posting updates on this thread as I crunch more kilometres with it, I’m interested in long term effects of the product on fuel economy & the noise level.

For those who are interested in the raw data from iNVH in CSV format, you can find them in this ZIP file: CeraTec_NV_data_CSV.zip

[tharian]

Thanks for the review.

I was thinking of picking it up for my Aspire diesel.
Amazon has it and I read the review saying the effect lasts 50k kms.

With oil change at every 10k kms, how does that hold good?

[Shreyans_Jain]

I've been using Ceratec on my diesel City, which as we all know has abysmal NVH. I observed an almost instant and significant reduction in vibration levels. Noise levels have also lowered, although this has happened after driving for 3-4k km

The car has been running on Ceratec for over 5000km now. Usually, I need to clean the air filter at around this point, else the engine starts feeling lethargic and choked. This time, I am yet to feel the need to do so. Perhaps the reduction in friction is more than just a claim. Ambient and driving conditions are pretty much the same as they have always been. Can't comment on FE, really don't bother measuring it anymore.

[ike]

Originally Posted by vsaravind007

Adding it is straight forward, bring the engine up to temperature, turn the engine off, remove the oil cap and empty the bottle in. I was pretty much sure that I won’t be able to notice any difference at least for a few hundered(or thousand) kilometres. l, you’ll have to spend Rs.650, which wasn’t necessary for my purpose). The app uses various sensors built into the phone to carryout the measurements. This is not a perfect setup to test out the NV levels, but it gets the job done & accurate enough for this.

I have been sitting on the fence so far but now that you as well as Mod Gannu_1 swear by it, I'm going to give this a try when I change oil next (which is another 4k KMs).
One question though, if the 300 ml is for five litres, do you use it proportionately if your car has less than 5 litres of oil? Mine takes in 3.1 Litres of oil so do I use the full 300 ml or use a lesser quantity?
EDIT: Land rover labs website seems to be dysfunctional. Any other means to reach them?

[vsaravind007]

Originally Posted by tharian

Thanks for the review.

I was thinking of picking it up for my Aspire diesel.
Amazon has it and I read the review saying the effect lasts 50k kms.

With oil change at every 10k kms, how does that hold good?

Thank you tharian, I'm also skeptical about 50k KM metric. I honestly don't think they'll retain the qualities when the oil is changed. I'll search a bit more on the same & will update.

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

I've been using Ceratec on my diesel City, which as we all know has abysmal NVH. I observed an almost instant and significant reduction in vibration levels. Noise levels have also lowered, although this has happened after driving for 3-4k km

The car has been running on Ceratec for over 5000km now. Usually, I need to clean the air filter at around this point, else the engine starts feeling lethargic and choked. This time, I am yet to feel the need to do so. Perhaps the reduction in friction is more than just a claim. Ambient and driving conditions are pretty much the same as they have always been. Can't comment on FE, really don't bother measuring it anymore.

Yes, now after about 50kms, the difference is too high. More than the noise, I think the vibration levels are lower on my car. Also, the engine seems a bit more lively.

Originally Posted by ike

I have been sitting on the fence so far but now that you as well as Mod Gannu_1 swear by it, I'm going to give this a try when I change oil next (which is another 4k KMs).
One question though, if the 300 ml is for five litres, do you use it proportionately if your car has less than 5 litres of oil? Mine takes in 3.1 Litres of oil so do I use the full 300 ml or use a lesser quantity?

I think you should use it proportionally, my car needs about 4.3L of oil for which I have added roughly about 280mL.

[Leoshashi]

I tried this product way back in 2016 in my humble Maruti 800 5Speed, and this is what I had to say:

The way it was added- My MASS poured in 2L of Liqui Moly 5w40 engine oil. Then 300ml of Ceratec was poured in, and then the engine took close to 600ml of engine oil for the level to come upto max in the dipstick.- The car was then left idling for close to 10 minutes. With every passing second, the sound of engine started decreasing!!

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modify...ml#post4087335

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...ml#post4107602

My mileage also reached to crazy levels, and there was a marked difference in the smoothness of the engine.

A warning:

Another thing I would like to warn people, specially those with older cars. If your engine has any kind of sludge or carbon buildup, avoid using Ceratec/Fully Synthetic oil. A WagonR user whom I sometimes meet had this issue. His car had done some serious kilometers, but as he didn't change the oil as regularly, there was considerable amount of sludge and carbon in his engine. After he used Ceratec, all hell broke loose. Th ceratec compound mixed with all the sludge and became a semi solid mass and accumulated near the oil strainer(inside sump). That choked the strainer, which eventually caused his engine to run dry. Just 20 kilometers after pouring Ceratec, his engine seized.

Picture of the WagonR:



Hence if you engine has sludging issues, avoid Ceratec.

Originally Posted by tharian

Amazon has it and I read the review saying the effect lasts 50k kms.

With oil change at every 10k kms, how does that hold good?

Originally Posted by vsaravind007

Thank you tharian, I'm also skeptical about 50k KM metric. I honestly don't think they'll retain the qualities when the oil is changed.

This is just a rumour and a lie propagated by the company. The effect decreases tremendously post an oil change. So if someone is buying it for the 50k kms effect, let me be very clear, it's not going to happen. I used Molygen 5W40 post oil change and didn't use Ceratec and my car is now back to its pre Ceratec behaviour. I am but a happy man as the 5W40 Molygen is perfectly suited to my requirements. I somehow didn't like the unreal smoothness which the Ceratec gives.

Regards,
Shashi

[vsaravind007]

Originally Posted by ike

EDIT: Land rover labs website seems to be dysfunctional. Any other means to reach them?

Hello ike, you can reach the owner Mr.Khais at 09539330000. He is very helpful & knows a lot about the Liqui Moly product line. Give him a call.

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

A warning:

Picture of the WagonR:

Attachment 1743136

Hence if you engine has sludging issues, avoid Ceratec.


This is just a rumour and a lie propagated by the company. The effect decreases tremendously post an oil change. So if someone is buying it for the 50k kms effect, let me be very clear, it's not going to happen. I used Molygen 5W40 post oil change and didn't use Ceratec and my car is now back to its pre Ceratec behaviour. I am but a happy man as the 5W40 Molygen is perfectly suited to my requirements. I somehow didn't like the unreal smoothness which the Ceratec gives.

Regards,
Shashi

That really looks awful! Apparently CeraTec increases the viscosity. So I guess it'll do more harm than good on cars that are less looked after. It'll be a nice idea to look for sludge in the car at an FNG or at home before adding CeraTec. Thanks for the heads up Leoshashi, I nearly made a family friend to add CeraTec to his less looked after Ford Ikon!

I also thought the same, CeraTec's effects will disappear the moment the oil is changed.

Conclusion: Next oil change cost = price of oil + price of filter + price of CeraTec + labor!

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by vsaravind007

It'll be a nice idea to look for sludge in the car at an FNG or at home before adding CeraTec. Thanks for the heads up Leoshashi, I nearly made a family friend to add CeraTec to his less looked after Ford Ikon!

Yes, I had a peek inside the engine using Endoscope camera before going for the Ceratec, as my car is an 18 year old example.

My view after using both is: For free revving petrols, go with Molygen. For diesels, where NVH matters, Ceratec plus oil works best.

Regards,
Shashi

[PratikPatel]

I have been toying with the idea of adding Cera Tec to my cars for quite sometime now. As my wife's Ford Fiesta was due for its 20,000 kms servicing, I took the opportunity to order a bottle. Once the car came back from the SVC with the requisite oil and oil filter change, I took it for a longish drive.

The first leg of the journey was for about 10 kms to warm up the engine. The MFD was displaying a 12.5 kmpl (I know about how inaccurate such readings are and such; but this is an indicative general yardstick). After running the car for 10 kms, the Cera Tec was poured in. The car was then run for 25 kms to ensure that the contents circulate and coat all the engine components to the optimum.

After couple of kilometres the engine started feeling noticeably smooth and the valve clatter started to subside substantially. The MFD started inching up slowly. By the time I reach home the MFD was showing 18.5 kmpl. Once again, I know its not the actual fuel efficiency, however, this car has never displayed anything more than 13 kmpl in the city, therefore, there is no doubt that this stuff works.

[adi_sun]

I think the quantity is 300 ml so the best time to add it is with the oil change. Any idea if someone wants to add this post a few hundred km of oil change how exactly to take out only 300 ml of oil and substitute with ceratec? Don't want the total oil plus additive to cross the required make specially in a turbo diesel. Thanks

[Rocketscience]

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

I've been using Ceratec on my diesel City, which as we all know has abysmal NVH. I observed an almost instant and significant reduction in vibration levels. Noise levels have also lowered, although this has happened after driving for 3-4k km

The car has been running on Ceratec for over 5000km now. Usually, I need to clean the air filter at around this point, else the engine starts feeling lethargic and choked. This time, I am yet to feel the need to do so. Perhaps the reduction in friction is more than just a claim. Ambient and driving conditions are pretty much the same as they have always been. Can't comment on FE, really don't bother measuring it anymore.

How significant is the noise reduction post this?

I have many times in the past too have commented on the poor noise and harshness levels of City's diesel engine but vibration levels on the other hand, atleast at idle is the best of all the diesel cars i've owned, it is significantly better than my Creta at idle and better than the cruze too, are you sure its not placebo effect for Vibrations?

It does have a light vibration when it runs at lower than ideal rpms when driving, has that improved? I mean all this could be attributed to the design of the engine and mounts in case of idle, does it really make a significant difference?

[mikem]

I've used Ceratec in my E280 and it worked wonders. Engine is running one bar cooler and the Noise & Vibration has definitely reduced. F.E. is the same.

I have also used it on a Nissan Sunny that had just touched 50000 kms. The car had significant vibration at signals because it's an A/T. Post 150ml of Ceratec the vibration reduced by at-least 75%. My Bro-in-Law used Molygen on his 7 year old diesel innova which he wanted to sell, and has now decided to keep it for at-least another year due to the massive decrease in vibration. Even his driver was impressed with the results.

I swear by Liqui-Moly products..

IMPORTANT NOTES:
1] If your adding it to a car with engine oil showing the level at the full mark, you must evacuate some oil before adding Ceratec.

2] Liquimoly states that Ceratec should be at approx 5% to 6% concentration in the engine oil. The 300ml is enough for 5 litres of engine oil. Adding 300ml to 3 litres of engine oil will not only be overkill, but you may also end up with 10% excess oil in the system.

[ani_meher]

My Beat is undergoing service, and I have a Ceratec bottle ready for it. Since the engine oil is only 3.5L, I am planning to add around 175/180ml of Ceratec.

Q1. Should I remove proportionate engine oil from the car before adding Ceratec, or should it be added on top of existing oil (without caring for going above the limit)

Q2. What can I do with remaining 120ml Ceratec?! Can I add it in Aviator scooter/Ninja 300 motorcycle?

[vsaravind007]

Originally Posted by ani_meher

My Beat is undergoing service, and I have a Ceratec bottle ready for it. Since the engine oil is only 3.5L, I am planning to add around 175/180ml of Ceratec.

Q1. Should I remove proportionate engine oil from the car before adding Ceratec, or should it be added on top of existing oil (without caring for going above the limit)

Q2. What can I do with remaining 120ml Ceratec?! Can I add it in Aviator scooter/Ninja 300 motorcycle?

Hi ani_meher, I guess your Q1 has already been addressed above. Regarding Q2, I don't think you should be using CeraTec on motorbikes, not that it'll cause trouble, but I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere on Liqui Moly's product specifications/features/description of CeraTec. It is however mentioned that it can be used in 'engines' and 'pumps' vaguely but doesn't specify what sort of engines/pumps. Also, i found this: LM_Motorbike_D_GB_1405.pdf which is Liqui Moly's PR material for motorbike products. On the additives section, I don't see CeraTec. So, better stick to these than using CeraTec. You could store the remaining quantity safely and use it later on your car or on some other car.

Regards,
Aravind

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by ani_meher

Q2. What can I do with remaining 120ml Ceratec?! Can I add it in Aviator scooter/Ninja 300 motorcycle?

Ceratec is a friction modifier. If the Ninja gearbox share the oil with the engine you should not use it because it will make the clutch slip.

If the Aviator engine oil does not have any gearbox lubricating functions assigned to it and stays in the crankcase you can use ceratec.

Also friction modifiers do not work well in some gearboxes. I asked a friend not to add the Liquimoly gearbox additive in his Mk1 Octavia RS (it was mine before) manual gearbox but he went against my advise and got it added and later the gears would not slot without crunching becasue it was too slippery for the synchro rings to work. Later on my advice the gearbox oil was completely drained and filled with OE mineral GB oil and it works perfectly now.

Originally Posted by ani_meher

My Beat is undergoing service, and I have a Ceratec bottle ready for it. Since the engine oil is only 3.5L, I am planning to add around 175/180ml of Ceratec.

Q1. Should I remove proportionate engine oil from the car before adding Ceratec, or should it be added on top of existing oil (without caring for going above the limit)

The total quantity of the fluid going into the engine should not be higher than engine oil capacity. So if you are adding 180ml of ceratec use 3320ml of engine oil if oil capacity mentioned is 3.5L.

Always its better to add Ceratec during an oil change and not to old oil.