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The following article is reproduced by kind permission of the author, Brid Walker, from his book "Discover the Secrets of .. Adding Amazingly Long Life to YOUR Vehicles & Equipment" © 2001. Brid, who lives in Queensland, is an authority on vehicle and machinery maintenance.
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Cooling Systems
Oil Life and Usage, Wear
Special Maintenance Tips from the Experts .. 
4.1 Oil…Do this simple test and you’ll get more life out of your diesel engine.
Finger test. When you next check the dipstick, rub some of the oil between your thumb and forefinger. Then wipe it off. The pores of your skin should be left nice and clean looking. But, if it’s blackened the prints of your fingers, you’ve got problems, and you should change the oil immediately. Its cleaning ability is exhausted! Your engine is accumulating sludge and deposits, and this black abrasive soot is causing excess wear!
Here’s what to do… Change your oil more frequently. Ensure air filters and injectors are clean. Ensure fuel delivery, timing and valve clearance are correct, and check that the turbocharger, governor, intercooler, etc are right. Avoid excessive idling and light work.
(Editor's note: NEPTUNE Products have a special flushing oil concentrate, FOC and fuel additive chemicals FTC and CP to restore internal cleanliness and give your engine a clean start.)
Petrol engines do not suffer from the same degree of soot as diesels, but you should still be able to feel when the oil’s goodness has gone. Bear in mind that the feel of the oil is not the “be all and end all” to determining whether it’s still OK. But if it doesn’t feel OK, then it will not be fit for further service. Compare this with new oil of the same type and grade as you are using. Oil will eventually feel thinner and less oily than new oil. This could be from fuel diluting the oil or “shearing effects” on the oil itself from prolonged service, and reducing the oil’s viscosity. Always make a mental note of the oil’s degree of discoloration. The darker it is, the more contaminants it holds, and the less its ability to protect your engine.
4.2 Some simple oil science anyone can do…
Oil Spot Test. All you need is a piece of ordinary blotting paper for this test. Place 1 drop only of used oil (usually engine oil) onto the blotting paper. It’s a good idea to also compare with the clean oil of the same type, until you learn what to look for. Wait for the oil to migrate through the blotting paper. It may take several hours to fully stabilize. Hot oil will migrate faster. As the oil migrates, it carries with it contaminants which may not move as fast as the oil body. Ideally, the contaminant band should migrate with the oil, to leave a fairly even discoloration. Both total contaminant load and particle size of the contaminants have a bearing on the pattern formed. When the oil is too heavily contaminated, the contaminants clump together and do not migrate easily with the oil front. Or alternatively, they may migrate in a very heavy even pattern. In each case, it indicates that the oil’s despersancy power is exhausted, and deposits will be forming throughout your engine. In addition, abrasive wear will be occurring at an accelerated rate.
You should change your oil immediately! A flushing oil concentrate may also be recommended, to re-suspend contaminants that have settled throughout the engine.
Oil Spatter Test. If you suspect water contamination in your oil (eg slight loss of coolant without outward signs of leaks). A milky appearance of the oil will confirm a substantial amount of water content. However, if there is no visual sign of water in the oil, you can try this test. Heat an old (so you don’t get into trouble with the lady of the house) saucepan, piece of steel etc, on a stove to a bit over 100C (the boiling point of water). Test the temperature, by dropping a small amount of water on the heated surface. It should boil off instantly. Now, put 2-3 drops of suspect oil onto the hot surface and watch. If the oil spatters, crackles and dances about, water is present. If it doesn’t, water is not present. If in doubt, of course, compare with some clean oil. This test will not rule out entirely a coolant entry, since if it is a slight leak, the water may evaporate during operation. A laboratory analysis could identify this by measuring traces of coolant additive chemical, commonly sodium (Na).
4.3 How clean is your engine?
You wouldn’t really know for sure how clean your engine is, unless you took it apart. For this reason, it’s a good idea to periodically give it a flush out, say once every 3-4 oil changes. Now if your oil hasn’t been changed as frequently as it should, and the Oil Spot Test should give you an idea of this, if you test it at the end of its usual service life, you’ll need to flush it more frequently. In some engine types (eg Japanese indirect injection diesels, and any diesel that thickens and blackens the oil quickly) a flushing oil concentrate should be added prior to each oil change.
An idea of the cleanliness of combustion chambers can often be gained by looking at spark plug deposits and injector tip deposits. It is sometimes possible to view, with the aid of a torch, the piston crown through the injector (direct injection diesels) or spark plug hole. Removing a glow plug from a diesel engine will also give you an idea of combustion chamber deposits. Sludge will often settle around valve rockers, so it can be useful to remove the rocker cover for a visual inspection.
(Editor's note: NEPTUNE Products have a special flushing oil concentrate, FOC and fuel additive chemicals FTC and CP to restore internal cleanliness and give your engine a clean start.)
4.4 Oil filters
Everyone knows that oil filters remove contaminants from your oil, but unless you cut your filters open and inspect them, you’ll never know how much contamination you have, or if you have a serious wear problem. To inspect your filter, do this:
First allow the filter to drain for a couple of hours, by supporting it on a simple frame over a container, so that the filter does not dip into the oil. Use a hacksaw to cut off the open end, holding the oil filter vertically in a vice, with the open end facing down. In this way, metal from the hacksaw will not contaminant the filter paper to any great extent. There are also filter cutting tools available, for those who need to do this more regularly. These are handy, since they cut cleanly, with no metal debris being created. Remove the element from its housing, and brush off the bulk of the metal left from the hacksaw. Carefully cut and unravel the paper element, avoiding scattering any filings left. Ideally, the filter paper should look clean, but a little stained. You don’t want to see any little specks of metal or heavy oil sludge. If you see metal (and it’s not from the hacksaw), get a small magnet to test whether it’s ferrous or non-ferrous. This may give a clue as to what part of the engine is wearing.
4.5 Differentials, gearboxes, transfer cases, final drives, etc
Excessive loads, inadequate lubrication, dust and water entry can all promote wear in transmission type units. Neglecting them can be costly. Here’s what to do.
1. Check the oil regularly. It should look “as new”. If not, replace it. An exception is in some differentials where grease entry from a wheel hub or swivel pin housing has mixed with the grease. This will not have any adverse effects, but the faulty seal should be replaced. A goldy sparkling colour in the oil indicates wear to bronze parts, eg synchro rings.
2. Check that the breather is free, clean and operating properly.
3. A good idea is to fit magnetic plugs to the oil fill holes. Then any wear metal from gears, shafts, bearings, etc will be obvious, and not lying on the bottom of the housing.
4. How hot does it get? Some transmission type units will get hotter than others, eg because of transferred heat (from engines), basic design, high duty cycles, etc. However, your goal should be to reduce operating temperature to the minimum. You should be able to touch most units at least briefly without much discomfort. If you want to get more serious about it, there are magnetic thermometers available, that you can attach to the outside of transmissions, hydraulics, etc. This won’t work with alloy housings, however. Fitting permanent temperatures gauges to such components can certainly be justified for hard working expensive machinery. Apart from outside heat sources, transmission heat is generated from 2 sources. Firstly, frictional heat when the oil film ruptures and allows metal to metal contact. In this case, a higher viscosity oil may be required. Alternatively, superior lubricants and anti-wear chemicals can also reduce this. The second cause is fluid friction, caused by the constant shearing of the oil during operation. Selection of the best viscosity will minimize this. In some cases, it is a balancing act of selecting an oil of sufficient viscosity, but not so high, as to cause fluid frictional heat.
In some cases, where temperature is extreme, special purpose lubricants (including synthetic oils) may be required. Oil coolers are another alternatives. But remember, extra oil coolers mean extra maintenance as well. It is best to keep things as simple as possible, whenever you can.
As a general rule, for higher ambient temperatures, heavier duty applications, sustained elevated duty cycles (eg country driving, towing) an oil with a slightly higher viscosity will be of advantage. These types of conditions lead to higher sustained temperatures, which decrease the oil’s film strength, resulting in more metal to metal contact and wear.
(Editor's note: NEPTUNE Products have a special anti-friction oil and hydraulic fluid additive SupaSLIP to reduce wear, heat and noise.)
4.6 Air Filters
Dust and other abrasive matter entering with the inlet air is blamed for a considerable amount of total engine wear. The amount of air used by an engine is staggering. A 3.0 litre engine can consume ¾ million litres of air per hour! That’s more air than contained in an average house! Even a small leak in an air filter can cause an engine to wear out. All connections on the air induction system must be secure and sealing effectively. You need to check them regularly. Ensure the filter element is fitted correctly and sealing against the housing. There will be a seal on the filter element, or alternatively, on the filter housing. A little Vaseline smeared on the seal face will help ensure a perfect seal. All air should enter through the filter media. Where leaks occur, there will usually be evidence of dust. Wipe your finger over the suspect area, and you’ll be able to detect it. Working methodically from the air cleaner to the inlet manifold will reveal exactly where the leak has occurred. Unless a routine laboratory oil analysis detects it, dust entry is rarely detected before serious damage has occurred. Several years ago, I had an Isuzu diesel fitted to my Range Rover. As this was a second hand engine, I wanted to find out a bit about its condition, so I sent a sample of the first oil fill to the lab for analysis. It detected an elevated Silicon (dust) level. Working as described above, I discovered that the fitter who installed the engine, used a dirty cross over pipe on the induction side. I cleaned it out properly and the next oil analysis confirmed that the problem was solved. Money well spent!
I recommend periodic laboratory analysis of used engine oil as a good means of looking after engines…especially expensive ones, which may warrant it on each oil change.
If you suspect dust entry into an engine, here’s what to do:
1. Check all sources of leakage, including breathers, as well as the induction system. Make sure the filter element is sealing fully along the full perimeter of the seal face.
2. Check for cracks, loose clamps and joints, including air compressor connections (where fitted), and ether cold start fittings.
3. Inspect the filter element for damage. A good method of doing this is to place a light bulb on one side and view from the other. Even a small pin hole will show up as a tiny star of light.
4. Ensure all gaskets, washers, etc are correctly installed and sealing effectively.
5. Ensure the air intake does not draw air from a high dust concentration area. Ideally, it should draw cool air, rather than high temperature under bonnet air. This can make a significant difference to diesel engines, since they require a certain amount of excess air, to perform efficiently with low smoke levels.
4.7 If your engine’s out of tune, it’s wearing out faster, too.
An out of tune engine is not capable of burning its fuel efficiently and cleanly. Combustion bi-products are detrimental to an engine, and some will cause accelerated wear. This subject will be discussed in greater detail later in the book. Suffice to say that all engines should be kept in good tune for optimum life, as well as efficiency.
4.8 The easiest way to safely fix a glazed or carboned up engine
Assuming your engine is in sound condition, but has glazed (or even carboned up) due to poor tune, light work, short runs, excessive idling, over-extended oil service, etc, it can be completely restored to clean condition using a unique product called FTC Decarbonizer. FTC is merely added to the fuel and the engine operated as normal. The action is a gentle and safe one, which actually burns off all carbon and glaze, without any abrasive or corrosive action. Even the hardest of carbon will, with time, burn away…carbon so hard you’d have to chip it away with a chisel!
Diesel engines are prone to glazing (ie covering the cylinder cross hatch with hard polished carbon), if driven under light load, run cool or idled too much. This cylinder cross hatch was originally machined into the bore, to provide sufficient surface roughness to hold a film of oil. The oil then is able to complete the seal between the piston ring and the bore. Without it, compression loss and oil control would become a problem. This often results in excessive sump pressure, which can cause blowby out the breather pipe, oil leakage from the engine, smoke, oil consumption, hard starting and power loss. FTC can completely rectify this problem, so long as the engine is sound. The chemistry used in this product is quite remarkable, and we’ll discuss it in more detail in a later section.
(Editor's note: NEPTUNE Products have a special flushing oil concentrate, FOC and fuel additive chemicals FTC and CP to fix a glazed, or carboned up engine.)
Please click through to further articles by Brid Walker under ..
Cooling Systems
Oil Life and Usage
WEAR
You may like to be one of the first to read about a major breakthrough in reducing air pollution from diesel engines, by using the new DD-STROBE ® diesel fuel injection timing light.
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