OIL Life & Usage

To go to individual products directly related to oil life & reducing oil consumption (using oil) click .. FTC engine decarboniser, DeSLUDGE FOC & SupaSLIP

Click here to go to reducing oil changes up to 600% (LABCHECK lab report)

Click here to go to reducing oil changes up to 300% (BP Detecta lab report)

Click here to go to reducing oil usage by up to 58%

Click here to go to oil contaminants

BP Detecta Analysis sampling kits are available from Waitemata Hydraulics, Henderson, AKL .. tel (09) 8392040

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.

To go to further articles by Brid Walker, please click .. Cooling Systems, Maintenance tips (including oil) and Wear

OIL LIFE ..

22. Using science to extend equipment life

Lubricating oil changes both physically and chemically during its service life. For example…

Accumulation of wear debris
Entry of external contaminants (dust, water, fuel)
Deterioration due to heat and chemical effects
Build up of combustion bi-products

In the broadest sense, scientific analysis of used lubricating oil can tell us three things…

1. Is the oil condition OK for further use? Oil viscosity should still be within a satisfactory range. Contaminant levels should not be excessive. Oil additive packages should not be excessively depleted.

2. Are operating conditions normal? Entry of dust, coolant, fuel, soot, sulphur and high oxidation levels reflect a problem that if left unattended, will shorten the life of components. This knowledge allows the owner to take preventative maintenance measures well ahead of expensive repairs becoming necessary.

3. Is excessive wear taking place? All wear metals are measured in parts per million (ppm). Where levels exceed a normal upper limit, wear is designated as abnormally high. These levels do vary with engine type. For example, for mining equipment, the following upper limits are set as “normal” at the end of the oil service life…

Wear metal type : Cummins diesel engines ..

Iron : 24 ppm

Chromium : 1 ppm

Copper : 5 ppm

Lead : 26 ppm

Wear metal type : Detroit Diesel Engines ..

Iron : 50 ppm

Chromium : 4 ppm

Copper : 10 ppm

Lead : 5 ppm

Some manufacturers can extrapolate the economic life of a diesel engine by plotting the wear rates from each oil sample taken. Once you get everything running well and within the normal limits, by stepping up your monitoring efficiency, you’ll find that it is possible to set new standards for wear rates by using higher quality lubricants, combustion chemistry and filtration.

Oil analysis can save the life of your engine, transmission or other component of machinery. For example, suppose you have a loose hose from your air cleaner to your manifold in your 4x4, and you do a lot of dusty outback work. Your next oil analysis alerts you to high silicone. Silicone is the major element in dust, and points to a faulty air induction system. Quite likely, this will be accompanied with elevated iron (from cylinder liners), chromium (piston rings), and lead (bearings). If you correct the problem early, a catastrophic engine problem is avoided.

A routine laboratory analysis on my Range Rover engine (diesel) identified elevated sodium, indicating coolant entry. The level was not large, but elevated, and I was not losing excessive coolant. I re-tensioned the cylinder head, and sent another sample for analysis on the next oil change. The problem was solved, well ahead of any damage to the engine, or even visible signs of water in the oil.

A very common problem with small pre-combustion diesels (especially Japanese) is high soot, derived from combustion. The oil change interval is generally recommended at 5000km, however, depending on operating conditions, kilometers traveled and quality of service, they may be well and truly overloaded with soot by this stage. Factors which can exacerbate this include engine sludge being resuspended by the fresh oil. In severe cases, this can overload the oil instantly! Other problems, which can cause excessive soot include…

Over-fuelling (fuel pump setting too high)
Excessive idling
Dribbling injectors
Incorrect timing
Restricted air filter or intake system
Cool operation (eg stop-start, sticking thermostat)

High sodium indicates a coolant leak usually, as sodium is a common element in cooling system inhibitors.

High lead can indicate bearing wear.

High aluminum can be from pistons.

The higher the wear metal value, the more severe the wear. It sounds simple enough, but the interpretation of oil analysis results can be complicated by many factors, including…

The sample taken should be representative. The oil should be hot and well mixed, and sampled cleanly.
The oil service life must be taken into consideration, low contaminants at low oil hours/kms can mean things aren’t as good as it might seem.
The amount of oil top up must be considered, since topping up dilutes the contaminants.

Development of trends over a series of oil samples provides a better idea of how an engine is performing.

BP Detecta Analysis sampling kits are available from Waitemata Hydraulics, Henderson, AKL .. tel (09) 8392040

23. Harmful oil contaminants

Contaminant Source Method of control / Action

Dirt .. External, enters past air filter or seals. Locate and repair fault

Coolant .. Cooling system leak, due to corrosion, faulty gasket, etc. Oil will disperse and control small amounts. Locate and repair the fault

Water .. Cooling system leak, condensation, combustion. Oil disperses small amounts. Minor water entry is removed by evaporation. Locate and repair fault. Change oil & filter. Flush system if severe problem.

Soot .. Poor combustion of diesel fuel. Oil disperses soot until additive package is exhausted (then sludge is produced). Check for over-fueling, timing, restricted air inlet, turbocharger, injectors, fuel quality, etc. Change oil and filter. Flush if severe. Use FTC in the fuel and flush oil with FOC.

Oxidation products .. High temperature operation, high temperature at lubricated points, other contaminants can accelerate oxidation. Oil disperses. Go to a higher quality oil with more stable base oil stocks and anti-oxidant. Use of anti-wear will reduce high point temperatures .. SS

Fuel .. Over-fueling, dribbling injectors, leaking fuel line, worn rings liners, sticking piston rings. Oil disperses, but loses viscosity rapidly, increasing wear. Change oil more frequently until fault repaired. Use high quality flushing oil concentrate to free sticking piston rings.

Sludge .. Formed by soot, water, oil residues and dirt. Insoluble in oil. Use quality flushing oil concentrate to resuspend and remove sludge. Go to higher quality oil. Check as per soot. Use FTC in the fuel and flush oil with FOC.

Gum, varnish & lacquer .. Fuel, fuel & oil, and baked varnish respectively. Use high quality crankcase oil. FTC decarbonizer will burn off from combustion spaces, where a glaze is formed.

Ash .. Fuel and additive packages from crankcase oil. Control fuel quality. Additional finer filtration of fuel may be necessary. Reduce oil burning. Use of FTC decarbonizer will burn the carbon from the deposits, that is the binder for the ash, allowing it to deplete.

Carbon .. Fuel & oil Check as for soot. A detergent/dispersant type fuel additive with upper cylinder lubricant is recommended to deplete inlet port deposits for carburetor and port fuel injection systems, and to correct fuel spray patterns CP. FTC decarbonizer should be used to burn off carbon from cylinder heads, piston crowns, top lands and top ring grooves, turbochargers, exhaust manifolds, etc.

BP detecta oil analysis report ..

Case HISTORY .. Toyota 3L TD

(For the latest report click here)

Toyota Hiace Regius 4WD,1KZ-TE 3L, 1997 Japanese used vehicle import to NZ.

This fulltime 4WD, 8 seater people-mover was imported with certified 50,000km. It is often used on light loaded, short, stop-start journeys of only 1-4km on city roads .. barely time for the 3L TD engine to reach operational temperature .. and conditions likely to cause serious carbon build-up.

FTC catalytic decarboniser has been used at about 1ml per litre (1:1000) of diesel fuel, since purchase over 48,000km ago.

DeSLUDGE FOC (Flushing Oil Concentrate) was used at 54,900km, 60,784km and 76,943km engine oil changes to ensure clean oil galleries, clean cylinder cross hatch, clean oil ring grooves and clean oil sump.

SupaSLIP was added to the auto-transmission, transfer box and differential at 54,900km and to the engine oil after each change.

From 60,784km the engine oil was not changed for the next 16,159km as regular oil sample testing every 5000km (the Toyota recommended oil change interval) by the independent laboratory (BP Detecta Analysis Report) indicated clean serviceable oil. Analysis showed contaminants were still well within the serviceable limits. There were no oil top-ups, or filter changes during the 16,159km period.

Remarkably, at the conclusion of the test, 16,159km of mostly stop-start, short runs after the last engine oil change, the engine oil still tested “serviceable” and the dip-stick oil was visibly still not “diesel BLACK” .. rubbing the engine oil between the fingers and thumb, as a quick test, confirmed the LACK of heavy BLACK carbon deposits. Exhaust smoke remained almost “nil” visibly and the engine remained very “torquey” and responsive.

Note: When extending normal oil change periods, it is strongly recommended that regular oil analysis tests are conducted to ensure that the oil remains serviceable.

Details of the BP Detecta Analysis Report follow. It is worth noting that the oil Total Base Number of 9.2 (a measure of the available oil detergency) is still well above the serviceable 5.0 minimum. Contaminants slowly increased with increasing mileage, indicating generally low wear.

We believe that this report confirms the desirable results to be expected from giving an engine what we call “the full treatment" of FTC+FOC+SupaSLIP.

This same vehicle has done over 20,000km in a 2nd test, without oil change or top-up .. the oil is still serviceable .. the test continues.

BP Detecta Analysis sampling kits are available from Waitemata Hydraulics, Henderson, AKL .. tel (09) 8392040

OIL CONSUMPTION or usage ..

There are many causes for excessive engine oil consumption.

We are compiling this article, but meantime you may wish to see below.

REDUCED ENGINE OIL CONSUMPTION ..

FTC engine decarboniser combustion catalyst added to diesel fuel produces less abrasive soot. The oil then copes better with keeping ring grooves cleaner, thus reducing “blow-by”.

Independent tests in the fleet of 12 Cummins powered coal haulers showed
an average 58% reduction in oil consumption when using FTC catalyst in the diesel fuel.