To: cc:

Ray Garvey/CSI@CSI

Subject: OilView News #21, "What about Heavy Duty Diesel Engine Oils?"

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Today's subject: "What about Heavy Duty Diesel Engine Oils?" Hello once again OilView Users, I know this is the third (and final) OilView Q&A memos you have gotten from me this week. Hopefully you have found at least one question and answer relevant to your on-site oil analysis program. Many times people ask about using the Minilab to test heavy duty diesel engine oils. The short answer is that the 5100 and 52DV do a pretty good job. Considering applications and oils are very different from other industrial applications and oils, they deserve special attention. The CSI Product Support Analysts are available to answer your questions when you call them at (865) 675-4CSI or (865) 675-4274 or email them at "custserv@compsys.com". Here are some of the questions recently answered for an international customer.
Q. I have a serious problem here at this paper mill. We have a small railroad. The railroad has heard that we do our own oil analysis, and they want us to test their oil. Is their any special way to run this type oil from diesel engines all samples. I have run into have soot so thick that you can't tell much about it. All help in this would be appreciated. We have a 5100-1 a 52DV and a 51PC we do not have a ferrous wear monitor yet.

In response to your questions about using the minilab with heavy duty diesel engine oils, CSI has been diligently investigating diesel engine oil analysis since 1992. Diesel engine oils behave quite differently from industrial oils and hydraulic fluids. We have run field tests with 14 over-theroad trucks, collecting bi-weekly oil samples through many oil changes. This is very unusual considering the normal mode is to simply collect oil at the drain interval. We have also tested a few hundred oil samples from locomotive crankcases. This experience has taught us much about engine oil testing.
A.

The following extracts are taken from a "On-site Program.doc" paper presented at Practicing Oil Analysis '99.

On-site Program.doc

Table 1. Common wear, chemistry, and contamination faults. Wear Contamination Fe, Pb, Sn, Cu wear is mostly Soot, dust, and coolant Engine
oxide and mostly <5 micron size. Concentration in direct proportion to soot and oxidation and inversely proportional to TBN. Steady increase in wear concentration between oil changes. contamination.

Chemistry
Combustion gases consume TBN, contaminants consume detergent additives, hot surfaces oxidize oil.

Table 2. List of lab methods and on-site methods for industrial oil analysis
Engine Wear Contamination Contamination Contamination Chemistry Chemistry Chemistry Abrasion Coolant Dust Soot Oxidation Depleted base Wrong Oil Fe, Cu, Pb, FD, Analytical WDA, ISO Code Glycol, B, Na, Dielectric Si, Analytical WDA, ISO Code % Soot, Dielectric Oxidation, Dielectric, Index TBN, Dielectric Viscosity and Zn, Ca, Mg, P, Dielectric AES, ICP, AA FTIR, AES, ICP, AA AES, ICP, AA, PC TGA, LEM FTIR TBN Viscometer, AES, ICP, AA FD, WDA, PC Dielectric WDA, PC Dielectric Dielectric, Voltammetric Dielectric, TBN Kit Viscometer, Dielectric

We have found that the three most valuable minilab parameters for diesel engine oils are dielectric, chemical index, and viscosity. Dielectric and viscosity can be used to identify misapplied lubricants (e.g., wrong oil) and fuel dilution in oil. Chemical index can be used to identify excessive soot, glycol, water, oxidation, nitration, sulfation, and depleted base. Infrequently I find interesting information in the contaminant index (non-ferrous particles and water), ferrous index, large ferrous indication, large non-ferrous indication, and particle count information. My experience has shown that the most likely problems (most serious problems) you are looking to find are #1 excessive soot, #2 fuel dilution, and #3 coolant contamination. The 5100 and 52DV can be used to screen these (except for the case of #3 coolant contamination if the coolant has boiled away). The spectrometric analysis is value added to the minilab when testing engine oils for four reasons. First, the spectrometer can detect B and Na which indicate a past or present problem with coolant contamination. Second, the wear debris from engines is almost entirely sub-micron to a few microns in size. It is primarily oxides of Fe, Cu, Pb, and Sn. The spectrometer is the best tool to monitor these ultra-fine wear debris. Third, the spectrometer is the best tool to identify (fingerprint) oil additives containing Zn, Mg, Ca, P, K, and B. Fourth, the spectrometer can monitor Si that reflects air filter failures leading to abrasive wear. One important observation about engine oil analysis is that the wear metal concentration is directly proportional to the soot concentration which in turn is proportional to hours-on-theoil. Soot, Fe, Cu, Pb, 1/TBN, and oxidation all covary. The engine is constantly producing all of these effects on the oil. As a result, you can expect a saw-tooth data plot over time for all of these parameters (unless oil consumption and oil adds are high). Every oil change starts you off at zero and in general, if you were to just measure soot, you can just about name the other values. Occasionally something bad will happen and one or more wear metals will jump up, but this is hard to tell from normal wear data. For these reasons the following tests are recommended for your crankcase oils: 5100 + 52DV (+ spectrometer if available). If the spectrometer identifies high wear then send the sample on to the comprehensive minilab for analytical wear debris analysis. Best regards, Ray Garvey (865) 675-2400 x3435