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In this issue:
1. Customer Case Study - Know Your New Oil Typicals
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Customer Case Study - Know
Your New Oil Typicals
Different oils from the same
manufacturer may have characteristics in their additive pack that help to
pinpoint and/or confirm machine problems. Charlie Westover of Echo Bay Minerals
McCoy/Cove gold mine in
Boron has a spectrometer
reading of 104 to 107 ppm in samples of new engine
oil. During normal use the values range
from 97 to 112 ppm.
After correlating maintenance events in FleetOil and work order
information with the oil analysis data for boron, 3 specific events were found
to suppress Boron below the nominal range:
- coolant
presence
- fuel
dilution
- contamination
with power train type oil.
Coolant is readily indicated
by potassium, sodium, and at higher levels by wet chemistry tests for
glycol. Now it can be confirmed by boron
suppression. Suprisingly, boron suppresion
may lead other predictors, giving an early warning of coolant
contamination. Actual chemical makeup of
the coolant in use must be considered, as many commercial coolants use borate
as a buffering agent.
Fuel dilution is typically
indicated by reduced flashpoint and viscosity. Soot presence can increase
viscosity to give a masking effect, making it sometimes difficult to confirm
the presence of fuel. Boron suppression
is now a confirming indicator. When it
is seen together with flashpoint & viscosity suppression, it is a very
reliable indicator of fuel dilution.
Boron levels in the engine
oil range from 97 to 112 ppm in service. Boron levels in new oil samples of the power
train oil are 4-10 ppm. Concentrations of other
additives in the engine oil and transmission oil are close enough in new oil
and in service that they are not reliable indicators of mixing. Boron is now a very reliable indicator and in
some cases viscosity.
Correlation of onsite
maintenance events with reliable oil analysis data provides a much clearer
picture of any problem.
A specific case where this
worked:
Troubleshooting a failed
Trans/Torque Convertor scavenge pump on a dozer
proved to be
problematic. The failed
pump was allowing the engine flywheel housing to stay flooded, resulting in
transmission oil being forced past the engine rear crank seal. This caused a small increase in engine wear metals
between scheduled oil changes but not enough to trigger an alert or be cause
for concern.
When engine oil analysis
revealed that boron was being suppressed, this information was matched with
recent work reports. They showed an
engine overheating probelem that had not been clearly
resolved - winter operating
tempuratures were masking the
effects. An observant field lubeman had
added an event comment in FleetOil's Trend Viewer that the engine seemed to be
"making a little oil" between oil changes. An operator complaint of an intermittent low
noise when pushing downhill had also been entered into Trend Viewer as an
event. Correlation of all the info
triggered further troubleshooting that revealed the actual problem. Viscosity did not show as a problem. The transmission oil is 30wt, the engine oil
15w40 - a minor suppression was observed but it was not enough to trigger an
alarm.
Boron has now been added to
the default graph view for engine oil compartments. It has also been added to the engine Alarm
group. The lab was asked to do a mathmatical correlation in their data base to see if they
could add it to their systems as an alarm because they had not picked up on it.
The lab has reported their database review revealed the same trending and has
set an alarm in this engine oil at 80 ppm. Nominal range was 78 to 85 ppm.
Fun Stuff!!!!! Regards, Charlie
*** Note: All test values
presented are for oils from a particular manufacturer and as tested by one
lab. They may or may not apply directly
to your situation. Be sure to study your
own trends and consult your lube supplier and lab to verify your own product typicals in making use of the methods in this case study.
Many
thanks to Charlie Westover at Echo Bay Minerals in
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Best Regards,
Andy Ling and the Dingo Team
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