EquipmentWorld.com | February 2014
63
maintenance
|
by Tom Jackson
TJackson@randallreilly.com
Understanding
the relationship
between lube
oil, coolants
and biodiesel
Fluid analysis
master class
S
eeing traces of cool-
ant or fuel dilution in a
lube oil analysis doesn't
necessarily mean what it
did 10 years ago.
There's no doubt that Tier 4
Interim and Final diesel emissions
technology has drastically cut the
pollution going out the exhaust
stacks of heavy equipment. Same
holds true for diesel truck engines
manufactured since 2007. But this
new engine technology, along with
biodiesel, has brought new com-
plexity to the art and science of
engine fluid analysis.
Today, to understand what's go-
ing on with your engines you have
to know how all these new ele-
ments work and how they corre-
late to one another says Dave Tingey, field services engi-
neer for Polaris Laboratories. "It's like a three-legged stool.
They all have an effect on the equipment."
Of particular interest, he says, are how coolant leaks via
EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) can impact lube oil quality
and how biodiesel can throw of tests for fuel dilution. The
interrelation of these elements makes fluid analysis more
important and more useful than ever.
