Let’s start with oil change regimens and extending drain intervals. Most diesel enthusiasts are more concerned with how long their engine last than how long their oil can last.
Messing around with drain intervals, though, has risks. Many who try extending drain intervals risk voiding their original equipment manufacturer (OEM) warranties. And even if you’re changing your oil at the intervals recommended by your OEM, it doesn’t guarantee that your engine’s protected. If you have issues with oil consumption, or oil dilution, your engine cannot be protected to the degree you might expect.
What causes this breakdown to occur, and how can you ensure your vehicle’s engine is protected?
Understanding oil composition will give you an insight as to why engine oils break down over time. Motor oil is comprised of a basestock and additives. The additive package is designed to satisfy specific engine requirements. Additives, however, are like a bar of handsoap. They get used up over time. Toward the end of a drain interval, a lower-quality oil may drastically lose its ability to prevent wear. The constant heat, intense pressure and stress that is put on an oil causes it to impact these important chemical additives over time.
One of these ingredients is the viscosity modifier. Viscosity modifiers compensate for the poor temperature response of base oil alone. Oils tends to get thinner at high temperatures and thicker at low temperatures. Viscosity modifiers are a critical component of nearly every engine oil.
The trouble is, under the intense heat and pressure inside a diesel engine, traditional viscosity modifiers break down over time. This is because the molecules that compose them are arranged in a linear coil shape, which is prone to breaking up as oil is squeezed between moving parts.
This deterioration of the viscosity modifier and the oil is referred to as shearing. Shearing can be a major issue for your diesel engine, because if an oil isn’t running at its specified viscosity, critical engine parts will be left without the protective layer of a lubricant. And when that happens, wear and corrosion can literally cause a catastrophic failure.
By understanding shearing and viscosity loss, it becomes clear why a standard diesel engine oil may not protect your vehicle as well as you think it will toward the end of its service life.
To keep your diesel engine protected through the entire length of its OEM-recommended or extended drain interval, it’s important to use a top-tier diesel engine oil with strong shear resistance and viscosity control. In addition, doing a periodic oil analysis (some recommend after every other oil change) can identify other potential problems that could drastically shorten your diesel engine’s life and result in costly repairs.
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ReplyDeleteThe diesel engines of today are constantly evolving and becoming more and more powerful. As more horsepower is added, increased pressure is put on the turbochargers. This pressure creates extremely hot environments the greater heat levels lead to oil oxidation. This, in turn, alters the viscosity of oils. The lighter molecules in the oil tend to evaporate as the oil is heated, leaving larger and heavier molecules behind, leading to oil consumption and an increase in the oil’s viscosity.
ReplyDeleteThe molecules may break down and create deposits on your diesel’s component surfaces, further preventing the release of heat into the oil stream. The extreme heat in diesel engines actually stimulates the creation of oxidation which may create various deposits and sludge and leave the lubricant thick making it extremely hard to pump and with very poor ability to transfer heat. Performance diesel enthusiasts should use a semi or full synthetic diesel engine oil to minimize these issues. Stay away from mineral based diesel engine oils because they are more unstable and prone to oxidation and sludge when high heat is present.
In response to increasingly stringent emissions standards, diesel engines now operate at much higher temperatures and under much greater pressures. Because tolerances have become tighter, contamination control for fuel, lube, and coolant systems is critical. Consider a quality lube filter- money well spent.
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