Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/601893
W hile most engine oils are made to accept- able standards, their general and specific qualities can vary widely. Poor-quality engine oils are often put on the market due to ignorance or greed. Unfortu- nately, for the uninformed automobile owner, a high-quality engine oil and one of poor quality will look and feel the same. Engine and Bench Tests The engine has always been the ultimate platform for identifying the required quality of its oil. Even as engine design has changed to meet performance, fuel efficiency and environmental standards, the engine continues to be the ultimate arbiter of oil quality. However, using the engine to measure oil quality in dyna- mometer tests can be an expensive proposition. Even so, to help control warranty costs, the development and use of engine tests is unavoidable for engine manufacturers when determining the oil quality needed for a particular design or component. Although necessary, generating repeatable dynamom- eter tests for an engine can be challenging. As engine design has progressively increased power from smaller engines, the difficulty of establishing repeatable dyna- mometer tests has grown even more rapidly. Fortunately, once the quality level has been determined on the dyna- mometer or in the field, there is a much less expensive approach that can be applied to more precisely appraise the oil quality. This involves using laboratory bench tests designed to correlate closely with engine dynamometer tests or field experience. These bench tests have the capability of providing a relatively inexpensive measure of oil quality. However, the value and significance of this type of test is dependent on a number of factors, including identification of the engine's specific needs, clear and consistent information from the engine either By Tina Dasbach and Theodore W. Selby