Engine Oil Analysis: Diesel, Gasoline, LFG Engines

Condition Monitoring India

Engine oil analysis involves a series of tests that monitor lubricant contamination, wear metals, and chemical composition. Analyzing the results of used engine oil helps determine the condition of the lubricant and the equipment. Benefits of oil analysis include condition monitoring, detecting problems early, determining causes of failures and current problems, and maximizing engine life.

MVS ACMEI offers analysis for a multitude of engine types:

  • Gasoline and diesel automobile engines
  • Truck and other high speed diesel engines
  • Landfill gas (LFG, LFGTE) engines
  • Medium speed diesel engines such as those used for locomotives, marine and power generation
  • Extremely large low speed diesel engines for marine propulsion and power generation
  • Motorcycle engines
  • High performance vehicle engines

Your engine oil analysis will include:

  • Viscosity: A measurement of the fluid’s ability to flow at a specific temperature. Viscosity is one of the important primary characteristics of a lubricating fluid.
  • TAN: Total Acid Number, a chemical titration, to measure oil acidity. Higher TAN indicates higher level of oxidation in oil.
  • TBN Retention: Total Base Number, a chemical titration, to measure remaining neutralizing ability of the oil. Typically TBN should not be allowed to drop more than 50-65%, depending on factors, such as equipment type, fuel sulfur level, and oil consumption rate.
  • Contaminants: Glycol, fuel, soot, water, and particle (dirt) contamination can cause numerous problems and lead to catastrophic failures. Their presence can also be symptoms of active problems in the assets that are not lubricant based.
  • Soot: Typically caused by reduced combustion efficiency, soot will increase engine wear especially in engines using EGR technology.
  • Coolant: One of the most destructive contaminants in engine oil, coolant can increase the viscosity of the oil, leading to issues such as boundary conditions, possible corrosion within the system, and plugged filters.
  • Fuel Dilution: Increased with the addition of emission reducing equipment, fuel dilution leads to problems such as reduced viscosity, increased volatility, weakened lubricant detergency, corrosion and more.
  • Wear Metals: Abnormal levels of certain metals are indicative of excessive component wear.
  • Other items such as nitration, oxidation, sulfation, and specific oil additive packages.
Engine Oil Standard Advanced
Wear Metals
Contaminants
Additives
Viscosity (100˚C)
Viscosity (40˚ C)
FTIR (Fuel Dilution, Soot, Glycol,
Oxidation, Nitration, Sulfation)
Water %
TAN (Total Acid Number)
TBN (Total Base Number)
Particle Count