Oil Sampling and Analysis

Oil analysis is a diagnostic, preventative maintenance tool for monitoring and evaluating
lubricant and equipment conditions. It allows you to maximize asset performance and reliability
by identifying minor problems before they become major failures. It can safely extend oil drain
intervals and, ultimately, the life of your equipment — saving you time AND money.

Although the original equipment manufacturer’s recommendations provide a good starting
point for developing preventative maintenance practices, sampling intervals can easily vary.
How critical a piece of equipment is to production is a major consideration for determining
sampling frequency, as are environmental factors such as hot, dirty operating conditions, short
trips with heavy loads and excessive idle times.

Yes. Oil Analysis provides vital information as to the condition of both the oil and the unit being
tested. It can detect wear and contamination problems that, if left unchecked, can severely
effect equipment performance or cause failure.

The most commonly requested oil analysis tests are:

Elemental Analysis by ICP
Inductively Coupled Plasma, detects 24 wear, contamination, and additive metals.

Fuel Dilution
Fuel Dilution is raw, unburned fuel that gets past the rings and ends up in the crankcase. It is caused by over-fueling, excessive idling, damaged injector tips, a high fuel to air ratio, irregular ring seating, engine timing issues or the fuel pump is turned up too high.

Soot
Soot is a by-product of the combustion process in a diesel engine — a carbon residue formed from fuel air and moisture in the combustion chamber after ignition. Soot particles are held in suspension by dispersant additives in the oil preventing the soot particles from agglomerating (sticking together) and attaching to the rings, pistons and liners. These suspended particles are what turn diesel engine oil black. When too much soot is generated and the additives can no longer keep it suspended, deposits will form on the rings weakening the seal between the pistons and cylinder liners. Upper end wear to rings, liners and pistons begins and if not corrected, will eventually cause severe lower end wear to the main and rod bearings, crankshaft, camshaft, cam bushing and turbo bearing.

Water by Crackle
This is a rough estimate of water in a sample determined by pipetting a portion of sample onto a temperature-controlled hot surface and observing how the sample reacts.

Viscosity
Viscosity is a measurement of a fluid’s resistance to flow at temperature. In other words, viscosity is the film strength or thickness of the oil. A change in viscosity can be an indication of many problems such as oxidation, nitration, water contamination, soot contamination (engines), shearing (when molecules are split), coolant contamination or mixing lubes with different viscosities.

Oxidation
Everything that is exposed to oxygen will eventually oxidize. Oil is exposed to extreme heat as well as oxygen. As temperatures increase, so does the rate of oxidation. For every 18° F above 160° F, the oxidation rate of the oil doubles. Oxidation produces acids that cause the oil to thicken and in the process also cause corrosive wear.

Nitration
Nitration is usually the result of an imbalance in the engine’s air to fuel ratio. When the engine runs too lean, meaning there’s too much air and not enough fuel, nitration occurs. Nitrous Oxide (NOx) becomes entrained in the oil which can form nitric acid that will eventually will lead to corrosive wear. Although nitration is more common in natural gas engines, it has become a more evident problem in diesel engines since 2002.

Acid Number
By estimating the amount of additive reduction and contamination, this test determines the level of acidity in the oil. The higher the acidity, the higher the degradation.

Base Number
This test estimates the lubricant’s reserve alkalinity, or its ability to neutralize corrosive and degradation acids.

Particle Count
This test uses a calibrated sensor to size and count hard particle contamination.

Particle Quantifier
Particle Quantifier (PQ) provides a ferrous index number by passing a sample through a magnetic field. Comparing PQ to the iron results from ICP gives more information regarding the size of the iron particles being generated as PQ does not have a particle size detection limit.

Analytical Ferrography
Debris from a fluid analysis sample is examined under a microscope to identify the size and wear mechanism of particles being generated, which provides more information for pin-pointing the cause of a failure mode.

Water by Karl Fischer
A titration method that tests for water content. This method is more precise than hot plate and should be requested for any system in which water would be severely detrimental.

Soot is a by-product of the combustion process in a diesel engine — a carbon residue formed
from fuel air and moisture in the combustion chamber after ignition. Soot particles are held in
suspension by dispersant additives in the oil preventing the soot particles from agglomerating
(sticking together) and attaching to the rings, pistons and liners. These suspended particles are
what turn diesel engine oil black. When too much soot is generated and the additives can no
longer keep it suspended, deposits will form on the rings weakening the seal between the
pistons and cylinder liners. Upper end wear to rings, liners and pistons begins and if not
corrected, will eventually cause severe lower end wear to the main and rod bearings,
crankshaft, camshaft, cam bushing and turbo bearing.

If too high, soot can affect all wear metals at some point. Once soot begins to exceed 3 — 4%,
viscosity will increase because soot thickens the oil. Excessive soot will also cause the oil’s TBN
(Total Base Number) to drop faster than normal because soot increases the formation of acids
which must be neutralized to prevent wear from occurring.

Viscosity is a measurement of a fluid’s resistance to flow at temperature. In other words,
viscosity is the film strength or thickness of the oil and because of this it is the most important
fluid property test for oils. A change in viscosity can be an indication of many problems such as
oxidation, nitration, water contamination, soot contamination (engines), shearing (when
molecules are split), coolant contamination or mixing lubes with different viscosities.

The most common reason for a decrease in viscosity in both industrial and mobile applications
is lube mixing — adding a lower viscosity oil to a system that contains a higher viscosity oil. A
decrease in viscosity may also be cause by fuel dilution, shearing of the viscosity index improver
additives (see shearing below) and contamination from solvents or process chemicals.

Everything that is exposed to oxygen will eventually oxidize. Oil is exposed to extreme heat as
well as oxygen. As temperatures increase, so does the rate of oxidation. For every 18° F above
160° F, the oxidation rate of the oil doubles. Oxidation produces acids that cause the oil to
thicken and in the process also cause corrosive wear

Nitration is usually the result of an imbalance in the engine’s air to fuel ratio. When the engine
runs too lean, meaning there’s too much air and not enough fuel, nitration occurs. Nitrous
Oxide (NOx) becomes entrained in the oil which can form nitric acid that will eventually will
lead to corrosive wear. Although nitration is more common in natural gas engines, it has
become a more evident problem in diesel engines since 2002.

In both oxidation and nitration, acid formation occurs, so TAN (Total Acid Number) will
increase. Acid formation increases viscosity and also depletes TBN (Total Base Number)
because the oil must work harder to neutralize these acids.

The primary test for the detection of dirt is Elemental Analysis by ICP (Inductively Coupled
Plasma). Most dirt consists of Alumina/Silica or Silicon and Aluminum. POLARIS Laboratories®
reports 24 metals by ICP.