Consider performing infrared scans on your rotating equipment to monitor the operating temperature of your reservoirs. A routine scan of a large gearbox revealed that it was overheating (it was operating above 190 degrees F) due to failure of the oil cooler pump. The oil was foaming significantly out of the oil sight glass. (Joseph Dominick, Engineer, Allegheny Energy Supply)

Have you transformed your lubrication program? Are you proud of the work your team has done? Consider sharing your story as a case study at Lubrication Excellence 2008 in Nashville, Tennessee, May 20-22. Contact Leesa Lavern at llavern@noria.com or 918-749-1400 ext. 132.

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From the book "The Practical Handbook of Machinery Lubrication":

A construction equipment contractor was experiencing premature turbocharger failures when certain engines were operated under full-load conditions and used around the clock. Investigation through oil analysis and diagnosis of the failed components, revealed that the failures were caused by coking of the petroleum base oil within the turbocharger oil passages, thus restricting oil flow and resulting in bearing failure.

The initial cause of the oil coking condition was excessive temperatures within the turbocharger housing. A fully synthetic diesel engine oil was selected of the same viscosity as the original petroleum base mineral oil and installed. Premature turbocharger failures did not recur and oil temperatures dropped by about 8 degrees F.

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Question: Name two sources of aluminum in crankcase engine oils.

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"What is the meaning of "the life cycle cost of oil" and how is it calculated?"

Sometimes a higher performance product costs less than a commodity-type product, even though the price is higher. To gauge whether this will be the case, we should look at the product life cycle cost rather than the purchase price.

The life cycle cost of oil is effectively the total long-term use cost for a given product from oil change to oil change. There are a variety of indirect, but none-the-less valid, costs and time commitments that factor into an oil change, including the following:

1. Oil specification.

2. Oil purchase, including: purchase document generation and sending purchase document.

3. Cost of the oil itself.

4. Oil receipt and storage, including: tracking of shipment paperwork to affirm receipt and rework for errors and omissions.

5. Invoice receipt, approval and payment (this item alone can add a lot to the real cost of plant lubrication).

6. Oil transfer to the user or the asset.

7. Oil disposal cost, if any.

8. Cost of labor associated with the oil change.

9. Cost of other materials associated with an oil change.

10. Cost of monitoring the new oil for the life of the oil.

11. Cost of degradation effect, including loss of oil strength, loss of filterability, loss of cleanliness, corrosion and corruption of mechanical surfaces.

12. Cost of machine downtime associated with the oil change.

There may be other costs you could identify for your specific organization.

If you estimate each actual incremental cost or time requirement, apply a normalized labor rate for the time, and then add the various costs together, you could fairly accurately guess the total life cycle cost of an oil change at your facility. It is higher than you might expect.

While all of these items do not show up in the obvious as a line-item in the maintenance budget report (which is generally limited to the cost of the purchase itself, and is measure by cost per pound or cost per gallon), the costs are nonetheless absorbed by the organization and added to the total cost per item manufactured.

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