Where do oil contaminants come from?

[@brandonturner9269]

Fun story: I am the chief engineer for an injection molding shop - which primarily owns ‘ram’ style hydraulic machines. Our reservoirs range in capacity from 350 gallons to 750 gallons, so ownership is… reluctant to authorize oil replacement due to the expense. It takes very little time to image the obvious quagmire this can place maintenance/engineering staff in: a $7,000 piston pump fails, the replacement of the pump is authorized but not replacement of the now heavily contaminated oil. This will cause the ‘new’ pump to fail in a year, the pump will be replaced but not the oil… before long pumps are failing every 4 months and a new metric for the machine oil can be described and measured: number of dissolved pumps per liter. I have finally broken the cycle with 2 micron kidney loops and an oil analysis subscription…

[@LubricationExplained]

Great to hear Brandon! It's such a struggle sometimes to convince people of the value in lubricants, but glad you're making progress!

[@MichaelCzajka]

Good explanation of where contaminants come from: 1) Built in 2) Generated 3) Added 4) Ingressed :-)

[@MichaelCzajka]

There is another way to address these issues: You can avoid generating contaminants while protecting against built-in, added and ingressed contaminants by bonding a lubricant to the metal surfaces inside an engine. :-)

[@douglasmontgomery6315]

Nice video, thanks. Can you do more on Magnets (Chip Collectors) and the size of typical Ferrous particles. In relation to automotive oiling. Using filter magnets to pull those particles. I like in you video where you single out the film size (less than 5 microns) and from what I've read the most damage to an internal engine is from those size particles, but oil filters at BEST filter down to 20 microns...so the most abrasive actually pass through the media.

[@watercooled8105]

Basically, clean around the fill “cap”, have clean practices, flush as a prep and change your lubricant regularly with the correct spec stuff regardless of the “extended use”claims of the lubricant producer? Makes total sense, especially in a gearbox that may or may not have a magnetic drain plug. Some automotive Manufacturer’s lubricant change intervals startle me…oops, made it about cars-

[@tomasnokechtesledger1786]

I agree in part. Dont agree with the flush it at every oil change, because flushes strip antiwear layers. It takes time to have a New layer of antiwear to build itsef up. Just flush once in a while.

[@watercooled8105]

@@tomasnokechtesledger1786 Good point-poorly stated on my behalf. Just initial dump from the OE and flush with cheap spec oil to remove contaminants. My “fill” is made with the lubricant I intend to use for the service.

[@TheClintmeister]

Just a comment, or two. The oils have improved but I haven't seen the oil filters being improved (filter wise). I haven't seen a way to filter grease, other than just replacing it. Ferrous products can be removed using magnets, but thats adding complexity. I haven't seen a way to "guage" a oil filter when they are close to being used up.

[@LubricationExplained]

Great points - so if you're talking automotive applications then usually there isn't a good way to gauge filter life. In the industrial world you'd use dP - the pressure differential across the filter. As dP increases, you know the restriction of flow is increasing. There are some interesting new filtration technologies (in the industrial world) with electrostatic separation technologies and the like, but it's unlikely we'll see it coming to vehicle filters any time soon.