Anyone know how railroads change the motor oil in those big prime movers in the road diesels? I can imagine that those bad boys need GALLONS of oil per change, and what about the filters? How often do they do it? Every year or overhaul?
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teen steam fanAnyone know how railroads change the motor oil in those big prime movers in the road diesels? I can imagine that those bad boys need GALLONS of oil per change, and what about the filters? How often do they do it? Every year or overhaul?
Filters are changed on a schedule since you do not need to drain the oil to change them. The oil itself is only changed when it becomes too contaminated. A sample of the oil is taken at regular intervals and sent to the railroad's metallurgy lab where it is analyzed. They look for traces of metal indicating wear of engine bearings and piston rings, how much carbon from blow-by, and how much unburned fuel is getting into the oil. Finally they check for the oil's lubricating qualities and viscosity. When any of these factors gets beyond acceptable limits the oil must be changed. And yes, the oil capacity of a modern road locomotive is well over 100 gallons.
Twice we had diesels that came fresh from the shops with the filters improperly installed (or something like that) that then decided to puke all their lube oil out the bottom. What a mess. But on the bright side, the clean-up company got to make a little money.
And no, there was no point in this story. But it did mean they needed more oil....
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The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
I helped add oil to a short line SW 1200 one day & they used a fork lift to pick up a 55 gal drum with a hose & spigot to add the oil
Rob
As pointed out by others, the oil is changed only when it is "worn out". The two most common reasons for draining the oil are pH and viscosity. The oil becomes slightly more acidic with use as the sulfur in the fuel can become sulfuric acid and can wind up in the oil. Obviously, acid is not a good thing to have in the oil. The oil is buffered to withstand this, but oil that starts out too basic is also not good for engine wear.
The oil's viscosity goes down as the oil molecules shear. The mechanical action in the engine can actually tear the oil molecules into pieces, making the oil less able to lubricate. This also make the oil less viscous.
Abnormal conditions such as water leaks, fuel leaks and failing engine parts can also show up in the oil sample and require an oil change.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
Some of you may recall, about 15 to 20 years ago, a ocean going vessel was operating in the Mississippi River at New Orleans....the vessel experienced engine failure and lost steerage in the currents of the river and ended up striking the consumer water front pier attraction in New Orleans.
The NTSB investigation of the incident revealed that the marine diesel engine of the vessel shut down because it had tripped the engines low oil alarm....if I recall the numbers correctly the oiling system for the engine had dropped to only having 2700 Gallons of oil in the system....at normal operating levels the engine should have had 3500 Gallons of oil in the system.
Take that Jiffy Lube!
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BaltACDSome of you may recall, about 15 to 20 years ago, a ocean going vessel was operating in the Mississippi River at New Orleans....the vessel experienced engine failure and lost steerage in the currents of the river and ended up striking the consumer water front pier attraction in New Orleans. The NTSB investigation of the incident revealed that the marine diesel engine of the vessel shut down because it had tripped the engines low oil alarm....if I recall the numbers correctly the oiling system for the engine had dropped to only having 2700 Gallons of oil in the system....at normal operating levels the engine should have had 3500 Gallons of oil in the system. Take that Jiffy Lube!
creepycrankBaltACD Some of you may recall, about 15 to 20 years ago, a ocean going vessel was operating in the Mississippi River at New Orleans....the vessel experienced engine failure and lost steerage in the currents of the river and ended up striking the consumer water front pier attraction in New Orleans. The NTSB investigation of the incident revealed that the marine diesel engine of the vessel shut down because it had tripped the engines low oil alarm....if I recall the numbers correctly the oiling system for the engine had dropped to only having 2700 Gallons of oil in the system....at normal operating levels the engine should have had 3500 Gallons of oil in the system. Take that Jiffy Lube! You have to be precise by what you mean by "low lube oil". It can mean low level or low pressure. In the above case there should have been an alarm without the shut down. In a narrow channel they should have had someone ready at the alarm panel and have it switched to "emergency run" which means that you get the alarm without the shutdown signal. Then at least the engineers can verify that there is an emergency. Bringing it back to locomotives, since there is no attendant it should shut down for either. About 30 years ago I was in a similar situation on a sea trial for a new tug and the steering went hard over just as it left the dock in Harvey. The tug was swept down toward the ocean until rescued by a passing tug. A hour later they had the steering controls fixed and its run well ever since.
BaltACD Some of you may recall, about 15 to 20 years ago, a ocean going vessel was operating in the Mississippi River at New Orleans....the vessel experienced engine failure and lost steerage in the currents of the river and ended up striking the consumer water front pier attraction in New Orleans. The NTSB investigation of the incident revealed that the marine diesel engine of the vessel shut down because it had tripped the engines low oil alarm....if I recall the numbers correctly the oiling system for the engine had dropped to only having 2700 Gallons of oil in the system....at normal operating levels the engine should have had 3500 Gallons of oil in the system. Take that Jiffy Lube!
http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/1998/MAR9801.pdf
Our old EMD takes about 220 gallons or so. when it gets way down to the "add oil" we also pump in a 55 gallon drum.
I read an article in, I beleve, TRAINS magazine that said that the short answer is that railroads don't change the oil in a locomotive unless it is going through a major maintenance or repair where the draining of the oil is necessary.
One reason is that the oil does not really wear out; It is the additives in the oil, like those that fight corrosion (see the reference to acid build-up in another post) and the detergents added to make particulate contaminants clump together so they can be removed by filters. Railroads have laboratories that regularly take samples of oil from each locomotive to see where the additive levels are at and how effective they are being at doing their job, If the additives are starting to wear out, additives are added to the exisitng enging oil and the very effective oil filters are changed.
We could actually do the same with automobiles, except that the amount of oil in my Ford Taurus is 5 quarts vs,the hundreds of gallons of oil that a locomotive uses. Plus, I don't have an oil laboratory set up in my garage. As a result it is far easier and more economical to simply change out the 4 or 5 quarts of oil I use.
One other factor is the fact that diesel engines run at high temperatures and that part of the film of oil between the piston and the cylinder gets burned off with each power stroke. This means that a diesel engine is constantly consuming the older oil, albeit slowly, so that fresh oil is constantly being added to the system.
Thanks again to however wrote the original article in TRAINS.
beaulieu A sample of the oil is taken at regular intervals and sent to the railroad's metallurgy lab where it is analyzed.
I was an NYC Operating Management Trainee when this kind of thing was first being used there. Some bright young engineer had written a program that ran on an IBM 360-20 (a baby computer then) to predict component failure. An engine oil sample was taken from every unit fueled at Collinwood (Cleveland). The story at the lab was that they had been having trouble getting units into Collinwood for maintenance until one failed --- when, where, and how predicted --- on a very important train. The Transportation Department was much more cooperative after that.
ChuckAllen, TX
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