Development of a high performance railroad diesel engine oil for improved oil consumption control

High output railroad diesel engines today require high-performance crankcase lubricants, not only for extending drain intervals, but also for economizing by lowering oil consumption. Although the importance of engine design in controlling oil consumption has been recognized for quite some time by the oil and railroad industries, another approach has been to reduce oil consumption by effective design of crankcase lubricants. This paper reports the development of a high-performance railroad diesel engine oil with superior detergency, dispersancy, oxidation and thermal stability characteristics vis-a-vis oils formulated with the latest generation packages. The same oil has also given reduced oil consumption in the Petter AV-1 performance engine test. Multigrading this formulation has resulted in further reduction in oil consumption.