Analyzing the relationship between the deterioration of engine oil in terms of change in viscosity, conductivity and transmittance

Engine Oil (lubricating oil) is an important element in I C engines and it is exposed to various strains depending on the operating conditions. If it becomes contaminated with dirt and metal particles, it can become too thick or thin and loses its protective properties, lead to unwanted friction. In turn, to avoid an engine failure, the oil must be changed before it loses its protective properties, which may be harmful for engine which deteriorates vehicle performance. At the same time, changing the lubricant too early, cause inefficient use of already depleting resources, also unwanted impact on environment and economic reasons. Hence, it will be always helpful to know the useful remaining life of the oil under use. With this objective, the research work had been undertaken to develop an instrument for predicting remaining life of the oil under use. Viscosity is considered as an important parameter for describing quality of oil. In this research work reported in this paper proposes an alternative method of analyzing viscosity, conductivity and transmittance to describe quality of oil under consideration. Model for predicting the useful life of selected engine oil (SAE 15W40) used for light duty vehicle, vans and passenger cars have been presented.