I have always wondered how often locomotives get an oil change. Is this a harder job than in a car? Do railroads use regular or synthetic oil? I would hope a locomotive can go more than 3000 miles before a change.
The other Randy might be better qualified at this, but I’ll take a stab at it anyway.
The lube oil doesent get changed too often, unless major contamination happens (from fuel or cooling water). On the older EMDs, there is usually some getting past the rings in the cylinder, and it usually goes out the stack (and coats EVERYTHING in oil). Just keeping the oil topped off and doing an oil analysis every so often is usually enough to keep them going, a package of oil additives may need to be added if analysis shows it’s needed.
Keep in mind, the average locomotive engine crankcase holds between 200-300 gallons of lube oil, changing oil in just a few locomotives gets expensive very quickly.
Am I at least close, Randy??
You got it !
$3800.00 an oil change , you go as long as you can !!!
More and more users of large quantities of motor oils in diesel applications are using an analysis of the oil; samples are pulled on a regular schedule and forwarded to a specialized lab for the analysis. The analysis is pretty detailed. It can tell by metal content if excessive wear is happening, if the fuel mixture is being combusted completely, if coolant is a problem in the oil, also specific elements found and if they are in abnormally high quantities.
Some truck engines are equipped with a system that periodically syphones off a set quantity of the oil in the crankcase and pumps it into the fuel tank and replinishes that same quantity back into the engine. Essentially preforming its own change of oil over time. The filters used are a long life variety, and can stand up under an extended change cycle. I do not know if this has been adoped beyond the trucking industry. Possibly Randy Stahl can comment on this?
A friend of mine a few years back who worked for Amtrak told me that those F40s took a lot of punishment. Towards the end of their careers in the late 1990s, some F40s were run nearly 100,000 miles past due their oil change cycle.
Is that possible?
I know truck engines have a life span of several million miles. I imagine locomotive engines could be several times that.
100,000 miles past due for an oil change damaging? How often oil needes changing could vary quite a bit depending on service conditions.
Lube oil sampling detects a long list of trace elements present in lubricating oil from the daily operation of an engine. One sample by itself is not usefull. Observing trends is the main goal. By tracking individual elements, abnormal wear can be traced to specific engine parts, or an unusual operating condition - overheating, coolant leakage, fuel leakage, excessive or abnormal combustion byproducts, or foreign materials entering the engine through air intake, breather.
Some trucks are equiped with a “luberefiner” - a low capacity bypassing filter in the 2-3 Micron range (a normal filter is 12-14 Micron range). I wonder if such a filter is used for locomotives.
Changing an automobile’s oil is not a hard job. Changing oil and filters of a large engine is the same job with more oil and bigger filters
It is when the imbeciles put the oil filter at a 45 degree angle and right next to the exhaust manifold.
I actually worked at a jiffy lube once. If you’re set up like having a pit, oil filters in stock, etc. - It goes pretty quick.
Amen to that!
Why is it that every diesel engine manufacturer is able to put their oil filter in a verticle position, but auto manufacturers find new and exciting ways to put a filter in a position other than that.
Dave
Jruppert,
Yes, you are correct. Locomotive prime movers are built for a long life span.
The particular circumstance for the Amtrak F40s is that for the HEP operaton, they were run constantly in Notch 8. The continuous rpms contributed significantly to the oil having a shorter duty cycle (as well as wear and tear on mechanical components).
In the late 80s, after getting married, I still managed to drop by Tampa Union Station sometimes and talk to the crew over there. I remember occasionally seeing a disabled F40 parked on what was left of track #1. (gone now) One even sat for several weeks. Problem was usually engine related. A locomotive engineer, Paul Gleason, told me he wanted to see the F40s gone as they were too worn out and Amtrak was trying to milk every last mile out of them.
I am glad that a number of them were sold, repaired, and now run with other owners.[;)][tup]
The thought of $3,000 to $4,000 for a complete oil change on just one locomotive must be an eyebrow raiser for the bean counters! [:O]
You must be a Camry driver. My '93 has an oil filter the size of a hunt’s tomato sauce can mounted in that position.
I know that I was running 100k on oil changes on 12 liter detroits and that was in the late 90’s with out any problems what so ever so as long as the filters and additives plus modern oils are better now than waht they were then.