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Glycol Problems… Where Do I Start?
By
BRETT WINBERG, Senior Editor
Glycol
(antifreeze) can enter your engine in many different
ways. Oil coolers are the number one cause of antifreeze
entering engine oil. Other opportunities include but
are not limited to leakage from seals, gaskets, corrosion
of cooler cores and even using a coolant jug for oil
can cause major problems down the road if not monitored.
Glycol
is very harmful to the engines normal lubrication
processes. Glycol can accelerate the oxidation of the
oil and at the same time form deposits of large particles
in the oil. The glycol additives can form abrasive
particulates and can plug filters and small oil pressure
openings within the engine.
Glycol
can do much damage to the engine and engines lubricant… in
fact, having your oil analysis program detect glycol
tracing is a must in most applications. Some of the
testing methods that should be considered when testing
for glycol and other contaminants are:
- Elemental
Spectroscopy: Most antifreeze contains corrosion
inhibitors, which consist of sodium, boron and
potassium. These corrosion inhibitors can transfer
into the engines oil when a coolant leak is present.
Such contaminants can be detected elementally by
trending and monitoring potassium, sodium and boron
parts per million properties. Fundamentally you could
say these elements are “Finger Prints” within
the oil detecting the presence of glycol. It’s
always a good idea to baseline test your antifreeze
so you know what different additive packs your brand
of antifreeze contains.
- FTIR:
Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy is a terrific
way to test engine oils and other lubricants for
fuel dilution, soot, oxidation, water, and sulfates.
- Viscosity:
When a large amount of glycol is present in your
engine oil, there will be an increase in the oils
viscosity, thus and increase in viscosity is a
good indication of soot or glycol being present.
What
if you are in the field where a commercial test is
not available? Is there any way to test for the presence
of glycol?
Actually… yes.
One of the most common field test methods is using
the “Blotter Spot” method.
This method is used by placing a few drops of used
engine oil on a specialized blotter paper. The out
come will be obvious, when allowing the paper to set
for a couple of hours... if glycol is present, a pasty
center on the blotter will be shown.
With
winter soon approaching many regions… comes
a word of warning from real world experience. This
is where maintenance people commonly change their oil
too soon and perform unnecessary repairs on vehicles
because of undetermined results in their oil sampling
program.
If
your city, state or providence uses salt or sodium spray
adhesives on the roads to melt ice and/or snow… you
may observe an increase in sodium only and not any other
trace elements in your oil sample reports. Why? Simply
because these elements can be induced through the air
intake system and give some false readings on your oil
sample reports for early indications of a coolant leak
or glycol being present. Double check your reports for
the other trace elements to affirm your idea of an early
glycol problem.
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(1.866.582.3872)
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