Course Outline

How Lubrication Affects Machine Reliability
Financial benefits from achieving lubrication excellence
How to get to the root cause, not the effect of a problem
Five equipment maintenance strategies, and when each applies
Lubrication – cost or opportunity?

Lubrication Fundamentals
Six important functions of lubricating oils
How oils and greases are formulated and why it is important
How friction is generated in lubricated machinery
The importance of oil film thickness and critical clearances

Understanding Base Oils and Grease Thickeners
The importance of API’s five base oil categories
How to understand the back of an oil bottle!
The advantages of hydrocracked oils: fact or fiction?
When to select one of the six most commonly used synthetic base oils
Base oils that offer significantly extended drain intervals
How to use temperature to determine the right base oil for your machine
How grease thickeners are created and why it’s important
How to select grease thickeners for mobile applications

Lubricant Performance Properties
Understanding ISO and SAE viscosity grades
Why Viscosity Index is important and how VI Improvers work
The effects of pour point and cold cranking
Understanding lubricant performance tests - what you need to know
How water affects base oils, additives and mobile equipment
How water contamination generates other contaminants
Effects of oxidation on oil, grease and your equipment
How to control and eliminate aeration problems in hydraulics
Finding greases that are resistant to bleed, separation and water washout

Soot and Your Diesel Engine Oil
Understanding soot loading and dispersancy
How engine oils deal with soot
How to (safely) extend engine oil drain intervals
Controlling emissions without destroying your oil

Contamination Control
Building reliability through contamination control
How to get 3-4 times longer rebuild interval out of your engine
The 7 most destructive contaminants and how to control them
Understanding the ISO Solid Contaminant Code
Effect of solid particle and moisture contamination on reliability
Success stories from off and on highway applications
Causes and effects of soot, glycol and fuel contamination
Selecting oil filters and air breather – not all filters are created equal!

Oil Draining, Handling and Storage
How to optimize and extend oil change intervals using Base Number
Interval versus condition-based oil change intervals
“Bleed and Feed” oil drain strategy
Bulk and packaged lubricant handling and storage best practices
The best hardware and containers for transferring lubricants
Best practices for inventory management and labeling
Used lubricant storage, handling and disposal best practices

Coolants
How to properly maintain your engines cooling system
Selecting and maintaining coolants
Monitoring coolant health through coolant analysis

Selecting Lubricants and Maintaining Lubricants
How to select Engine Oils
Transmission fluids and gear oil selection
Selecting and maintaining hydraulic fluids
Lubrication of open and enclosed gears, chains etc.
Controlling emissions

Oil Analysis
Effective oil sampling for mobile equipment
Monitoring wear using routine oil analysis
Monitoring oil condition
Measuring and controlling contaminants
Detecting fuel and coolant dilution
Simple field tests for determining fuel, soot, dispersancy and glycol
Selecting the right test for routine analysis

Plus! - Interactive Case Studies to help illustrate how to get the most out of your oil analysis lubrication program!

Good program and very informative for both experienced and inexperienced in oil analysis and lubrication. -- Gilbert S. Celis, Truck Service Facility Supervisor, Asarco Inc.