Quantitative Analysis of Fuel in Engine Oil

The contaminated engine oil by fuel can intimidate driver safety due to vehicle problems such as engine abrasion, fire and sudden unintended acceleration. In this study, we investigate various functional properties of the engine oil contaminated with fuel. The test results indicated that the engine oil contaminated with fuel had relatively low values of the flash point, pour point, density, kinematic viscosity and cold cranking simulator. Furthermore, a four ball test suggested that the contaminated engine oil increased wear scar due to the poor lubricity. Moreover, SIMDIST (simulated distillation) using ASTM D2887 was applied to analyze fuel characteristics in an engine oil. The SIMDIST analysis result showed a lower carbon number, and the fuel was detected at an earlier retention time than that of using engine oil in chromatogram. Also, it is possible to quantitatively analyze for fuel contents in the engine oil. The SIMDIST method for the diagnosis of oil conditions can be used whether the fuel was involved or not, instead of analyzing other physical properties that require various analytical instruments, l arge volumes of oil samples, and long analysis time.