Operators within the Truck & Bus segment surely care about the technical condition of their fleets, and they rightfully want the best affordable quality of the operating fluids available.
The European Union market with those products is quite unified, well organized and the desired quality described using various mandatory standards.
However, the main challenge is to recognize the proper products that are best suited for the particular fleet, in many cases quite diverse, not only in terms of different vehicle manufacturers (OEM) and types, but also with concern to driving conditions, load, surrounding environment and also fleet age. The situation changes significantly when the vehicle leaves EU to countries with less stringent quality requirements. The following paragraphs aim to name certain specifics of each operating fluid group that, while taken into consideration and acting accordingly, may prolong flawless vehicle operation, extend its durability, lower fuel consumption, save operation costs or evade unnecessary complications.
Diesel is the least assessable-by-users operating fluid in terms of the quality compared to all others. As it has been already discussed in previous articles, it may happen that the fuel does not meet the generally adopted and mandatory standards. This may have fatal immediate and detrimental effect on the vehicle condition displayed as loss of operability in very short time, e.g. while the fuel reaches the engine combustion chamber. Some fuel quality breaches do not show their harmful effects instantly, they may project to the engine power output or running stability, but also may irreversibly damage sensitive parts, such as high pressure pumps or injectors. The final display of the damage may come even in months.
Since the diesel fuel cannot be readily inspected, the only defence against such occurrences is the selection of the proper fuel provider and filling station. It is highly recommended to avoid such places where the fuel storage & filling technology is old and poorly maintained. General impression of the place might surely help.
The investments put into the technology and general look relate to the amount of money spent on technology maintenance and fuel quality consistency. The risk is mainly twofold – overall fuel quality and its cleanliness. As an example, from the technology perspective itself, the modern filling stations use underground storage tanks with temperature compensated flowmeters. The storage under the ground brings one huge benefit – stable and relatively low fuel temperature. Therefore, especially in southern countries with warmer climate, poorly maintained aboveground fuel tank is a kind of an incubator for micro organisms that can be easily transferred into the vehicle, potentially causing fuel filter plugging or other problems including biologically induced corrosion. Diesel fuel is also very sensitive for cold temperature. High quality winter diesel cold properties assure users to be able to start and operate the truck without any hassle. Each European region has own winter specification and Nordics countries even apply Artic Diesel spec.
While travelling outside EU, the maximum attention should be paid to the proper selection of the fuel type – qualitatively consistent with the vehicle requirements. Lower quality fuels often contain higher sulfur content, other impurities and they are higher in the distillation curves. In modern vehicles, such fuels produce high amount of carbonization deposits in the engines, stress the after treatment systems and quickly deplete the additivation of engine oils (their so-called alkaline reserve), significantly reducing their detergency capabilities and necessary drain intervals.
Also called “Diesel Exhaust Fluid” is a liquid help to reduce air pollution for modern diesel engines. So AdBlue is NOT A FUEL, it’s sprayed into the truck’s exhaust system, called SCR (selective catalytic reduction) unit with the aim to lower the concentration of NOx. Very important to use only high quality and tested product, modern trucks (Euro6) will stop operation automatically, if low quality AdBlue detected by the truck computer.
Within the first group of lubricants, special attention should be paid to oil recommendation from the vehicle manufacturer(s). This includes performance and viscosity specifications. A truck & bus operator should be aware that the reare certain oil producers whose products (often cheaper than others) have not been tested against the performance specifications. Such oils are not approved but just said to be “meeting the specification”, and the efficiency is not absolutely guaranteed, meaning a certain level of risk.
An operator should also decide whether he wants the highest possible unification of the lubricant portfolio, i.e. that the selected lubricating oil (or minimum number of oils) meets requirements of all intended applications, or the variety of products will be higher. The latter approach is more prone to errors (wrong application), it increases the number of stock-keeping units, on the other hand it can save lubricant purchase costs. As an example, an engine oil with ACEA E6/ Mercedes-Benz MB 228.51 specification may be used almost for all vehicles of the manufacturer, including older ones. But especially those older ones without sophisticated aftertreatment system (e.g. diesel particulate filters, DPF) do not benefit from this type of oil too much, their needs might be satisfied with less costly option – e.g. ACEA E4 / MB 228.5. This oil, however, would harm newer vehicles through excessive DPF clogging and thus ACEA E6 product must be kept on stock as well.
The viscosity performance plays a significant role, too. Long hauling vehicles with lower weight cargoes can demonstrate significant fuel savings while using oils from the low viscosity spectrum of OEM recommendation (e.g. SAE 5W-30, 10W-30).On the other side, while a vehicle is running under very demanding load conditions on a construction site or in heavy industry, higher viscosity oils(e.g. SAE 10W-40, 15W-40) will be more appropriate in order to prevent excessive (engine) wear. The same considerations are valid also for gear oils.
Almost all coolants in truck & bus segment is based on ethylene glycol mixture with water (only environmentally sensitive applications use non-harmful but more expensive propylene glycol) mainly at 50:50 ratio. It is highly recommended to maintain this ratio, since excessively higher content of coolant concentrate over water does not bring any benefits except for lower freezing point (down to -68°C at 2:1 ratio). It even reduces the cooling effect of the fluid, because the glycol is worse coolant than water, and increases viscosity making the fluid more resistant to pumping. The opposite scenario, i.e. lowering glycol concentration below 30%, causes rapid acceleration of corrosion processes in the coolant system.
The coolant additivation also matters. Partly obsolete silicate technology is being quantitatively replaced by OAT (organic acid technology). It is very reasonable, because the silicate technology tends to create uniform layer of solids on the cooling system parts that prevent heat transfer, while OAT “searches” just the corrosion spots and prevent from their further development, thus leaving the rest of the surface intact. On the opposite, the usage of OAT may cause dissolving of the deposits in older and heavily burdened systems resulting in leakages.
To learn more about optimizing your truck fleet's operating fluid choices and driving down costs, reach out to our expert team today. Don't let poor fluid selection derail your fleet performance - take action now!
