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This communication examines three strategies of predictive lubricant monitoring and replacement, used for farm tractors or similar vehicles. These strategies optimise the draining periodicity. They are the off-line follow-up, the sensors follow-up and the analytical model follow-up. The implementation of the suggested analytical model will be discussed, on the basis of field collected data (on a series of tractors, either customer's or on loan). Regular oil samples, and significant ones carried out at the end of the study, were taken and analysed in order to predict the evolution of the lubricant characteristics. Extensions to the experimental study were carried out at the end of this work. They are discussed in the paper (FZG gear scuffing, 4 ball wear and EP…).

The specific goal of this project was to determine if there is a difference in the lube oil degradation rates in a heavy-duty diesel engine equipped with an EGR system, as compared to the same configuration of the engine, but minus the EGR system. A secondary goal was to develop FTIR analysis of used lube oil as a sensitive technique for rapid evaluation of the degradation properties of lubricants. The test engine selected for this work was a Caterpillar 3176 engine. Two engine configurations were used, a standard 1994 design and a 1994 configuration with EGR designed to meet the 2004 emissions standards. The most significant changes in the lubricant occurred during the first 50-100 hours of operation. The results clearly demonstrated that the use of EGR has a significant impact on the degradation of the engine lubricant.