Understanding How Engine Oil Functions:

Engine oil is the lifeblood of any engine. Whether it is industrial machinery or a fleet of vehicles, engine oil is indispensable to its functioning.

While most of us are aware of the lubrication benefits of an engine oil, there are several other advantages that an engine oil offers.

To choose the best kind of engine oil for your machinery, it is imperative to understand the role of engine oil in a modern engine.

Lubrication and protection

The engine consists of metal parts that are in constant contact with each other while the engine is running. A high-quality diesel oil provides the much-needed lubrication thereby preventing these parts from wear and tear.

An engine oil acts as a lubricant by forming a thin layer on the top of these parts. Full and semi-synthetic engine oils are more effective in providing the said lubrication. These oils contain additives that leave a thin layer of Teflon on all parts of the engine.

It facilitates expanding the lifespan of an engine. Corrosion is another detrimental unwanted reaction that can happen inside the engine. The engine oil restricts the moisture and prevents metal parts from corroding.

Fuel consumption economy

Besides protection a high-quality engine oil helps to improve the fuel economy. When the engine is adequately lubricated, it runs smoothly without consuming much power.

For this to occur, the engine oil needs to flow fluently. Thus, a low viscosity engine works more effectively and provides better results.

Most advanced synthetic oils are low-viscosity oils. Fully-synthetic engine oil 5W40 and synthetic engine oil 5W40 are few such examples of engine oil that can help you to save fuel costs.

Removes deposits

Engine oil contains additives such as detergents that help to remove sludge, deposits, and other gunks from the engine.

Most engine oils including the semi-synthetic and fully-synthetic oils contain these additives or friction modifiers. These additives break down the larger deposits along with preventing carbon deposits to group together.

When the engine remains clean, it is likely to cause less-friction and is less susceptible to damage.

There are several aftermarket products known as engine flush also available to help you clean valves, pistons, and fuel injectors in an engine.

You can add these products to the lubricants for trucks or engine oil. These work in tandem with the oil during vehicle operation to prevent the chunk of deposits from clogging the engine.

Cooling the engine

Many people may not know this but engine oil is also essential to cooling the system. Transferring the heat from lubricated parts of an engine is an imperative oil function.

The engine parts such as pistons, bearing, valves, cylinders, etc. get heated up during the operation of an engine. As the oil travels across the engine, more heat is produced and absorbed.

When the oil reaches the engine sump, it gets cooled down by the external air and is circulated back into the system. This happens simultaneously while the oil is also providing lubrication to the heated engine parts.

In the liquid-cooled engine systems, a radiator works to release the heat into the atmosphere thus lowering the temperature of an engine down.

An engine oil works in collaboration with the radiator fluid to lessen the heat and protect the engine from damage.

Sealing

The lubrication generated from the engine oil helps to seal the pistons and cylinders in an engine. It formulates a protective layer outside the different parts of an engine preventing any clearances to arise.

Choose the right kind of oil for better efficiency

As mentioned above, the right kind of engine oil plays an imperative role in the effective functioning of your engine. Additionally, it serves benefits such as engine longevity, fuel economy, fiction and component wear minimization, and so on.

To leverage the additional functions of an engine oil, you need to choose the right kind of oil for your vehicle.

There are several factors that you can weigh before making this decision.

Viscosity

Viscosity simply put, is the thickness of oil. It has to be determined depending on the temperature engine is being operated in.

If the temperature is too high and you are using a low viscosity oil, it will not provide the optimum lubrication and protection. If you end up using a high viscosity oil at a colder temperature, it will not move around freely across the engine.

Thus, you have to optimize the oil viscosity to maximize efficiency. You can do so by using the viscosity modifiers that can help reduce or increase the viscosity.

Oil grades

Oil grades are alphanumeric codes that tell how engine oil will perform under certain temperatures. For example, in fully synthetic engine oil 5W30, 5W represents the viscosity of oil at the startup in cold weather , “w” stands for winters, and 30 represents thickness of oil according to ASTM.

You also have to take into account the kind of vehicle you are driving. An engine oil-efficient for an SUV may not be as efficient for a Sudan.

If this is all too technical, the best way to go about choosing the right kind of oil is to seek a recommendation from the manufacturer of your vehicle.