Lubricating Oil Contamination in Indirect Injection Diesel Engines

The paper briefly discusses the reasons behind the resurgence of interest in indirect injection diesel engines. It takes as its main theme the problem of lubricating oil contamination by combustion products, which is a feature peculiar to indirect injection engines. This problem can lead to severe oil thickening and eventual lubrication failure.

A work programme has defined how the rates of contamination vary with different design parameters and various engine running conditions.

Substantial improvements are predicted by close attention to combustion chamber design and piston and ring behaviour.

The Authors take the realistic approach that the soot contamination will never be completely eliminated at source and hence means of filtering out the contaminant (which are sub-micron sized particles) are discussed.