Measurement of Oil Consumption of Diesel Engine by S-Trace Method

Oil consumption is able to be measured in short time by detecting SO₂ concentration in exhaust gas by the “S-trace method” which uses sulfur in lubricating oil as a tracer. Application of this S-trace method to a diesel engine has not been reported yet. Our application of this method to a diesel engine has proved that S-trace method not only can replace the weight method, but also enables measurement of oil consumption in transient operation of an engine, though consideration must be paid to the accumulation of unburned oil.

This paper describes the modification of S-trace method so as to be applicable to diesel engines and some examples of oil consumption measurement in transient operation of an engine.

In certain conditions of transient operation of an engine, there is a great difference in the oil consumption data between the actual measurement and the estimation from steady state operation.