This grease monkey video (I wonder if they’re certified?) promotes Castrol oil which we are using right now. The 15W40 and 5W30 is a semi synthetic with CJ4 specification in the 15W40. As you may already know the low ash engine oil is required for today’s emission controlled engines. If you found a barrel of old diesel engine oil in the back field my advice would be to leave it there.
Your emission system would get so clogged up with soot and carbon and who knows what else. It would take a jack hammer to clean it all up. One thing I am learning about our Mercedes MBE 900 diesel engines is they are going to be a pet project until the day they go to the auction block.
Soot Contaminates Emission System Components
We recently pulled a hose off of the EGR and it was caked with carbon like a thick goop that would require a hot tank solution to clean it up. It’s not because the sensors or mechanical devices in the emission system are defective…. it’s the insufficient removal of the crankcase gas heavy particulates.
The sensors in the DPF (diesel particulate filter) send a signal to the MCM (motor control module) to start a regeneration when there is a pressure or heat differential. The doser valve shoots fine mists of diesel down the pipe and a high heat regeneration occurs to cook out the DPF . It takes about 1/2 hour with DPF temperatures reaching as high as 1000 degrees.
Mercedes MBE 900 Emission System Requires Preventive Maintenance
This is going to be an ongoing problem with this system keeping the DPF , sensors and mechanical actuators clean. We have at least 3 buses right now with engine codes that are still running but eventually the situation will get worse. The troubleshooting is time consuming with step by step checks to narrow down the problem. What we are finding is contaminated sensors and mechanical components that have to be replaced or cleaned.
Castrol Incentive Program
We recently changed over to Castrol lubricants mainly because of the deal they gave us with incentives. For every liter of oil we buy they kick in 25 cents towards shop equipment and training. The equipment we purchased was hose reels , grease pumps and oil dispensers. The contract involves us paying off the equipment within a certain amount of time around 3 years. We need to buy bulk oil anyways so it was a win win situation.
The training funds can be used for anything we want. Castrol keeps the funds in an account and when we want to send someone off to training we just have to contact them to release the funds. I think this is a great deal especially for a fleet operation.
