THE PERILS OF IGNORING LOW OR FLUCTUATING OIL LEVELS

I've seen people shrug off the importance of fluctuating oil levels when they inspect sightglasses.

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After giving a lot of thought to this phenomenon plus plenty of research, I've concluded that it's a very bad practice for many reasons. Those reasons are the subject of my article. My hope is that I can open your eyes to the need to investigate what's behind oil level changes and of course take corrective action when warranted (most of the time).

A sight glass is an information portal with a purpose. Through it, the oil and the machine can telegraph critical messages related to changing operating conditions. These messages, when seen and understood, offer forewarnings of adverse future events including catastrophic machine failure.

To you, the inspector or operator, these messages present an opportunity to impede the progress of failure. Too often people instead opt to postpone or dismiss the need for action including troubleshooting and fixing the off ending condition. True, you may not be facing a sudden death concern but how do you really know? There are consequences to deferred maintenance.

Why allow ignorance and inaction rob your oil and machine components of thousands of hours of service life? Proactive maintenance means fixing the roof when the sun is shining. Not rushing around looking for drip buckets to put under leaks during the deluge of a rainstorm.

Where Is the Risk the Highest?

Many accelerated life tests (ALT) have been conducted by researchers on the effects impaired lubrication conditions have on machine service life, especially bearings and gears. Ultrasound, bearing metal temperature and wear debris analysis have been used to track and gauge the onsetof partial or full starvation conditions. Your ears alone can pick up that distinct metallic sound from mechanical friction that is transmitted when oil levels go down.