Journal Article
Fuel Property Effects on Oil Dilution in Diesel Engines
2013-10-14
2013-01-2680
Light-duty diesel vehicles that make use of a diesel particulate filter (DPF) generally require periodic active regenerations. This is achieved by late, in-cylinder post-injections designed to add unburned fuel into the exhaust system to raise the DPF temperature and burn off the soot. These late injections do not atomise and evaporate as readily as during normal combustion causing a portion of this fuel to impinge on the cylinder wall and wash down, with the engine oil, into the sump. This can result in degradation of the engine oil which could lead to increased engine wear and/or engine failure. When investigating which fuel properties have an effect on oil dilution, most literature suggests high final boiling point fuels increase fuel addition rates to engine oil.