Data & Specifications: Wärtsilä Low-Speed Engines
Data & Specifications: Wärtsilä Low-Speed Engines
Data & Specifications: Wärtsilä Low-Speed Engines
SPECIFICATIONS
Concerned products
All Wärtsilä 2-stroke diesel engines.
Information to all Owners and Operators of Preventive action
Wärtsilä 2-stroke diesel engines To ensure trouble-free operation of
Wärtsilä 2-stroke engines, it is important to
read the information and follow the
recommendations about lubricating oils
stated in this bulletin.
Note
This Data & Specifications bulletin
supersedes Service Bulletin RTA-66,
dated 07.04.2004, entitled “Cylinder
Lubricating Oils” including Enclosure
RTA–66/1, Approved Lubricating Oils –
Sulzer Diesel Engines”.
In addition, this bulletin supersedes the
following earlier published leaflets:
Global Lubricating Oils – Wärtsilä & Sulzer
Engines, dated 24 December 2010.
Lubricating oil requirements for RTA-
series engines with oil-cooled pistons and
Lubricating oil requirements for RT-flex
series engines, both updated April 2004.
Contents
Page
1 Introduction 2
2 System oil 2
3 Cylinder lubricating oil 10
4 Turbocharger oil 12
5 Turning gear oil 12
6 Lubricant for flywheel and pinion gear teeth 12
7 Appendix 13
8 Contacts 13
1 Introduction
Note:
This Data & Specification bulletin supersedes Service Bulletin RTA-66, dated
07.04.2004, entitled “Cylinder Lubricating Oils” including Enclosure RTA–66/1,
Approved Lubricating Oils – Sulzer Diesel Engines”.
In addition, this bulletin supersedes the following earlier published leaflets:
Global Lubricating Oils – Wärtsilä & Sulzer Engines, dated 24 December 2010.
Lubricating oil requirements for RTA-series engines with oil-cooled pistons and
Lubricating oil requirements for RT-flex series engines, both updated April 2004.
Wärtsilä 2-stroke engines have separate lubricants for system and cylinder
lubrication.
2 System oil
The system oil provides lubrication for the bearings, the running parts of the
engine and for the crosshead assembly. In addition, it is used as hydraulic fluid in
the servo oil system of the engine and also cools the pistons. In the first
generation of RTA engines and in even older 2-stroke engines, the piston cooling
system was designed for water cooling.
1
The FZG gear machines located at the FZG Institute, Munich/Germany, shall be the reference test apparatus and
will be used in the event of any uncertainty about test repeatability and reproducibility.
DATA & SPECIFICATIONS RT-138
Issue 1, Page 3 / 13
Remark:
Validated lubricating oils for Wärtsilä two-stroke engines are listed in:
• Appendix 1 “Validated lubricating oils”.
For other or new lubricants, please contact Wärtsilä. The contact details are
mentioned in Chapter 8 “Contacts”.
The following guiding limits should not be exceeded for a long period in service;
these are the oil alert limits:
Alert limits of system oil parameters for RT-flex and W-X engines
Table 1
Table 2
The oil condemnation limits are listed in Table 3 and Table 4, depending on the
2-stroke engine type. If the oil condition has deteriorated so far that it cannot be
improved by the purifier and filters, a part of the oil charge must be replaced in
order to return the oil charge to an acceptable performance level.
DATA & SPECIFICATIONS RT-138
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Table 3
Table 4
These limits are set out as guidance. The quality condition of the oil in circulation,
however, cannot be fully judged by a single parameter. Other oil parameters
must be used in context to be able to find the cause of the problem and the
appropriate remedy for correction.
If the Base Number (BN) of the system oil rises sharply, check the piston rod
gland box and piston rod condition.
The open cup type of flash point determination (e.g. COC) should be used to
decide if a partial or complete change of oil charge is necessary.
The closed cup flash point determination (e.g. PMCC) can be used to monitor the
system oil condition, but not for oil change.
The FZG performance to method A/8, 3/90, ISO 14635-1 of the oil charge is
particularly important if a new gear wheel, camshaft or fuel pump follower is fitted
or has been polished, in order to provide protection against scuffing during the
running-in of the gears, camshaft or follower. If the system oil has been in use for
more than a year, the FZG performance of the oil should be determined to
establish whether the performance is adequate for the new or polished gear(s),
camshaft or follower.
2.3 Particle size and count for RT-flex and W-X engines
Particle size analysis can provide a useful insight into wear in an engine.
Abrasive particles in the oil can cause wear, thus the requirements should be
closely followed. The requirements for particle size refer only to the oil in the
RT-flex and W-X hydraulic oil system which operates the exhaust valve and the
fuel and cylinder oil injection systems, i.e. the servo oil after the fine filter which is
normally 10 µm maximum sphere passing size. Some engines are equipped with
a 25 µm maximum or other fine filter. The ISO 4406 particle count requirement
does not apply to the bulk system oil which is used to cool the pistons and
lubricate the bearings, gears, crosshead slides, etc in RTA and RT-flex engines.
However, the particle count requirements are valid for the system oil after the
filter in W-X engines.
The NAS 1638 particle count requirements were previously specified as per
Tables 5, 6 and 7, but this method has been superseded by the ISO 4406
method (see Table 8) and thus the NAS data is provided for reference only.
Table 5
DATA & SPECIFICATIONS RT-138
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Table 6
Table 7
Remarks:
• Particle counting has poor repeatability and reproducibility.
• A tolerance of ± 2 NAS classes is acceptable to Wärtsilä.
• The method does not determine the nature, hardness or shape of the particle.
• Check the used oil analysis and particle count data to form a full picture.
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Table 8
The ISO 4406 particle count system operates with 3 size classes based on a
100 ml oil sample, which are:
• R4 = Number of particles equal to or larger than 4 µm
• R6 = Number of particles equal to or larger than 6 µm
• R14 = Number of particles equal to or larger than 14 µm
DATA & SPECIFICATIONS RT-138
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Notes:
1. The maximum fuel oil sulphur content was reduced from 4.5% max. to 3.5%
max. as from 1st January 2012.
2. 1.0% < Sulphur < 1.5% operation on BN 70 lubricant:
Reduce the cylinder oil feed rate to the guide feed rate to minimise piston
crown deposits.
3. 1.5% < Sulphur < 2.0% operation on BN 40 lubricant:
Increase the lubricant feed rate to ensure there is adequate alkalinity to
prevent liner and piston ring corrosion. If this mode is often used, check the
BN of the piston underside scrape down oil to ensure adequate alkalinity.
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Cylinder oils of excessively high BN for the fuel sulphur can lead to excessive
piston crown deposit accumulation. Piston crown deposits need to be carefully
monitored through scavenge port inspections as they can lead to lubricant film
breakdown and excessive liner, piston and ring wear.
BN 40 lubricants tend to form fewer and softer deposits on the piston crown land
and in the exhaust regions, e.g. on the turbocharger nozzle ring, relative to the
BN 70 and other higher BN products at the same feed rate.
Remark:
The BN 40 products can safely be used with heavy fuel oil with sulphur content in
the range 1.5% to 2.0% as well. The feed rate may have to be increased
depending on remaining BN measured in the piston underside drain oil or scrape
down samples. There is an increasing range of intermediate and other BN
cylinder oils available. These cylinder oils may be used provided that
performance is regularly monitored and the lubricating oil feed rate is adjusted to
avoid piston underside BN which is too low. Incorrectly adjusted piston underside
BN can lead to excessive corrosive wear and scuffing, see the limits and
recommendations in the next Chapter 3.2.
Attention:
Only the validated lubricating oils as listed in Appendix 1 should be used.
The supplying oil company assumes all responsibility for the performance of the
lubricating oils in service of all Wärtsilä 2-stroke engines to the exclusion of any
liability of any Wärtsilä company belonging to the Wärtsilä group. The oil
company along with other possible manufacturers and distributors of the products
in question shall indemnify, compensate and hold harmless Wärtsilä and
companies belonging to the Wärtsilä group from and against any claims,
damages and losses caused by the lubricating oils in question.
To avoid problems with fuel sulphur content, it is good practice to keep enough of
the previous bunker. This can be used until an analysis of the sulphur content of
the new bunker has been received.
3.2 Oil analysis of the piston underside drain or scrape down samples
Wärtsilä recommends that Piston Under-Side (PUS) drain oil (also known as
scrape down oil) samples are regularly taken from each cylinder and analysed to
monitor the engine condition. These analyses are conducted to assess cylinder
liner and ring wear rates and to optimise the cylinder oil feed rate. Wear metals,
residual BN, viscosity, fuel components and water are measured. Additional
benefits are that the piston rod gland box condition can be monitored by
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considering the amount of system oil additive metals in the sample. It is important
to monitor trends and not absolute values, and to consider the actual amount of
oil that is being drained in relation to the analysis results. Corrosion of the liners
and steel parts is determined by measuring the total iron content of the piston
underside or scrape down oil. There can be a significant amount of system oil
which is mixed with the old cylinder oil in the piston underside space. In order to
get an accurate view of the used cylinder oil, a correction needs to be made to
remove the impact of the system oil on results. This is done by correcting the iron
and residual BN values by taking account of the system oil contributing zinc to
the old oil. Care must be taken in performing this correction analysis as some
cylinder oils also contain zinc.
1. The safe corrected piston underside residual BN to avoid piston ring and liner
corrosion is greater than 25 mgKOH/g.
2. The alert corrected limit for piston underside residual BN to avoid excessive
corrosion is about 15 mgKOH/g.
3. The danger corrected limit is less than 10 mgKOH/g piston underside
residual BN and is likely to lead to excessive corrosion and rapid piston ring
and liner wear if not corrected. It often leads to scuffing and the rapid failure of
piston rings and very rapid corrosive liner wear.
The safe value for continuous operation on low sulphur fuel oil
(0.5 < S < 1.5% m/m) and using a low BN cylinder oil needs to be determined for
each engine by monitoring piston underside samples and regularly checking
pistons, piston rings and cylinder liners for excessive deposits, corrosion and
wear.
4 Turbocharger oil
To select and maintain the turbocharger lubricating oil, the recommendations
given in the turbocharger supplier’s instruction manual must be observed.
The turbocharger oil is normally system oil or turbine oil depending on the
turbocharger supplier’s recommendations.
7 Appendix
1. Validated lubricating oils (Appendix 1).
2. Lubricants for flywheel and pinion gear teeth (Appendix 2).
8 Contacts
Field service
If you need Wärtsilä Field Service, please send your enquiry to:
Ch.Fieldservice@wartsila.com
or phone 24hrs support: +41 79 255 68 80.
Spare parts
If you need Wärtsilä spare parts and/or tools, please send you enquiry to:
ch.spareparts.wgls@wartsila.com
or phone 24hrs support: +41 52 262 24 02