There has been a continuing problem with diesel engine trucks emitting soot from their exhaust pipes and causing environmental pollution. In recent years, there has been significant effort and advancement by truck manufacturers and oil companies who are doing research to produce oil that will meet the ever-increasing standards to help reduce, or even eliminate, airborne contaminants in the environment.

What is Soot?

Generally speaking, soot is comprised of the impure particles of carbon that result from the incomplete combustion of a hydrocarbon. Formation of this contaminant depends largely on the composition of the fuel; therefore, manufacturers recommend the use of improved oil to help prolong the life span of the engine and to decrease oil change intervals.

It is very important to monitor and analyze oil contaminants to prevent premature oil degradation and failure of a truck’s diesel motor. Although soot contamination is not considered a symptomatic contaminant, it can be a root cause of new motor failure occurrences. In other words, it is very capable of causing premature engine failures – or worse.

Presence in Engine

The presence of this contaminant in an engine is normal. It is expected, however, that the manufacturer’s recommendations about mileage and service hours of the oil would be consulted. This would help in understanding that soot comes from the exhaust and when highly concentrated, it would be completely abnormal. This type of contamination may cause the following issues with a truck’s engine:

This contamination can cause engine failure to develop over varying amounts of time. Usually, fuel/oil with moderate levels of contamination can cause sudden-death motor failure with its combination effect. While massive concentrations can cause sudden-death failures – and more problems – in this type of case, it can actually shorten the life span of the engine by almost 60%. This means that your motor’s lifespan could be decreased from 750,000 miles to 300,000 miles of lifespan with controlled soot contamination.

The positive and negative side effects of a better filtering system in an engine have been an ongoing discussion among many manufacturers and oil companies. Oil filtering systems can help remove impurities from the lubricants even while allowing soot to mix with the oil which does not help in protecting the engine. Therefore, it is very important to monitor and analyze soot emission from a truck’s engine in order to maintain a longer lifespan for that vehicle. Don’t let soot damage your diesel engine!