Proposal to estimate the engine oil consumption in agricultural tractors

Lubrication plays a crucial role in a tractor engines' efficiency and durability. Without suitable lubrication, excessive friction will significantly reduce an engine's power, and high-intensity wear will damage the moving parts in a short period of time. A set of 178 agricultural tractor models from 20 different international manufacturers located in Europe, North America and Asia was used in this study. The tractor models were produced between 2000 and 2015 with rated engine power ranging from 30 to 428.8 kW. Rated engine power, crankcase oil capacity, and oil change intervals were derived from official test reports. Engine oil consumption was calculated using the method described in ASABE Standard D497.7, clause 3.4. A linear relationship between rated engine power and hourly oil consumption rate was confirmed, but the regression coefficients deviated from current values in the ASABE Standard. These results indicate that ASABE equation coefficients should be updated to more accurately estimate engine oil consumption for use in technical/economical evaluations and in the analysis of operating costs of new tractor models.