When you go to the doctor for a checkup, one of the first things they do is analyze your blood. The analysis of your blood contains a wealth of information about your overall health, helping doctors identify everything from dietary concerns to dangerous infections.

Your valuable equipment has blood, too—the lubricants that keep it running smoothly. Analyzing those lubricants is one of the best ways to spot emerging issues with your plant’s mission-critical equipment. Careful examination of your used lubricants can highlight problems with wear, overheating, lubricant contamination, and more.

At Walthall Oil, our Walthall Asset Reliability Services (WARS) team depends on the unmatched quality of Mobil Serv lube analysis services to provide our customers with actionable insight into the condition of their equipment. Here are some ways that regular Mobil Serv lubricant analysis can benefit your operations.

What Is Mobil Serv Lube Analysis?

As lubricant circulates through your equipment, it collects debris and contaminants and undergoes molecular changes as it heats, cools, and interacts with the equipment components. Looking closely at used lubricants can expose a vast number of issues:

• Excessive metal particles in the lubricant indicate excessive wear on moving parts
• Degraded or “burnt” lubricant can mean equipment is overheating
• Water or other chemicals in lubricant can mean that the lubrication system is not properly keeping out contaminants
• Hundreds of other indicators can identify specific problems with equipment.

Mobil Serv lube analysis relies on cutting-edge technologies and techniques to detect these and other indicators early before the problems begin to show other symptoms. When a lube sample indicates a problem, Mobil Serv experts use their knowledge of lubricants and industrial or automotive equipment to provide the customer with a detailed, actionable report with specific recommendations for rectifying the issue.

Mobil Serv Lube Analysis Improves Productivity

Your company’s industrial equipment is precision machinery that requires every component to work together exactly as designed. A reduction in the effectiveness of any one component or system in a particular machine can significantly impact that machine’s operation.

Excessive wear on even one tiny bearing can bring a mission-critical machine to a crawl, slowing down your entire production chain.

Beyond that, machinery that’s not running at its absolute best is a time waster for your team and forces employees to spend their time on maintaining, repairing, and fighting with balky equipment.

With regular, scheduled lube analysis from Mobil Serv, your company gains the ability to identify what’s slowing down the production line, make faster and more affordable repairs, and keep your team operating at full capacity for longer.

Mobil Serv Lube Analysis Reduces Downtime

A scheduled maintenance or repair shutdown is far more efficient than recovering from a breakdown. When your Mobil Serv lube analysis has already identified which components need attention, you can have the proper team members, parts, and tools already prepared for the job and get things back up and running more quickly.

Mobil Serv Lube Analysis Means Fewer Drains and Longer Service Intervals

When your used lubricant is being carefully analyzed at regular intervals, you may be able to lengthen service intervals. By staying on top of emerging issues and addressing them before they can cause severe damage, your lubricant will stay cleaner for longer.

Increasing your service intervals means fewer drains, which means you’re getting more life out of each drop of lubricant. This longer service interval doesn’t just save you money in terms of reduced lubricant costs; it also reduces your staff overhead, letting your team spend more time on production and less time on maintenance.

Mobil Serv Lube Analysis Increases Equipment Lifespan

Given the choice between replacing a single bearing or seal or replacing an entire piece of equipment, which would you choose? Us, too.

Whenever a component begins to wear, it leaves behind traces in the equipment’s lubricant. Metal particles collect in lubricant in increasing quantities and increasing size. Eventually, contaminants in the lube can block tubes and channels, preventing adequate lubricant flow. They can directly abrade the machinery, causing scoring on cylinders, bearings, races, rotors and shafts, and almost any other moving part. These types of failures can compound quickly, taking expensive machines down before you even know what’s happening.

With Mobil Serv lube analysis, your asset reliability team will be able to locate problems early, analyzing the metallic composition of the particulates in your used lube to identify which components are shedding excess metal, indicating premature wear, and guiding an action plan to address the issue when it can still be managed quickly and affordably.

Mobil Serv Lube Analysis Informs Your Whole Asset Reliability Program

Sometimes, the problems exposed by Mobil Serv lube analysis aren’t problems with your equipment at all. Sometimes, the issues are in your overall asset reliability program. Even before your lubrication products are ever introduced into a piece of machinery, the way your company stores, handles, and applies lubrication can be responsible for introducing contaminants and increasing equipment wear and tear:

• Inadequate lube storage facilities (lube rooms) can reduce the shelf life and effectiveness of your lubrication products.
• Irregular or inconsistent lubrication practices can limit the effectiveness of your asset reliability program.
• Failure to adapt to your equipment’s increasing age can mean your team is using the wrong product or the wrong maintenance schedule.

Want to Take Your Asset Reliability to the Next Level? Let WARS Help!

In addition to the hassle-, expense-, and equipment-saving benefits of Mobil Serv lube analysis, the Walthall Asset Reliability Services (WARS) team is ready to be your full-service partner in reliability. From asset reliability consulting and staff lubricant program training to equipment specification, pre-commissioning, and other project-based services, we offer our clients personalized services that keep their precious machinery working in top form. Give us a call today to find out how WARS can work for you! (478) 781-1234

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