ForConstructionPros.com

Are your machines overheating on a regular basis? Have your operators complained of a balky transmission? Have you noticed increased engine smoke or noise when accelerating or decelerating? Is fuel economy declining while oil consumption is increasing?

All these can be signs of forgetting to change the oils and filters on a regular basis. Eventually, such neglect can add a big repair bill to an already tight budget.

"The monetary effect of not following the manufacturer's recommended service intervals for oil and filters can be huge," says Paul W. Ewing, national accounts manager, off-highway, Luber-finer division of Champion Laboratories. "Contractors need to control and maintain fluid contamination levels to what the OEMs base their service intervals on."

Cost of neglect
"While the engine or drivetrain may not always produce definite signs that a PM service has been missed, if there's a problem with excessive fluid contamination, it's a different story," says Mark Betner, heavy-duty lubricant manager, CITGO Petroleum Corp.

For example, an engine might have a serious coolant leak that places high levels of coolant in the oil; high levels of dirt may enter via the air induction system; or the fueling system may have fuel injector problems resulting in excessive fuel dilution. "In any of these cases, missing a PM could be disastrous," says Betner. "The result could be premature engine failure. Running an engine after missed service intervals with the oil heavily contaminated, at the very least, will result in severe wear that will show up down the road in shortened component life."