THE POSSIBILITIES OF EARLY FAULT DETECTION OF ENGINES

The paper presents the results of investigation of damage causes in internal combustion engines. The investigation has been carried out in 2000-2012 at the Department of Motor Vehicles Maintenance at The Faculty of Transport The Silesian University of Technology. The study has been conducted by analysing of the failure causes of diesel and spark ignition engines and the possibilities of diagnosing the technical condition of the engines in order to detect faults in the early stages. Traditional methods such as compression test, the measurement of harmful substances in the exhaust gases as well as analysis of signals from the on-board diagnostic systems, analysis of acoustic signals have been used to diagnose technical state of engines. The results of diagnostic tests have been verified during operation of engines and repairs which were carried out. The study was conducted for 628 engines. The faults, which were not detected at the early stage, caused a complete brake down of engines in 63 cases. The causes of engine faults can be classified as follows: those ones due to normal wear during operation, maintenance errors, damages of lubrication and cooling systems, faults of injection and timing systems, manufacturing defects. A high percentage of faulty engines with low mileage shows that early diagnosis of damages is extremely important. The faults of electronic control system, ignition timing and engine management malfunction may be the reason of a complete destruction of the engine.