Detection of the possible engine damages in case of a continuous track military vehicles with tribological investigations

Detecting the engine failures of the continuous track military vehicles is challenging because their engines are always built-in narrow places covered with armored plates. In the case of the older engines, modern computer diagnostics cannot be used for failure analysis; the solution for these tasks is the visual analysis with the engine disassembly. A possible cost-effective failure analysis method can be the tribological and chemical analysis of the used oil from the engine, which can eliminate the engine disassembly work and as the results of the chemical oil analysis can also provide information about possible fuel or cooling water dilution or the increased wear of engine components. The main goal of this article is to present the failure analysis method through the tribological investigation of the engines of two PTSZ-M type medium-tracked amphibious military transport vehicles.