What’s going on if you use inappropriate oil into gearbox?

The use of inappropriate oil can cause abnormal noises from the gearbox, rapid temperature rise and long-term high-temperature operation, seriously affecting the service life of gearbox. Adding lubricating oil into the gearbox is to prevent the mutual friction and collision between inner spare parts.Using the inappropriate oil will also significantly reduce the lifetime of gearbox, thus further causing expensive damage and maintenance costs.

Ⅰ Common Problems

1、Abnormal Noise
When you use inappropriate lubricating oil, you may hear clicking or whining sounds when the gearbox is running. The fundamental reason for these noises is that the metal parts inside the gearbox are directly contact, and there are no oil film on the surface of gears.

2、Gear slippage or failure to mesh
Due to the adding inappropriate lubricating oil, the meshing accuracy between gears will be low, thereby affecting the final efficiency of the gearbox.

3、High Temperature
Adding the wrong lubricating oil will cause the internal temperature of the gearbox to rise too fast, thereby affecting the efficiency of the internal parts. In addition, the service life of the gearbox that is in a high-temperature working environment for a long time will also be greatly decreased.

4、Efficiency Decrease
Using the wrong lubricating oil will increase the friction between the gears inside the gearbox, thus affecting the efficiency of the gearbox's operation.

ⅡHow Viscosity Affects Your Gearbox

1、Thick Oil
In the early stage of the gearbox's operation, thick oil can cause the gears to become stiff. The machine needs to be preheated before operating, so the gearbox can be used normally. Once the oil becomes thick, the lubrication capacity of the lubricating oil will drop significantly.

2、Thin Oil
If the lubricating oil is too thin, it will prevent a rapid formation of an oil film on the gear surface, thereby weakening the protective effect of the lubricating oil on the metal parts, and may even cause certain friction during the operation of the gearbox.

Ⅲ Damage

In the early stage of using inappropriate lubricating oil, some of metal parts inside the gearbox will wear out and get scratches, such as bearings and gears. Tiny metal particles will be produced inside the box. As the metal particles contaminate the lubricating oil, it will accelerate the wear of the metal parts more easily, thereby leading to a decrease in efficiency. Long-term use will cause the gear surface to become dirty, and eventually, the bearings will completely fail.