InfraStructures - February 2009 - All Season Lubricant Provides Tangible Savings Solutions for Alberta Construction Company

All Season Lubricant Provides Tangible Savings Solutions for Alberta Construction Company

Located in Fox Creek, Marnevic Construction builds roads and leases for oil rigs and also specializes in site development. With the oil and construction economy booming in Alberta, companies like Marnevic Construction are busy keeping up with the demand.

Their equipment fleet, consisting of track hoes, loaders, packers, graders, trucks, crushers and crawlers are repetitively pushed to the limit, drudging daily through rugged oil field conditions and extreme temperature ranges.

Weather conditions in Alberta can fluctuate drastically, depending on the season. The winter months bring frigid, arctic-like temperatures and the summer brings sweltering, desert-like conditions. As a result, Marnevic Construction’s mechanics were changing out fluids quite regularly, not because of poor performance, but because of seasonal requirements. In some machines this could not be avoided, but in the case of their 30 CAT crawlers it could.

The Challenge
“One of our biggest maintenance challenges was seasonal fluid change-outs in our crawlers,” says Troy DeCiccio, Marnevic Construction’s shop foreman and vice president. Time, money and oil were being wasted. Mr. DeCiccio needed a solution. He consulted his distributor – Max Fuels – and found it: Petro-Canada’s PRODURO TO-4+ Synthetic All Season, a transmission and drive train fluid designed to maximize durability and equipment protection in cold winter months and hot summer months.

The Switch
All 30 CAT crawlers were converted to PRODURO TO-4+ Synthetic All Season. It is intended for use in Caterpillar off-highway vehicles and any mobile equipment where conventional motor oils are accepted in hydraulics, transmissions, gears and wet brake applications. It helps extend component life through better lubricant protection, eliminates seasonal change-outs, mitigates cold start-up problems and allows for product consolidation.

The Results
“There’s no comparison,” says Troy DeCiccio. “We used to change the fluid every 200 to 300 hours simply because of environmental temperature fluctuations. Now we change it every 1500 to 3000 hours. Using PRODURO TO-4+ Synthetic All Season in conjunction with an effective maintenance program including oil analysis, means our mechanics can spend more time on important issues rather than changing transmission oil.”

What sets PRODURO TO-4+ Synthetic All Season apart is that its base oil is free of most of the impurities found in conventional oils.

By removing impurities that can hinder conventional oil performance, PRODURO TO-4+ Synthetic All Season retains its “fresh oil” properties longer.

Though the cost of PRODURO TO-4+ Synthetic All Season is more than the previous fluid, it is really costing Marnevic Construction less because of cost-per-hour and product consolidation benefits. They are using less fluid, downtime has been reduced and drain intervals have increased. “Now, when the Spring or Fall hits, I don’t have to pull the crawlers from job sites just to change the transmission fluid.”

“Our biggest maintenance challenge has been overcome because of our switch to PRODURO TO-4+ Synthetic All Season,” says Troy DeCiccio. “I should also mention that we’ve overcome other maintenance challenges with the help of Petro-Canada products. A great example is TRAXON™ E Synthetic CD-50. It protects our gears and provides good year-round performance.”

Value-added Service
Not only is Mr. DeCiccio happy with the product, he is also happy with the service. “Max Fuels is the distributor we use when ordering PRODURO and TRAXON. Travis and the guys there are great to work with – they provide great customer service.”

Source: Petro-Canada Lubricants