Go-Ahead extends lubrication contract with Optimum and Q8Oils
Bus operator Go-Ahead London has said it is extending a three-year contract with Optimum Oils, which distributes Q8Oils lubricants to the UK bus and coach market.
Optimum, which supplies both buses and locomotives for Go-Ahead Group’s UK operations with Q8 lubricants and Optimum antifreeze, offers a second tier management service for specialist lubricants specified primarily by OEMs during the initial bus and locomotive warranty periods.
The key benefit to Go-Ahead of the contract, Q8Oils says, is the ‘one-stop shop approach’ that helps to reduce the number of suppliers the bus operator has to deal with, thus increasing efficiency.
Frank Darch, technical support manager for Go-Ahead London, stresses the importance of not merely supplying lubricants and antifreeze at the right cost, but also ensuring that lubricant grades comply with the latest edition of the ever changing OEM specifications.
He adds that drain periods in particular are monitored closely in London’s aggressive transport environment, where operational hours are the predominant factor, rather than kilometres travelled.
Go-Ahead’s eighteen garages across the capital are responsible for servicing over 2,000 vehicles, involving all major types of engines, gearboxes and axles, and identifying reasons for failures. This involves aspects such as oil monitoring and analysis.
Frank writes the servicing requirements for all Go-Ahead bus types, which are numerous due to mergers, takeovers and acquisitions over the years. These documents are then passed to each of the garages to ensure that every vehicle in the Go-Ahead fleet is serviced to the same high standards and is signed off on a service check sheet.
The service documents record and define the length of time that oils and lubricants for engines, gearboxes and axles stay in the units between services, to ensure that Go-Ahead achieves the best possible service life.
Says Frank: “We have used other suppliers and oils over the years but for the past nine years we have been very happy with the Optimum and Q8Oils strategic partnership.”
Optimum provides the most effective Q8 oil for each application, carries out monitoring and oil analysis regularly, and recommends and carries out trials on new products where appropriate. The company also helps Go-Ahead to ensure that the prescribed oil change intervals are maintained, especially in engines where optimising oil change intervals is vital to optimising engine life.
Says Frank: “We are currently running trials of a new grease specifically designed to repel water washout during chassis washes. It is typical of the way Go-Ahead and Optimum work very well together to get the absolute best out of the Q8 oils and lubricants, and in all the years we have been using Q8Oils products we have never had an issue, despite having engines that are twelve years old. I think that proves the efficiency of the Q8Oils products.”
Whilst engines themselves have changed dramatically in the 25 years since Frank began his job, and modern engines are now so good, he insists that they still need the best oils to keep them operating and in the best condition.
“Whilst oil has a finite life we rely on Optimum and Q8Oils to give us the best advice, and ensure that the technology within the Q8 oils we use helps us achieve the best balance of performance and operational life.”
