Maintenance of the

HGS DISCOVER

Exhaust Valve Lubrication System

And Air Spring Seals
Type : RT-flex50 (all variants including DF) and all WinGD X-
and X-DF engine types (except X82 and X82-B)
Type : RT-flex50 (all variants including DF) and all WinGD
X- and X-DF engine types (except X82 and X82-B)

HGS DISCOVER
No. HD2021-HGS-WGD-GE-0020
Date September 10, 2021

Centum Science Park, 79, Centum Jungang-Ro3, Haeundae-Gu, Busan 48058, Republic of Korea
Tel + 82 52 204 7820 | Fax + 82 52 204 7700 | [email protected] | www.hyundai-gs.com/eng 1|3
HGS DISCOVER

Maintenance of The Exhaust Valve

Lubrication System and
Air Spring Seals

Guidance ‧ The purpose of this document is to inform the customers regarding WinGD’s
exhaust valve lubrication system and a method for checking the air spring
seals.

Appendix. ‧ Service Letter SL-0021 (Refer to the attached)

Centum Science Park, 79, Centum Jungang-Ro3, Haeundae-Gu, Busan 48058, Republic of Korea
Tel + 82 52 204 7820 | Fax + 82 52 204 7700 | [email protected] | www.hyundai-gs.com/eng 2|3
HGS DISCOVER

\ Contact For questions about the content of this service letter, or if you need HGS
assistance services, spare parts and / or engineer for power plant, please
contact your nearest HGS representative.

Chris Lim (Jong-seok Lim) | Machinery service team1 (2S Engine)

Tel. +82-52-204-7766
Fax. +82-52-204-7700
E-mail [email protected]
E-mail [email protected]

Erik Noh (Young-jin Noh) | Technical

Tel. +31-10- 212-1567
E-mail [email protected]

Genie (Woo-jin Ju) | Sales

Tel. +65-6932-6302
E-mail [email protected] ; [email protected]

Eden Jeong | Sales

Tel. +1-281-372-8630
E-mail [email protected]

24 / 7 Call Center : 070-8670-1122

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please click the address above.

Centum Science Park, 79, Centum Jungang-Ro3, Haeundae-Gu, Busan 48058, Republic of Korea
Tel + 82 52 204 7820 | Fax + 82 52 204 7700 | [email protected] | www.hyundai-gs.com/eng 3|3
 Service
Letter SL-0021
Date: 2021-06-24
Maintenance of the exhaust
valve lubrication system and air Implementation: Immediately
spring seals
RT-flex50 (all variants including DF) and all WinGD X- Maintenance Information:
and X-DF engine types (except X82 and X82-B)
The exhaust valve lubrication system
and air spring seals

Information for:
Operators of all RT-flex50 (all
variants) and all WinGD X- and X-DF
engine types (except X82 and X82-B)

Summary:
WinGD’s exhaust valve lubrication
system is described and a method for
checking the air spring seals is
provided.
WinGD engines have an exhaust valve lubrication
system which uses leakage oil from the air spring to
lubricate the exhaust valve spindle. This service
letter provides a detailed description of this system.

Incorrect use of thread locker or sealing agents on

the exhaust valve lubrication throttle screws has led
to accelerated wear of the valve stem and guide
bush. This service letter provides air spring
maintenance instructions.

Yours faithfully,

Edwin Fullagar Wolfgang Dunker

Customer Support Manager GM Partner Relation
Medium Bores WinGD
WinGD

Winterthur Gas & Diesel Ltd. Schützenstrasse 3 Tel. +41 (0)52 264 8844
Winterthur Gas & Diesel AG. PO Box 414, CH-8401 Fax +41 (0)52 264 8866
Winterthur Gas & Diesel S.A. Winterthur, Switzerland
 Service
Letter SL-0021
Contents
1 The exhaust valve lubrication concept ...................................................................................................................... 2
2 Testing the air spring seals ......................................................................................................................................... 3
3 Contacts ....................................................................................................................................................................... 5

1 The exhaust valve lubrication concept

Exhaust valves of affected engines are lubricated by a small amount of oil passing into the air spring volume
during engine operation. This oil then bypasses the valve stem seal by passing throttle screw threads,
which control the flow of oil and air into the guide bush.

Oil path Throttle

(magenta line) screws
Distance
ring

Guide bush
Valve
stem seal

Figure 1-1: Example of an X72 exhaust valve sectional view showing the valve stem lubrication system

The same concept is configured differently on some engine types:

• X35, X40, RT-flex50 and RT-flex50DF engines use throttle screws installed radially in the flange of
the valve guide bush. To access the throttle screws of these engines it is necessary to remove the
guide bush from the valve cage.
• On X52, X52DF and X82DF engines there are no throttle screws. Instead, a long spiral groove
(machined into the underside of the distance ring) performs the throttling function.

When overhauling exhaust valves or checking exhaust valve spindle wear, WinGD strongly recommends
checking that the exhaust valve lubrication throttle screws are clear and have not been assembled with

Page 2 of 5
 Service
Letter SL-0021
any sealing material. Use of a thread locker or sealing agent may result in under lubrication and premature
wear of the valve spindle and guide bush.

Only SAE 30 system oil is to be used for installing throttle screws. Thread locker or sealing agents are not
to be used.

When the air spring is activated, a light sound of air escaping through the guide bush is normal. Excessive
air loss at the bottom of the guide bush may be due to a defective valve stem seal.

2 Testing the air spring seals

The time taken for compressed air to leak out of the air spring system (a test commonly used for older
RT-flex and RTA engines) cannot provide a reliable assessment of the condition of the air spring seals. This
is due to the small air leakage through the exhaust valve guide bush. Consequently, a large variation
between working units can be expected with this testing approach.

To properly test the condition of air spring seals, WinGD recommends the following process:
1. Stop the engine and switch off the main system oil pumps.
2. Remove the air spring drain at the air spring housing.
3. With the air supply switched on, check that there is no noticeable air escaping from the drain hole.

Note 1: It is not recommended to perform this test by removing the exhaust valve stroke sensor because
air from another unit or source may come back through the air spring drain.

Note 2: This procedure can also be performed when the exhaust valve is removed from the engine with a
separate compressed air supply.

Referring to Figure 2-1, air leakage at the air spring drain may be due to the following:
1. A damaged main air spring piston (Teflon®) seal.
2. A damaged backup O-ring behind the main (Teflon®) air spring piston seal. Resulting in insufficient
pre-load of the Teflon® seal against the air spring cylinder wall.
3. Damage to the O-ring between the exhaust valve spindle and air spring piston.
4. Damage to the air spring cylinder wall.

Excessive oil flowing down the exhaust valve spindle and into the combustion chamber (while the engine
is stopped) is a symptom of damage to one of the seals indicated in Figure 2-1, it is not typically due to
valve stem seal damage (see Figure 1-1).

Page 3 of 5
 Service
Letter SL-0021
Air spring
drain

Air spring piston

Spindle-piston Backup Teflon® seal

O-ring O-ring

Figure 2-1: Exhaust valve showing air spring drain and air spring piston seals

Page 4 of 5
 Service
Letter SL-0021
3 Contacts

How to contact WinGD

For questions about the content of this Service Letter, or if you need WinGD’s assistance, please contact
your nearest WinGD representative office.
If you don’t have the contact details at hand, please follow the link “Contact us” on the WinGD webpage:

https://www.wingd.com/en/about-wingd/contact-us/

Contact details of WinGD Service Partners:

For engine maintenance-, operation- support, service and other questions about operation and Service,
please contact the following link “Service Partners” on the WinGD webpage to find further information
about our Service Partners CMS and Wärtsilä Services Switzerland which can provide worldwide support.

https://www.wingd.com/en/service-support/service-partners/

© 2021 Winterthur Gas & Diesel Ltd. — All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, graphic,
photocopying, recording, taping or other information retrieval systems) without the prior written permission of the copyright
holder. Winterthur Gas & Diesel Ltd. makes no representation, warranty (express or implied) in this publication and assumes no
responsibility for the correctness, errors or omissions of information contained herein. Information in this publication is subject
to change without notice.

Unless otherwise expressly set forth, no recommendation contained in this document is to be constructed as provided due to a
defect in the engine, but merely as an improvement of the engine and/or the maintenance procedures relating thereto. Any
actions by owner/operator as a result of the recommendations are not covered under any warranty provided by Winterthur Gas
& Diesel Ltd. and such actions will thus be at the owner/operators own cost and expense.

NO LIABILITY, WHETHER DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL, IS ASSUMED WITH RESPECT TO THE
INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN. THIS PUBLICATION IS INTENDED FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY.

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