ASTM D6984-12b

Subject

Section

Scope

1

Referenced Documents

2

Terminology

3

Summary of Test Method

4

Significance and Use

5

Apparatus

6

 Laboratory

6.1

 Drawings

6.2

 Specified Equipment

6.3

 Test Engine

6.4

  Engine Parts

6.4.1

 Engine Speed and Load Control

6.5

 Sequence IIIF Fluid Conditioning Module

6.6

  Engine Cooling System

6.6.1

 Flushing Tank

6.7

 Coolant Mixing Tank

6.8

 Condenser Cooling Systems

6.9

 Engine Oil-Cooling System

6.10

 Fuel System

6.11

 Induction Air Supply Humidity, Temperature, and Pressure

6.12

 Temperature Measurement

6.13

  Thermocouple Location

6.13.1

 Air-to-Fuel Ratio Determination

6.14

  Injector Flow Testing

6.14.1

 Exhaust and Exhaust Back Pressure Systems

6.15

 Blowby Flow Rate Measurement

6.16

 Pressure Measurement and Sensor Location

6.17

Reagents and Materials

7

 Test Fuel

7.1

 Engine and Condenser Coolant

7.2

 Coolant Additive

7.3

 Coolant Preparation

7.4

 Pre-Test Cleaning Materials

7.5

 Sealing and Anti-seize Compounds

7.6

Test Oil Sample Requirements

8

Preparation of Apparatus

9

 Condenser Cleaning

9.1

 Intake Manifold Cleaning

9.3

 Cleaning of Engine Parts (other than the block and heads)

9.4

 Engine Block Cleaning

9.5

 Cylinder Head Cleaning

9.6

 Engine Build-up Procedure

9.7

  General Information

9.7.1

  Special Parts

9.7.2

  Hardware Information

9.7.3

  Fastener Torque Specifications and Torquing Procedures

9.7.4

 Parts Replacement

9.8

 Engine Block Preparation

9.9

 Piston Fitting and Numbering

9.10

  Piston Ring Fitting

9.10.1

 Pre-Test Camshaft and Lifter Measurements

9.11

 Camshaft Bearing Installation

9.12

 Camshaft Installation

9.13

 Main Bearings

9.14

  Crankshaft Installation

9.14.1

  Main Bearing Cap Installation

9.14.2

 Crankshaft Sprocket

9.15

 Camshaft Sprocket and Timing Chain

9.16

 Crankshaft End Play

9.17

 Piston Pin Installation

9.18

  Piston Installation

9.18.1

 Harmonic Balancer

9.19

 Connecting Rod Bearings

9.20

 Engine Front Cover

9.21

 Coolant Inlet Adapter

9.22

 Oil Dipstick Hole

9.23

 Oil Pan

9.24

 Cylinder Head Assembly

9.25

 Adjustment of Valve Spring Loads

9.26

 Cylinder Head Installation

9.27

 Hydraulic Valve Lifters

9.28

 Pushrods

9.29

 Valve Train Loading

9.30

 Intake Manifold

9.31

 Rocker Covers

9.32

 Water Inlet Adapter

9.33

 Condenser

9.34

 Coolant Outlet Adapter

9.35

 External Oil Cooling System

9.36

 Oil Sample Valve

9.37

 Ignition System

9.38

 Throttle Body

9.39

 Accessory Drive Units

9.40

 Exhaust Manifolds, Water-Cooled

9.41

 Engine Flywheel

9.42

 Pressure Checking of Engine Coolant System

9.43

 Lifting of Assembled Engines

9.44

 Mounting the Engine on the Test Stand

9.45

 External Cooling System Cleaning

9.46

 Engine Coolant Jacket Cleaning (Flushing)

9.47

 Coolant Charging

9.48

 Test Oil Charging

9.49

 Engine Oil Pump Priming

9.50

Calibration

10

 Laboratory and Engine Test Stand Calibration

10.1

 Testing of Reference Oils

10.2

 Reference Oil Test Frequency

10.3

 Reporting of Reference Oil Test Results

10.4

 Evaluation of Reference Oil Test Results

10.5

 Status of Non-Reference Oil Tests Relative to Reference
  Oil Test

10.6

 Status of Test Stands Used for Non-Standard Tests

10.7

 Data Acquisition and Control

10.8

  Sample Rate

10.8.1

  Measurement Accuracy

10.8.2

  Temperature

10.8.3

  Pressure

10.8.4

  Flow

10.8.5

  Speed

10.8.6

  Load

10.8.7

  Measurement Resolution

10.8.8

  System Time Response

10.8.9

  Quality Index

10.8.10

Engine Operating Procedure

11

 Dipstick and Hole Plug

11.1

 Dipstick Hole O-ring

11.2

 Engine Start-up and Shutdown Procedures

11.3

 Start-up

11.4

 Scheduled Shutdown

11.5

 Non-Scheduled Shutdowns

11.6

 Oil Sampling

11.7

 Oil Leveling

11.8

 Air-to-Fuel-Ratio Measurement and Control

11.9

 Air-to-Fuel Ratio Verification

11.10

 Blowby Flow Rate Measurement

11.11

 NO_x Determinations

11.12

 Data Recording

11.13

 Initial Run (10 min)

11.14

 Engine Oil Quality Testing (80 h)

11.15

 Test Termination

11.16

Determination of Test Results

12

 Engine Disassembly

12.2

 Preparation of Parts for Rating of Sticking, Deposits,
  and Plugging

12.3

 Piston Deposit Rating

12.4

 Post-Test Camshaft and Lifter Wear Measurements

12.5

 End-of Test Used Oil Sample Testing

12.6

 Viscosity Test

12.7

 Testing Oil Samples for Wear Metals

12.8

 Blowby Flow Rate Measurements

12.9

 Oil Consumption Computation

12.10

 Photographs of Test Parts

12.11

 Retention of Representative Test Parts

12.12

 Severity Adjustments

12.13

 Determination of Operational Validity

12.14

Report

13

 Report Forms

13.1

 Precision of Reported Units

13.2

 Deviations from Test Operational Limits

13.3

Precision and Bias

14

Keywords

15

Annexes

The Role of the ASTM Test Monitoring Center (TMC) and
 the Calibration Program

Sequence IIIF Test Parts Replacement Guidelines

Sequence IIIF Determination Volume of Engine Oil in Pan

Sequence IIIF Test Fuel Analysis

Sequence IIIF Test Reporting

Sequence IIIF Test Air-to-Fuel Ratio Control Flow Chart

Sequence IIIF Test Set Points and Control States

Sequence IIIF Quality Index Upper and Lower Values

Sequence IIIF Engine Oil Level Worksheet

Engine Build Worksheets

Blowby Flow Rate Determination

Safety Precautions

Sequence IIIF Blueprint Listing

Fluid Conditioning Module Components

Engine Oil Cooling System Schematic

Guidelines For Hardware Subject To First In – First Out Criteria

Appendixes

Sequence IIIFHD Test Procedure

Sequence IIIFVIS Test Procedure

G40-25a

Standard Terminology Relating to Wear and Erosion (Includes all amendments and changes 12/8/2025).

IEEE/ASTM SI-10

Standard for Use of the International System of Units (SI): The Modern Metric System

MIL-PRF-2104

D5453-25

Standard Test Method for Determination of Total Sulfur in Light Hydrocarbons, Spark Ignition Engine Fuel, Diesel Engine Fuel, and Engine Oil by Ultraviolet Fluorescence

D5862-09

Standard Test Method for Evaluation of Engine Oils in Two-Stroke Cycle Turbo-Supercharged 6V92TA Diesel Engine (Withdrawn 2009)

D6557-26

Standard Test Method for Evaluation of Rust Preventive Characteristics of Automotive Engine Oils

D6593-18e1

Standard Test Method for Evaluation of Automotive Engine Oils for Inhibition of Deposit Formation in a Spark-Ignition Internal Combustion Engine Fueled with Gasoline and Operated Under Low-Temperature, Light-Duty Conditions (Includes all amendments and changes 6/22/2022).

D6750-23

Standard Test Methods for Evaluation of Engine Oils in a High-Speed, Single-Cylinder Diesel Engine—1K Procedure (0.4 % Fuel Sulfur) and 1N Procedure (0.04 % Fuel Sulfur)

D7320-18e1

Standard Test Method for Evaluation of Automotive Engine Oils in the Sequence IIIG, Spark-Ignition Engine (Includes all amendments and changes 6/23/2022).

D4684-20a

Standard Test Method for Determination of Yield Stress and Apparent Viscosity of Engine Oils at Low Temperature (Includes all amendments and changes 11/17/2020).

D4815-22

Standard Test Method for Determination of MTBE, ETBE, TAME, DIPE, tertiary-Amyl Alcohol and C1 to C4 Alcohols in Gasoline by Gas Chromatography

D5185-26

Standard Test Method for Multielement Determination of Used and Unused Lubricating Oils and Base Oils by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES)

D5191-22

Standard Test Method for Vapor Pressure of Petroleum Products and Liquid Fuels (Mini Method)

D5293-25

Standard Test Method for Apparent Viscosity of Engine Oils and Base Stocks Between –10 °C and –35 °C Using Cold-Cranking Simulator

D5452-23

Standard Test Method for Particulate Contamination in Aviation Fuels by Laboratory Filtration

D235-22

Standard Specification for Mineral Spirits (Petroleum Spirits) (Hydrocarbon Dry Cleaning Solvent)

D240-25

Standard Test Method for Heat of Combustion of Liquid Hydrocarbon Fuels by Bomb Calorimeter

D323-26

Standard Test Method for Vapor Pressure of Petroleum Products (Reid Method)

D381-25

Standard Test Method for Gum Content in Fuels by Jet Evaporation

D445-26

Standard Test Method for Kinematic Viscosity of Transparent and Opaque Liquids (and Calculation of Dynamic Viscosity)

D525-12a(2025)

Standard Test Method for Oxidation Stability of Gasoline (Induction Period Method) (Includes all amendments and changes 12/24/2025).

D1319-25

Standard Test Method for Hydrocarbon Types in Liquid Petroleum Products by Fluorescent Indicator Adsorption

D2699-26

Standard Test Method for Research Octane Number of Spark-Ignition Engine Fuel

D86-23ae2

Standard Test Method for Distillation of Petroleum Products and Liquid Fuels at Atmospheric Pressure (Includes all amendments and changes 11/4/2024).

D130-26

Standard Test Method for Corrosiveness to Copper from Petroleum Products by Copper Strip Test

D3237-22

Standard Test Method for Lead in Gasoline by Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy

D2700-26b

Standard Test Method for Motor Octane Number of Spark-Ignition Engine Fuel (Includes all amendments and changes 7/13/2026).

D3231-25

Standard Test Method for Phosphorus in Gasoline

D3338-08

Standard Test Method for Estimation of Net Heat of Combustion of Aviation Fuels

D3343-22

Standard Test Method for Estimation of Hydrogen Content of Aviation Fuels

D4052-22

Standard Test Method for Density, Relative Density, and API Gravity of Liquids by Digital Density Meter

D4175-24e2

Standard Terminology Relating to Petroleum Products, Liquid Fuels, and Lubricants (Includes all amendments and changes 6/9/2026).

D4485-24

Standard Specification for Performance of Active API Service Category Engine Oils

D7422-25

Standard Test Method for Evaluation of Diesel Engine Oils in T-12 Exhaust Gas Recirculation Diesel Engine

E29-22

Standard Practice for Using Significant Digits in Test Data to Determine Conformance with Specifications

E191-64(1999)e1

Standard Specification for Apparatus For Microdetermination of Carbon and Hydrogen in Organic and Organo-Metallic Compounds

E608/E608M-24

Standard Specification for Mineral-Insulated, Metal-Sheathed Base Metal Thermocouples

E1119-23

Standard Specification for Industrial Grade Ethylene Glycol