The new CK-4 and FA-4 diesel engine oils

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Digging into the new diesel engine oils: Part one

Fleet Owner  /  October 17, 2016

It took five years to craft CK-4 and FA-4, the new diesel engine oils due to be introduced Dec. 1. Here’s part one of a look at what makes these new oils different from previous formulations.

Dan Arcy, global OEM technical manager for the Americas for Shell Lubricants, will tell you that the new CK-4 and FA-4 diesel engine oil blends due for release December 1 – the end result of five years’ worth of work – weren’t just designed to help 2017-model engines comply with stringent Phase 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) fuel economy mandates.

Also driving the need for these new formulations is the recognition that truck engine designs as a whole are now vastly different compared to previous decades, he explained to Fleet Owner, offering an opportunity to bring thinner viscosities and new protective “additive packages” to the market.

“We knew some of the [engine] tests we’ve been using to validate out oil formulations had to go away as well,” Arcy pointed out. “There simply weren’t parts available for 20 year-old tests. So we really had a chance here to update everything.”

He said work began on Proposed Category 11 or “PC-11” oils back in June 2011 in three distinct “phases,” with the recognition that regulations – specifically the new GHG rules – would be the driving force behind new formulations.

Yet the industry representatives from engine manufacturers, chemical companies, and oil marketers who gathered to form a nine-member “evaluation team” for the new PC-11 oils also saw it as an opportunity to do other things as well, such as add requirements necessary to meet so-called “renewable fuel” standards.

The key difference between PC-11 and all the other categories preceding it revolves around the creation of “two sub-categories” within the standard: one that created oils with viscosities equivalent to current formulations, which became CK-4, and another for thinner viscosities aimed at helping improve fuel economy in newer engines, which became FA-4.

Dr. Jason Brown, global technology manager for heavy duty diesel engine oil (HDDEO) at Shell, said that PC-11 is "not the first time" a so-called "split category" for engine oils has been developed, but it is the first time two "sub-categories" have been launched at the same time: the two subcategories, again, being CK-4 and FA-4.

Shawn Whitacre, senior staff engineer primarily responsible for product formulation of Delo heavy duty engine oils for Chevron Product Co., served as the chairman of the American Society for Testing and Materials [ASTM] heavy-duty engine oil classification panel that developed the PC-11 oil requirements.

Shell’s Arcy added that the “first phase” of the evaluation panel’s job centered on establishing what criteria both of the new oils needed to address and whether enough “supporting data” existed to go forward with formulation requirements meeting those requirements.

“We add to ask ‘what is the rationale?’ for meeting a new requirement,” Arcy said. “Better oxidation control, for example, was an easy one because we knew the new [2017] engines would run hotter than previous models by about 10 degrees Celsius,” which is roughly 50 degrees Fahrenheit hotter.

The reason for tighter shear stability requirements, however, revolved around a smaller yet critical factor.

“In this case, the rational is that we found some 15W-40 oils were ending up as 15W-30 over time in the crankcase,” Arcy pointed out. “That wasn’t an engine wear concern but an oil analysis concern; it would be harder to spot fuel dilution. So we had to tighten up the pass/fail criteria for shear stability.”

Another new twist: the need for new tests regarding the impact of biodiesel fuels. Arcy said when biodiesel began to be introduced widely in trucking back in 2006, it acted as a “solvent” of sorts, “cleaning out” fuel tanks of deposits which led to the plugging up of injectors and fuel filters.

He noted that the team’s examination found that there are today fewer problems related to “plugging” but that a test to ensure oils would be “biodiesel compatible” would be a good thing.

All in all, Arcy emphasized that the “first phase” of the PC-11 development process – establishing the requirements and tests the new oils needed to meet – took six months to complete, with “strong support” to develop two separate “sub categories” of engine oils.

“These were all open meetings, so it wasn’t just the nine members in a room; we had routinely 50 to 100 others in attendance,” he explained. “We also made all of our decisions through a ‘consensus process,’ as we all had different experiences to share,” Arcy stressed. “Remember too this was a technical committee, making decisions based on technical data – not commercial needs. Take oxidation, for example; we had to define a minimum standard for product reference. That also gave us a chance to take a ‘fresh look’ at those standards to make sure they made sense.”

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Digging into the new diesel engine oils: Part two

Fleet Owner  /  October 18, 2016

Creating new engine tests turned out to be one of the more challenging aspects of establishing a new diesel engine oil category.

Dan Arcy, the global OEM technical manager for the Americas for Shell Lubricants, that out of the three “phases” within the Proposed Category 11 or “PC-11” five-year development process that will result in the new CK-4 and FA-4 diesel engine motor oils on Dec. 1, the second phase proved to be the hardest and longest.

Starting in December 2011 and lasting until February 2016, the second phase of the PC-11 development process entailed the development of brand-new engine tests as well as the retirement of others.

“We knew we needed to look at three main areas of [oil] classification testing: oxidation control, aeration control, and shear stability,” he explained to Fleet Owner, and that entailed a lot of research.

“We looked at seven different tests for oxidation control alone,” Arcy pointed out, referencing the nine-member heavy-duty engine oil classification panel made up of engine manufacturer, chemical company, and oil marketer representatives who served under the auspices of the former American Society for Testing and Materials, now known as ASTM International.

Yet the work didn’t end when certain tests were selected by the panel, he stressed, for then they had to prove that results from the chosen test could be “repeatable” regardless of the laboratory used.

“Using the same oil in the same test needed to give us the same result, Arcy explained. For example, in the case of the Volvo T-13 test selected to confirm oxidation control for PC-11 oils, it took “a couple of years” to get it established.

He noted that PC-11’s “phase two” work was largely completed by Dec. 2015, yet awaited a “final approval meeting” two months later with the American Petroleum Institute (API) to officially “sign off” on the testing results and classification standards.

With that final “seal of approval” in hand, the third and last phase of the PC-11 process began; one that ends Dec. 1 this year – the licensing and introduction of the new CK-4 and FA-4 blends to the market.

“There have been lots of little steps along the way” of phase three, Arcy emphasized, which includes labeling designs to help ensure customers pick the right oil for their engine.

“The product [PC-11] line is set to introduce new package labeling, bottle color and user friendly symbols to help customers choose with confidence and understand the enhanced benefits such as extended drain intervals, higher fuel economy or extreme temperature use they will receive,” noted Brian Humphrey, OEM technical liaison for Petro-Canada Lubricants.

“The API has released new service symbol ‘donuts’ which clearly distinguish between the two sub-categories,” he added. “However, oil marketers are allowed to use any color they choose for the donut itself. So we recommend visiting http://www.api.org/ to familiarize yourself with the different symbols before the Dec. 1 launch.”

Jeff Torkelson, technical director of engineering tech services with Valvoline, stressed that for the truck or fleet owner, the decision to use CK-4 or FA-4 will have to start with their OEM recommendations. 

“Some OEM’s will be recommending FA-4 for their new 2017 engines and some will not, so it’s important to pay close attention to your owner’s manual,” he emphasized to Fleet Owner. “Duty cycles may also play a role in selecting the correct category of lubricant, where severe service duty cycles are more likely to recommend using CK-4 oils versus FA-4.”

For fleets desiring to get every bit of fuel efficiency they can and if the OEM recommends FA-4 for their engine, then using it should result in improved fuel savings, Torkelson noted.

“Even with CK-4 backwards compatible oils, the 10W-30 grade should provide improved fuel efficiency compared to the 15W-40 grade,” he emphasized. “So for those looking for the best protection and durability, we recommend CK-4.”

While oil drain intervals will be set by the engine OEMs, Valvoline is expecting longer drain intervals for both CK-4 and FA-4. In fact, PACCAR is one such OEM that confirmed earlier this month that it will be extending oil drain intervals by 15,000 miles for its proprietary engine line.

“The increased robustness of the PC-11 oils could potentially allow longer drains,” Torkelson said. “The PC-11 category overall shows increased performance in oxidation protection, [plus] shear stability or stay-in-grade performance which could potentially result in longer drain intervals [and] reduced maintenance costs.”

He added that Valvoline has been working “diligently” on field testing PC-11 oil since the category need was announced and has been running longer and longer drain intervals with each prototype improvement.  

Those longer drains are the result of several factors, noted Shell’s Arcy, with the two main ones being less contamination of the oil and longer-lasting chemical additive packages.

“In terms of how far an oil can go, the viscosity or the ‘thinness’ of the oil does not make a difference,” he stressed. “A thicker CJ-4 15W-40 oil and FA-4 10W-30 oil could have the exact same [drain] interval. That’s because the [new] oils are designed to handle higher temperatures better and longer than [previous] oils and offer significantly better oxidation control.”

Like all the lubricant makers, Shell invested heavily in field tests for the new PC-11 oils – some 45 million miles worth across numerous truck duty cycles and engine displacements – which when added to the field tests conducted by the OEMs should give motor carriers “peace of mind” that the new oils perform as advertised.

“That’s a lot of miles and should give customers an extra sense of comfort,” Arcy said. “Because we all know customers won’t sacrifice durability for fuel economy.”

Knowing, however, that fleets often like to do their own validation tests, he offered a few suggestions:

• Use three to five trucks to get a good “statistical sampling” of your fleet’s operating characteristics;
• Use trucks with comparable load, route, and fuel economy characteristics;
• Use an oil analysis program;
• Conduct oil analysis tests on at least “a couple” or oil drains per truck, with each drain at anywhere from 40,000 to 60,000 miles.

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A deeper dive into the new truck engine oils
Sean Kilcarr, Fleet Owner  /  November 1, 2016

I’ve talked about the impending introduction of the new CK-4 and FA-4 diesel truck engine oils with Leonard “Len” Badal, the global Delo brand manager for Chevron Lubricants, several times now and he’s always a great font of information – often on their particular characteristics, the end result of five years’ worth on what were previously called Proposed Category 11 or “PC-11” motor oils.

One thing Badal stressed to me about the CK-4 and FA-4 oils – each a different “sub-category” within the PC-11 specification – is that they were designed with new engine designs and component technology in mind.

Ostensibly they are formulated to maintain performance in a higher engine heat environment (new 2017 model engines may run almost 50 degrees hotter) yet also deliver better fuel economy, mainly via thinner viscosities, so an engine does not have to work as hard – and thus burns less fuel – moving such “lighter weight” oils around.

Yet he also pointed out to me that many of the “thinner” CK-4 and FA-4 blends heading to the market Dec. 1 – especially the 10W-40 and 10W-40 varieties – will be “backward compatible” to a significant degree; even back to 2010 model year engines, and with often longer oil drain intervals to boot.

That means fleets run a mix of late model and older trucks should be able to reap fuel economy gains and maintenance savings from longer drains, though perhaps not on the order of what fleets operating the latest and greatest greenhouse gas (GHG) compliant 2017 model engines with the thinnest oil blend will get.

Badal also recently pointed out that many truck OEMs are embracing the new FA-4 blend more broadly as a factory-fill option. Here’s what he knows at least so far regarding what engine oil the various OEMs plan to spec for 2017:

• Cummins Inc.: CK-4 – Cummins CES 20086 and FA-4 – Cummins CES 20087. Both CK-4 and FA-4 are approved for the new GHG-compliant 2017 Cummins IX-15 and IX-12 engines (Note: the IX-12 won’t be commercially available until 2018). CK-4 along with Cummins CES 20086 specification oils are also approved for use in older ISX and ISX-15 model engines, while FA-4 is not authorized for anything but IX-15 model engines at this time. With its new categories, Cummins will also its oil drain recommendations by 10,000 miles – from a maximum 40,000 to 50,000 miles – for new IX-15 engines using the new oils.

• Detroit Diesel: CK-4 – DFS 93K222 and FA-4 – DFS 93K223. Detroit Diesel has approved the backwards compatible CK-4 for older engines in Freightliner and Western Star trucks. FA-4 is approved for new GHG-complaint 2017 model engines along with EPA-complaint 2010 and 2013 engine models. The company has not announced an oil drain extension, but recommends using the new products in new engines. Detroit Diesel will start factory-filling new model engines with FA-4 and DFS 93K223 approved oil starting mid-December 2016.

• Volvo and Mack: CK-4 – Volvo VDS4.5, CK-4 – Mack EOS 4.5 and CK-4 – Renault VI RLD 4. No specification is being released for FA-4 for it will not be allowed for use in EITHER new or older Volvo or Mack diesel engines.

• Badal noted that Volvo and Mack specifications are built around tighter requirements for improved oil oxidation performance as measured by the new Volvo T-13 engine test versus the typical CK-4 or FA-4 Volvo T-13 requirements. That being said, Volvo is announcing a 10,000-mile oil drain extension (from 45,000 to 55,000 miles) for new engines using the new VDS4.5- or Mack EOS 4.5-approved CK-4 oils.

• Navistar: As of now, Navistar does not have its own OEM specification qualification program; it simply uses the API designations for engine oils. Most Navistar equipment is powered by Cummins engines, and so its oil recommendations will be the same as Cummins, including the oil drain extension. For its own N13 model diesel engine, CK-4 is recommended for all models, with FA-4 approved for new model GHG-compliant 2017 engines only. Yet Navistar will be factory-filling with CK-4 SAE 10W-30 diesel, Badal emphasized

• PACCAR: CK-4 for now with FA-4 to be announced in the future. Badal noted that PACCAR uses the API designations for its specifications with no specific OEM specification qualification program included. Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks are equipped with either a PACCAR MX or Cummins diesel engine and both engine models have been factory filled with Delo 400 XLE Synblend SAE 10W-30 (a CK-4-grade product) since back in mid-September. FA-4 oils may be used with the new Cummins IX-15 diesel engines once they started to be installed in Kenworth or Peterbilt trucks, but PACCAR has not committed yet to whether it will use FA-4 oils for its GHG-compliant 2017 model MX engines.

Badal also stressed something else: that the new CK-4 and FA-4 products are just the start, not the end, of the reformulation program for diesel motor oils.

“Most OEMs are already starting to develop next generation engines and engine oils for launch between 2020 and 2025 – and almost all of the new oil development programs for these engines are focused on low HT/HS [High Temperature/High Shear] 5W viscosity grades [that will be] factory filled to meet stricter fuel efficiency and emission standards,” he explained in a recent blog post.

The hitch, however, is that such 5W oils cost more than comparable 10W and 15W grades – a LOT more, largely because they are full synthetics, he told me recently.

“The price difference between a 10W-30 and a 15W-40 isn’t much; they are within the ballpark of one another,” Badal pointed out. “But when you get to 5W blends, you are talking two to three times the cost of a 15W product.”

That doesn’t mean moving to 5W grades isn’t worth the extra money, he stressed; indeed, those blends can deliver greater improvements in fuel economy as well as longer oil drain intervals. The issue is this, though: a fleet must really justify those improvements by attaining them consistently, but that can be problematic based on a fleet’s duty cycle.

“It’s not a durability or performance issue; it’s a cost justification issue,” Badal emphasizes. “For example, we had one fleet double their oil drain interval while another only achieved a 15% extension. So it comes down to the type of engine and the duty cycle it’s working in. You have to drive a lot of value to make the transition to a 5W blend pay off.”

Something to keep in mind as we draw closer the dawn of a new diesel engine oil era.

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Improving truck fuel economy with new engine oils

Sean Kilcarr, November 4, 2016  /  November 4, 2016

Here’s a question for you: how much is a 1% gain in Class 8 fuel economy worth? Can you put a dollar figure to it?

Apparently Gary Parsons, the global OEM and industry liaison manager for the products and technology division at Chevron Oronite Company, can – and according to his calculations a 1% improvement in fuel economy is worth $500 to $700 per year in cost savings.

And that’s why Parsons believes truckers – be they owner-operators or big fleets – should embrace the impending changeover to CK-4 and FA-4 diesel engine oils on Dec. 1; the official names for oils developed over the last five years under the Proposed Category 11 or “PC-11” label.

“Unlike with aerodynamic devices or low rolling resistance (LRR) tires, you can change the kind of oil you are using with low cost and implement it across entire your fleet immediately – affecting fuel economy overnight,” he explained during a webinar this week hosted by Chevron Lubricants.

If a fleet switches from current CJ-4 15W-40 oils to the new CK-4 10W-30 grade, Parsons said they’ll attain 1% improvement in fuel economy. If the fleet switches to the lower viscosity CK-4 5W-30 grade, the fleet would see an extra 0.2% gain in fuel efficiency.

And if the fleet decided to switch to the new super-fuel efficient FA-4 5W-30 grade – a grade, however, that will only be allowed right now for use in a few select engine models – the fleet would get another 0.2% on top of that, for an overall gain of 1.4% versus the current CJ-4 15W-40 grade.

[As an aside, Rommel Atienza – North American Delo commercial brand manager – added that Chevron Lubricants plans to keep supplying CJ-4 for at least a year following the rollout of CK-4 and FA-4, providing a good length of time for customers to switch over to the new grades.]

Yunsu Park, the program manager for confidence reports at the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) added that fleets his group works with that’ve already switched to current CJ-4 10W-30 blends are seeing some significant gains in fuel economy.

He said NACFE’s partner fleets experienced fuel economy gains ranging from 0.5% to just over 2% in some specific cases by switching to the 10W-30 grades currently on the market.

“The data is very consistent,” Park stressed during the webinar. “We recommend fleets implementing this change; going from a 15W-40 grade to a 10W-30 grade in same [oil] category.”

Interestingly, NACFE’s research into engine oils found this is one area where even so-called “forward-thinking” fleets are actually reluctant to make changes.

“Over 40% of the NACFE fleets still use the 15W-40 grade, and these fleets are typically fairly aggressive with new technology,” Parks noted. Industry-wide, less than 20% of Class 8 fleets are using something other than the 15W-40 engine oil grade, he added.

A separate conclusion NACFE derived from examining FA-4 grade field test data over the summer indicates fleets could get a further 0.4% to a 0.7% improvement in fuel economy over current 15W-40 blends, but Parks stressed that his “information is still very limited” and that more testing is needed to confirm that potential gain.

But Parks also remains “confident” in NACFE data that that higher viscosity oils don’t provide better engine protection than the 10W-30 and thinner viscosity grades.

“We believe the 10W-30 grade provides good protection,” he stressed.

Yet there is a challenge: price. For while there is no upfront investment to the level required by adding aerodynamic devices or LRR tires, Parks said fleets moving from a 15W-40 oil to a 10W-30 or 5W-30 grade will see a cost increase.

“Your return on investment [ROI] can be achieved, but you need to investigate that on your own,” he noted.

[Len Badal, the global Delo brand manager for Chevron Lubricants, said much the same thing to me in an earlier interview you can read here.]

Part of that ROI calculation needs to include longer drain intervals, for both the CK-4 and FA-4 grades.

For example, one fleet attending the webinar noted that the drain interval on its 200 trucks using CJ-4 grade oil is around 35,000 miles. With CK-4, that interval could be over twice as long.

PACCAR, for instance, recently announced a drain interval of 75,000 miles for its 2017 model MX-11 and MX-13 engines – a boost of over 15,000 miles from its current 60,000 miles limit – though that number may need to be pulled back if a fleet’s engine idle time is greater than 20%.

Cummins is allowing for a drain interval extension in its new X15 engine line of up to 80,000 miles – with something similar in the works for its X12 engine as well, which will be introduced in 2018 – if fleets use its new OilGuard oil analysis service.

Yet NACFE’s Parks also noted that the potential for easily-attainable fuel economy gains is there with the new CK-4 and FA-4 grades and he expects thinks truckers will take advantage of that opportunity.

“We really see the new oils coming on to the market [Dec. 1] as a chance for fleets to re-evaluate their choices based on the fuel economy impact of low viscosity oil,” he said.

We’ve got less than a month to go before we start finding out which fleets will switch and which will stand pat.

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Lubricants: A New Dawn

Sean Kilcarr, Fleet Owner  /  November 8, 2016

CK-4 and FA-4 make their debut in December. How will they alter your diesel engine oil decisions?

In a little less than a month, two new engine oil blends in development for over five years will be officially released on the trucking market: CK-4 and FA-4. The oils are the offspring of the Proposed Category 11, or PC-11, engine oil classification, which gained final approval from the American Petroleum Institute (API) in January.

So, how will the introduction of those two oils affect your fleet?

For starters, there are several important points to keep in mind, explains Dan Arcy, global OEM technical manager for the Americas at Shell.First, based on Shell’s testing of its new oils, there should be a 1.5% improvement in fuel economy by switching from current 15W-40 engine oil blends to the new CK-4 10W-30 formulations and higher gains with FA-4 products, the main reason driving the development of both of these PC-11 oils.

Second, longer drain intervals should result from switching because both are designed to be more robust and survive in the higher-heat environment of 2017 model-year engines. Arcy says operating engine temperatures are expected to climb some 50 deg. F.

Despite that higher heat, longer drain intervals are being established by engine OEMs in conjunction with the new oils. Landon Sproull, vice president of powertrain at Paccar and formerly chief engineer at Peterbilt,  says oil and fuel filter change intervals for the company’s 2017 Model MX-13 and MX-11 engines will be extended from 60,000 mi. to 75,000 mi.  Paccar believes this will save up to $1,000 per truck over 600,000 mi. of operation.

Sproull adds that Paccar conducted 2 million mi. of testing and oil analysis of the MX engines. “We’ve seen less soot in the oil and less degradation; that’s why we’re confident in the extended interval,” he explains.

Paccar is currently testing the FA-4 engine oil blend in its MX products and may decide to factory-fill with it once tests are completed by year’s end. “I believe we’ll recommend both oils [CK-4 and FA-4] for 2013 model- year engines and beyond, but we need to finish our tests first,” Sproull says.

Len Badal, global Delo brand manager at Chevron, adds that Detroit, the engine manufacturing division of Daimler Trucks North America, will start factory-filling all of its 2017 model-year engines with FA-4 oils starting Dec. 15; however, the OEM will also allow those engines to use CK-4 10W-30 and 15W-40 blends as well as the current CJ-4 15W-40 blend.

Badal also points out that Detroit is planning to make FA-4 backward compatible for use in 2010-compliant DD13 and DD15 engines, though he stresses they are the only engine maker to date to go that far back with FA-4.

All of the other engine makers are aiming to factory-fill with CK-4 10W-30 oil, he says, though Cummins may choose to go with FA-4 in select engine models. “We’re not sure yet,” Badal notes.

He also emphasizes that fleets need to remember that the fuel economy mandates within the greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations are the main genesis driving the development of both of these new oils, especially FA-4.

“They have to meet those [Phase 2 GHG] standards, not the fleets,” Badal points out. “In particular, factory-filling with FA-4 allows [engine OEMs] to gain more credits under the [GHG] program.”

If a fleet decides not to use the factory-fill oil, especially if it’s an FA-4 blend, the engine warranty won’t necessarily be invalidated. “You can’t take a CK-4 10W-40 too far back, but a CK-4 15W-40 will cover all the lanes,” he explains. “Even if you mix FA-4 and CK-4 accidently, it’s not a big deal, though if you keep using it [FA-4] long-term [in an older engine],  you will see some impact.”

Still, Jeff Torkelson, technical director engineering-tech services at Valvo­line, says fleets switching to CK-4 10W-30 blends should see a gain in fuel economy. “Even with the CK-4 backward-compatible oils, the 10W-30 grade should provide improved fuel efficiency compared to the 15W-40 grade,” he says.

Brian Humphrey, OEM technical liaison at  Petro-Canada Lubricants, adds that new package labeling, bottle color, and user-friendly symbols should help trucking customers select the right PC-11 oil for their needs as well as help them to understand specific enhanced benefits such as extended drain intervals, higher fuel economy, or extreme temperature protection each blend will provide.

He points out that API recently released two new service symbols, or ‘donuts,’ to help distinguish between the CK-4 and FA-4 blends, although oil marketers are allow­ed to use any color they choose for the donut itself.

FA-4 vs. CK-4

“Beyond the OEM recommendations, it’s worth keeping in mind that the primary difference between FA-4 and CK-4 is the level of high-temperature high-shear, or HTHS, viscosity,” Humphrey notes.
FA-4, which is specifically designed for newer vehicles, provides a slightly lower HTHS, which enables an improvement in fuel economy due to lower “viscous drag” from the oil, he explains.

“The oils in this category have been formulated with the lowest HTHS viscosity levels we have ever seen … allowing [diesel engines] to run more efficiently and use less fuel while still offering improved levels of wear protection,” he continues. “Future heavy-duty fleet vehicles will be designed to comply with this specification to offer even higher levels of [fuel] efficiency.”

CK-4, on the other hand, will offer backward compatibility, allowing for use in the vast majority of older heavy-duty diesel engines while still offering increased performance and protection gains.

“This is because older engines are not designed to operate with such low HTHS oils,” Humphrey explains. “If your particular operating conditions push the limits of higher temperatures due to high loading, elevated ambient temperatures, or restricted cooling, then you may actually wish to forego the extra fuel economy benefits associated with FA-4 in favor of the added film thickness of CK-4.”

Likewise, if a fleet’s working conditions are “extremely dirty” with excessive particles in the oil, CK-4 may be a safer choice for that equipment, he points out.

Steve Haffner, North American market manager for Infineum USA, expects the “fastest growing product” among the PC-11 oil family to be CK-4 10W-30, which provides improved fuel economy over 15W-40 blends.

“As fleets bring in more new engines, they will eventually adopt the newer FA-4 10W-30 product, when recommended by OEMs, which will provide even larger fuel economy benefits,” he believes. “While some OEMs may allow limited backward serviceability to encourage [FA-4] use, most industry observers expect CK-4 to be the product of choice for many years to come.”

To that end, in North America CK-4 engine oils are expected to be fully backward compatible in the same Society of Automotive Engineer (SAE) viscosity grades recommended for current and older diesel engines, Haffner explains. Thus, CK-4 oils will provide enhanced engine protection and be used in applications which called for CJ-4, CI-4 PLUS, CI-4, or CH-4, he points out.

Following are a couple of key technical points Haffner thinks need to be emphasized regarding the universality of those new oils:

◗ Rules concerning API S category claims with the new PC-11 performance categories mean that CK-4 or FA-4 oils with SAE 5W-30 and SAE 10W-30 viscosity grades, which correspond to ILSAC viscosity grades, will only be able to claim passenger car oil API quality levels such as API SN, SM or SL if the oils satisfy the 800 ppm [parts per million] phosphorus maximum required for ILSAC viscosity grades.

◗ SAE 15W-40 engine oils can still claim CJ-4/SN, but starting Dec. 1 when CK-4 is added to the label, oils claiming CJ-4/SN will need to drop the ‘SN’ claim unless they are formulated at 800 ppm phosphorus or below.

“Heavy-duty OEMs have not expressed any interest in gasoline API performance claims on heavy-duty diesel oils. and some strongly prefer oils with higher phosphorus content,” Haffner adds. “It remains to be seen if the logistics benefits provided by universal oils will be enough to overcome any perceived or real debits in diesel engine protection.”

One or two?

Indeed, Chris Guerrero, global HDEO brand manager for Shell Rotella and Shell Rimula, notes that Shell’s newly updated engine oil portfolio will also include a multi-vehicle synthetic blend, Rotella T6 5W-30, for both diesel and gasoline engines that will allow CK-4 blends as well as API SN performance standards. “This oil cut its teeth in the diesel setting; we did that first before seeing if it could work in the gasoline setting,” he says.

Another challenge Haffner expects with the new oils revolves around what he dubs “supply chain challenges,” which may lead to some difficult and even confusing scenarios if the needs of all consumers are to be met upon initial introduction of PC-11’s oil progeny.

“The need for two SAE 10W-30 engine oils—with one meeting CK-4 and replacing legacy CJ-4 applications and the other meeting the new lower viscosity FA-4 category—is probably the biggest cause for concern,” he says.

Yet the key to understanding why the new PC-11 oils will ultimately benefit the industry lies in the field test results, explains Michael Smith, commercial vehicle lubricants global brand manager at ExxonMobil Fuels and Lubricants.

He says ExxonMobil put its new Mobil Delvac CK-4 and FA-4 oil options through some 30 million mi. of testing and found they offer an 80% improvement in high-temperature viscosity control, 50% improvement in oxidation resistance, and 20% improvement in wear protection over previous oils.
“As these results indicate, fleets that have been testing our CK-4 and FA-4 formulations have consistently reported exceptional results,” Smith emphasizes.

Shawn Whitacre, senior staff engineer primarily responsible for product formulation of the Delo brand of heavy-duty engine oils at Chevron, adds that when CK-4 and FA-4 officially hit the market in December, they will have undergone some of the most rigorous, varied and exhaustive testing in the industry.  He is also  chairman of the American Society for Testing and Materials heavy-duty engine oil classification panel that developed the PC-11 oil requirements.

“It is important to be able to tell customers with complete confidence exactly how products will perform for them in whatever environment they may be,” he points out. “That’s why a wide diversity of testing in different engine types and under different operating conditions is absolutely critical to bring new CK-4 and FA-4 oils to market.”

Whitacre notes that the early stages of PC-11 oil development focused on passing specification tests—tests prescribed under controlled conditions designed to evaluate oils quantitatively in an accelerated fashion. Yet, while that lab testing provides valuable information, it may not necessarily reflect what the oils will actually encounter in the field.

“Industry-standard testing also tends to emphasize on-highway performance, but you don’t want to overlook off-highway needs,” Whitacre explains. “That’s why it’s important to run tests in collaboration with customers that expose oils to a broader variety of operating conditions, duty cycles, temperatures, and other environmental factors that are important to understand.”

Talking testing

That means taking multiple products across various viscosity grades and testing them in different engines spanning a range of manufacturers, including engine types that aren’t used in the standard specification tests.

“Within the on-highway category, we look at different types of operations—tractor-trailers, garbage trucks, pickups, and others. We also test in farm equipment and different types of off-highway operations,” he stresses.

Field testing takes time, including several years through different seasonal and temperature changes, Whitacre notes. “In a heavy-duty engine, it’s not really instructive to do that kind of inspection before 500,000 mi.,” he says. “If you figure a truck averages 100,000 to 200,000 mi. a year, it could be three to five years before a tear-down test will yield meaningful analysis.”

The key is to understand how oils will perform regardless of the engine type or operation, precisely in the way they’ll be used when they are commercialized. “After a certain time, engine tear-downs are conducted to look at components and confirm wear protection and deposit control,” Whitacre explains.

Shell’s Dan Arcy notes that his company conducted 40 million mi. of on-road prototype formulation testing for its PC-11 oils and 50,000 hours of off-road testing for its CK-4 product line.  That included not just tractor-trailers but testing in diesel pickup trucks and even in gasoline engines.
All of that testing is another reason why Howard McIntyre, vice president for lubricants at Suncor, Petro-Canada’s parent company, stresses that PC-11 is the “biggest step change” that the North American heavy-duty truck market will experience.

“This is not only an opportunity to improve the efficiency and carbon footprint of heavy-duty vehicles,  but it is also a chance to recognize the potential to cut costs and increase the profitability of operations,” he adds. “As with all business decisions, a clear understanding and early adoption could result in a genuine competitive edge.”

How ‘thin’ should you go?

The introduction of the ck-4 and fa-4 blends is also opening the door to new lower viscosity or thinner oil blends. These are not just lighter 10W-30 and 10W-40 blends compared to heavier 15W-30 and 15W-40 formulations but rather super-light 5W-30 and 5W-40 products. They are blends commonly used in the European truck market.

Chevron, like all the other lubricant makers, is introducing such lightweight products here in the U.S. as the transition to the new CK-4 and FA-4 oils officially begins on Dec. 1. The company’s Delo 400 XSP SAE 5W-30 and Delo 400 XSP SAE 5W-40, both fully synthetic oils, are examples that meet the new CK-4 standards.

Using a thinner oil means the engine doesn’t work as hard to pump it, with less work meaning less energy and thus translating into less fuel consumed, explains Len Badal, Global Delo brand manager at Chevron. The hitch, however, is that such 5W oils cost more than comparable 10W and 15W grades —a lot more, largely because they are full synthetics, he says.

“The price difference between a 10W-30 and a 15W-40 isn’t much; they are within the ballpark of one another,” Badal points out. “But when you get to 5W blends, you are talking two to three times the cost of a 15W product.”

That doesn’t mean moving to 5W grades isn’t worth the extra money, he stresses. Those blends can deliver greater improvements in fuel economy as well as longer oil drain intervals. The issue is that a fleet must really justify those improvements by attaining them consistently, and that can be problematic based on a fleet’s duty cycle.

“It’s not a durability or performance issue; it’s a cost justification issue,” Badal emphasizes. “For example, we had one fleet double its oil drain interval, while another only achieved a 15% extension. It comes down to the type of engine and the duty cycle it’s working in. You have to drive a lot of value to make the transition to a 5W blend pay off.”

[kscarbel2]

New API Diesel Engine Oil Categories Arrive Dec. 1

Heavy Duty Trucking  /  November 22, 2016

The American Petroleum Institute's new diesel engine oil-service categories, API CK-4 and FA-4, will begin appearing in the marketplace on December 1.

New API Donuts denoting the categories will appear on licensed products and marketing materials allowing consumers to identify oils meeting CK-4 or FA-4, which are expected to be recommended in new owner’s manuals and by engine manufacturers.

The new specifications were designed to address the varying needs of engine technologies in aging, new, and in-use on- and off-highway applications to help diesel engine manufacturers meet stringent emissions and fule-mileage requirements.

“December 1 is an industry milestone as it marks the first day new API CK-4 and FA-4 engine oils can be marketed and sold on retail shelves or in bulk,” said Kevin Ferrick, senior manager of API’s Engine Oil Licensing and Certification System. “The time between approval of the categories last winter and the first licensing on December 1 gave large, medium, and small oil marketers the ability to test their new formulations and ready them for market. This signals the culmination of almost nine years of cross-industry collaboration in the development of the new standards.”

API CK-4 oils will replace current API CJ-4 engine oils and will be backwards-compatible for most applications for which engine manufacturers currently recommend CJ-4. The new CK-4 oils will provide a number of improvements over CJ-4, including improved shear stability, oxidation resistance, and aeration control.

API FA-4 oils will provide similar improvements over CJ-4 oils, but it is important to note that FA-4 oils are only intended for use in newer on-highway diesel engines.

FA-4 oils will have limited or no backwards compatibility with on- and off-highway diesel engines for which engine manufacturers have recommended CJ-4. While not specifically backwards-compatible, FA-4 oils are expected to play an important role in some current and new diesel engines by protecting those engines and at the same time helping them meet more stringent emissions anf fuel-mileage requirements.

CK-4 and FA-4 oils are designed for different applications. This means technicians and consumers will need to check their owner’s manuals or with engine manufacturers to determine which oil is right for their vehicle.

API developed two visually different API Service Symbol Donuts so that consumers can easily distinguish between the two categories. The new API FA-4 Donut features a shaded section to differentiate API FA-4 oils from CK-4 oils. The API CK-4 Donut will look the same as the current CJ-4 Donut.

To find out if you are supposed to use CK-4 or FA-4 oil, check with your owner’s manual and your engine manufacturer.

You can also visit the API website www.DieselOilMatters.com for more information about the new API CK-4 and FA-4 service categories and their use in on- and off-highway diesel vehicles and equipment.

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[eddeere]

While on the subject of oils what is the choice motor oil for a B 61 673 n/a  hobby truck? 

[kscarbel2]

New generations of oils begin to take hold

Neil Abt, Fleet Owner  /  November 14, 2017

Lower viscosity options offer higher fuel economy, longer drain cycles

Nearly one year since the official transition to the latest generation of engine oils, industry executives said the process has gone just about as smoothly as anyone could have hoped for.

Among the payoffs, for fleets already taking advantage of the CK-4 or FA-4 oils, have been increased fuel economy and longer drain cycles. 

“As engines and technology have evolved, so have engine oils,” said American Petroleum Institute senior manager Kevin Ferrick, who has been involved with the group’s engine oil licensing and certification program for 20 years.

From 2006 through last December, CJ-4 was the industry standard, lasting through multiple phases of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s engine emissions regulation.

“Ten years for engine oil standards is a long time,” said Ferrick.

Shawn Whitacre, senior staff engineer with Chevron, called the decade-long period of oil stability “unusual,” with longtime truckers and technicians used to a faster pace of change.

For a variety of reasons, including additional controls required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the latest models, there “was a recognition the engines … about to be put on the road were different than the ones when CJ-4 went into place in 2006,” Whitacre said.

Several years of industry collaboration yielded two variations of the next generation of oil—CK-4 and FA-4.

“The oils are thinner but just as durable and are able to withstand a high-shear engine environment,” said Brian Humphrey, OEM technical liaison at Petro-Canada Lubricants. Higher fuel economy “can be achieved because lower viscosity oil means less friction in the engine, leading to a reduction in both fuel consumption and [carbon dioxide] emissions—while still offering exceptional levels of wear protection.”

Since officially being released into the market in December, about 600 licensed CK-4 products have been approved and registered. They were rapidly becoming readily available at stores nationwide.

Conversely, the introduction of FA-4 has been far slower, with only about 80 licensed items thus far. That comes as little surprise or concern to the officials interviewed for this story.

“It is not slower than what we expected, but I will say it has had a slow start,” said Dan Arcy, OEM technical manager with Shell Global Solutions. “We expected a slow ramp-up, and at some point it will break the slow curve and expand exponentially.”

FA-4 was developed preemptively alongside CK-4 in order to lay the groundwork for future engine designs that will be able to further leverage the benefits of thinner viscosity, said Chevron’s Whitacre.

Jason Richards, program manager of preventive maintenance for TA Truck Service, said that over the course of 2017, “we have definitely experienced a large shift from 15W40 to 10W30.  15W40 is still king of the road, but we are definitely experiencing a shift to 10W30, especially with larger fleets.”

API’s Ferrick said while Detroit Diesel recommended use of FA-4 in its latest engines from the start, other manufacturers are taking a more cautious approach, and are “looking to get a little more assurance FA-4 is suitable.”

Some of the hesitation involves the limited backwards compatibility of FA-4, because some older engines are not designed for low viscosity oils.

The latest engines have slightly more finely polished surfaces on critical parts, according to Valvoline. These surfaces can tolerate the slightly thinner film of oil produced by FA-4 because of its lower viscosity.

“Unless a fleet has all [Detroit Diesel] series engines, they really are kind of handcuffed,” said Paul Cigala, applications engineer for commercial vehicles at ExxonMobil.

Beyond the endorsement of engine manufacturers, recommendations on oil use from makers of reefer trailer units and auxiliary power units will temporarily slow overall industry-wide adoption of FA-4 oil, Cigala added.

He projected FA-4 will not truly become relevant in the field until 2019 or 2020, depending on how quickly fleets choose to replenish their equipment.

 “My guess is you will start to see more recommending it,” API’s Ferrick said. “We will eventually see them migrate over and will become the majority in time.”

Whitacre agreed, saying while CJ-4 represents the immediate, natural progression from CK-4, in a few years FA-4 will become the prominent oil.

“We expect the uptake to increase as OEMs release their recommendations for 2017 and newer vehicles as fleets and owner-operators view evidence of the potential cost benefits and operational efficiencies the new oils can deliver,” said Humphrey of Petro-Canada.

That is slowly changing, with Navistar and Cummins approving use of FA-4 in X-15 and A26 engines, respectively.

Arcy noted that Shell has done a lot of FA-4 testing, including on engines that are not yet recommended for use.  He said engine makers are doing their “due diligence” and taking into account the various duty cycles of their customers.

Richards said TA truck stops plans to begin conducting tests on FA-4 oil in the near future “with select customers wanting to explore it so we can better understand the product before we introduce it into our network.”  

Understanding the benefits

The top benefit for fleets that transition to the new generation of oil is higher fuel economy.

According to the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE), over-the-road fleets that use CJ-4 or CK-4 (a 5W or 10W-30 engine oil) instead of the more traditional 15W-40 “can realistically expect fuel savings in the range of 0.5% to 1.5%. The savings from switching to the fuel-efficient FA-4 variant … can be expected to add a further 0.4–0.7% of increased fuel efficiency.”

NAFCE said while these gains are modest, it is a rare instance when “an efficiency technology can be implemented across the entire fleet very quickly, does not require an upfront investment, and does not require any changes in operation or maintenance practices.”

Chevron’s Whitacre put it an even simpler way:  “Extrapolate that across a large fleet;that is real money being saved.”

Even if FA-4 is not yet a realistic possibility for most fleets, API’s Ferrick urged that they don’t wait on advancing to the latest CJ-4 products “because they offer a higher performance.”

That was a similar message from Exxon’s Cigala, who said “it boggles my mind” that some fleets ignore the recommendation to use 10W30 and continue to use 10W40 “because of success in the past.”

Whitacre said this is a key reason Chevron and other companies have put a strong emphasis on outreach and education with customers as a way to “demystify” the new oils.

Some customers can be “skeptical there may not be anything in it for them,” he said, adding that even for reluctant fleets, the new oils provide an opportunity to modernize their operations with updated oil choices that match their current vehicles.

Beyond better fuel economy, what they also will find with the new oils are extended drain intervals.

“This is huge for customers that want to have the opportunity to keep trucks on the road and not in the shops and still have warranty coverage,” Cigala said.

NACFE noted “a switch to lower-viscosity oil may allow a fleet to consider an extended drain interval, which can help offset that price premium.”

Humphrey estimated the new oils could boost drain intervals up to 50%, to 750 hours from 500 hours. “These new oils have been designed to be more robust and more resistant to oxidation, all of which contribute the ability to extend drains with no compromise to engine protection and uptime,” he stressed.

Shell’s Arcy recommends fleets focus on optimizing their intervals  based on maintenance programs. For example, an extended interval may call for 50,000 miles, but “if the truck has to come in at 40,000 for something else, it doesn’t make any sense” to bring it back in a second time, Arcy said.

The new oils are also credited for protecting against catalyst poisoning, particulate filter blocking, piston deposits, and soot-related viscosity increase.

Proceed with caution

Even as FA-4 becomes a bit more widely accepted, fleets should check the recommendations of their trucks and engines before making decisions, officials said. Likewise, they said while fleets should expect longer drain intervals, it does depend on the severity of service and type of application.

There are other reasons fleets need to be careful before bringing FA-4 oil into the mix, said API’s Ferrick.

“Take great care not to mix FA-4 with CK-4. Co-mingling will adversely impact the viscosity grade of the FA-4 oil, and that is part of the reason they are getting FA-4 oil in the first place,” he said.

Shell’s Arcy noted that large fleets have truck trade-in cycles “and one thing we know is they want one oil to use in all their equipment.” He added they already understand the fuel economy gains will “add up quickly,” especially if they are burning millions of gallons of fuel a month.

Exxon’s Cigala said it is logical that fleets will not want more than one engine oil on hand “to avoid the possibility of cross-contamination, and keep to it as simple as possible for technicians. Otherwise, it would be a “no-brainer” to switch sooner, in order to reach the additional fuel-economy benefit, he said.

In the meantime, Ferrick urged fleets, especially those buying in bulk, to not only purchase API-licensed oil but to make sure suppliers confirm in writing the oil being delivered has been properly tested. “Historically, unfortunately, bulk oil fails at a higher rate,” Ferrick said.

Using analysis 

Regardless of oil or engine a fleet uses, Exxon’s Cigala said conducting an oil analysis is a needed tool to help set intervals and discover potential issues before they become catastrophic failures.

Some large fleet customers use analysis labs on a daily basis, far different than other fleets “that seem to run blind and don’t take advantage of the tools that are out there,” he said.

While Cigala looks at oil analysis as providing “piece of mind,” it often is a “harder sell than you would think.”

Chevron’s Whitacre also strongly recommended taking advantage of oil analysis testing. He noted that prior to changing products, fleets should alert the oil analysis lab so they know to expect a different profile. They should also provide a fresh oil sample to allow for the baseline testing that future samples will be compared with.

TA’s Richards said “it’s strongly recommended by our vendors that trucks performing extended drains are on an oil analysis program even if they are running synthetic blend or fully synthetic oil. It reduces warranty risks and improves equipment life.”

He noted that for truckers that purchase a kit at a TA location, technicians could take a sample and ship it to a third-party lab at no additional cost.

Cummins Inc. is just one of the engine makers linking together longer drain cycles with analysis. The company announced earlier this year its X15 Efficiency Series and X15 Performance Series offered intervals up to 80,000 miles using the free Cummins OilGuard program, which combines engine performance data and oil analysis.

“With oil changes routinely costing $350 or more for the oil, oil filter, labor and disposal costs—and a typical over-the-road trucker performing two to three oil changes per year—we see the potential to significantly reduce costs and downtime, with some customers needing an oil change only once a year,” said Mark Ulrich, Cummins’ director of customer support. “Most importantly, you get an optimized oil change interval while preserving your warranty coverage—and at no risk to engine component durability or resale value.”

Exxon’s Cigala said he is using his role with the Technology & Maintenance Council’s (TMC’s) S.3 Study Group to help educate the industry on the intricacies of the newer engines, and the role the new oils play in achieving higher levels of performance and protection.

Cigala is already involved in creating a full session during TMC’s annual meeting in March in Atlanta that will focus on new maintenance strategies and other advice for taking complete advantage of the new oils to lower a vehicle’s total cost of ownership.