Lubes'N'Greases

GM’s Linden Steps Down

Lisa Tocci - September 23, 2009

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James L. Linden of General Motors, who joined the Fuels & Lubricants Department of General Motors Research in 1973 and has been a steady presence in automotive lubricants development for the past two decades, elected to retire at the end of September.
During his career as a staff researcher at GM, Linden was responsible for many improvements in engine oils, power transmission fluids and vehicle fuel economy. In retiring, he also steps down as chairman of the auto industry’s International Lubricants Standardization & Approval Committee (ILSAC).

This means ILSAC next Wednesday will have to elect his successor. At this time, it appears likely that he’ll be handing the gavel over to Matthew J. Snider of GM Powertrain during the Sept. 30 meeting in Detroit.

Linden (who hints that he may step into another industry role) also led the consortium that developed the Sequence VID test for fuel economy contribution of engine oils. This new engine test was approved this summer by the ASTM Passenger Car Engine Oil Classification Panel and also accepted into the American Chemistry Council’s Code of Practice. It is a cornerstone of the upcoming ILSAC GF-5 engine oil upgrade.

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The VID test still faces one final hurdle, however: negotiation and approval of test limits that are acceptable to automakers, oil marketers and additive companies. The test requires two sets of limits be established for each grade of fuel-conserving engine oils, as measured after 16 hours of fired-engine testing and again after 100 hours of testing.

In their latest draft standard for GF-5, issued Sept. 10, auto companies suggested the VID limits be set as follows, versus today’s GF-4 oils:

SAE XW-20 grades: 1.6 percent fuel economy improvement after 16 hours aging, and 1.3 percent after 100 hours.

SAE XW-30 grades: 1.4 percent fuel economy improvement after 16 hours aging, and 1.1 percent after 100 hours.

SAE 10W-30 and all other grades not listed above: 1.1 percent fuel economy improvement after 16 hours aging, and 0.9 percent after 100 hours.

Generally, these limits are more streamlined and somewhat relaxed from those that ILSAC proposed last October. However, time is running short to complete the oil specification and a number of other tests and limits must be decided between ILSAC and oil company representatives as well, including tests to measure high-temperature deposits and the oil’s ability to retain phosphorus so it cannot impinge on vehicle emissions systems.

Still, if approvals are secured by early December, the American Petroleum Institute says the new oils should enter commercial service Oct. 1, 2010.

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