Last Wednesday saw the birth of the latest diesel engine oil specification, API CI-4.
Equilons Ralph Cherrillo, chairman of Subcommittee B of ASTMs Committee D-2 for Petroleum Products and Lubricants, presided over the approval of what had been known as Proposed Catetory 9 (PC-9) during its two-and-a-half-year gestation period.
The category upgrade was a remarkable achievement – produced on time, with universal satisfaction for the outcome. Marketers will begin to sell this new oil shortly, and API will begin licensing CI-4 oils on Sept. 5, 2002.
The on-time approval is a feather in ASTMs cap but CI-4 arrived without a moment to spare. Diesel engine builders must meet stringent emissions requirements during 2002. Most new engines do this by incorporating Exhaust Gas Recirculation, a technology which reduces emissions but increases the oils soot content. The new oil makes significant improvements in soot handling, corrosive wear control and oxidation control.
CI-4 was officially launched by Subcommittee B, which is responsible for automotive lubricants. But all the nitty-gritty technical work was completed in the Heavy Duty Engine Oil Classification Panel, chaired by ChevronTexacos Jim McGeehan.
This was a very successful ballot,McGeehan pointed out with pride. CI-4 was produced with an enormous amount of work and effort, in addition to $6 million in testing costs. Twenty-nine of the 31 votes (not including 11 abstains) voted full approval initially. The two negative votes were editorial, and both were changed to approvals after discussion.
API CI-4s on-time achievement is doubly remarkable when placed against the two-year delay encountered by the latest passenger car engine oil, API SL/GF-3, prior to its approval earlier this year. New test development is generally conceded to be the single issue which causes most delay in finalizing a new engine oil category.
For GF-3 five new tests, an unprecedented number, were developed over 49 months. CI-4s three new engine and two new bench tests were completed in about half that time. CI-4 has a total of eight fired engine tests and seven bench tests.
Two of the three new engine tests were sponsored by principal users – Volvo/Mack Powertrain and Cummins Engine Co. Both Volvo/Macks Greg Shank and David Stenhouwer, of Cummins, expressed satisfaction with CI-4s major technical improvements over the current diesel oil, CH-4. Shank noted also, the important inclusion for the first time of used oil low-temperature performance criteria. Stenhouwer cited tests ensuring elastomer compatibility as an important improvement.