The Eurasian Interstate Council for Standardization, Metrology and Certification recently introduced a new standard for heavy-duty motor oils that will take effect next year in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Effective Jan. 1 2017, the standard has been issued with a decree by the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology, formerly known as Gosstandard or Gost.
Photo: Scania Group
The Eurasian Interstate Council for Standardization, Metrology and Certification recently introduced a new standard for heavy-duty motor oils that will take effect starting next year in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
The Gost 17479.1-2015 diesel engine oil standard is an upgrade of the obsolete 17479.1-85 introduced by the ex-Soviet Union almost three decades ago. It corresponds with the CF-4 diesel engine oil standard introduced by the American Petroleum Institute (API) in 1990. The new Russian oil specification was developed by the Interstate Technical Standardization Committee MTK 31, a council subdivision, and VNIINP, the Moscow-based All Russia Research Institute for Oil Refining.
The Eurasian Interstate Council for Standardization, Metrology and Certification is headquartered in Minsk, Belarus.
In spite of the fact that these oils were developed 27 years ago, they have wide-spread application in Russian-made equipment and machinery, Oleg Tsvetkov, head of VNIINPs lubricants department, told Lube Report last week. The upgraded standard refurbished a few technical positions in the old one such as elimination of the low-temperature viscosity estimates, [adding the] possibility to use viscosity grade designations under the SAE [Society of Automotive Engineers] nomenclature, etc. The new standard is also more useful because now it is an interstate [CIS] standard, Tsvetkov noted.
The latest Russian Gost standard for gasoline engine oils corresponds with APIs SG category introduced in 1988. API declared the SG and CF-4 categories obsolete in 1993 and 1990, respectively.
SH, a gasoline engine oil category introduced by API in 1992, doesnt have a counterpart under the Russian Gost regime. At that time, it was a milestone in engine oil standards because it included subcategories, SH/EC and SH/ECII, with requirements to aid fuel economy. The industrys focus on fuel economy has grown significantly since that time.
In 1998 Russia introduced another national motor oil standard with the help of the Russian Association of Automotive Engineers – the STO AAI 0038-98 gasoline engine motor oil specification. It is partially developed since it has not been upgraded since 2005. Some car manufacturers such as Lada still have operation manuals – for its Vesta model, notably – that refer to this standard as a level of quality of the oils operational properties, besides the obligatory API standard.
Sorry to say, the lack of funding and inability to conduct more research and development to modernize our test instruments have been an obstacle for creation of a standard that can reflect the oil products of our time, Tsvetkov said. On the other hand, it was pointless to stick to the old standard for so many years.
He added that the upgraded standard is a certain compromise between the Russian standardization systems wishes and possibilities.