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Maintenance/Management: Everything oil is new again

May 28, 2009 |

It’s been a busy four years for the makers of heavy-duty on-road diesel engines and no less so for the producers of lube oils for these engines. Both groups have been scrambling to meet the latest round of deadlines imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, which kick in January 1.

All on-highway diesel truck engines manufacturered from that day forward will have to emit fewer emissions and these new engines will require a new lube oil.

The good news is that the operational impact of these regulations on contractors has been minimal for the most part. The new engines are more expensive, but they’ve also become better and more efficient. The only change contractors and fleet managers have to make is in their preventive maintenance and the type of lube oil they use.

CJ-4 is not a jeep
The official spec for this new oil is the American Petroleum Institute CJ-4 category. (The CJ-4 name has nothing to do with Chrysler’s ever-popular Jeep. It’s just the next extension of a series of API specs – from CH-4 to CI-4, then CI-4+ and now CJ-4.)

The new oils have lower levels of phosphorous, ash and sulfur – additives that, if used in the 2007 engines, would increase maintenance and lower the performance of the exhaust aftertreament devices (diesel particulate filters and diesel oxidation catalysts) these engines need to produce cleaner exhaust. The new oils also have higher oxidation stability (resistance to breakdown in high heat situations) and soot dispersant capabilities – two conditions that get more severe in the new engines.