Lubricant makers are putting the finishing touches on their new engine oil formulations for EPA '07-compliant diesel engines. CJ-4 will soon be the official American Petroleum Institute (API) category for these motor oils.
At the recent Mid-America Trucking Show, lubricant makers detailed how much research and testing has gone into developing CJ-4 oils and how they plan to market these oils to fleets in 2007.
Chevron Products Co., said it's planning to support two oils well into the future largely because market demand for CJ-4 remains uncertain.
"There is a lot of anxiety over new engines, fuels, exhaust treatments and lubricants," said Nicole Fujishige, Chevron's commercial marketing manager for North America.
The new names for Chevron's CJ-4 products are: Delo 400 LE (Low Emissions) Multigrade SAE 15W-40 and Texaco Ursa LA (Low Ash) SAE 15W-40. Fujishige said Chevron expects to have both CJ-4 products available on October 26, 2006, the API's intended first license date for the new engine oil specification.
Fujishige added that concerns over how far drain intervals can be extended with CJ-4 seem to be a major hurdle for fleets as they approach 2007.
Though CJ-4 is performing well across all engine types, the type of trucking application involved – regional versus long haul, idle time, etc. – makes an even bigger difference in whether oil drains can be extended or not, she said.
"Going forward, oil sampling and analysis programs are going to be even more critical to fleets trying to gauge oil drain intervals," Fujishige said.