A new heavy-duty diesel engine oil standard is scheduled to be unleashed on the trucking industry at the end of next year.
For as long as there have been automobiles there have been lubricants for them, but the game is starting to change like never before.
CJ-4, today’s heavy-duty diesel engine oil standard first made available in October 2006, will soon be supplanted by Proposed Category 11 (PC-11).
Engine oils are often slightly refor- mulated to give users a boost in fuel economy, improve engine life or to give the oil an uptick in drain intervals, but rarely does something like PC-11 come along that will turn an entire engine category on its head.
Len Badal, Chevron Lubricants Delo Global Brand Manager, says PC-11 has been developed to help OEMs improve fuel economy and reduce CO2 emissions; to provide improved engine protection with the use of lower viscosity HDMOs; to maintain protection of emission systems with Diesel Particulate Filters and Selective Catalytic Reduction; and to improve performance under high temperature engine operation.
And because all that isn’t complicated enough, there will be different categories for PC-11 oils. As many factory fills and fleets have slowly shifted toward lower-viscosity engine oils, PC- 11 will split categories to accommodate traditional 15W-40 engine oils as well as lower-viscosity grades.
That means not only will you have a new product to sell, you will also have to understand which of your customers need which category.
