Every category of engine oil is supposed to be better than the one it replaced, and the CJ-4 engine oils that were introduced in 2006 were no exception. They offer better protection for rings, liners and valve trains; improve oil consumption and piston deposits; and address soot-related wear.
But when given the choice, many buyers opted to stick with the CI-4 Plus oils that were already on the market – despite the fact that CJ-4 would work in new and old engines alike.
“This was one of the only times in the history of the heavy-duty motor oil market that we had two oils in the market at the same time,” observes Nicole Fujishige, commercial marketing manager, Chevron Global Lubricants.
It was a unique situation. The main reason the trucking industry needed this new category of oil was to protect the diesel particulate filters (DPFs) that became a staple of heavy-duty emission controls in 2007. That meant little to someone who bought trucks in 2006, just before the new emission-cleaning equipment was introduced. Besides, Cummins even announced that CI-4 Plus engines could be used in 2007-compliant engines.
Some of the reluctance to adopt the newest oil formulas may even be linked to a simple misunderstanding about total base numbers (TBN).
Maintenance teams had been told for several years that a higher TBN was a good thing. It was seen as a measure of how well the oil was equipped to counteract the acids produced through the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) process. But the CJ-4 oils needed a lower TBN to ensure that new DPFs were not prematurely plugged with ash.
“Immediately, the customers thought, ‘Wow, they’ve really depreciated the performance of the oil,'” says Victor Kersey, Valvoline’s technical director, commercial products.
