At its Standards meeting last week in Dearborn, Michigan, the American Petroleum Institutes Lubricants Group again took up the feasibility of issuing a supplemental engine oil category, as urged by 10 North American and Japanese automakers. Likely to be called API SN PLUS, the proposed category would meet all requirements for current APISNoils and add a new test to safeguard engines against the debilitating events known as low-speed pre-ignition.
SN Plus would be a side-step on the way to the next full category upgrade, API SP and ILSAC GF-6, which is not anticipated before 2019. Alarmed by the delay, the automakers International Lubricant Standardization and Advisory Committee requested that a supplement (which it originally dubbed ILSAC GF-5 Plus) be hurried along and made available in the market by Jan. 1, 2018. API remains uncommitted to that date.
Kevin Ferrick, APIs engine oil manager, commented on the question of how the supplemental category would appear on product labels. He noted that API already has a process in place for adding a supplement to an existing diesel engine oil standard, dating to 2004 when the heavy-duty API CI-4 Plus category was introduced. As the Lubricants Group heard at the Sept. 14 meeting, API could use that precedent to draft a similar process for gasoline engine oil standards.
Document 1509, which governs APIs engine oil licensing system, spells out this process in Annex D, paragraph D.4, Supplement to Existing C Category:
An individual, company, or association may propose to the DEOAP that a Supplement to an existing C Category be developed to meet an urgent field performance need. (DEOAP is the Diesel Engine Oil Advisory Panel, representing both oil companies and engine manufacturers.)
If developed and approved, Annex D continues, this Supplement would be incorporated into API 1509 as a separate, licensable classification in the lower portion of the API Service Symbol Donut. The Supplement would not replace the existing C Category; however, it would establish additional performance requirements beyond those originally approved for the Category. Oils licensed against the existing C Category specification would remain licensed.”
Since the request for the S category supplement results from an urgent field performance need – automakers say they are seeing existing engines damaged by explosive low-speed pre-ignition (LSPI) events — the development process could move more quickly than the traditional category development process, with minimal time needed for retesting and oil qualification. This would answer the current need and is the template that will be used to develop the category.
Ferrick further reported that the proposed supplement will be known as SN Plus going forward, as is consistent with past practice (e.g. CI-4 Plus). It also more appropriately identifies the Service Category affected; the change requested relates to API SN, not ILSAC GF-5 products, he pointed out.
API recommended that oils meeting SN Plus be licensed to display an API Service Symbol Donut that includes, in some fashion, the term SN Plus. API is now working on donut designs that incorporate SN Plus, and these will be shared with the Lubricants Group soon, Ferrick added.
Larry Kuntschik, who represented the Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association at the meeting, later told Lube Report that one of the key takeaways for its members is timing for first-use date. APIhas not agreed to the Jan. 1 date, but he believes that blenders and marketers should be prepared for an introduction of the supplemental category in the first quarter of next year.
According to Kuntschik, engine tests are now available to certify that formulations will meet the new LSPI requirements. However, with the change in designation to SN Plus, many blenders will have to consider how they will qualify, label and supply the new product.
Early on, ILSAC had suggested that marketers might use either a new LSPI test from Ford Motors or an existing test from General Motors. However, since the supplement will involve API SN (not ILSAC GF-5 starburst oils), there is no way the GM test can be used, Kuntschik reminded. GMs LSPI test is a proprietary procedure used in the companys own Dexos oil licensing program, and has not been shared with ASTM or industry – as is mandatory for all tests under the API system. (Fords test has been recommended for approval as an ASTM procedure and is undergoing final development.) He believes, however, that some ILMA members may consider rebranding their Dexos1 oils as API SN Plus when the time comes.
Kuntschik also pointed out to Lube Report that, while there has been a lot of focus on adding the SAE 0W-16 viscosity grade to the supplemental category, there are far more engines on the road calling for SAE 5W-20 and SAE 5W-30 oils that are subject to LSPIeffects. API said it is working to include all current SN viscosity grades in the adoption of APISNPlus.
One issue that isnt clear is how SN Plus, which doesnt require passing the Sequence VID engine test for fuel economy, could be applied to products meeting the API SN-Resource Conserving category. According to Ferrick, We see two scenarios: SN Plus with Resource Conserving, and just SN Plus for oils that dont have VID results or can claim VID provisional licensing.
The first licensing date and donut designs for API SN Plus are still being worked by API. The Lubricants Group still will need to decide if theres any role for the GM LSPI test, as well as review base oil interchange and viscosity grade read-across guidelines for the proposed supplement, with input from formulators.
Meanwhile, the American Chemistry Council, which represents the additives industry, will take action to include Fords LSPI test in its Code of Practice and start test registration for candidate products. All will likely be discussed in detail at the next meeting, scheduled for Oct. 11 back in Detroit.