Innovation boils fast and hot in the field of transportation. Whether you’re a small farmer hauling grain or a large producer transporting livestock, there’s an alphabet soup of acronyms spelling change in diesel engine oil performance standards, and that can taste a little confusing at times. But Chevron Delo is not just leading the way in product innovations; it’s also providing customers with the necessary information support to make profitable choices.
API CK-4 and FA-4 diesel engine oil category
The birth of these two lubricant performance standards actually dates back to 2011 when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the associated manufacturing industries set forth fuel economy and emissions goals for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. If you’ve been following this discussion over the years you probably remember the term “PC-11,” or Proposed Category 11. During the development phases between 2011 and product launch Dec. 1, 2016, the two Heavy Duty Engine Oil HDEO) categories were termed PC-11A and PC-11B, later becoming known as API CK-4 and FA-4. These new categories replace what long-time operators have come to know as CJ-4 oil and represent the first real advancement since API CJ-4 category was established in 2006.
But why?
As with any alphabet soup of changes, the key letter is “Y.” But as any trucker or equipment operator knows, engine technology and diesel engine oil advancements happen in parallel and as regulations require trucks to reduce emissions, it’s apparent that cleaner, more efficient diesel engines are running at higher temperatures. This in turn means diesel engine oils have to be able to withstand more heat while protecting engines.
Chevron Delo offers diesel engine oils meeting each of the two new engine oil categories, API CK-4 and FA-4, which have been born from the PC-11 initiatives. The CK-4 oils serve as a direct replacement to many of the Chevron Delo products you’re currently using. These products are designed to be backwards-compatible to current vehicles as well as newer ones, and to a large extent you’ll be able to buy the same viscosity grades and types, be that conventional, full synthetic, or synthetic blend. API FA-4 product is offered in SAE 10W-30 viscosity grade designed with the next-generation diesel engine technology in mind.
And now
The API CK-4 and FA-4 became licensed effective Dec. 1, 2016, and Chevron Delo offers the products and user-friendly materials to help you make sense of these innovations and the opportunities afforded by them. More innovation is yet in the works, and regardless the size of your operation, knowledge is the original fuel of economic engines great and small.
This article was published on behalf of Chevron.
