I saw that this AM. Some of this stuff should be remembered as we move forward.
Quote:
API’s Lubricants Committee approved the SN and SN Resource Conserving passenger car engine oil categories, with first licensing Oct. 1, 2010, launching alongside ILSAC GF-5. The thumbs-up came in spite of continued opposition from automakers.
API SN will be an upgrade of the current API SM category, identified by the API Donut trademark. It aims to address the full spectrum of engine oil viscosity grades, including those not covered under the ILSAC specification, such as SAE 10W-40. SN Resource Conserving (which will replace the current SM Energy Conserving designation) has additional requirements covering fuel economy improvement and vehicle emissions systems protection.
Feedback from automakers, who have no vote on the American Petroleum Institute’s categories, had been uniformly negative over a series of meetings in recent months. Some OEMs threatened to withdraw support for API licensed oils entirely if the SN category was not aligned to GF-5 in areas such as phosphorus content and deposit control.
“They [automakers] definitely didn’t approve it,” API engine oil licensing manager Kevin Ferrick confirmed to Lube Report. “The OEMs commented that had there been a separate ballot item for SN Resource Conserving, they would have approved that. But for practical purposes, we didn’t feel it was necessary to change the ballot and issue it again. That was enough for us, that they approved of SN Resource Conserving. It makes sense because it’s an exact duplicate of GF-5.”
Quote:
“A lot of the comments we had from the automakers had to do with concerns about misapplication,” Ferrick explained. “There was concern SN oils could end up in their cars when they need to be GF-5 or SN with Resource Conserving. The committee discussed that and did agree they need to do significantly more consumer education to make sure that there’s not a misapplication.”
In response to automaker’s concerns, the Lubricants Committee agreed to add a sentence to the SN service recommendation, “Vehicle owners and operators should follow their vehicle manufacturer’s recommendations on engine oil viscosity and performance standard.” They hope this will help ensure that the oils recommended by engine manufacturers are used, especially in newer model-year vehicles.