At what API category did oil become good?

[Fordiesel69]

API SA ~ SM when did they seem become good. For example, a 1985 Crown Vic w/5.8L that was maintained very well was full of sludge and the oil pump failed at 146k.

Ford quite using the old pushrod engines in the crown vics, but my dads 96' F-250 w/5.8L that is also maintained very well has virtually no deposits. So would I be safe to assume SJ is when it became good?

 

[Fordiesel69]

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API SA ~ SM when did they seem become good. For example, a 1985 Crown Vic w/5.8L that was maintained very well was full of sludge and the oil pump failed at 146k.

Ford quite using the old pushrod engines in the crown vics, but my dads 96' F-250 w/5.8L that is also maintained very well has virtually no deposits. So would I be safe to assume SJ is when it became good?

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Please excuse the horrific grammer in the fist sentence. No edit feature.

 

[flux]

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API SA ~ SM when did they seem become good. For example, a 1985 Crown Vic w/5.8L that was maintained very well was full of sludge and the oil pump failed at 146k.

Ford quite using the old pushrod engines in the crown vics, but my dads 96' F-250 w/5.8L that is also maintained very well has virtually no deposits. So would I be safe to assume SJ is when it became good?

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Please excuse the horrific grammer in the fist sentence. No edit feature.

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All is forgiven, as long as you don't misspell
oil.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

IMO, SJ is where the newer technology started taking hold and results were seen with cleaner engines, less consumption. From there, it's only gotten better.

 

[Cujet]

SH is required in some modern air cooled engines. I think SH is where the add pack became "modern"

Chris

 

[Blue99]

I would peg this transition point as the launch of SL & GF-3 in late 2000/early 2001.

The volatility requirement dropped from 22% to 15% for the GF-2 to GF-3 transition and Grp II base oils were becoming more readily available.

Chevron Supreme did not become a "favorite" on this forum until the reformulation sometime in 2002, when moly & boron became part of the metallic additive package.

 

[Wrehch]

"At what API category did oil become good?"

Well, to answer the question in the title probably the first one which was SA for gas engine oil. It was good because it at least set a standard where there was none before. Each improvement in API category's has broght advantages with each being better than it's predecessor.

 

[toocrazy2yoo]

Good was probably when hydro-cracking started blurring the lines between dino and original syn, performance-wise. Figuring out how to keep moly in suspension was probably a major advance separate and apart from the base oils. I believe GroupII oils started coming out 7 or 8 years back in the API SF or SH and ILSAC GF2 era?

Certainly that was the beginning of dino's advance to being "good" in present-day terms. But the bar continues to be raised, better and better base oils being required as additives are relentlessly cut back owing to EPA requirements.

I'm sure the deeper thinkers with the greater sense of history will be along to elaborate..

 

[Volvohead]

Oils were always "good". Good is a term relative to every era. The oils of the period provided good service in the engines of the day with the recommended maintenance. Engines pulled 300 and 400k in the '60s, too.

With every service grade improvement, folks look back and think their present oils so sophisticated, and they are. Until the next service sequence comes along.

Base oils and additive technologies are constantly improving. I remember when API-SD was the latest and greatest. Folks were asking then the same question you are asking now. Would you run SD in your '07 ride? In 25 years, people will wonder how the engines ran today on "low quality" Group III and IV bases.

The one mass market sea change in oil quality in the last 45 years that stands out in my mind was the Mobil 1 roll out in the early '70s. To the average motorist, that was a major change. All the rest has been evolutionary.

 

[jef1ge]

SE-1972

 

[63Avanti]

I remember mechanics stocking up on barrels (not cans) of SC because "everyone knew" that SD was not going to work. Did not pay attention to what the controversy was about back then.

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Oils were always "good". Good is a term relative to every era. The oils of the period provided good service in the engines of the day with the recommended maintenance. Engines pulled 300 and 400k in the '60s, too.

With every service grade improvement, folks look back and think their present oils so sophisticated, and they are. Until the next service sequence comes along.

Base oils and additive technologies are constantly improving. I remember when API-SD was the latest and greatest. Folks were asking then the same question you are asking now. Would you run SD in your '07 ride? In 25 years, people will wonder how the engines ran today on "low quality" Group III and IV bases.

The one mass market sea change in oil quality in the last 45 years that stands out in my mind was the Mobil 1 roll out in the early '70s. To the average motorist, that was a major change. All the rest has been evolutionary.

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[Gene K]

I know its not a big deal to some but 15% Noack volatility is encroaching on synthetic territory. In my opinion this is why todays Dino is so good.

 

[Volvohead]

And the SD oils turned out just fine after '67. Until the API-SE oils came along in '71, that is.

 

[Gary Allan]

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SE-1972

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I think that I disagree. IIRC, API was reluctant to assign this badge as being suitable for the OEM oil requirements. The engines of that era were applying some oil harmful emissions control techniques. Rich idle mixtures and air injection after burners and the like. That, imo, was the darkest hour for the marriage between engine requirements and the ability for the oil to meet those requirements. Now once 1975 rolled around and a good bit of the emissions controls, at their current state of development, were removed from the engine via the catalytic converter ..then things were a little better matched up.

 

[Volvohead]

If I recall correctly, SE came out in later '71. If I also recall, SE hung around through most of that decade.

I do agree that the increasing demands of the new emission-controlled engines during that early phase (starting in earnest in '67) was pushing oil requirements forward more than anything else. That was the prime reason for the move to SD. The SC and SB stuff was thickening and sludging up at the higher temps.

I remember well those PITA thermactor units and needle valve limiters that we all pried off.

Unleaded gas and the cats took the pressure off things for a time, no doubt.