Unusual Display at Walmart

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Dec 31, 2017
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Location
SE British Columbia, Canada
I came across an unusual display of Castrol Edge 5w20 and 5W30 in both the old bottles and new bottles. The old bottles were SN Plus and the new bottles were SP. I guess I know which which bottles a Bittogger would reach for. Enjoy.

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Firstly, this Walmart was in Cranbrook, BC, Canda, north of the border with Idaho, so yes, most the Castrol products sold in Canada are blended by Wakefield Canada. I think I can dig up an old thread on this. Castrol Edge 0w30 sold in both Canada and the US is imported from Belgium.
 
I came across an unusual display of Castrol Edge 5w20 and 5W30 in both the old bottles and new bottles. The old bottles were SN Plus and the new bottles were SP.

I see the bottle with the SP rating also says SN Plus.

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I heard that Canadian produced synthetic motor oils utilize a proprietary method of esterification of donuts and back bacon coupled with naturally occurring gas from in living rooms during hockey season that undergoes the Fischer-Tropsch method.
 
Same thing here in the states. It really makes me wonder who the heck is in charge at these companies if they can’t follow the rules.

And just recently GM stated a large percentage of oil marketers aren’t following the Dexos rules properly either. SMH
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... if they can’t follow the rules.

What part is not following the rules?

If it's the listing as SN Plus as the resource conserving "classification", while the API "service category" is SP, that is acceptable on an oil listed as API SP for the "service category" during a transition period

The top of the donut is the API service category, and the bottom is the API classification, and those currently may differ

Specifically, an API "service category" SP may still be listed as "resource conserving" if it meets the API SN PLUS resource conserving classification standard up until April 30, 2021 (edit: actually, I am not 100% sure, but they may still be able to use the just the term resource conserving even after this, but not the starbust), but it needs to show SN PLUS in the donut to inform consumers (I presume a donut with text that says just "resource conserving" means it is API SP classification resource conserving).

"Until May 1, 2021, motor oils displaying the ILSAC Starburst can represent either API SN/SN Plus or API SP. On May 1, 2021, all products displaying the Starburst must meet API SP/Resource Conserving. During the transition period, one needs to look at the API Donut to be sure you are getting the latest technology."



Some examples from the API site itself showing a donut with API SP service category and API SN Plus classification

(See the sample donut at the bottom)

(See the sample donut on page 3)

(See the sample donut on page 2)
 
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Exactly, it’s confusing. When SN came out oil marketers didn’t put both SN and SM in the API donut, and to my knowledge they didn’t do it when previous API categories were released either.

FYI- I have two 5 quart jugs of PP 5W-30 SP and they don’t have SN PLUS in the API donut.
 
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