Search Results

Advancement in Heavy Duty Diesel Engine Oils has, for approximately two decades, been driven by the ever more stringent emission legislation for NOx and Particulates. Over the last few years, the focus has shifted to reducing CO2 emissions, which created an interest in fuel efficient lubricants. In addition, increased fuel cost and a need to control operational expenses in a weaker economy have further heightened the interest in fuel efficient lubricants. Where the trucking industry was reluctant to move away from the tried and true SAE 15W-40 viscosity grade, there is now a strong interest in pushing the boundaries of lower viscosity to reduce internal friction in the engine and thereby improve fuel efficiency. Consequently, the industry is exploring and introducing lower viscosity grades, such as SAE 10W-30 and even SAE 5W-30.

The fuel economy performance of passenger car vehicles has been an area of keen focus due to recent environmental regulations. Various efforts such as the development of new engine technologies have been undertaken to improve the fuel economy performance of these vehicles. Engine oils have also been targeted to contribute to better fuel efficiency. This has been done by introducing new lubricant additive technologies and low viscosity grade oils. In the latter case, passenger car motor oils are about to enter into a new generation in which the lower viscosity grade SAE 16 has been approved and discussion has started on the specification of viscosity grades lower than SAE 16, although SAE 0W-20 viscosity grade is the lowest in the SAE J300 specification during last decade. Nevertheless, additive technology is also important, as we previously reported that simple reduction of viscosity grade is not a solution to improve fuel economy performance in the Sequence VID test.

New engine technologies are constantly being developed and introduced in order to meet increasing customer demands and government regulations. In many cases, improved engine oil performance is necessary to facilitate the implementation of new engine technologies. In order to meet increasing customer demands for performance, durability, and fuel economy, the engine builders are introducing hardware and operating cycles that place increasing demands on the engine oil. Each new North American Gasoline Engine Oil Performance Category has been developed with specific performance targets and improvements in mind. This paper will primarily focus on the initial steps in the development of engine oils for the GF-6 passenger car engine oil category in North America. GF-6 is scheduled to be introduced during the 1st quarter of 2015 and will supersede GF-5 and previous categories. It will also be backward compatible and will provide improved performance relative to GF-5 in many respects.

The heightened interest level in Fuel Economy for Heavy Duty Diesel Engines the industry has seen over the last few years continues to be high, and is not likely to change. Lowering the fuel consumption of all internal combustion engines remains a priority for years to come, driven by economic, legislative, and environmental reasons. While it is generally assumed that lower viscosity grade lubricants offer fuel economy benefits, there is a lot of confusion about exactly what drives the fuel economy benefits. Fuel Economy claims in trade literature vary over a broad range and it is difficult for the end user to determine what to expect when a change in lubricant viscosity is adopted for a fleet of vehicles in a certain type of operation. This publication makes an attempt at clarifying a number of these uncertainties with the help of additional engine test data, and more extensive data analysis.

Fuel economy of internal combustion engines played an important role for engine designers for decades. For heavy duty diesel engines, over the last 10 to 15 years however, fuel economy has in some cases been sacrificed for exhaust gas emission optimizations. Now that the industry seems to have reached the point of diminishing returns in the area of reducing diesel exhaust gas emissions, the focus is back on fuel economy. This paper addresses the impact that diesel engine lubricants can have on improving fuel economy. The evaluations discussed in this paper are based on fuel economy measurements in a standardized laboratory engine test.