Feature
18-24 Oil Tech Feature 11/20/13 8:29 AM Page 18
Time In a Bottle Reasons Behind Changing Engine Oils
BY JOHN MARTIN, CONTRIBUTOR JMARTIN@ENGINEBUILDERMAG.COM
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ize that the EPA and most environhen I was just a young mentalists couldn’t care less about pup in the 1960s working our internal combustion engines. on lubes for Shell ReThese ultra left-wingers are only search and Development, passenconcerned with clean air, even if it ger car motor oils (PCMO) were causes all commerce to stop dead in much simpler and easier to underits tracks. They are not your stand. friends! (Editor’s note: Engine Builder There were only three performdoes not endorse any political party. ance levels: motor light (ML), We do, however, support industry motor moderate (MM), and motor associations and comittees such as the severe (MS). Auto manufacturers and lube oil SEMA Action Network and lobbying efforts by AAIA. We love everyone as marketers worked closely with the long as they support the industry!). American Petroleum Institute The EPA first flexed its muscles (API), the American Society for when North American passenger Testing and Materials (ASTM), and cars began utilizing catalytic conthe Society of Automotive Engiverters in 1975 to reduce CO and neers (SAE) to specify PCMOs as HC emissions. Some laboratory well as they knew how. engine tests using oils highly overOil marketers didn’t worry so dosed with zinc dithiophosphate, much about profitability since oils were only a small part of their overall When it comes to engine oil, the business. Auto manmore recent the specification, ufacturers weren’t the better the oil performance concerned about sellin all aspects except valve train ing oils; they just wear and EP protection. wanted adequate protection for their new engine designs in the field. Oils were developed by analyzing actual field failures and developing laboratory engine tests that would replicate the field failures. It seemed everyone worked closely together without much dissention in the ranks.
Enter the EPA Then the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) got involved in chemical regulations, and the game became more adversarial and political. You must first real18 November 2013 | EngineBuilder
(ZDP or ZDDP) extreme pressure (EP) additives showed that the phosphorous tended to “glaze” over the face of the catalyst substrate slowly rendering it ineffective. No field tests that I’m aware of ever corroborated these lab test findings, but the EPA flexed its muscles anyway and pushed for new lube oil chemical restrictions to minimize phosphorous (therefore ZDP) content. They’ve been on this bandwagon ever since, and no one in our Federal government has ever successfully moderated their powers. When the oil embargo hit in the mid-’70s, both the EPA and the public also began clamoring for better fuel economy (FE).