<VV> Oil review, part 2

[BobHelt at aol.com]

Here is  part 2 
Regards, 
Bob  Helt 
In the  last paragraph of part 1, that should be GF4 and not  GF5 
NON  GF-4 OILS 
Non GF-4 oils are all other viscosities. That includes, for example,  10W-40 
and 20W-50. These oils are all rated SM (latest rating). The letters SM  will 
be stated in the top portion of the donut on the back of the container.  Since 
these oils might meet racing, high mileage or diesel categories, the  
committee set the following phosphorous requirement for all of these oils. A  minimum 
phosphorous requirement of 600 ppm, and any amount of phosphorous  greater 
than the minimum for the upper limit. There is NO phosphorous upper  limit in 
the specification. But of course an application limit will be set by  the oil 
producer. Again, there is no requirement of any zinc content. There will  be no 
Starburst or “energy conserving” on these  containers. 
OVERLAPPING  RATINGS  (E.g. SJ/SM or  CI/SM) 
Here is where the confusion begins. Let’s look at some examples. Consider  an 
SM rated 10W-30 oil (or 5W-20 too). Here we have conflicting specs. 10W-30 is 
 a GF-4 oil with reduced phosphorous but SM has no upper limit. So the GF-4 
spec  takes precedence and establishes the upper limit of 800 ppm. (The SM spec 
upper  limit is simply any amount greater than 600 ppm.) Thus any amount of 
phosphorous  (over 600 ppm) meets the SM spec.  
Now  consider an SJ/SM rating in the donut. SJ has an upper phos. limit of 
1000 ppm  and SM has no upper limit. So this oil will have a maximum phos. Of 
1000 ppm.   
Similarly,  CI-4/SM in the donut (a diesel oil) will have 1400 ppm phos. 
since this will  also meet the SM spec of no upper limit.  
But to  be sure we cover all bases, let’s look at an oil rated CI-4/SL. 
(Another diesel  oil). Here is where the specs cause problems. The upper phos limit 
of CI-4 is  1400 ppm but the upper limit of SL is 1000 ppm. (Note that the 
CI-4 1400 ppm is  an upper limit and not a required amount) So an oil with both 
of these rating  will have no more than 1000 ppm phos. to meet the SL 
designation and still will  meet the CI-4 spec. 




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