Technical Information

TDR Issue 57 is scheduled to be distributed as normal during the first two weeks of August.

Issue 57 has a six page follow-up to the lube oil analysis project that we started in Issue 56. We added 13 new lube oil samples for author John Martin to evaluate. The conclusion is that the new CJ lube oils are a compromise as they do not have the same additive package as the previous CI/CI-4 plus oils.

This is a TDR first. We are going to give you a .pdf file of the Issue 57 article on lube oils.You may want to immediately go shpping to stockpile the CI/CI-4 plus lube oil.The proper maintenance of your truck and solid, reliable information exchange are what the TDR is all about.

For a downloadable .pdf copy of this article, click here.

Time is of the essence?

Perhaps so. Please read the following e-mail from TDR Member Bill Downs and my response:

E-mail:

I thought you might find this interesting.In view of the articles by John Martin concerning oil specifications, my understanding of the Issue 54 article that the API CI-4 or CI-4 plus was to be available until 2009.I have had no luck finding any CI-4 and when I sent an e-mail to Valvoline, the answer did not address my question.I also got the same answer by telephoneL basically that the only thing available is CJ-4, and it is "backward compatible and just as good."Perhaps you and John Martin have done too good of a job educating the TDR audience.Where do we find CI or CI-4 plus lube oils?

Bill Downs
TDR Member

Our Response:

Bill, good question.I already had my exercise for the day, so I didn't want to jump to conclusions.Rather, it was time to get into the truck and go shopping.

Before I turned the key, I telephoned my local Cummins distributor to have him check his stock of Cummins Valvoline Premium Blue, 15W40.He confirmed what I found on a gallon jug purchased last Friday at Auto Zone.Very discreetly, "CJ" markings preceeded the CI at the top of the API donut.Oddly, the CI-4 plus mark was prevalently displayed at the donut.The part number (VV70509) for the jug did not change.Is this the same lube oil that did so well in the Issue 56 and 57 tests?We will find out as a sample was sent to the lab on July 11, 2007.

So I went shopping. The first stop was Wally-World (WalMart). On their shelves, I found:

CI Oils:

Walmart Super Tech Universal (15W40)
Shell Rotella T Synthetic (5W40)

CJ Oils:

Shell Rotella T Triple Protection (15W40)
Mobil Delvac 1300 (15W40)
Castrol Tection (15W40)
Chevron Delo 400 LE (15W40)

The next stop, Advance Auto. On their shelves, I found:

CJ Oils:

Cummins/Valvoline Premium Blue (15W40)
Shell Rotella T Triple Protection (15W40)
Castrol Tection (15W40)
Motorcraft Super Duty (15W40)

CI Oils:

Chevron Delo 400 (15W40)
Castrol GTS (quarts only) (15W40)
Pennzoil Long Life (quarts only) (15W40)

And finally, from the NAPA store, I found:

CJ Oils:

NAPA Universal Fleet (15W40)

CI Oils:

Cummins/Valvoline Premium Blue Synthetic (5W40)

Observations:

The Cummins/Valvoline packaging was not the only one that was discreet.There were no packaging differences in the Castrol, Motorcraft, Mobil, or NAPA products.I guess they thought we would not notice?

Yes, availability of the CI/CI-4 plus lube oils is diminishing.I was in search of 10 gallons and purchased my town's entire CI stock.What will I do after three more oil changes?

By way of the Issue 57 lube oil article, we've given you some insight on the differences between the CI and CJ oils.By way of the TDR's website, we've alerted you to a potential problem with oil availability. Stay tuned for further developments.