Shell Lubricants unveiled a significant overhaul of its heavy duty diesel engine oil portfolio recently to meet the needs of the new API CK-4 oil category.

The CK-4 engine oil category replaces the 10-year-old CJ-4 category for diesels, and goes into effect December 1, 2016. It calls for improvements in wear protection, deposit control, and oil breakdown under hotter operating conditions found in modern diesel engines.

Shell is the first major oil marketer to respond to the new demands, and in doing so, reformulated about 80 percent of its heavy duty diesel engine oil products in the process. The changes affect nearly all of the company’s multi-weight diesel oils, and includes significant changes to its T-5 semi-synthetic and T-6 full-synthetic oils.

Chris Guerrero, Shell’s Global Manager for Diesel Engine Oils, explains what the changes mean to farmers who are currently using Shell’s Rotella-T product:

Shell’s new semi-synthetic and full-synthetic motor oils gain considerable performance improvements from changes in the feedstock from which they are made.

Guerrero explains the latest blending technology responsible for these changes.

In addition to the updated portfolio of traditional heavy-duty diesel engine oil, Shell also introduced its new lineup of FA-4 rated oils for highway diesel engines designed to meet increased fuel economy standards in 2017. Two multi-grade low-viscosity oils join shell’s product line in the FA-4 category, and both sport the same engine wear and protection capabilities as traditional CK-4 oils, but do so with friction-fighting thinner formulations.