Many Unknowns For Fleet Managers
Tom Berg
Equipment Editor
Fleet people don't know enough about the new CI-4 motor oil to make any judgments or plans for its use, says Duke Drinkard, vice president of maintenance for Southeastern Freight Lines and chairman of the Technology & Maintenance Council of ATA.
— that it'll have better thermal properties and be able to deal with soot better, and that it'll be a little more expensive.
"There are a lot of unknowns and we'll have to learn about it," along with the ins and outs of the new diesels themselves. He uses CH-4 oil in the pre-October, non-EGR diesels which are in all of Southeastern's current tractors.
But Drinkard knows he'll have to use CI-4 in his first batch of cooled EGR diesels, 120 Cummins ISMs in International chassis, due to enter the fleet this spring. He's contemplating ordering some EGR'd Volvo D12s, which will also need the new oil, and non-EGR Caterpillar C-12s, which won't.
"But I probably wouldn't use the older oil in the Cats because buying and using two types of oil would be too much trouble," he said. He'd use CI-4 because it's backwards compatible. Then, "could I extend my drain interval because I'm using a better grade of oil, and how much would that save me? Or would the older oil still be cheaper [for the Cats] if I could still get it?"
All this will have to be learned through testing and experience, and looking closely at the numbers in his operating and maintenance records. "Unfortunately, many fleets don't have good records" and may not be willing or able to make such detailed judgments, he said.
Drinkard hopes the new diesels with electronic controls and variable-geometry turbochargers will do better than equipment he's seen in the past.
"I've been through EGR in gasoline engines and I've been through EGR in diesels [the latter in off-road equipment], and I didn't see it do anything except use more fuel," he lamented. "The EPA said they burned cleaner, but from where I stood they sure didn't smell any cleaner."
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