Why now? This is like the SA non detergent oil but I’ll get to that in a sec.
I mean these “303” fluids have been around for decades, even if they never met the original spec (probably impossible due to whale oil) Is there any evidence they caused significant harm during the past several decades? Older stuff probably is nowhere near as picky.
That’s like the old Case/Ingersoll HyDriv, it essentially calls for what amounts to 20W-40 motor oil (which obviously they had speced out from somewhere but most of us owners use 15w-40) just just dump in a big jug of rotella if you flush it out and it’s good to go.
That’s like outright banning 303 fluid, so because some people choose to be cheap and run it in a modern setup and ruin their equipment everyone has to suffer? Is there any consideration to those using it in older equipment where it works fine and they want to reduce cost? This same policing saw them pull a lot of ND 30 and older spec oils however the stuff still had uses. My one air compressor calls for ND30. I used to buy it at dollar general nice and simple. Now instead I’ve gotta drive 20 minutes to somewhere to get some and spend $4 for something that was $2.
When I had my old 84 Crown Vic it had some oil leakage I used to buy Accel 10W-40 SF grade for $.75 at Walmart. It was half the cost of the at the time SM oil. It was perfectly suitable for the use. Probably saved me a couple of hundred bucks over the several years I used it for oil changes, top offs etc.
So while you may not be able t9 make exacting 303 because of the whale oil, if the fluid in question is a suitable replacement and cheap they should be allowed to sell it to those who want it.