Pennzoil GF-6 and Low Viscosity Engine Oil Q&A

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wwillson

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Hello BITOG Members:

First off, we would like to thank everyone on the Pennzoil team who has been able to personally work with us the past few years! While we've had the opportunity previously to talk to a number of you, we want to open the floor to all of BITOG for some dialogue on some of the forum's trending topics. This June, select members of the Shell/Pennzoil Technical Team will be responding to inquiries regarding the following topics:

- New motor oil specifications, specifically GF-6
- Low viscosity engine oils, such as Pennzoil Platinum 0W-16

Beginning today with this post, we've opened a special thread for all of you to submit your questions to Richard Dixon, Pennzoil Technology Manager and Eric Kalberer, Shell Global Product Application Specialist. Richard has been working on Shell Lubricants Technology for more than 20 years, putting his degree and postdoctoral degree in Chemistry from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland to good use. As the Technology Manager at Shell, Richard has worked to develop both consumer and OEM factory fill engine oils for Shell Helix, Pennzoil and Quaker State. Conversely, Eric joined Shell in January 2018 as a Global Product Application Specialist, utilizing his PhD in Chemistry to be responsible for technical support to automotive OEMs for engine lubricants, driveline lubricants, coolants and greases. Additionally, he represents Shell, participating in the American Petroleum Institute's Lubricants Standards Group, Auto Oil Advisory Panel, and BOI/VGRA Task Force, among others.

The thread will be open for submissions from 10:00 p.m. ET on Monday, June 24th until 5:00 p.m. ET on Friday, June 28th, after which time, Richard Dixon, Eric Kalberer and our full team of scientists and engineers will work together to provide answers to your questions to be posted on Friday, July 19th.

We are extremely excited for this opportunity, and we have only a few notes:

1. Please use this thread only to submit questions. Members of the team have noted that there have been questions posed in various threads, but please repost the question in this thread to help us make sure we address everything.
2. Please understand that there will be some questions that we will not be able to answer. We cannot divulge any proprietary information and can only speak from our areas of expertise.
3. Our Technical Team will also not be commenting or speculating on the products of our competitors.

Thank you all for your understanding and your enthusiasm - now, let's hear your questions!

-The Pennzoil Team
 
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Do you think low-sulfur gasoline in the US will affect the oil recommendations for older vehicles?

Would it benefit any manufacturers come out and change their specs...like VAG saying to use 504 00 instead of the previous 502 00?
 
What is the best way to explain to a thick-oil fan how a 0W16 motor oil can protect your engine?
smile.gif
 
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I have a normally aspirated, non gdi engine - why should I care about GF6?

How (or will?) gf6a impact drain intervals?

Will all sopus oils at the various price points, meet/carry gf6a?
 
When will PUP 0w-16 be available? You should be bringing out PUP 0w-16 first before PP 0w-16.
I have no use for PP since you downgraded the additive package of PP to meet LSPI (reduce Ca and increase Mg). Many Bitogers have the same concerns about this additive downgrade. Since the additive downgrade, I don't even trust PP to go the full 10K OCI on my Camry, which requires 10K OCI.
I have used PUP with great success on my Camry. Are you going to downgrade or finagle around with the PUP additives to meet GF-6? I would hate to switch to M1EP/M1AFE if you downgrade the additives in PUP.
 
If CAFE didn't have such a heavy influence on the oil industry and automotive world, what would be the ideal engine oil weight and additive package? Are we sacrificing protection and engine longevity over a small percentage of increased fuel economy? We see many differences in oil weight requirements globally for the same applications.
 
What is the difference nowadays between Pennzoil Platinum and Pennzoil Ultra? Didn't Ultra start out with PAO base stocks and now uses GTL, just like Platinum? If so, is there much difference now? I've currently got Pennzoil Ultra 0w20 in my 2018 Jeep Wrangler. Ultra used to be marketed as having significantly better cleaning properties. Now it appears it is marketed toward those who do more performance oriented driving, if I understand the web description correctly.
 
1) Have any test procedures changed that are used to test an oil's wear performance in regards to engine wear limits, or have any changes been made in required GF-6 test sequences as lower oil viscosity such as 0W-16 becomes a more common oil specification by automakers? Wondering if engine wear or any other critical test spec limits are being relaxed as oil viscosity continues to decrease.

2) Most of the technical papers discussed on BITOG show that engine components such as piston rings start to exhibit increased wear when the HTHS viscosity is lower than about 2.3 cP, which is where most 0W-16 oils will be. This leads to the question: As wear protection is decreased from a lower HTHS viscosity factor, what kind of changes in anti-wear additives will be needed to control wear for 0W-16 (or 0W-8 if it hits the market)? I'm assuming these less viscous oils will depend much more on anti-wear additives to control wear compared to a more viscous oil such as 5W-30 or higher.
 
Why cater to the LSPI crowd with the new GF-6 spec when Pennzoil should have been working to put out a long drain oil product. M1 is confident that their M1EP as good for 15K OCI and M1AP is good for 20K. Pennzoil is falling behind on their competitors (Amsoil, M1, and QS) in this field and their engineers should get off their behind to work on this, pronto.
 
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Will the GF-6 formulation be any improvement over current Pennzoil Dexos 1 Generation 2 formulation in terms of timing chain wear?
 
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