What makes a good engine oil in today’s BS6 era

Road transport industry is covered mostly by Medium and Heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) segment. We have been spending our time in assessing the effect of BS6 regulations on fleet owners’. We wanted to understand how total cost of ownership looks at present and how it can be transformed especially when there will be mixed fleets (both BS4 and BS6 trucks) for coming years. We were eager to find and set upon a baseline through which we can thoroughly understand the expenses at a fleet owners’ end.

With all things in one place, we eventually zeroed down on the significant role that an engine oil plays in the whole total cost of ownership argument. Once we settled into our research mode, the learnings turned out to be quite fascinating. It was during this research we understood how revered and advanced the Delvac range of diesel engine oils are from Mobil. It is a brand that prides itself of being at the forefront of diesel engine oil technology with a history of over 90 years.

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Curious to know more, we decided to explore ways to understand how these lubricants are performing in real world, with real customers who have chosen them over other engine oils in the market, and their reasons.

Our search took us to Mr. Sanjay Jain, Owner, Automobile Carriers, Gurugram, Haryana. Three generations of his family have been involved in trucking business and presently owns a fleet of over 700 trucks with five offices across the country. He transports 2-Wheelers and 4-Wheelers across the country with almost every major automobile OEM as his client. Him being a majority user of Mobil Delvac products and having recently upgraded to the advanced Mobil Delvac MX ESP 15W-40 API-CK4 range while also using other Mobil lubricants caught our curiosity

The meeting with him turned out be a fascinating look into a fleet owners’ mindset and how they perceive engine oil as a major ingredient in lowering their TCO. (You can learn about this in our video interview with him here – Please add the video 2 hyperlink)

With Mr. Sanjay Jain’s insights, we were on the path to finding the answer to the question we started our research with, “What is a good engine oil for commercial vehicles?” It was evident, in a market full of products claiming to be the best among the rest, the products that had proven themselves through rigorous testing are the only ones that could substantiate these claims.

It was then time to understand engine oil testing in detail and as we had already seen a good customer review for Mobil Delvac, choosing to learn about oil testing from Mobil was an obvious decision.

We made a quick visit to meet Mr. Ganesh Krishnamurthy, Lubricants Technology Manager - South Asia Pacific, ExxonMobil. There we learned that lubricants designed, developed, and tested for compatibility with the new BS6 engines might offer a solution to many of the fleet owner concerns.

He told us, “Field Testing is one of the most integral parts to ascertain and substantiate results in real world. This continues to remain an important parameter even with BSVI engines and compatible engine oils.

A standard engine oil field test includes -

· Comprehensive study of the engine condition, its maintenance history before new engine oil replacement

· Oil sampling and monitoring of the replaced oil

· Oil sample collection of the new oil after first start

· Performance and status monitoring of the truck, as per defined schedules

· Reports are thoroughly studied and monitored for any major deviations

· Process continues until the oil sample quality reaches its changeover status.

· Results are compared to the earlier oil samples taken, at the beginning of the test. Along with these, the engine is checked for signs of internal wear and tear, sludge formation or other type of clogging and the same is documented.

· A thorough comparative study of all direct, indirect, and apparent benefits is created.

This has been our way at Mobil to provide the real-world analysis to our customers and enable them to make educated choices for their businesses”.

He then continued, “For years now Mobil Delvac has been the engine oil of choice for CV owners across the world. And the new Mobil Delvac MX ESP 15W-40 API CK4 continues this legacy with latest synthetic technology.

Customers we interviewed, owning a combination of old and new trucks said they use the same oil, they additionally testified that this BS6 ready engine oil helps them run their business more efficiently, while providing a range of productivity benefits, lowering annual operational costs.

We at Truck Dekho recommend Mobil Delvac MX ESP 15W-40, CK-4 engine oil for mixed fleet operations, given the positive business transformation it brings to trucking operations through commercial benefits

A good engine oil for any truck is the one that holds excellent proof of performance, not just in test reports but also in real world usage.

Do you want to reduce your truck's downtime, preserve its resale value & maximise engine life? Click here to know more