ILSAC GF-7 Explained: What API Oil Certification Marks Mean for Engine Oil Selection
The API starburst and shield are what API calls evergreen marks. An oil carrying them has to have the latest engine oil technology. Not last year's. The latest.
That's why the obsolescence of ILSAC GF-6 matters. API gave oil marketers an 18-month overlap to move to GF-7, longer than the typical 12, because of special market conditions. Once it ends, only oil with the latest technology can display the marks.
In this NOLN API QuickChat, editor Tom Valentino talks with Bill O'Ryan, director of API's Engine Oil Licensing and Certification System. O’Ryan covers what to look for on the API service donut (API SQ, Resource Conserving). He explains how GF-7's new aged-oil test protects against low speed pre-ignition across the full drain interval. And he describes the first sulfated ash limit ever set in an ILSAC category.
He also explains what has to happen before GF-8 can arrive.
Hear why the GF-8 timeline may come down to whether a sludge test can produce enough sludge.
About the Author
Tom ValentinoTom Valentino
Editor
Tom Valentino is the editor of National Oil and Lube News. A graduate of Ohio University, he has more than two decades of experience in newspapers, public relations and trade magazines, covering everything from high school sports to behavioral health care. Tom’s first vehicle was a 1990 Mazda 626, which he used to deliver pizzas in the summer after graduating high school. Today, he drives a 2019 Jeep Compass, which usually has a trunk full of his daughter’s sports gear. In his spare time, Tom is an avid Cleveland sports fan and a volunteer youth sports coach.
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