API motor oil guide says "For automotive gasoline engines, the latest
engine oil service
category includes the performance properties of each earlier
category. If an automotive
owner's manual calls for an API SJ or SL oil, an API SM oil will
provide full protection."
I found this
here: http://www.aa1car.com/library/API_ratings.pdf. It was never
intended that older flat tappet engines would need a different
oil. It is just that classic
car owners and mechanics perceive a problem. Saying that an oil
meets SJ and SM
is just redundant, because SM is the later standard that
its intended to include all
properties of the earlier standard. But to the average guy who
doesn't know about
API standards, if he opens the owners manual and it says to use SJ,
it makes him
comfortable buying the bottle that says it meets SJ and SM. So it's
not exactly
"a mockery of the system", just marketing.
-Steve Trovato
strovato@optonline.net
At 03:44 AM 9/23/2009, Paul Hunt wrote:
>I thought the whole point of having standards was that one didn't need to know
>the detail of what they said, or the detail of what any oil (for example)
>contained. If a manufacturer says his engine needs API SM, not SJ as that has
>too much zinc, and an oil manufacturer says his oil meets SM, then that is all
>you need to know. For another oil manufacturer to then say his oil meets SJ
>*and* SM makes a mockery of the system.
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