Shell Rimula R4 Multi 10W-30

Worth knowing

The sulphated ash of 1.5 % in this oil’s data sheet matches the upper limit that Caterpillar sets for ECF-2. According to the guide to Cummins, CAT and JASO DH codes for equipment, this code means the full API CI-4 programme, a 500-hour test on the C13 engine and ash of no more than 1.5 %. The same article gives Cummins’s recommendation: for engines without exhaust after-treatment running on fuel with more than 15 ppm sulphur, use CES 20078 oils rather than CES 20081 or 20086. On this oil, Cummins CES 20078 is an official approval.

The line also has Rimula R5 LE 10W-30 of the same viscosity, with 1 % ash, but the code lists of the two oils barely overlap: only API CI-4, CH-4 and CAT ECF-2 are shared. R5 LE has no Cummins CES 20078, CAT ECF-1a, Mack EO-M or JASO DH-1, and instead carries CES 20081 and 20086, CAT ECF-3, Mack EOS-4.5 and JASO DH-2. For CNH equipment this oil has only a statement of compliance with CNH MAT 3520; in the catalogue, two oils of the same brand carry this code, and neither holds an approval for it.