Morris Lubricants offers oil advice
What oil, lubricant and antifreeze coolant should you use? Confused? Morris Lubricants is here to help!
In the commercial vehicle sector, the landscape of emissions, engine designs, driveline configurations, hybrid technologies and increasing performance requirements to cope with environmental and legislative impacts, is ever changing.
The original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are continually developing new engine and transmission designs. The formulations for engine oils, antifreeze coolants, differential oils, gear and transmission oils are therefore constantly changing to comply to these new requirements. It is so important for lubricant manufacturers like Morris Lubricants to keep abreast of the latest specification and approval changes.
The number of different formulated engine oils, transmission oils, antifreeze coolants and other lubricants will continue to increase as the technology and commercial vehicle hardware changes. This is a neverending process. Legislation continues to drive innovation, and the truck, HGV and other commercial vehicle OEMs are adopting their own strategies to remain compliant.
Euro 7 is just around the corner and the OEMs are not only moving at different speeds but are introducing new oil, lubricantand antifreeze coolant specifications that may or may not be compatible across different brands or makes. This has led to the development of very tailored oils, lubricants and antifreeze coolants and these newer formulations are not always suitable for older commercial vehicles.
Importance of speed
In the world of commercial vehicles, it is important that a vehicle is kept on the road and out of the workshop. A commercial vehicle in a workshop being fixed, is not contributing to the bottom line. This means that the correct selection and use of engine and transmission oils, antifreeze coolants and lubricants has become more critical.
Of course, we shouldn’t overlook the equally important selection of oils, lubricants and antifreeze coolants for older commercial vehicles. These vehicles are often still being used and will need to be kept on the road. Using the incorrect products can lead to engine breakdown, blocked after treatment devices or even catastrophic mechanical failure. Therefore, following the correct OEM guidelines and specifications for oil, lubricant and antifreeze coolant use in all ages of vehicle will help to ensure optimum performance and reliability.
All these changes to vehicle requirements and the wide variety of product choices available can be confusing, even daunting especially considering the damage that can be caused if the wrong oil, lubricant or antifreeze coolant is used. The good news is that Morris Lubricants is here to help. The company have provided technical support since the 1980s and in today’s environment this has become even more crucial, as downtime and loss of business is not an acceptable option.
A helping hand
Providing information, advice and support for buyers and users of oils, greases, lubricants and other maintenance products has been part of the Morris Lubricants’ service offering for many, many years. It has always been the underlying philosophy at Morris Lubricants that selling a quality product should be backed up with technical support when required.
The technical services department at Morris Lubricants is available to provide buyers and users with a point of contact, should help and advice be needed. It is headed up by Adrian Hill, technology manager, who has accumulated over 40 years of oil and lubricant industry experience. Adrian leads a team of advisors who have chemistry backgrounds, hands on mechanical experience and various lubricant industry qualifications. This combination of skills and deep practical knowledge helps to provide accurate guidance and assistance.
Rapid correspondence via telephone calls, e-mails, social media DMs and website contact forms, are actioned by all the team, including Ian Haslum, technical advisor. The team also make visits to customers’ premises to assess their commercial vehicles, equipment and machinery to check what oil and lubricant solutions are required. These visits are often managed by Morris Lubricants’ technical support engineer, Ryan Woolley, who can provide hands on help where face-to-face is a preferred form of contact.
Advice can also be sought from the company’s online oil and lubricant lookup tool Whatoil, which can be found on the Morris Lubricants’ website and can therefore be accessed 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The correct product can be found on this lookup tool by entering a truck registration number or you can select from a wide variety of different commercial vehicles, equipment and machinery by using a series of simple dropdown menus. Once the vehicle or piece of equipment is selected, the recommended oils, antifreeze coolants and maintenance fluids are presented.
Apart from helping with immediate needs, especially if a commercial vehicle is sat in a workshop, more extensive and detailed reporting can be employed, especially if equipment lists and multiple vehicle fleet surveys are required. The technical services department can provide advice on how to rationalise product stock holdings across different brands whilst maintaining conformity to OEM specifications and best practices.
The technical services department also offer used oil analysis from an independent specialist laboratory. This is important to help diagnose vehicle conditions, especially where customers are seeking advice on commercial vehicles in service. With enough data it is also possible to use these tests and analysis as a preventative measure to reduce downtime or predict failure, enabling corrective action to be implemented, saving money and lost productivity.
There are also many different informative videos on the Morris Lubricants’ YouTube channel. Featuring the company’s brand ambassadors Guy Martin and truck racer Dave Jenkins, who ask Adrian some real tricky questions about commercial vehicle oils, antifreeze coolants and lubricants.
As highlighted by Adrian, “Whatever the future brings, Morris Lubricants will be well placed to supply what is needed. We are committed to providing high-quality products, all backed up with information, advice and support so that buyers and users are making the correct informed choice and not relying on guesswork.”
