The American Petroleum Institute's licensing overlap between the outgoing ILSAC GF-6 gasoline engine oil specification and the new ILSAC GF-7 specification closes October 1, 2026, about five weeks out from today. Danilo Hernandez, CFO of American Oil Wholesale and Distribution, a Hialeah-based full-line wholesale distributor, has been tracking the transition since API approved the ILSAC GF-7A and GF-7B categories, and the companion API SQ service category, in early 2025. This piece covers what actually changes at the deadline, what does not, and what a South Florida auto shop or fleet buyer should confirm with a supplier before the next reorder.
What is ILSAC GF-7, and how does it differ from GF-6?
API approved the ILSAC GF-7A and GF-7B gasoline engine oil categories in January 2025 (API), with first licensing opening March 31, 2025. GF-7 tightens the engine wear and deposit-formation limits set under GF-6, and adds enhanced testing for low-speed pre-ignition (LSPI), the knock-like event concentrated in the smaller, turbocharged, direct-injection engines that make up a growing share of the newer vehicles rolling into South Florida service bays. GF-7 also improves timing chain wear protection over the GF-6 baseline, with published Sequence X test results showing roughly a 5 percent gain over GF-6 (Infineum Insight). As with the GF-5-to-GF-6 shift before it, GF-7 splits into two tiers, GF-7A and GF-7B, so the exact viscosity grade a given oil qualifies under still depends on the finished formulation, not the category name alone.
What is API SQ, and does it replace API SP?
API SQ became licensable in the upper portion of the API donut alongside GF-7, also starting March 31, 2025. SQ is backward compatible with the S categories before it, including SP, which means an SQ-licensed oil satisfies a service fill that calls for SP. SQ does not retire SP overnight: a marketer can still license and sell SP-rated product, and a vehicle that specifies SP is not stranded when a newer bottle on the shelf reads SQ. The practical change sits at the top of the donut going forward: new formulations chasing the latest performance claims will carry SQ, not SP.
Why is there a deadline at all?
ILSAC and API run every category change through an overlap window, the period during which a marketer can license a product under either the outgoing or the incoming specification. The customary overlap has run about a year; for the GF-6-to-GF-7 shift, API extended it to 18 months (MOTOR Magazine, 2025), which is what moved the close-out date to October 1, 2026. After that date, a marketer can no longer newly license a formulation under GF-6 for the ILSAC starburst mark. That deadline governs new licensing decisions inside the industry's certification system, not the shelf life of product already produced and already moving through distribution. As with past ILSAC transitions, individual brands move onto the new category on their own production schedule inside the window, not all at once on the same day.
What this means for a South Florida shop or fleet buying wholesale
Danilo Hernandez, our CFO, frames it plainly: a spec category printed on a bottle is a snapshot of when that batch was formulated, not a guarantee of what today's production run carries, so the label alone should not be the last word on a warranty-sensitive order. For a general-repair shop running a mixed bay of older and newer tickets, the transition matters most on 2025-and-newer model-year GDI turbo engines and any dealership or fleet account where OEM warranty paperwork tracks the current ILSAC category by name. Ask your American Oil rep which spec generation a given brand and grade currently carries before placing a reorder for an account where that documentation matters.
For Caribbean and Latin America accounts sourcing engine oil through our export program, the same question follows the product across the water: a reseller stocking newer model-year vehicles in their market benefits from confirming which ILSAC and API category a shipment carries, the same way a domestic fleet does. The transition does not change how we deliver from West Palm Beach to Homestead or load export containers; it changes what to ask about the formulation inside the box.
What to do before October 1
- Do not discount or dump current GF-6 or SP stock. It remains valid for the vehicles and service fills that specify it; the deadline governs new licensing, not existing inventory.
- Confirm spec generation on warranty-tracked reorders. GDI turbo, dexos-sensitive, and fleet accounts where the paperwork cites a specific ILSAC or API category should ask before ordering, not assume from the label.
- Expect brand-by-brand timing to vary inside the window. Manufacturers are licensing GF-7 and SQ product on their own schedules between now and October 1, so two brands on the same shelf can carry different categories during the transition.
One wholesale account covers whichever generation of motor oil your bay needs, and we will help match spec to vehicle as brands move onto GF-7 and SQ inside the transition window. Request a wholesale quote or call (305) 825-2788 to confirm what a specific brand and grade currently carries.