How One Oil Can Last Longer, Protecting All of Your Engines

Valvoline Premium Blue One Solution Gen2 (PBOS Gen2) is an extraordinary premium engine oil formulated to provide extended oil drains for heavy duty diesel and natural gas engines, and is “The Only One” exclusively Endorsed and recommended by Cummins. The Valvoline HD formulation team uses solid technology to differentiate a truly premium engine oil from the many good products on the market.

Knowing our customers enables us to tailor our product offering to address their pain points. Government and transit customers tend to have the most demanding applications where vehicles are expected to operate 7 days a week for extremely long lives. Some of these agencies that we work with have the most detailed preventative maintenance operations of any in the transportation industry; including scheduled component rebuilds/replacements and preventative maintenance services. When suggesting extended service intervals, it is imperative that we are not compromising component life. Partnering directly with Cummins allows Valvoline to make advancements to the engine oil that improve engine reliability and lower overall operating costs; benefitting our customers regardless of what brand of engines they use.

With Premium Blue One Solution Gen2, you will see that the condition of the engine oil and the protection it offers will last longer allowing our customers to have flexibility in their maintenance programs. For example, CNG busses using PBOS Gen2 are allowed up to 1500-hour Oil drain intervals (ODI’s) allowing maintenance managers to match the oil change to other services that the busses may need.

Premium Blue One Solution Gen2 addresses the needs of diesel, natural gas, and gasoline engines without compromising the protection of the various emission systems. The product is licensed for API service categories CK-4 for diesel and SP for even the latest gasoline engines. It carries many OEM approvals, including CES 20092, CES 20086, EOS-4.5, VDS-4.5, DFS 93K222, and VI RLD-3. Beyond those approvals and licenses PBOS Gen2 has the unique endorsements from Cummins referenced above:

• A 5,000-mile drain interval extension in Cummins X15 and X12 platforms in most duty cycles.
• A 500-hour drain interval extension in Cummins ISL G and L9N natural-gas platforms.

The enormous amount of testing data compiled in partnership with Cummins demonstrates the performance differentiation from other products licensed by the API and approved for OEM specifications. Valvoline Premium Blue is “The Only One” endorsed by Cummins:

“Premium Blue One Solution Gen2 shows the best oxidation performance measured by internal testing of any Cummins 20086 or 20092 approved oil on the market today. With the launch of Premium Blue One Solution Gen2, Valvoline has created a truly innovative engine oil that can be used in diesel, natural gas and gasoline engines. Valvoline Premium Blue One Solution Gen2 was designed to extend oil drain intervals for many of our customers while also helping to reduce inventory investments.”

PBOS refers to Premium Blue One Solution “9200”, which preceded “Gen2” and was the first product to move the standard ODI from 500 hours to 1,000 hours in Cummins 9 liter and 12 liter CNG engines and was approved for standard ODI’s in all major diesel engines.

One Oil for Diesel, Natural Gas, and Gasoline?

Simplifying our customers’ inventory provides multiple benefits. Purchasing fewer products in either bulk or larger packaging may yield cost reductions for our customers while having one product that is safe for multiple engine platforms will minimize the potential for costly misapplications. Not only is the inventory simplified, but the training and practices for technicians is also simplified.

Premium Blue One Solution Gen2 is available in SAE 10W-30 and 15W-40 viscosity grades to protect a wide range of medium-duty and heavy-duty engines. In gasoline engines that recommend a 5W-30 or 5W-20 engine oil, contact Valvoline to further understand if PBOS Gen2 10W-30 is recommended.

Contact your Valvoline representative or call for assistance: 1-800-TEAM-VAL.

Of course, there are unique challenges to protecting different types of engines. Diesel engines, specifically older diesel engines, produce soot when unburned fuel is heated by combustion. This soot develops with fuel being heated in the absence of enough oxygen to burn. Dispersants in diesel engine oil disperse the soot particles such that they do not agglomerate and form sludge in the oil pan or filter. Dispersants can also disperse free water that may be produced in CNG engine operation. The balance of dispersants is something that must be monitored when developing an engine oil for multiple applications.

Two developments in diesel engine operation have significantly changed the detergent and additive needs in diesel engine oils. ULSD, or ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel has significantly lowered the formation of strong acids in diesel engine oil. Detergents not only prevent the formation of deposits, but they offer a reserve alkalinity to protect against the stronger sulfuric acids formed by diesel fuel combustion.

Additionally, the metal “ash” content of diesel engine oils have been limited to 1% to prevent premature plugging of the diesel particulate filters of the emission systems. The metal additives commonly used for detergents (magnesium, calcium, sodium…) turn to ash when oil is completely burned/consumed, as does zinc and phosphorus (anti-wear additives). With the changes to diesel fuel and the hotter combustion of modern engines, oxidation is the more dominant cause of acid formation.

Valvoline PBOS Gen2 exceeds industry requirements for mechanical and corrosive wear resistance with additives that are roughly 10% below the ash limits for API CK-4 (diesel standards) and with phosphorus levels that are safe for both gasoline and natural gas engines; defined by API SP and Cummins CES 20092 respectively.

Gasoline and natural gas engines provide a different challenge. When oil is exposed to high heat the phosphorus in the anti-wear additives can become volatile and pass into the exhaust of a vehicle. Both gasoline and natural gas vehicles are equipped with catalytic convertors that are sensitive to phosphorus. The API limits phosphorus content in gasoline engine oils to 800 ppm (parts per million). Similarly, for natural gas engines, Cummins (the clear industry leader) limits phosphorus in oils for their CNG engines, as well.

Protection and Performance:

Again, this performance is not uniquely beneficial to Cummins engines. These same properties prevent sludge, viscosity change, or formation of acids in the engine oil for any engine operating in demanding duty cycles.

• PB 8600 is the previous Premium Blue diesel engine oil that had an Endorsement from Cummins for extended drains in diesel engines.

Only through proven performance was Premium Blue One Solution Gen 2 able to displace Valvoline’s other premium HD products and that is why we recommend it to displace the other products that you are currently using!

Valvoline’s Engineering and Technical Services team can give our HD customers guidance regarding fleet Used Oil Analysis to help tailor your maintenance programs as needed. This data empowers discussions with the OEM during warranty periods and equips you to make educated decisions about service intervals outside of warranty coverage. When and where our Engineering and Technical Service Team makes direct recommendations about product or services, our customers are covered against any potential oil related issue by our Product Performance Guarantee.

Simplified Maintenance:

The above performance enables the product consolidation for your various engines, helping in multiple ways:

• Reduce human error from using the wrong product.
• Simplify inventory.
• Lower cost by buying bulk or larger package size.

The endorsed ODI extensions give you the flexibility of scheduled maintenance plans. Ask your local distributor or your Valvoline representative about this and other products from Valvoline and Zerex available to help you consolidate maintenance materials simplify maintenance.

For further reading, visit the recent article from Truckinginfo.