Not the razor’s edge: Data powers 100,000-mile oil drain intervals for 2027 X15

Fleets and owner-operators have long known that extending oil change intervals can lead to significant cost savings and environmental benefits. The challenge they have faced has been to accomplish this safely, without risking engine health or adding maintenance headaches. Cummins has made that easier than ever thanks to years of testing coupled with data-rich analytics.

Cummins’ latest engine advancements combine with its optimized performance programs to provide greater precision in oil life management. 

For the 2027 X15 diesel that means the potential for 100,000-mile oil change intervals while reducing environmental impact. 

Customers utilizing the Maintenance Monitor suite of maintenance tools, specifically the Oil Life Monitor feature, on the 2027 X15 can lean on a mountain of data gleaned from the Cummins OilGuard™ program. 

The American Petroleum Institute (API) had released two new diesel engine oil specs, CK-4 and FA-4, in 2016. OilGuard was introduced one year later. Cummins and its customers were eager to see how both oils would measure up while doing the demanding work that trucks do. 

According to API, both CK-4 and FA-4 formulations “provide enhanced protection against oil oxidation, viscosity loss due to shear, and oil aeration as well as protection against catalyst poisoning, particulate filter blocking, engine wear, piston deposits, degradation of low- and high-temperature properties, and soot-related viscosity increase.” 

The two oil specs primarily differ in their high-temperature, high-shear (HTHS) viscosity. FA-4 has a lower HTHS viscosity which helps to promote improved fuel economy. It is intended for newer engines built for FA-4 use and is not backwards compatible unlike CK-4 which has a higher HTHS viscosity that older engines require. 

Cummins OilGuard™ data paves the way

For several years customers participating in the Cummins OilGuard program have provided oil samples and engine performance data in exchange for feedback to help determine which trucks would be best suited for extended oil drain intervals (ODIs). 

David Fields, Maintenance Monitor Leader and Manager of Digital Maintenance Technologies, recalled how beneficial the free program has proven to be in guiding the next steps for improving oil maintenance and lowering costs for customers.

“We spent years gathering data across various customers, duty cycles and oil products including CK-4 and FA-4 oils,” Fields said. “That's how we built the data to extend our service literature [ODIs] twice across several years. We took that information and that is what we fed into the Oil Life Monitor for 2024 which we will continue in 2027.” 

Ryan Denton, manager of Cummins Corporate Chemical Technology, said OilGuard quickly showed how the new oil specs working in tandem with Cummins’ architecture extended ODIs so long as conditions were right.

“We found that oil technology enabled long drains but it was very duty cycle dependent which is really from where the whole Oil Life Monitor concept developed. We need to consider how engines are being used to maximize the life of the oil as well as other maintenance items,” Denton explained. 
Given the amount of engine and oil performance data collected through OilGuard, customer participation is expected to taper off. However, Fields said there will be cases including severe and extreme duty use where oil sampling will make sense. 

“We can help them identify high idle units which can really hurt their ODI. We can help them identify really low vehicle speed units which can also hurt their ODI. That is the kind of stuff OilGuard would probably focus on now and into 2027 and beyond whereas the Oil Life Monitor is really going to be able to do a lot of the normal every day, oil prediction,” Fields said. 

If the Maintenance Monitor detects a shift from the truck’s typical duty cycle that could impact the ODI or other maintenance items. 

“The Oil Life Monitor has a learning period where it looks at that duty cycle and then it starts giving you an [ODI] output that you see continually decline,” Fields said. “What we see is that it is pretty steady unless the duty cycle of a truck changes a lot. If it changes a lot, then you probably do need a different oil drain interval.” 

Denton pointed out that a 100,000-mile ODI in the 2027 X15 does not represent an extreme use case. 

“For the duty cycles that allow it, that 100,000 miles that we are offering is not taking somebody to the razor's edge. We would not do that,” Denton said. “That's taking you to a place where we know there is plenty of margin. We know that as long as you are maintaining your engine properly, that it is a safe step to take which is the only reason we would allow it to go into our Maintenance Monitor.”