"normal" regen frequency??

dieseldoc · August 14, 2014

2012 F-350 crew cab. Does a lot of highway driving, very little stop and go driving, and very little idling. This is my personal pick-up and here is what I have noticed. When I purchased the pick-up it had 18000 miles on it and it averaged a regen every 600 or so miles and this was during winter(will admit it idled to warm up prolly 10 minutes a day). In the last 2 months(1000 miles) almost like the flip of a switch it has started doing a regen every 150 miles and 10-12 gallons of fuel. This seems to be to frequent to me. Needless to say my oil level is now quite overfull. I took it to my dealer and they ran a manual regen with ids and told me nothing is wrong with the system and flashed the controllers to the latest level. I was skeptical that this did anything but picked it up and gave them the benefit of the doubt. I drove it last week and in 200 miles it did 2 regens one 65 miles after I picked it up and the next after 160 miles. I brought it back for them to look at. They called today and said again the system is working fine we want you to use the ford cetan improver. I told them already use the cetane improver with every tank full and when the message comes up I make sure to keep driving without changing the engine load as best I can until it is complete. I told them that my oil is also very overfull I am guessing from the regen frequency. They said to me that is probably not related, they are going to change the oil for me and I am supposed to drive it for 1000 miles and monitor the oil level. My question to you all is does this seem like frequent regens or normal operation? Also would you have any suggestions for me as to this situation if this is not normal operation? Thanks guys.

kampy · August 14, 2014

Great post, I have a 14 that has 12,800 on it, bought it in Feb with 4300 miles. It has the identical problem. Mine started just after an 1800 mile tow trip and the mileage was 10K. It used to regen once a tank (also in the winter), since the first of June and 10k on the odometer it's been regening every 75-125 miles, just like someone threw a switch.

The only difference is I've found mine go into an active regen twice when the soot% was below 25%. Once at 11% and the other at 23% both times were towing and both times it stayed in active regen for 8-10 miles after the soot was already @ 0%.

The selling dealer gave me the same answers, nothing wrong with it. A second dealer has been much more helpful and found an updated flash and seems genuinely concerned about helping me get it fixed. I know who will get my new vehicle business in the future.

Anyway, if anyone has any insight into this it would be greatly appreciated by me and I'm sure the OP.

cbriggs · August 23, 2014

Most trucks I scan show a dist regen avg. around 600 to 900km's. I have not looked at one for frequent regen yet ,luckily. Anything that affects the calculation of soot content(air flow, temp sensors, pressure sensors) could cause this, as well as anything that is actually causing the engine to create more soot, (egr concern, injection concern, turbo concern) I assume the dealer recommended that you try a few tanks of fuel from a different supplier than you normally use? I would have a look at the maf sensor for starters, dirty maf's cause all sorts of strange issues on these. Also is the inside of the tailpipes clean? How is your dpf useage compared to before this started happening?

dieseldoc · August 29, 2014

I have put 2000 miles on the truck in the last 2 weeks, been traveling on the road and getting fuel from lots of places. I always try to buy fuel from truck stops because it is usually fresher than smaller stations. While running on the highway at 75-80 mph it has averaged a regen every 350 miles or so. I was pulling a trailer and loaded form 1500 of those miles when we went to the mountains dirtbiking. My def usage has not changed and the tail pipes are clean. I was told there is nothing wrong with it and without a code they can not do anything with it. I am very unfamiliar with the 6.7. I typically work on heavy duty truck systems( cummins in particular) and older 7.3 and 6.0 powerstrokes. I was told to just drive it and don't worry about how often it regens, and that the truck will tell me it needs an oil change. The old timer diesel guy at my preferred dealer has retired, and it shows now. He knew the systems and how they worked, what was out of normal. He just plain fixed the trucks and knew how to write the story to get the job done and get the everybody paid and happy. The new guy apparently is struggling, the engine and systems are complex but he seems quite lost when I talked to him. My gut feeling is that there is a sensor failed in range and it is throwing the calculations for soot load off. Oh well I guess, the joys of new diesels. I would go to the other dealer in my area, but we had a disagreement a couple years ago about my work truck and I am not well received there, also I would not trust them to put air in my tire after the quality of work I have seen come out of there.

Bruce Amacker · August 29, 2014

While running on the highway at 75-80 mph it has averaged a regen every 350 miles or so.

I'm not following you here. Are you complaining about regens every 350 miles?

What is your DPF pressure at idle and what is it at WOT? I like to see up to .15 at idle preferred and allow up to .20psi. At WOT I like 1-3psi, over 3-4 needs a regen.

Please give your mileage, engine hours, and idle hours also.

Read this thread:

http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/topic/5426-67-aftertreatment-diagnosis/

:grin:

dieseldoc · September 1, 2014

my complaint was when it was doing a regen every 120-160 miles like the flip of a switch, when it used to regen every 600-800 miles. The truck now has 25000 miles on it and 102 idle hours, I bought the truck with 18,000 miles in december. I admit it has not done much pulling up until last weeken, we had a baby in january and that has put the brakes on going to truck pulls and horse shows this year. They have updated software twice now. I have not hooked up to the truck myself since its under warranty and only have an auto enginuity service tool. I will check it out when I have a chance. Thanks for the link bruce. I am new to the 6.7 world and I am trying to learn what is normal and what is not.

kampy · September 26, 2014

Just an update on mine, I think my problem is primarily poor quality fuel in my area, it doesn't seem to matter where I get the fuel from the results stay consistent. Untreated fuel and it regens every 75-125 miles just like a clock. It will add 3% every time I leave a stoplight 0-45 mph and that's being pretty easy on it. Even running down the road @ 70 it adds right at 1% per mile.

If I dope the fuel at the bottle recommendation it slows down significantly to about 300-350 miles per regen. If I dope it @ 1.5 times the bottles rating it gets back to the 550-600 mile per regen rate. This is also consistent using either Power service or Ford's cetane booster. Mileage is up doping the fuel also, I suppose its primarily because its doesn't regen nearly as often.

I guess I'll keep doping the fuel for now and see if anything changes when the suppliers go back to winter blend.

jimmy57 · September 26, 2014

I don't think the fuel companies can afford to make quality fuel when fuel sells for right at $4/gallon and profits per quarter are only in the 10-11 digits range (billions to tens of billions).

:chinrub2: