The drive to clean message comes up when you stop moving while it is cleaning the filter. To do a complete cleaning you have to be moving over 30 MPH until it is finished.
My question is his often is it suppose to clean? I have a lawn maintenance company and pull trailers constantly. Average 150-175 miles per day. My truck has 145k on it. This last week it seems to have gone into the cleaning mode .ore often than usual. The last 2 days I have driven 330 mikes in stop and go traffic, about the ussual, but has ton into the cleaning filter mode 5 times. As far as I know it has never had an update or flash. Any ideas?

 

The drive to clean message comes up when you stop moving while it is cleaning the filter. To do a complete cleaning you have to be moving over 30 MPH until it is finished.
My question is his often is it suppose to clean? I have a lawn maintenance company and pull trailers constantly. Average 150-175 miles per day. My truck has 145k on it. This last week it seems to have gone into the cleaning mode more often than usual. The last 2 days I have driven 330 miles in stop and go traffic, about the ussual, but it has gone into the cleaning filter mode 5 times. As far as I know it has never had an update or flash. Any ideas?

 

The drive to clean message can come on at any speed or operation. Not just because you are stopped.


If you are getting the message then you need to take the truck out on the hwy and let it complete the regen.

 

What Senix said, and then I would add that you need to look into deleting and tuning the truck. The kind of driving you do is the worst for the 6.4L. It never gets a good cleaning and just keeps trying over and over. Just get on here and read the messages about tuning and deleting for a couple hours and you will be well versed on the mods, what they cost, what they do and their legality. Hope this helps.

 

If I'm not mistaken, drive to clean shows when the dpf is about 75% full. However you really need to get the truck out onthe freeway to let it do its cleaning all in one shot at this stage. One thing you can do afterwards is drop the dpf and blow out all the ash with an air gun. That's like emptying out a vacuum cleaner bag. I did it a couple of times and all iseems OK.

Also keep in mind it takes at least 5min of driving... or more depending on how cold it is outside... before the dpf gets hot enough to do anything . shutting down the truck until then is a complete waste of fuel spent on trying to regen

 

Drive to clean can happen even when on the freeway. During long hard pulls if it was close to 100 mile mark then mine would go into a drive to clean mode till I crested the mountain, then after a few it would revert back to the normal message.

 

At 145k, it is probably time to have the DPF physically pulled and power washed.

 

These are good questions! Yesterday i got the Drive To Clean notice. This lasted almost 30 miles on the highway.. I was worried that I was going to run out of road before it finished!

 

My truck is not completing the clean exhaust cycle even with extended driving. So there is a clattering coming from the engine that would usually start just before it ran this cycle and go away once the cycle was complete. Also a strong exhaust smell in the cab during this time as well so I'm thinking this is what my truck needs. 2009 with 165k miles on it. Is this something I can figure out how to do or does it have to be done by dealership? I dislike our local ford dealer as they treat me like a dumb girl. :/

 

I'm not sure what you are calling extended driving. If you are driving hundreds of miles and not seeing the process complete normally, I think it could be too clogged to complete. I find the software that controls regen problematic.

On a trip earlier this year, I couldn't get mine to complete. I dumped an entire 64oz bottle of Diesel Kleen into a full tank and drove. In a few hours of driving, my regen started working normally. My opinion is that passive regen eventually got it cleaned out.

To force the regen, you need a dealer or mechanic with the Ford Fleet programmer that can force the regen for an extended period.