2010 f-450 with 6.4. drivng down the road and a message says "cleaning exhaust" or "drive to clean exhuast". shortly there after a cloud of smoke if following my truck. then after 30 seconds, everything is normal. happens about once every 500 miles.

so Im wondering....whats the point of trapping the deisel particles only to release them later during the after burner burn. what are we really gaining?

 

These trucks, if functioning 100%, will not emit any noticeable smoke. I have also noticed this with one of the trucks at my work. Just today, it blew an intercooler boot and the turbo revealed to be leaking oil. This caused the dpf to fill much faster, causing it be nearly always be in regen and then the dpf cracked. After a dpf cracks or falls apart, it will allow smoke to bypass it. Another 6.4 on the job only had short trips and very little highway driving, causing the dpf to get clogged to point where a hole blew in the downpipe. The turbo also went out in that truck, probably due to the high backpressure.

If you're seeing smoke, your dpf likely has issues.

 

This is actually normal as all trucks with an aftertreatment system will do this to some degree. Some will emit more white smoke at the beginning of the process than others and the amount of visible smoke is affected on the usage of the truck and even the weather conditions. 6.4L trucks are known for this.




The DPF traps soot. Soot is black particulates, a combination if carbon and unburned hydrocarbons. You truck does not emit black smoke because the DPF is trapping the particles. If you see black smoke, the filter is defective and needs to be replaced. The white smoke at the beginning of a regeneration event is created as the filter substrate begins to heat up. It is not the same thing. 6.4L particulate filters also had a tendency to show more white emissions in damp weather.

If the amount of smoke is excessive then I recommend having the truck looked at by your favorite Ford dealer. There is always a chance something else is going on.

 

Ever see the 18 wheelers go down the road now? You can see the same thing when they go into regen.


Normal.


Watch your regen intervals for changes is what I always did. And keep an eye on the exhaust pipe. Should stay grayish...maybe very lightly coated but pretty much clean.


My unloaded regens were around 500 miles..maybe a little more and loaded heavy around 130-150 miles between.


Big hill, long grades I would get the drive to clean and then as I crested it would change and then by the bottom of the hill usually complete.


Didn't happen on every hill but that was all a matter of timing.