Exhaust smell in the cab
 

Was cold this morning, -15c, and I remote started the truck and then left home about 5min later. I could smell exhaust in the cab. I read some of the other threads about this.

How can I tell if it was doing a regen? I have an Edge Insight. Is the a parameter I can display to know the regen was active?

Steve. On the Insite when in regen at top of screen you will see a red R if in regen. the parameter you can have on screen is dpf soot. when it hits. about 2.67 it will trigger a regen. you will also see that light come on. when it is done regen about 10 miles the light will go off,but if you watch soot it will still keep lowering for about 3 miles.

A regen will not start until the oil is 150°F.

You're truck won't go into regen mode unless it's at a certain temperature I'm pretty sure. Your problem is most likely a loose fitting on your exhaust. If you lay under your truck and look up where the down pipe is with a flash light you will see a brass fitting way up near the top of your down pipe. You need to push yourself up with your right arm and streatch all the way up with your left arm to reach it and tighten it. If you have short arms you'll need a tall friend to help, or better yet bring it to a dealer/shop. It's a quick 30 second fix if you can do it yourself. I cant gaurantee that this will fix your problem but this is usually what the problem is for the exhaust smell in the cab.

OK, wasn't a regen then as the truck was nowhere near that warm.

I'll see if I can get up in there to check that fitting today. Truck is in the back of my shop making a big mess as the snow melts off it :)

Good luck:-X22. Iirc it's a 16mm wrench to snug it up.

I've experienced this problem a few times after a remote start as well. In my case though, the wind was blowing out of the north, carrying exhaust fumes from the pipe into the defrost intake beneath the windshield, since below a certain temp, remote start automatically starts the defrosters. WHen the wind is still or coming from another direction, I don't have this issue. Something to consider?

Yeah, all depends if it's a "real" diesel smell or the stinky post emissions diesel smell.
I know DEF doesn't come into play with a cold start but the exhaust still has the modern emissions diesel stink to it.

I have definitely smelt the DPF burnt exhaust, and the smell of ammonia... very faint but it happens. Only when I am stopped at a light. It is almost like a back draft.

What I am not used to in the cold weather is all of the water vapor coming out of the exhaust, makes it look like a gasser!

Next time you smell it, see if you can tell the wind direction. If it is coming from behind your truck, then the wind is likely carrying it into your HVAC intake. You're more likely to smell it in the winter than in the summer, because you seldom - if ever - use recirculation with heat/defrost as you would with with max A/C.

For the mornings I start my truck and let it high idle for a few, I turn on the defrost + floor heat option and then I can turn on recirculate.
Recirc will stay on for about 7-8 minutes before it turns off on it's own.
That keeps the exhaust out of the cab.

Of course this is because I have to walk out to my truck to start it.

That's true. I was only considering automatic operation of the climate control via remote start. Manual operation would help keep the fumes out though by using recirc. I don't mind the smell in small doses. It reminds me that it's a truck. I prefer the smell of burned diesel over the smell of unleaded any day.

It is hard to get that smell from our truck. Seems to be either a clean sweet smell, a burnt DPF smell, or a eye watering ammonia smell. I too miss that hint of cleanly burnt diesel smell like on my old 6.0. Forget a tuned unrestricted truck... that much diesel exhaust could give me cancer and make me puke in the same whiff!

Hi PlayersZ28,

It sounds like the technicians at your local dealership would be in the best position to assist. Please send me via PM your VIN, full name, best daytime phone number, odometer reading, and servicing dealer so I can do some research for you.

Bianca

Thanks Bianca, haven't noticed it the last couple of days so maybe it was related to the wind and the remote start. I'll keep a nose out for it and see if it happens again.