I recently bought a certified used 2012 F-350 a couple of weeks ago. I was reading the diesel insert in the owners manual and came across the exaust filter cleaning notification. I have already put almost 3000 miles on the truck and have yet to see the notification. My brother has a 2013 and said that his comes on every week. I don't know what the previous owner did to the truck, if anything. It is very clean and everything else is stock. I am averaging over 19 mpg combines and it runs great. This is my first diesel truck and I am certain that I will never go back to gas. Any help or suggestions are appreciated.

 

Welcome to FTE!

It's just a quick 3 second notification in the cluster, easy to miss.

 

Thank you Sir!

I have been very observant of the cluster and actively looking for the notification for the last 2000 miles. I don't think that I have missed it as I have also been listening and feeling everything as well.

 

Have you gotten under the truck and looked to see if a delete pipe has replaced the DOC/DPF/SCR assembly? Heavy sooting of the exhaust tips noticed?
If the truck had been "deleted", it would no longer regen. But being certified it should be intact.....should.....

 

The assembly is still there. It does have heavy sooting on the tips, to the point that I have a hard time keeping them clean. Also, I have had to refill the DEF once.

 

If the exhaust tips have heavy sooting you have a problem. Should be clean as a whistle.

 

I agree. If you have any kind of warranty you are owed a repair. Since you probably are not getting a check engine light, the system may have been tampered with.

 

Get an Edge Insight CTS or CTS2 gauge. You can monitor soot levels, EGTs and regen status. The regen light comes on my CTS right before the display notification, but stays on until the regen is complete 20-30 minutes later. I don't know whether it is the Opti-Lube Summer Plus, the AR6200, winter fuel, cold temps or my 5-Star Daily Tow tune, but my regens have gone from about every 350 miles to between 500-600 miles now. I am pretty sure there is a mileage timeout at around 600 miles because my soot levels were low at the time the regen started. The point is that I know all this because of the Edge monitor. My tailpipe is clean, BTW.
When new, my regens started with about 3.5 grams per liter (gpl) and now, any where from 1.4 to 3 gpl.

 

Welcome to the forum, FtWorth6.7; congrats on the truck! Since you're concerned, I'd recommend making an appointment at your dealership to have things checked out. What's the current mileage on your rig?

Crystal

 

If you have soot on the tips your DPF is probably cracked, if you have a warranty go get it replaced! If you dont have a warranty time for the DPF to fall off and get the truck tuned

 

73,000+ miles and I can still wipe the inside of my tailpipe and have a clean fingertip.

Sure sounds like you have a problem.

 

Some people have attempted to "hollow out" the DPF tube in order to pass visual inspections in states that so require. If you're still going through DEF, chances are the system is intact. However, it could be that the DPF is defective or broken and soot is flowing on past. As others have said, the tips should stay incredibly clean.

 

While my truck was still stock, I started getting soot on the pipe tips and even noticed black smoke exiting the pipes in the mirrors from time to time. The DPF media was cracked, but it still maintained enough backpressure to not trigger a CEL. It only ever went through a regen based on miles though, rather than soot load. I took it to the dealer and let them handle it. They ran the truck through a whole bunch of testing and decided that they agreed with me when I said the DPF was cracked. They replaced the assembly under warranty. It looks great leaning up in the corner of my garage now.

 

It's easy to see a Regen, watch your oil temp gauges they will go up especially the engine oil temp, transmission will go up also,engine oil it will constantly be changing at least my 15 6.7 does.

 

I've bought it with 54k and I now have over 57k miles. The rear pipe after the split has a thicker buildup than the pipe closer to the cab. I called the dealership and the guy that I talked to said that some trucks take a couple of thousand miles before the regen takes place. I will say that I am very easy on the pedal, if that makes any difference. I do appreciate everyone's input and will be making an appointment for next week.