Almost exactly at the same place about 70 miles from home. This time speed got reduced to 50 mph on the turnpike where speed limit is 75. It was very uncomfortable trying to roll down the highway 25 to 35 mph slower than the rest of the traffic...

We (again) decided to cut our day short and head home. After a while, the fault cleared (again), so we went back to what we were doing.

After a while, the fault came back for keeps. After 50 miles we got the message that the truck was going to idle soon. I left it at the dealership (they're closed) and will see them in the morning. After shutting it off for a while, I was curious if it would really go to idle, so I started it up to see. I got the message that at was in idle mode, but could rev it and moved it a few feet at higher than idle speed. Whatever, I guess, but I'm tired of being afraid to drive anywhere because of this stupid DEF system.

Now I have to let someone screw with my truck again. I hope they don't scratch it this time.

 

While I like the DEF system, the way it’s implemented could be modified.
It’s one thing to have an engine failure and the truck prevent us from driving and further damage but being stranded over a emissions fault is dumb.
What should have been implemented is a 24 or 48 hour rule.
If a fault occurs in the DEF system, it’s clearly drivable right?
The DEF is there to reduce emissions so allow us to drive for 24 hours and then shut the truck down if we can’t get it to a dealer by then.
I can’t imagine any DEF system fault causing major issues with other components.
Is that incorrect?

 

My wife has been hearing me say virtually the same thing since this happened. It's really a stupid way of handling it, but I think I read somewhere that it was government mandated. I guess that would explain the lunacy of putting my family at risk of being stranded over the risk that I might cause more global warming by driving my truck more than 50 miles...

And the 50 mph limit... Great idea, especially for those places you might be that have 75 or 80 mph posted limits.

 

Yes government mandated emissions control, air is more important than getting yourself and your family to a more secure location.
If I have an engine fault out in the woods, I'm an understanding person.
I'll deal with it.
If I'm stuck in the woods because of a DEF fault, I'll be less understanding!

Again, I like the system. Need DEF 2.0 already though.

Edit: GM had to beg the government for an emissions pass last winter.
They couldn't get their DEF system working and they had more strict parameters than Ford.
Rendered trucks useless.
At least we can drive ours until we shut them down.

 

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa just disable the radio if you dont get it fixed!!!! Or better yet just have a light on the dash that shows some dead indangered species.

 

Can you get a scanguage, clear the code and keep rolling?

 

Does anyone have a system where you can delete the def system and the diesel particulate filter and the regeneration but still keep the same stock engine tune. I am happy with the power the truck has stock and I don't want to mess with any of the stock programming other than to get away from these kind of problems.

 

I wondered the exact same thing. I went home and got the code reader - I decided not to try and reset it, so I'm not 100% sure if that wouldn't have worked, but it told me that there were no active codes. Could be the age of the reader, I don't know, but it's OBDII.

I was thinking that I might carry it with me and just reset the stupid thing every 50 miles and not get stranded next time. Would love to know if this is possible.

 

I would be happy if there was just some way of disabling the 50mph limit and the shut down to idle "feature." Just give me a warning and I'll get it fixed when I can. Restricting my speed to an unsafe limit or stranding me when I'm out of town is just stupid.

 

Yes, you can run the H&S black maxx on the "no power" setting and it uses the stock calibrations with DPF etc deleted. You would still have warranty issues though.

For me it was easy to get rid of my wattanty so I could get my truck out of the shop and drive it.

 

Because the service department - or, more correctly, the diesel tech - where I bought the truck didn't seem to care about respecting it enough not to scratch up the interior and leave grease everywhere, I left the truck at the very small dealership in the town where I live.

What a difference... This service manager nodded the whole time I was describing the problem, then told me that they had seen quite a few come back with bad level sensors. I told him that my message display said the level was OK, but he said it could still get a fault. I also said I was concerned leaving it with someone again since I have had problems in the past with vehicles coming back to me with new damage. He made me feel pretty good that they would be careful with it, and if anything did happen, they'd take care of it.

I feel much better about this place than the previous one. I wonder if they would have just replaced the level sensor the first time. We'll see how it goes; maybe I've found my next dealership.

Mainly, I wanted to let anyone else who might have the same problem know that the DEF level sensors seem to be a problem area.

 

They just called and said it was a NOX sensor. It'll be in tomorrow.

 

It is all about finding the right dealership. The large ones definitely see more vehicles come through but in my experience you get the best customer service from the small town dealerships. They need your future business, or at least value it more, than the large dealerships.

 

It looks like this one isn't going to be the right dealership either. The only phone call I've received from them was one on Monday telling me the truck would be ready Tuesday. It wasn't, and they never bothered to call and let me know it wouldn't be. Despite promising me that it would be ready today, and that they would call, neither happened. Now they say they're confident it will be ready tomorrow.

I said I *really* needed a truck tomorrow and reminded them that they had told me twice already that the truck would be ready, and they said they couldn't do anything for me.

Good grief... I wonder how much I'll be able to cram into the Fiesta tomorrow.

 

I hear ya, 20 days at the dealer Oct/Nov/Dec 2010 was the reason I deleted all that crap!