My son purchased a 2011 6.7 with 160000 miles in TX and on the way home to WI the screen says "reduced engine power" and "Drive to clean exhaust". He filled the DEF and fuel tank before leaving and the only thing that's not working is the fuel sender, tank always reads empty. Any thoughts? He has been driving on the highway for 10 hours this way. He says the service engine light is on. The concern is going into severe limp mode and not making it home. Also the messages come on the screen every 50 miles.

 

The drive to clean message is usually seen when folks do short drives and the truck doesn't run long enough to complete an active regen.

Driving for 10 hours straight, I would not think he would have a problem with a regen completing.

 

450 miles so far. He just stopped at a rest area to get some rest.

 

Tell him to try driving in 5th gear. That should put more heat and air volume through the dpf to help clean it out.

 

It is kind of hard to know without knowing what code is turning on the service engine light.

There is what is called "Engineer Mode" that he can try to read codes, not sure if it works on a 2011. You press and hold down the "DOWN" button on the left side of the steering wheel and then put in the key and turn it to run (Not Start), In a few seconds a screen will change and press the "DOWN" button three times to read codes. I don't think it gives you an option to clear them.

 

Thanks! We will see what he can find and update the post.

 

Bottom line advice -this is not normal - get it to a dealer that does a lot of diesel work and have a tech read the system. I have been stuck in a lot of places, and have found them most helpful and efficient (less than an hour hooked up) in telling you what needs to be done. Whether you choose to do it, where, when and how is up to you. But I think California requires some epa reporting if you don'the fix the emissions on the spot, so get it done outside of CA if possible.

There is a duty cycle for the exhaust filter manual says 120k miles depending upon a great variety of issues. Lots of folks have made it well past 160k miles, but most of them are daily long haul drivers/towers. Idling and short trips are the worst for the filter life and everything else. Before getting too plugged a long towing highway trip on a hot day can do a lot to Clean it out, and extend it's life, but once too plugged it will give crappy mileage before it warms up enough to go into regen, and even worse once regen starts. In cold temps, even harder.

Last time i saw posts on this, the filter options were that it could be removed and cleaned (I think via a core exchange so it is same day) for about $2,500, or replaced for about $3,500. Don't just go out and do this. A technician with tools can read the back pressure sensors and tell you what is going on .

Is the check engine light on as he drives?

If he turns on the key, but does not start the engine, does the check engine light light up? (Has someone disabled that light??)

If key on and light lights up but when running no check engine light is lit, system is working properly. All error codes should still be in the control module memory, and the steering wheel process should reveal them -- unless someone removed the error codes intentionally. Removing the codes usually turns off the check engine light until the underlying fault occurs again.

The steering wheel process reveals codes, but you need a listing of codes to tell you what the jibberish means. There is a listing of codes on this forum. Many auto parts stores have code readers and a listing of what codes mean. Clearing a code just takes it out if memory, it does not fix any underlying cause.

 

To drive in 5th gear with an automatic, put gear selector in M rather than D. Use the "+" and "-" selector on the gear selector to move through the gears be careful not to over Rev the engine.

 

I had the same thing happen and you won't like the answer. Because the fuel sender is not working, the system will not go into a region mode because fuel is required to run the vehicle in the region mode. The only fix is to drop the fuel tank and install a new sender.

 

Tried the Engineering Mode and no DTS codes. He tried 3X and nothing.

 

We wondered if that was a factor or not. The check engine light came on about 10 miles into his trip. The center display comes on every 50 miles wanting to regen. So now the big question is how far can he go the way it is and would the system go into a more severe limp mode?

 

I don't have my manual in front of me, but it will eventually go into a more severe limp mode. Also, I believe it will also got to a point where you cannot drive it. I'll see if I can find that info for you.

 

You can also just tap the "-" while it is in gear and the 6 on the screen should go dark. That means it is locked out.

 

As best as I can tell from various diagrams there is no pump in the tank, just a pick up tube. The low pressure lift pump is in with the water seperator. May just need the filters changed. I would definitely try that before spending $2000+.

 

The "Reduced Engine Power" message can be displayed for several reasons. In this case, the continuous low fuel level indication is the likely cause. Going back to the 6.0L and 6.4L days, a P115A DTC would accompany any fuel sender DTC's if the vehicle had been operated for extended periods of time with the fault present. This is a function of the engine calibration. While the DTC P115A does not appear in the 6.7L diagnostic documentation, fuel level indication DTC's do exist and I suspect the calibration strategy for the low fuel level or fuel sensor circuit faults still is present for the 6.7L engine.

The 6.0L would have a low power condition, the 6.4L would literally cause the truck to buck repeatedly, and the 6.7L being a little more refined will reduce power and send you a message if the truck is equipped with a message center. The idea is to get your attention and fill the fuel tank before you run out of fuel... or to fix the fuel level indication system.

First order of business is to have the vehicle properly scanned for DTC's and diagnose all faults. With the only other symptom being the fuel gauge malfunction, my bet is that once that is diagnosed and repaired the engine derate condition will clear. I also suspect there might be more going on with this truck but without a real diagnostic session and DTC's from the PCM... running the Instrument Cluster Diagnostics is not going to do that for you.