I have a '16 F250 w 5000 miles on it. At 2000 miles it said def was under 1/2 full. Got a jug and put just under 2.5 gal and filled it. At 4300 miles the 500 miles to empty message appeared. Called the dealer I bought the pickup from and he said that's just the way it is. Not the correct answer for me. I got another 2.5 gal and it took around 2 gal to fill it then. I've noticed it cleans the filter ever 100-120 miles. 90% of the miles is highway @ 100 miles each way. Took it to another dealer this morning after I topped it off w 3/4-1 gal of def and he said I'm not giving it enough time to clean the filter completely. I told him that the message came on 70 miles from the house which takes right under 1 hour to drive. He still said I don't give it enough time. He also told me it was 239% plugged and w him manually cleaning the filter it's now down to 0%. My question is how does it get 239%?? Let alone when it's mainly highway miles?
The dealer today said there is not a code, but there is a pcm update, so they updated it. Hopefully that will resolve the issue. If not it might be going on a diet in the near future.

 

Apparently I'm the only one with this problem?? Was hoping for some feedback.

 

DEF and DPF are not the same.


When you fill your Def tank you should fill it all the way. I fill mine at the 50 percent mark so I just buy 2.5 container and top it off. You can also get def at the pump at many truck stops.


Now for the DPF. How you drive greatly affect the distance between regen. I have seen the same regen pattern you have. If I drive on normal diesel and during san diego rush hours I can see regen every 120 miles. The truck never gets hot enough to do a passive regen. I have corrected this buy using a low carbon diesel fuel called HPR diesel and not driving in town like its a car. Towing will clean out the DPF and give you longer distant between regen. But you need to tow often. The truck will also do a regen every 500 or 600 miles regularizes of how dirty the DPF is. In short the diesel engine likes to be worked hard. If you drive like a grand parent you will have more regen.

 

I drive 90% on the interstate 75-80mph. Both times I topped it off or filled completely. My question was how could it be 239% and not throw any codes? Then the tech told me that I didn't drive it long enough to complete the regen cycle. That I should always see a exhaust filter cleaning complete message. This is my 3rd 6.7l PSD and have never had an issue in the past nor seen that message before. After the tech told me that I told him I drove it for another hour at 75-80mph to which he responded w it should've been longer like 60 miles. i even shifted down to 5th gear when I seen a cleaning filter message and apparently that didn't work either. I didn't buy my diesel for a grocery getter like some do, I bought it to pull whatever we need to on the farm.
I also understand def or diesel exhaust fluid or urea is not the same as dpf or diesel particulate filter as I never mentioned that they were.

 

That all sounds like a bunch of dealer BS to me. I do mostly city driving. Mine regens about every 160-200 miles. Sometimes it finishes sometimes it doesn't. But it doesn't affect the next regen. My gauge shows about 100% soot when it starts. If it only goes down to say 60% before I get home, it will regen again when it hits 100%. When I drive it on the highway it goes much longer. When I tow with it it goes even longer between regens. I've only had my truck for 9 months but I have had zero problems with city driving and regens. I think the dealer is off on this one.

 

You are confusing issues. DEF has nothing to do the Soot %. Topping off the DEF is just filling a storage tank with Diesel Exhaust Fluid. DEF is used in the SCR portion of your exhaust to clean the NOx out of the exhaust. IT DOES NOTHING for cleaning the Soot out of the DPF

Realize you have a Catalytic Converter (Cat) , a Diesel Particulate Filter(DPF), and a Selective Catalyst Reduction (SCR) built into that cruise missile under your truck that they call an exhaust pipe.

The Active ( or Passive )Regen process takes place in the DPF where soot is caught by the filter and the regens burn that soot off with high temps. A Passive regen take place anytime your exhaust exceeds 572°F Active Regens take place when ever your computer senses certain critera has been met. Usually when the soot % exceeds a certain number or when you have driven a certain number of miles. It usually creates temps in the 1100-1200° range and cleans much faster than the Passive Regen would

On Edit, Realize that driving 70-75 mph on the interstate produces low 500° temps. So unless you are climbing grades, towing, or seriously romping on it to create high turbo boost, You are not getting enough heat to do any passive regens. And you are definitely not keeping the temps hot enough to do 20-30 minutes of passive regen


You soot % will trigger a regen usually around 2.75 to 3.50% and the regen will clean it down to around 1.10- 1.20%.

When your tech said 239% he probably meant 2.39%

So your truck sounds like it is performing with in it's normal specs.

As far as filling the DEF tank. I find that the way they measure the amount of DEF is pretty flaky. It often says it's 500 miles to empty, You dump in 2.5 gallon jug and it still reports that you are close to empty. Since DEF dries out and crystalizes very eaily, I suspect there are just crystals that form over one of more or the sensors that are above the fluid line and when you fill the tank it just takes a little time to disolve those crystals before you get an accurate reading. ( which is only OK, below Half or 500 miles to empty) Don't expect your DEF fill level to ever be very accurate.

 

Fill the DEF when the truck tells you to fill it up, and not any time sooner. This means wait until the driver information display pops up on startup telling you XXX miles until empty.

The more it's topped off, the greater the chance of having issues with it not resetting the miles to empty.

As for the regen, as stated above it sounds normal. I noticed my 15 did frequent regens until it started getting some miles on it and pulling more trailers.

You'll get more regens and less DEF usage driving empty highway. If you were pulling a trailer, you'd use more DEF and have less frequent regens.

 

I wait until the 500 miles to empty message appears. I note the mileage when I see that message. Sometime within the next 150 miles, I fill the tank. One container is always used up and the second tank of DEF is maybe around 3/4 used up. Sometime after driving 200-300 miles I dump what was left in the second DEF bottle in the tank. Last filled in late Aug 2015, which was approximately 2000 miles ago. Still show OK on Def fluid level.
The regens are another story. I think many peoples regens vary based on factors that are unique to their driving environment. I have had no problems except when pulling a trailer in Colorado mountains. Torque Pro shows my temps, soot level %, and regen status. When I drive only the truck on highways/expressways at 70-80 mph, my egt temps are always in the 600+ range. Sometimes my regens start at 140% soot level on torque pro; the last regen started 120%. I can go on a 60-70 mile highway trip at fast speeds and it usually won't start the regen until I am about a mile from home. Currently I am just under 13,000 miles on the truck. No issues except pulling trailer in mountains. Combined truck/trailer weight is 26500 lbs. That is scale weight loaded, all fuel tanks full, 25 gals of water in trailer, black and grey water tanks empty.