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We have several 6.7 regent ambulances in our fleet. We tried to get a emergency vehicle variance from ADOT or EPA, saying that we could not afford to have them shut down to limp-mode with a critical patient in the back. No dice.
What we have told our personnel assigned to those rescues is when you see the yellow wrench warning light, go out of service, get to a freeway, and drive 40 miles round trip. It’s a huge PITA, but it’s all you can do.
We have several 6.7 regent ambulances in our fleet. We tried to get a emergency vehicle variance from ADOT or EPA, saying that we could not afford to have them shut down to limp-mode with a critical patient in the back. No dice.
Of course. Because the insignificant effect of one ambulance on the environment is way more important than a human life.
What we have told our personnel assigned to those rescues is when you see the yellow wrench warning light, go out of service, get to a freeway, and drive 40 miles round trip. It’s a huge PITA, but it’s all you can do.
You don't have the ability to do an Operator Commanded Regen? The lower trims can do it from the factory, perhaps if you have the right package added (not sure). I have a Lariat and if I understand the process correctly that feature can be added to my truck through Forscan.
Keith,
I don't believe you will be stranded on the side of the road to perform a regen, the truck will warn you in the DIC to "drive to clean" should it get that far. As was mentioned also, check to see if you have the OCR feature enabled.
Check to see if you have the Diesel Particulate Filter Status screen available under Truck Info
The status screen and OCR capability can be enabled via FORScan. An OCR takes 30 minutes to completely clean from Full to 0%. You can also interrupt an OCR and do not need to wait until it completes. I would highly recommend it for your needs.
Keith,
I don't believe you will be stranded on the side of the road to perform a regen, the truck will warn you in the DIC to "drive to clean" should it get that far. As was mentioned also, check to see if you have the OCR feature enabled.
We do have the OCR enabled. Will keep an eye on the DFP status screen to see if it ever gets above 80%. This is all new to us. Our previous ambulances are 2005 and 2008 International 4300's. We didn't have to mess with all this crap on them.
Thank you everyone for your feedback and agreeing that this sucks!
We do have that screen and do OCR based on it getting high. 452 miles to E? I am jealous of your fuel economy. We are averaging 7 - 7.5MPG and topping off 3 times a week.
Are you trying to say our Fords cannot? There has been more than one occasion where I've been mid-regen and had to stop at an errand-store on the way home, shut it off, got out & locked the doors, then immediately restarted via remote-start. Come back 10 minutes later and the regen DPF% gauge has dropped further and continued to drop while driving the rest of the way home. Have done the same thing when I was mid-regen upon getting home ... immediately restart after exiting and the regen continued while idling in my driveway. I do not have OCR.
The OP said that idling wasn't creating enough heat to keep the DPF clean which I misinterpreted as him saying it was not regenerating at idle.
I also thought I remembered reading something about the conditions for a 6.7 regen including having the engine coolant up to a certain temp (shared requirement by the Dmax), and also having to be above 35 mph. Maybe I am remembering incorrectly.
There used to be a good ford pdf that explained the dirrecernce between passive, active, commanded regens
a passive occurs when ever the exhuast hits the burn off temps.....no fuel injection is needed
an active is triggered by excessive back pressure...it requires engine to be at operating temp and speeds of plus 35mph and fuel injection is needed into the exhaust to start the burn
commanded is initiated by the service person
if anyone knows the pdf I am referring too please post
I also thought I remembered reading something about the conditions for a 6.7 regen including having the engine coolant up to a certain temp (shared requirement by the Dmax), and also having to be above 35 mph. Maybe I am remembering incorrectly.
Yes, engine temperature should be at normal operating levels, though I did witness a regen with a cold truck on a 35°F day (probably the every-500-mile sequence thing). Regens on the highway take longer because the heat from the exhaust system is being pulled away by higher airflow. I regularly have regens go from full to 0% in a 9- to 10-mile commute home (average 25 MPH), mostly because airflow is not dissipating the heat as much. If I notice regen taking place in town, I switch to tow-mode to alter the shift points for higher engine RPM (more heat).
Good Evening. Just purchased a 2018 F550 for use as an ambulance. We've noticed that it tells us our DPF needs to be cleaned constantly. Last Saturday, it was saying it was at 70%. We ran it through a manual regen and it went to 0%. On Monday, it showed it was at 60% again. Due to the usage of the vehicle, it goes through very short trips (average trip is 4 minutes at high speed) and it idles while we are on-scene dealing with patients. When the parking brake is set, the unit will switch to a high idle, but it does not appear to be a high enough idle to keep the DPF clean. Is there any way to handle this effectively without having to force a weekly regen? Not having the unit idle on-scene is not an option as it keeps the emergency lights and equipment running in the back. We also use the exhaust brake consistently (it is a heavy unit, with the box on the back, so we appreciate the help getting it to stop). Does the exhaust brake have any impact on the DPF?
Thanks in advance!
dont stare at your dpf percentage because it’s just an assumption the ipc calculates based off a psi reading the ecm reports. Being it’s a squad that seems like sees heavy use it will regenerate a lot. If it starts regeneration at intervals less than 50miles (keep in mind 1 engine idle hour is the equivalent to 25 miles) then I would take it in. Otherwise it’s perfectly normal just be sure to let the procedure complete and you will be fine. In retrospect depending on numerous variables you could technically drive 25 miles and idle for 1 hr and it could be full. Extreme but possible.
We have the same rig on my department. The situation is the same, however it usually cleans itself out on the highway on the way to and from the hospital.
