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!

 

 

If the regeneration warning keeps coming on too often, have your service center check the ECM software. My 2008 Kenworth T800 with Cummins M11 engine did that a lot, and it took six-plus years of way-too-many trips to the shop for the dealership geniuses to figure out that the software loaded in the ECM was incorrect. Once they got it programmed correctly my DPF warnings went way down.

Granted, your driving conditions are detrimental to any DPF, but this might be something that will help.

 

 

Shorts trips, lots of iding = gas engine. You will have constant problems with the emission system during the life of that ambulance. Why diesel?

 

 

The OP did say ...
20% rise every day for the stated vehicle and usage sounds about right to me. I see a 10% daily increase from driving mine easy during my daily 20-mile (round trip) commute. Engine hour readings say mine is at idle 20% of the total operating hours. I see less of an increase in the colder months. Mine does not have OCR, and it's not unusual for me to go through two auto-regens between refuelings, which equates to a regen about every 200 to 250 miles.

EDIT TO ADD: My refueling records indicate my lifetime operating average has been at 26.7 MPH. My F250 is my daily driver and the odometer reads 10,750 miles since buying it new 18 months ago.

 

Unfortunately there's not much you can do here. Nature of the beast with all that idle time, you can thank the EPA for ruining our trucks.

Not to be anti-Ford on a Ford forum, but my Duramax can regen at idle. May want to look into making the switch

 

To help extend the period between needed regens you could use something like Better Diesel FBC (Fuel Borne Catalyst) or Enerburn. There are a number of us that are using the Better Diesel product and getting 500 miles between regens. Given the usage of your truck you may not get 500 miles. As has been said a number of times in this thread, short trips are tough on the DPF.

 

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.

 

Thanks all for your feedback. So just to be clear, we have not actually received indication that we need to regen. We are trying to stay ahead of it so that we don't get forced to regen on the side of the road. Since we can high idle with our parking brake set, will that help with the negative idling impact? I have a feeling a lot of our drivers are not setting the parking brake when idling as it has yet to become a habit. Also curious how the exhaust brake effects the DPF. Has anybody seen an increase or decrease with exhaust brake on?

As for why we went diesel. We were under the impression that being at 16,800lbs we would have to be diesel. One of our sister departments has gotten fed up with the the whole emissions crap and purchased a Dodge gas ambulance. They run a ton more calls than us and their regen process on their Internationals is brutal. Luckily for them, they have an interstate they can open it up on and blow out the exhaust. My area has traffic lights and wooded areas that don't allow you to get to 55 unless the lights and sirens are on.

 

On the 2017+ 6.7L engine you won't receive a notice to do a regen. At least, not like the prior generation of Superduty trucks would.

I doubt you would could record much difference in the DPF with the exhaust brake on or off.

I suspect that with the right rear axle ratio you could have gone with a gas engine.

 

Anything that creates a cleaner burn will help you. The cleaner the burn, the less soot created. Biodiesel gets a bad rap from a lot of people, but it burns cleaner than normal diesel fuel, although it may require a bit more anti-gel in the winter than normal fuel. Also, a higher cetane rating will cut down the soot load as it creates a more thorough burn. BTW I've never had any biodiesel fuel related issues with my 2012 6.7 and so far with my 2017 6.7.

I would also check with a powerstroke tech at a Ford dealer just to check and see if this is a normal issue for your application as was suggested by others on this thread. Talk to a mechanic directly, sometimes service writers aren't quite up to snuff and many times they will refer you directly to a tech.

I've had more than one tech basically tell me to "get it out on the road and blow it out" and others have said to work it as hard as possible without abusing it, the motor needs to get hot to keep those complicated emissions systems working right. I hope Trump can have his way with the EPA, the trucking lobbyists and associations have his attention regarding the overreach of the EPA and these unreasonable emissions standards that are creating these headaches for truckers. When trucks shut down our country shuts down. Sorry about the off topic rant. Felt good to put it out there.

 

Well "blowing it out" does not help--at least mine. Drive mine on the highway all the time. Went to NM to the ranch and back Friday and Saturday almost 1100 miles. Had to idle in a heavy oil field traffic situation on hwy 285 north of Pecos for almost 2 hours then idle around at the ranch for several hours! Have had 2 regens since then watching my mpg gauge can tell when it is going on. Driving at 85 still took it almost 30 miles to finish the 2nd took about 30 as well but I added some Lucas Deep Clean this am and it took only 10 miles when it started a regen about an hour after adding. Have found that if I have to idle for extended periods that stuff helps shorten the cycles.

Hate what the EPA has done to the oil burners. Afraid this will be my last one.

 

Archoil fuel treatment will help significantly.