Okay guys this is a lengthy one but I’d appreciate the help... I’ve searched a ton and found some info but never specifically what I’m curious on.. I work for cummins so I am familiar with after treatment systems and how they operate. However my last truck 18 cummins hardly ever went into a regen it seemed like and I monitored that truck and my new 19 f350 with an edge insite and forscan. Also very rarely does the trick get driven less than 150+ miles per trip highway driving I don’t daily drive it. SO:

It seems I average between 300-350 miles per regen. It seems that’s normal across the board?? Just seems very often from prior experience.

I notice the truck won’t regen until the dpf load reached 100% full about 8.35 gpl also seems odd it waits until its 100% full... unless however the 100% full is simply a threshold that the truck thinks it needs a regen and is not truly 100% full.. again from cummins experience 100% full is never good we regen way before that.

I also notice that once a regen has started it has never “burned” down below 30-38% and around 3-3.15 gpl.. also seems weird as at cummins we will burn until damn near 0 across the board..

keep in mind that when a regen starts I set Cruise if I can and stay between 40-65 if I can and have never had it kick out because I hit the throttle/brakes etc. to give it the best chance of completing. I’m only at 2,000 miles give or take and wanted some reassurance if possible. What do you guys think, is this normal??

Normally the truck regents for about 30 minutes but today it went from 100 to 38 in 5 minutes! Weird..

On a side note I know I saw it somewhere but haven’t found it since how many miles are you getting between def fill ups? I’m at half tank at 2k miles.


thanks so much for any help I understand some of the things I’m asking may be into engineering territory but I know a bunch of it is things you guys have experienced.

 

I use the idash. So far, my 2020 will regen starting with the dash reporting 100% soot load and will regen down to zero%. Around 10 miles.

I have not had a regen in over 800 miles though due to towing.

I don't keep track of the grams.

 

it was my understanding that the truck won’t go over 500 miles without a regen?? Is that different for the new 2020? Also I’m only keeping track of grams as I’m trying to figure all this data out since the 6.7 ford platform is new to me.. interesting yours will go down to 0% thanks for the reply!

 

500 miles has been the reported mandatory regen for several years. Indeed, most will do so.

What changes things is towing, and heavy towing at that.

Mine is an XLT with the option to disable the auto regen. So I know when it needs to as it will prompt to clean it. Well over 800 miles am I am at 20% soot load.

My previous truck, the Unicorn, I could tow from Maryland to Colorado without a regen. EGT's that run 700 to 800 for most of the towing miles ensures the DPF will stay at or near zero%.

 

very interesting I tow as well however it’s about 30% unloaded 30% with 10k (travel trailer) and 40% with only about 4K (car trailer with rzr) so not very heavy at all

sure wish mine would burn down below 30% and I wouldn’t worry much about it..

 

Mine will go to zero... but surprised how fast it gets back up to 100%. Haven't tracked it by mileage tho and is my daily driver so doesn't help that I am stopped a lot.

 

Bottom line up front (BLUF): Nothing abnormal about what you describe. Stop looking for problems and just enjoy your truck.

There is no short, easy explanation of the DPF regeneration scheme. How it works for you is how it works for you. Everyone has a different experience since everyone uses their vehicle differently. I have never, repeat NEVER, had two regens go exactly the same. That's because I can't precisely replicate the conditions. I can get somewhat close, but a little traffic and things go differently. And then there is the belief that you might actually know how it works. Good luck with that. There are many, many parameters for the function of a regen. Just when you think you understand it, it does something you didn't expect. I used to think that if it stopped a regen before getting to zero, that was it and it would start climbing again. I had to park the truck and the regen stopped at around 60 percent. I got back on the road a couple hours later and as I was on the highway, it started the regen again. I had to get off the road again and it stopped at 30% and wouldn't go back into regen. So, I believe that it will get down to a certain level -and no, I don't know what that level is- and that will be good enough and it won't go back into regen.

I have my DPF screed turned on. I go into regen at 99%. There is no 100% on my display. So, 99% is as high as it goes. I can almost always regen down to zero. But not always. It sometimes stops at around 30% if I get caught in traffic.

I have found that if I drive at around 70MPH and lock the trans in Fourth to get the RPM up to around 2.5K that the regens go pretty fast, like 10 minutes for from 99% to zero. Again, it depends upon traffic.

If you read your owner's manual, you will see that regens occur normally between 100 to 500 mile intervals. That's what is written in the manual. Someone's opinion here is irrelevant. The 500 mile interval is the longest the truck will go without a regen. That occurs when you're pulling heavy with high exhaust temperature that passively burns off the soot. An active regen under those conditions doesn't last very long since there's not really very much soot to burn off. I strongly encourage you to read your owner's manual. There is a lot of very useful information in there particularly when it comes to the diesel operation.

 

what are you monitoring with? And what year is your truck?

 

i understand everything you’re saying. Thanks for all of the info. All I was getting at when I said I understand the system is how they work in general as in how it builds heat across a catalyst traps soot and all of that I deal with the systems for a living but not on a ford platform. Thank you for all your information. I suppose the only thing that really had me concerned is mine has never been at 0%. Thanks again for the reply!

 

They are all certainly a little different. Type of use has a lot to do with it.

Know what your truck does is what is important. If things change then you can begin to see what is wrong or changed and why.

 

I monitor mine with the Edge CTS2. I'm seeing an average between regens around 370 to 385 miles. When towing my 14k actual weight 5th wheel, it doesn't change much for average regen distance. Same as yours OP, mine only drops to around 30%, a few times I've seen it drop to the mid 20's. In comparison to my last truck, a GM Duramax, that truck would go 600 to 700 miles between regens, and a couple times towing I saw it almost get to 800 miles. Also if you interrupted the regen on the Duramax, it continued the regen the next time the truck was driven until it reached zero.

 

sounds like we are seeing about the same numbers.. and I’m sure ford knows what they are doing in fact maybe them wanting more frequent regens is better in the long run that other brands hard to say.. I’m not an engineer simply a diesel mechanic. My only wish is it would burn to 0% thanks for the reply!

 

Mine goes from 99% to "Full" on the dash. When it's "full" it's really only 1/3 full, if that makes sense so don't think if it as being 100% blocked. It was described to me that way by the diesel tech at the dealership. I turn off my auto regen also and consistently go over 500 miles between regens. Try doing an OCR and it will go to 0% and it won't fill up as fast.

 

sorry what does OCR mean? Is that just a manual regen? Never heard that abbreviation before. Also does yours normally go down to 0%?

 

Operator Commanded Regen, yes it's a manual or static regen. Yes it always goes to zero.