Hey all,
When my dash says cleaning exhaust filter it only stays on for a minute at most. Is this normal. I was under the impression that the regen process takes longer. My truck is running great its an 2010 with about 3500mi. This is my first diesel and im trying to learn as much as possible about it before I remove the dpf and put the spartan tunes on it.
Thanks
SJM

 

My truck regens for about eight minutes on average at highway speeds. It should definately be longer than one minute but remember you must be at speeds greater than 30mph for the process to complete.

 

you have the latest pcm program that just flashes the message accross the screen. Some of us have an older program that will allow the message to stay on the screen till complete.

To view your info to see if still cleaning simply go to the buttons on the right hand side of the message center, hit the middle button, then the reset button I believe to get it to go thru all the diagnostics. Last one should say cleaning exhaust filter for a few seconds then will disappear.

Regens will vary per user/use/weather and who knows what else. My regens happen around every 150 miles when towing and 500 miles empty and last about 10 miles.

Trick is try to avoid the regen and stop and go driving at the same time. Try to avoid that so that you don't take longer than needed and avoid the making of oil. Extra fuel washing down the cylinder walls into the oil pan

Higher RPM's avoid this.

 

I have a OBD II reader that shows the temperature of the DPF. When I regen cycle starts I watch the temp. It heats up to 1200-1250 degrees and I drive the truck in ways to keep this 1200 degree temp in the DPF. I hope that this keeps the regen cycle as short as possible, and also as effective as possible.

During stop and go, the temp in the DPF will drop to 1050-1150, then when I can get rolling it heats back up the the 1200 range. This tells me that hotter is better and that it "wants" to be in the 1200 degree range.

So, try to keep it hot when the cycle begins and this should make the event last no longer than it needs to.

 

I believe I've challenged this statement before . . . and perhaps different flash versions are different (I have the October '08 flash where the cleaning exhaust filter message stays on until the process is complete) . . . but I don't have to stay above 30mph for the REGEN process to continue/complete. Once the process is begun, I can be at any speed, even stopped, and it continues to completion . . . provided that I don't take the shifter out of Drive to neutral. Once I go to N or P the process aborts. Until I do so it will continue, for instance, sitting at a red light as long as I remain in D.

 

My first regen happened at 1100 miles. Since then, it has happened every 270 - 290 miles., as I do mostly city driving with a freeway every now and then. I have the quick message that tells me cleaning exhaust filter and then disappears. My question is, I never get a message telling me the cycle is complete or ended. Only way I know is that the MPGs go up... Thoughts?
I have also heard that using a cetane booster extends the interval of regen as well...what do you guys think?

 

LarryNKS,

You are correct. I did not word what I was trying to say very well. The regen process will continue however it does not clean while you are stopped at a red light. The cleaning process will start again when you climb above 30 mph.

 

I use a cetane additive and I have regens almost every 150 miles. However, I am towing 98% of the time.

 

No one has ever gotten the cleaning cycle complete message.

 

OKay this makes sense. My truck has probably gone into regen 6-7 times in 3500 miles. I kept wondering how you know when its complete. I always try to drive for a while at highway speeds. How does eveyone know when the regen is complete?
I think my truck is working just fine. I got confused when people kept talking about how long it took, I assumed they had that message for the whole regen.
SJM

 

Exactly Senix. No one gets the message that the cleaning cycle is complete, but the literature that came with my 2010 says a message of "EXHAUST FILTER DRIVE COMPLETE" is suppose to be displayed when the DPF has been adequately cleaned after the "DRIVE TO CLEAN EXHAUST FILTER" followed by " CLEANING EXHAUST FILTER" messages have been displayed. So I wonder if there is a FORD malfunction again ? I assume none of the 2010's are doing this? I know mine hasn't. Probably not a big deal.

 

yes some like me have the message the whole time so I know when it is done..others do not.

At any rate, I would just drive the truck. As long as you do a mix of both, work the motor good then you should be fine.

 

I plan the to just drive me truck as stated. Its running great right now my regens seems to come at appropriate times. Thanks for answering the questions. It would be nice with a message letting you know how dirty the dpf was and how many miles til cleaning.
SJM

 

How do you know if you are going thru the cleaning cycle, if you don't see ANY message or information. My Nov-2010 6spd manual trans has over 1100 miles and I have never had a cleaning cycle, (That I know of). Most of my driving is hiway speeds of 70-75mph for 100+ miles one way etc.

Will you see any change in the exhaust fumes/smoke etc, does the temp gage show a higher temp reading etc? The only thing that shows on my panel is average trip miles etc. Being new to a diesel rig, I watch everything like a hawk when driving.
Tia,
Don

 

If anybody can figure it out, there are signal values that the PCM uses to manage the DPF. There are air pressure sensors that measure the backpressure in the filter. Maybe there is an OBD II scan tool that can pick these up?