Almost all of the engine/DPF/regen issues are 2008 trucks? At least on this board anyhow. Anyone know what changes they made?

P.S. Will update my ride right now, traded my POS '08 for a '10.

 

There were many changes to the 6.4L since the job 1 release. The changes pertaining to the DPF/ Regen were to better control when the regen occurred. all though Ford will not openly admit it, the primary reason for this change was 2 fold.

The first and most obvious one was to prevent the regen from occurring at a time that could result in your super heated exhaust gases coming in contact with something and catch fire. To do that, they prevented the regen from occurring while the vehicle is in neutral or park. They also prevent it from occuring at sustained speeds of under 40mph.

The second was not as obvious and even less likely for Ford to admit the reasoning behind it. this is because of the mysterious "making oil" or fuel soaking that occurs during the regen process. The 5th (final) injector pulse during the regen process occurs during the exhaust stroke. The resulting product is an incomplete burn and super heated gases pass thru the turbo and down thru the DOC and DPF were the soot build up is burnt off. In theory this works well but in "real world" operation, the process has some flaws and if the combustion chamber temperatures are not adequete enough, along with insufficient air flow, not all of the fuel with be ignited and will not exit the combustion chamber. The remaining fuel will then make it's way pass the piston rings and get into the crankcase/oil..."Making Oil". To minimize the potential for this occurring, they adopted the restrictions outlined in the first item to ensure the motor is hot enough to ensure a complete ignition and prevent any fuel from remaining as well as enough airflow to ensure the gases are drawn out of the combustion chamber and into the exhaust system.

Only time will tell if these small tweaks to the emissions system will be the fix for these reported issues. Although this does not address the poor mileage as a result of the regen process and frequency, it is aimed at making the motor more reliable and safe for the end users.

What I would like to see is a system that allows the user to choose when to run a regen cycle. We all have had the regen start just as we are about to pull into the driveway after a 3 hour drive. And many of us do our share of city driving which also interferes with the regen process and results in many restarts or very long regen times. A simple notification on the display prompting the driver that an "Exhaust Cleaning" needs to be done soon and an option on the system check to run a regen would be great. This would allow us to plan ahead and run a regen in the next 50 miles or so when we determine is a convenient time to run it. If we choose not to run it or ignore it, than the system can default and run it after so many miles or hours of use. This would be no different than the oil change notifications on many cars today.

All-in-all Ford isn't doing this to make a better running longer lasting truck. All of these items are a direct result of the emissions regulations passed down by the government. All though not the best alternative, it does meet the EPA guidelines for 2008-2010 vehicle emissions. Stand by for even more tightening of the belt by the EPA and lets see how the automakers respond.....over the next few years and years to come.

 

Hey HS, I agree with everything you said, and you did a good job writing it, but I was looking for for something more conspiracy theory-ish. I know the first year of any major change is going to have some bugs, but with my truck at least, the software updates didn't really help anything. I was hoping someone had some information on some component changes from '08 to 09, because the posts that start "my truck is f'ed up and the dealer tells me it's normal" seem to be limited to the '08's. Maybe it was just software updates but some type of damage occured to the early trucks before the fix was made?

 

I hear ya....there are more changes than just those that I mentioned....I would suggest going to POWERSTROKEHELP.COM - The Information Source for Ford Power Stroke Diesel Owners & Mechanics and ask them this same question. These guys really know there stuff and could probably answer your question much better than I. Even if they can't hit the nail on the head with the conspiracy theory they can tell you exactly what you need to do to make the 2008 6.4L very relaible for many years to come.

 

All the commercial diesels use regen switches so that you can pull over and do a regen, or decide to get your *** into gear and drive above 30 mph. This includes International and Isuzu trucks for sure with Isuzu, Cummins, and International Engines. They allow the driver to pull over and perform the regen, and give you warnings about a safe place to perform it and so on.

The Cummins I worked on in an F-750, however, did not have regen buttons, and performed the regen only if it was driving, or if you parked the truck and set the emergency brake. It would perform if the regen was needed.

 

That would be a very nice option to have on our trucks!

 

Thats the problem with this Exhaust filter emissions...it's not "plug and play" like all the other cars on the road. You can't just jump and live happily till it breaks, or doesn't break until 100,000+ miles.

Heck, you can usually run 87 octane in a 91 octane car and not notice the difference if you are that kind of driver, but these diesels require the customer to be aware of how they work.

Problem is, a lot of customers not only are not mechanically brained to do so, but they may not care to know so either. So the owners manual sits in the glove box and 4000 Dollar exhaust systems are clogged up to the point of replacement.

I would expect a seasoned truck driver to know about his truck that he owns and makes a living with, in which case these systems are much better maintained. But with a customer oblivious to the concepts of these diesels, and the need for fully automatic regeneration because of these people, you are going to have a lot of problems. The small amount of people on this board that own these have problems, and at least 75% or more know how they work. Imagine all the soccer moms driving these around all the time. Those people are what the automatic precautionary regens are for and reason they don't put switches in the dash for performing a regen.

 

Adamtheman16 is right on! I purchased my 2010 F350 6.4 to drive and not worry about regens and when to drive and not to drive. I know I should be more responsible regarding the regens, however I bought the truck to drive whenever I need it.

I don't look for the regen light, nor due I care when it comes on. If the filter clogs up...who cares!!! I'll let the dealer deal with it. I'll keep it until it goes out of warranty then get another one. In my opinion you shouldn't have to worry about driving your truck at certain times to clean a DPF filter.

I think the DPF is warrantied for 120,000 miles...Not for sure.

I'm sure certain folks think I'm crazy!!!

 

Personally, I think the switch should be an option that you can order, or get put in at a later date if wanted.

In fact, I am not positive, but I saw the same ECM as the 6.4L that International uses under an F-350 hood, the one with the pretty red cam-locks. I can tell you its not calibrated like an International, but it may be able to be tapped into and install a switch if provisions in the ECM are still there as with the Internationals.

Like I said, on the Cummins ISB that I had to explain to the Air Force how the regen worked, It did not have a regen switch, just like any other Ford. But Since it is a Cummins with a Cummins ECM, there is easily a way to setup the ECM to regen using a manual switch.

If I had one of your guys trucks, I'd rip the dang things off and let the engine get some work done too! Not everyone is up to that task, or up to the task of funding it.

 

I wonder if the wire for the regen switch exists and isn't used, much like the high idle wire is there but not used on the 6.0L.

 

I am not sure. I looked at the International ECM, and the body builder outputs do not include a regen switch input. International does not use a hard wire switch input to the ECM. It is controlled via datalink (I think the 1939) using a body controller. So if there is a hard wire input for performing regen, I couldn't tell you what ECM pin number it was, and it would probably have to be programmed to accept a switch input like that, if at all possible.

 

I agree 100% with your comments. I was wishing for the best of both worlds were you had the manual switch but if you just ignored the "Clean Exhaust System Soon" indicator, it would default and do a regen after a given amount of time or mileage etc anyways.....for all of those "Soccer Moms".....Just this morning mine went into regen and I had to pass my exit for work and drive another 5 miles and turn around to let it complete, otherwise, it would not have finished and would have started all over again when I got back in the truck and continued to restart over and over until I could get it back on the freeway and do some highway speeds for more than 10-15 minutes. If the option was available, I would have just waited until I left work this evening for the ride home and started it then and it would have completed before I got home......

 

My '08 runs strong and flawless...the ****-poor mileage was an utter disappointment, so....the regen dont really happen anymore. Not sure why, well, maybe.

 

this is exactly what I do. its a filter.. not IN the active path of the engine RUNNING (not like you don't have ANY oil!)..

So, if its not done, it will restart when it needs to, and finish when it finishes. I drive 15 miles one way to town, so, it'll have opportunity today, tomorrow. etc..

I'll have my second oil analysis sample tomorrow, so we'll see the story there..

Sam