Another regen experience
 

Guys, I recently made a trip from north of KC to New Orleans in my '15 F350. Before I left I had issues with the particulate temp sensor and the dealer replaced it along with muffler and tailpipe assembly. When I got the truck back the display showed dpf filter at 95% so I took it on a short trip to get a regen going. It cleaned itself down to 40% before I had to shut off.

Fast forward to making the trip I had a empty flatbed trailer on the back to take to NO. I watched the DPF % most of the way and it got to 90% in Bentonville Arkansas. After that it stayed at 90% until it got south of Little Rock Arkansas and then went to 95 and Full and then did the regen. That was around 450 miles to the regen. I watched it go to $15% and shut off and continued my trip to NO. In New Orleans It got to 20% and stayed there until I picked up my load (08 F250 crew cab) and started home.

On the way back I monitored the filter % and it didn't move. Finally in Little Rock it went to 25% and stayed there all the way back to KC. It's still at 25% right now so that regen went over 1300 miles and is still at 25%. This doesn't seem right but I don't have any check engine or any other lights.

Has anyone else had a long duration between regens when loaded? If so, is 1300 miles normal loaded?

FWIW, the truck got almost 16mpg going down with empty trailer and 11 mpg coming back. Round trip mileage was 13.4 according to fantasy display.

Once you picked up that truck, you were keeping exhaust temps high enough for passive regen. When climbing grades with a heavy load, all that heat cleans things up quite nicely, including carbon deposits in the combustion chamber and on injector tips.

You should have still had a regen as soon as you hit 500 miles. The trucks are programmed to automatically trigger a regen at 500 miles regardless of the soot levels in your DPF.

Cold weather seems to slow the DPF % increase. As said above, a loaded truck will run hotter and a passive regen can happen.

As mxer0022 said, truck should force a regen at 500 miles whether it needs it or not. I saw that happen multiple times while pulling an 11,000lb trailer on a 3,000 mile trip. Engine and exhaust temps stayed higher due to the load, and it really didn't need to regen that often. 500 miles whether it needed it or not though. Also, not uncommon to see the percentage move more sometimes than others.

Why are people so concerned about the regen process? I only wish the truck would tell me when it's done or not tell me at all it's cleaning the filter.. Other than that I just drive my truck and enjoy it. Worry is for Chevy owners don't you think

You can get a monitor such as CTS/CTS2 or a tuner and they have a PID that tells you if in regen or not. Also, you can get an adapter to mate your phone with TorquePro and it has a PID to show if in regen or not.

With TorquePro, you can also add the PID to give you Oil Life since they have done away with the VHR's. I have asked Edge to add the PID for Oil Life but have not seen it yet.

Some owners like the information (I do). I would rather know what it's doing. For owners who don't want to know anything, Ford designed the truck to do what is needed and unless it breaks, not bother you.

I agree the truck should tell you when the regen is done, but I don't agree with "or not tell me at all it's cleaning the filter". Not knowing it's cleaning means you could repeatedly shut the vehicle off while it's in a regen, which would add to fuel dilution of the oil. This why I started using the TorquePro application...to know when the regen is done. Then I just got the added benefit of accessing a bunch of other operating info.

So no, it's not only something for Chevy ownders to worry about. Fuel dilution is potentially a real problem.

I could have swore that the fuel was injected into the exhaust not more in the engine. So oil dilution doesn't happen.
It just doesn't make sense to me that Ford would tell us it's cleaning the filter and not tell us when it's done.. Also I can't believe you cant tell the oil % like I can in my 12 SHO. I wish Ford would ask owners what they would like to see in our trucks and pick the good ones.

Not true. Ford does not have a 9th injector to dump fuel into the exhaust. It uses the injectors in the engine to add the fuel needed to do a regen.

Agree with Just Strokin. Take a look at this document I've attached that's been posted on here before, and I downloaded a copy to my F350 folder in my laptop because it's so useful. It includes diagrams of the system and an explanation of how things work. This is from the Ford 2011 PCED 6.7L Diesel document, in the Exhaust Catalyst and Exhaust System section.

"The diesel particulate filter regeneration occurs during normal vehicle operation. The powertrain control
module (PCM) may regenerate the diesel particulate filter at idle. During the diesel particulate filter
regeneration, fuel is injected into the cylinder after the main combustion. The extra fuel increases the
temperature of the exhaust gas and lights-off the OC. The temperature of the exhaust gas increases to
greater than 550°C (1,022°F) at the OC and diesel particulate filter. At this temperature soot burns. Soot
particulates that may have accumulated on the OC or in the diesel particulate filter are burned and the ash is
trapped in the diesel particulate filter. The ash particulates that remain in the diesel particulate filter are
mainly comprised of metallic compounds generated during combustion and from corrosion in the exhaust
system."