Couple of 2014 Cummins questions

[JonathanRoss]

Hi all,

I bought a very lightly-used 2014 2500 6.7L/G56 a couple of months ago, traded in my 2007 2500 5.9L/48RE.

In the ~2100 miles since then, I've had just two questions come up, both predictably around the emissions stuff that neither of my two previous Cummins trucks had (thankfully).

First, I had the dealer top off the DEF tank when I bought it -- and, in 2100 miles, the needle on the gauge hasn't moved. Conversely, my uncle has the same truck, save for different rear-end gears and an auto transmission, and went through a quarter-tank of DEF on a 1500-mile hunting trip this fall.

So I guess my question is, should I suspect an issue with the DEF gauge, or is it normal for it to take a long time to start dropping? I really don't want the truck to go into 5MPH limp mode because the gauge is a liar -- if it is.

Secondly -- I took the truck on a 2.5-hour, 125-mile trip to visit family last weekend. More than half the trip was in 6th gear with cruise set at 72MPH on the highway. The remainder was a mix of 35-50MPH roads. When I started the truck at my dad's to head home, the EVIC beeped and "Exhaust System: Exhaust Filter 100% full, Regeneration in Progress" was displayed. Every time I let off the loud pedal and got back on it again (shifting, on corners and at lights, etc.) it would beep and display that same message. In an effort to wind up the EGTs, I kept it in 4th when I hit the highway, at 70 -- running about 2,500 RPM. After about ten minutes, the message changed to 90% full, then 80%, then 70%, and finally, "Regeneration Complete" after about 20 minutes. While all this was happening, I noticed a whiff of diesel fumes when I stopped, which is pretty atypical of the truck. Anyway, when the "Regeneration Complete" appeared and the little envelope icon disappeared, I shifted up to 6th and the truck ran totally fine afterward.

Is this normal? From what I read, that was an "Active Regen," but it seems strange to me that it'd feel the need to do that after a nice, long highway trip. If I understand it correctly, I'd expect this to happen after a bunch of around-town or idling. Like I said, it said "Complete" and the message light went out -- and the truck's been running fine since -- but the fact that it did it right after a trip has me wondering.

I don't do a lot of idling -- hour meter is at 33 idle, 277 drive -- and I've got a Fiat I use for runs to the grocery store or whatever. Truck is primarily used on trips, or on my 45-minute (~30-mile) commute. It only has 11,500 miles on it, so I've got plenty of warranty left on the powertrain and will take it to the dealer if it makes sense, but I wanted to check in here first before potentially wasting my time.

Thanks,

-Jonathan

 

[Trowel2013]

As far as the DEF, sounds about normal. If your worried, just top it off and see how much it takes. Mine will take about 2-2.5 gallons as soon as it starts to drop off of full. The gauge is not linear at all. Takes forever to come off full and then drops fairly quickly after that.

As far as the regen thing. Mine did that too after a road trip (actually during). Was told by the dealer it needed a software update and hasn't done it since. That was 11 months ago. The smell of soot with the regen seems to be a common complaint. I beleive it has something to do with the EGR valve (top passenger side of your motor, looks like a plastic pulley with a couple of cables).

I say take it to the dealer (should be covered by warranty) and make sure all your updates have been done and check for exhaust leaks, especially with the EGR system.

 

[Bob4x4]

As far as the DEF, sounds about normal. If your worried, just top it off and see how much it takes. Mine will take about 2-2.5 gallons as soon as it starts to drop off of full. The gauge is not linear at all. Takes forever to come off full and then drops fairly quickly after that.

As far as the regen thing. Mine did that too after a road trip (actually during). Was told by the dealer it needed a software update and hasn't done it since. That was 11 months ago. The smell of soot with the regen seems to be a common complaint. I beleive it has something to do with the EGR valve (top passenger side of your motor, looks like a plastic pulley with a couple of cables).

I say take it to the dealer (should be covered by warranty) and make sure all your updates have been done and check for exhaust leaks, especially with the EGR system.

That is the egr bypass,the valve is on the intake

 

[Newsa]

^ excellent suggestions. I have the 2013 2500 with G56 & needed the RRT software updates. It seemed fine when I bought it, but after about 3500 miles it kept regenerating DPF and giving me the EVIC prompts that it was regenerating. The updates fixed that. I haven't seen the regeneration message since the updates, but it runs fine.
I did have the check engine light & 2 codes (1 on the regeneration frequency, and another similar to that on the emissions) but took it in and got those cleared. I had been doing mostly city driving. I think the city driving caused the codes. On a xmas 10 hour road trip, the check engine came back on and a few hours later went off and stayed off.
Drive with the exhaust brake on 100% of the time. It will shake the soot off of the turbo and send soot through the system gradually, rather than sending large amounts through when you turn on the EB.

 

[Newsa]

2.5 gals of DEF took my gauge from near empty to just above 3/4. So i know when the gauge says 3/4, it's about 1/2 full. It may not move for a while when topped off. DEF also has a 2 year shelf life which is shortened by hot climates. I'm never ttopping it off again.

 

[Trowel2013]

That is the egr bypass,the valve is on the intake

Thanks for the name. Whatever it's called, that's where it was leaking on mine, along with several other fittings on the EGR tube. Dealer replaced all the seals and torqued to spec. Every now and then I will get a whiff of smoke, but nothing like it was that first time.

 

[jacknife]

My def gauge didn't move for long time . When you tow it moves quicker. Empty it takes a long time
Don't worry you will get a message on your screes saying add some more

 

[Sticks]

Dodge liquid level gauges are notorious for being inaccurate. It's their trademark.

 

[EDankievitch]

The DEF tank is around 6 gal. The gauge is not accurate at all. Mine will not move for a long while then when it's about half empty it will drop to the halfway point a 2.5 gal box of DEF will bring it back to full. If I try to squeeze any more in it'll just over fill. I've never seen the re-gen notice of yet but I do know it's done a re-gen cycle a few times. When I run Dino diesel it will re-gen around once every tank to tank and a half. On B20 it'll go 3 to 4 tanks between re-gen cycles. You can tell when the re-gen cycle is happening by watching the MPG bar graph. Your instant MPG's will be noticeably lower than normal when a re-gen cycle is happening.
In your trucks case with that much idle time it's possible the first owner never let the truck go into a full re-gen cycle. I've got around 32,000 miles on my 13 and it I check the engine hours I have no idle hours and all drive hours. worst thing to do with these new trucks is let them idle. I'd still have your fav Ram dealer hook your truck up to the computer and make sure it has all the latest software up dates.

 

[Bob4x4]

there are updates to fix some annoying little quirks on the 13's and 14's for both the ecm and dcu,also the radios in many cases and of course the abs recall.The def gauge is not your typical float type gauge,it is an rf unit so it can be influenced by external rf.

 

[JonathanRoss]

Hi all,

Update to this: the truck's CEL came on and EVIC displayed "Service DEF System, See Dealer" the other day so I made an appointment. I did some searching around and came across TSB 18-010-14 and mentioned it. They first said it wasn't applicable to my truck, but they did have the updates for the radio and ABS modules, so they applied these and when they did, hey, 18-010-14 suddenly popped out as needed. So they did that as well. Truck's been fine since, and DEF gauge has moved down to 3/4. Seems like the truck is current on updates now and is running pretty well.

Thanks for the help and advice!

-Jonathan