Looked Up my Regen Stats

[pcarlson]

Went to dealer today to get the AJ flash installed and while I was there I asked if the technician could look at the number of active regens the truck has had.



29 regens in a total of 11,997 miles or roughly 1 every 400 miles. But he did tell me that the last regen recorded was at 62xx miles. So does this mean I haven't had an active regen in 5000 miles? I had the AF flash done when I bought it and put the exhaust blankets on when it had 3000-4000 miles. Maybe my blankets are doing something. He also told me my idle time was 15% and I start it and drive and hardly ever leave it run when I am not in it so I was surprised the idle time was that high of a percentage.



Course as soon as I hit the highway after the AJ flash it regen'd. Mileage seems unaffected by the flash so far.



By the way the tech did try to tell me that it will not regen when cruise is on and I told him that this truck is not driven without cruise so it has to regen on cruise. This seems like an old wives tale that just won't go away.

 

[2 Ram Fam]

I was wondering what your build date is? My 09 seems to regenerate more often as I watch my overhead mileage drop about twice per tank. I will not know for sure when it is in regen. until I get my new gauges on. Did you get your wraps from advance thermal?

 

[firemansdiesel]

When I went in for my first free oil change last week. I ask about the AJ flash and the service writer pulled up four flashes for the '09's. . None said AJ for a flash or knew what I was talking about . Two of the four I already had because of my build date, but the other two were performed. Something to do w/ check engine light possible problem.



Should've asked about my regen status when it was in there. Kinda curious even though I only have 2500 miles on the ticker.

 

[1Nebel0]

My 2007 does an Active regen about every 70 miles... I have the Juice system installed which alerts me to when the Active Regen begins. . If you are lucky enough to be able to drive through it, the time it takes is usually around 14 or so minutes. . It comes on many times that I have just arrived where I was going and once you shift into park, it turns off. It will try again to Active Regen when you start off again.....

 

[bruiserbob]

Very Same Thing

My '08 goes into regen about every 55-65 miles when I do a lot of city driving and when I'm doing mostly highway miles the interval is around 100-120 miles and the duration is 12 to 15 minutes. There is no doubt when in regen as the Dipricol gauge will usually register 1150-1300 on the egt. Just waiting until my 36-36 warranty is up then I plan on doing the egr and dpf delete. From all I've been reading, either the Smarty or H&S XRT will be my choice. I also think this will take care of the rising oil level that I've experienced since I've had my truck. Currently have 24,300 mostly trouble-free miles. Love the truck !

 

[jelag]

We've got one of the first 08 5500's delivered in Spokane... It was back to the dealer 2 times in the first 2,000 miles and hasn't been back since... we now have the recall for the hood insulation problem sitting on my desk but I'm afraid they might want to upgrade the software and we really don't care to have that happen... .

I personally feel that the fewer times it get's touched by the dealer the better it is... .

This truck runs smoother and better than the F550 it replaced with about 1 1/2 more mpg. . We've never felt it go through a regen... . but this truck does run at almost full load most of the time and now has close to 80K miles... we're guessing we're in the sweet spot and the system is hot enough not to need to regen very often... .

 

[TSchuetz]

I was wondering what your build date is? My 09 seems to regenerate more often as I watch my overhead mileage drop about twice per tank. I will not know for sure when it is in regen. until I get my new gauges on. Did you get your wraps from advance thermal?

I would definitely agree with that!

 

[pcarlson]

I was wondering what your build date is? My 09 seems to regenerate more often as I watch my overhead mileage drop about twice per tank. I will not know for sure when it is in regen. until I get my new gauges on. Did you get your wraps from advance thermal?

My build date is November 08. The only way I can tell I am regening is by watching my mpg in the overhead. Since I wanted to see if this update would make my overhead more acurate I had it up when I started driving and actively watching for the first few miles. Most times I never watch the overhead. Within approximately 10-15 minutes my mileage returned to normal so I turned it back to temp and compas.



I did get my wraps from ATP. I believe I had posted pics in another post if you do a quick search or I can email some to you.

 

[pcarlson]

When I went in for my first free oil change last week. I ask about the AJ flash and the service writer pulled up four flashes for the '09's. . None said AJ for a flash or knew what I was talking about . Two of the four I already had because of my build date, but the other two were performed. Something to do w/ check engine light possible problem.



Should've asked about my regen status when it was in there. Kinda curious even though I only have 2500 miles on the ticker.

I had AF flash done before I took delivery and yesterday was AJ. Check under the hood, would be glued to the hood by the drivers wiper and the last two letters would tell you what flash you have if any was ever done as mine says AJ. I did have a flash for the TIPM on another date that corrected it from 08 to 09 model and there is no sticker indicating a flash as only ECM/emmision updates get a sticker as far as I know. Those are the only three flashed that I have had done.

 

[pcarlson]

My '08 goes into regen about every 55-65 miles when I do a lot of city driving and when I'm doing mostly highway miles the interval is around 100-120 miles and the duration is 12 to 15 minutes. There is no doubt when in regen as the Dipricol gauge will usually register 1150-1300 on the egt. Just waiting until my 36-36 warranty is up then I plan on doing the egr and dpf delete. From all I've been reading, either the Smarty or H&S XRT will be my choice. I also think this will take care of the rising oil level that I've experienced since I've had my truck. Currently have 24,300 mostly trouble-free miles. Love the truck !

I think I still see the same thing you are seeing and I believe that if I read Mike's post right we are seeing the NoX regen. I believe the active regens the technician pulled off the computer were the de-soot stats. If Mike sees this maybe he can clarify for you and me what regen this is.

 

[HBarlow]

Went to dealer today to get the AJ flash installed and while I was there I asked if the technician could look at the number of active regens the truck has had.

29 regens in a total of 11,997 miles or roughly 1 every 400 miles. But he did tell me that the last regen recorded was at 62xx miles. So does this mean I haven't had an active regen in 5000 miles? I had the AF flash done when I bought it and put the exhaust blankets on when it had 3000-4000 miles. Maybe my blankets are doing something. He also told me my idle time was 15% and I start it and drive and hardly ever leave it run when I am not in it so I was surprised the idle time was that high of a percentage.

Course as soon as I hit the highway after the AJ flash it regen'd. Mileage seems unaffected by the flash so far.

By the way the tech did try to tell me that it will not regen when cruise is on and I told him that this truck is not driven without cruise so it has to regen on cruise. This seems like an old wives tale that just won't go away.

That report doesn't make a lot of sense based on what we've learned about the regeneration process. I hope we'll hear from one of our resident dealer techs who knows more.

I might be wrong but I think some dealerships are reluctant to pay for the factory training and a day's wages for the tech so some poor techs don't really know very much about the new trucks beyond how to replace routine parts.

 

[2 Ram Fam]

My truck just said (dpf full) for the first time,with about 5,000 mi on the clock. The bell chimed once then overhead said regenerating dpf . I was going to get on the freeway to clean it out but before I could the bell chimed again & said system OK. I only drove about 7min. thru town. Can it really regen. that fast @ slow speed?

 

[pcarlson]

That report doesn't make a lot of sense based on what we've learned about the regeneration process. I hope we'll hear from one of our resident dealer techs who knows more.



I might be wrong but I think some dealerships are reluctant to pay for the factory training and a day's wages for the tech so some poor techs don't really know very much about the new trucks beyond how to replace routine parts.

Harvey,

I cannot vouch for the knowledge or accuracy of what was presented to me. I do know the 15% idle has to be incorrect, and it should be more like 1. 5%. No way I have idled for 40 hours. I was looking for a number that I hoped would be accurate and be able to see what this system is doing and how often.



I have to go back for a steering recall and a new visor so I will see if I can get maybe another tech to recheck the numbers but that won't be for a couple of weeks. I'll let you know if I can get this rechecked.



I would reluctantly agree with you about dealership training but there are also the few and far between technicians that post here that have taken the training and obviously taken it upon themselves to learn more and have become experts in what they do but are definitely not the norm. We are certainly lucky to have them post and inform us about our trucks and I know you and everyone else will feel the same way.

 

[MullenaxM]

My 2007 does an Active regen about every 70 miles... I have the Juice system installed which alerts me to when the Active Regen begins. . If you are lucky enough to be able to drive through it, the time it takes is usually around 14 or so minutes. . It comes on many times that I have just arrived where I was going and once you shift into park, it turns off. It will try again to Active Regen when you start off again.....

If you are getting a Regeneration message every 70 miles, you have problems. Like Pcarlson stated I think what you are seeing is a De-NOx event. Some aftermarket performance programs mistake this for a regeneration event and display it as a regeneration event. If you are seeing High exhaust temperatures during this event ,then you might have other issues that you might need to have checked out. For a de-NOx event to occur the exhaust temperatures only have to be greater than 500 degrees Fahrenheit. The DE-NOx event does require the absence of oxygen in the exhaust so the ECM can possibly add fuel to the exhaust at post combustion and all so it may add EGR as a inert gas to the combustion process. The ECM uses an algorithm based on engine run time,engine load, engine temp,ambient temp,and fuel used, to determine the amount NOx absorbed by the NAC (NOx absorber catalyst). The NAC will use Diesel fuel as a Reductant to catalyze the NOx (oxides of nitrogen).



Mike

 

[2 Ram Fam]

Could idle time also mean no throttle in gear not park? What if your at a red light or coasting down a hill in drive,ect.

 

[MullenaxM]

15% idle time is good, The ECM Is good at keeping the amount of time the vehicle is at idle. You have to remember that any time the vehicle is running and there is no vehicle speed signal to the ECM, that is idle time. The ECM records this time as Idle hours, If the tech did the math right then 15% should be correct. The only problem is that every time the ECM calibration is reflashed then the Idle time and Trip time is erased and starts over from zero.



Mike

 

[MullenaxM]

O. K. guys, way too many questions here in this thread,



1) the regeneration counter on the STARSCAN or STARMOBILE or wiTECH is "JUNK" , it has no meaningful numbers you can count on.



2) 2 Ram Fam, No your regeneration was not complete, for some reason when they decided to put the program in the CCN (instrument cluster) that controls the overhead consol, it was decided that you only needed to know when the soot load got below 47 grams.



3) The jury is still out on exhaust wraps.



4) Idle time is anytime the engine is running and no vehicle speed signal. (stopped)



5) Chrysler is starting to turn all there training over to a independent contractor,so as far as training for technicians, time will tell. Most of the stuff we know about the 6. 7 liter engine and aftertreatment system we either pick up on our own or got from talking to the engineers or tech advisors.



6) The reason I or anybody else has stated how often a regeneration should occur is because there are to many variables involved to determine the time frame that will fit all vehicles.



7) Watching the fuel mileage on the overhead is not a accurate way to tell if the vehicle is in regeneration. again too many variables.



Mike

 

[pcarlson]

O. K. guys, way too many questions here in this thread,



1) the regeneration counter on the STARSCAN or STARMOBILE or wiTECH is "JUNK" , it has no meaningful numbers you can count on.



2) 2 Ram Fam, No your regeneration was not complete, for some reason when they decided to put the program in the CCN (instrument cluster) that controls the overhead consol, it was decided that you only needed to know when the soot load got below 47 grams.



3) The jury is still out on exhaust wraps.



4) Idle time is anytime the engine is running and no vehicle speed signal. (stopped)



5) Chrysler is starting to turn all there training over to a independent contractor,so as far as training for technicians, time will tell. Most of the stuff we know about the 6. 7 liter engine and aftertreatment system we either pick up on our own or got from talking to the engineers or tech advisors.



6) The reason I or anybody else has stated how often a regeneration should occur is because there are to many variables involved to determine the time frame that will fit all vehicles.



7) Watching the fuel mileage on the overhead is not a accurate way to tell if the vehicle is in regeneration. again too many variables.



Mike

Mike,



There is never enough questions. :-laf Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. Nice to know the regen counter is not reliable and that the idle counter resets on reflash. That would make the percentage verses total hours junk data in my mind since the percentage is not of the total hours. In my case 15% of what hours? We will never know.



The wrap is in my opinion not hurting my truck and in my opinion trucks that have had dealers wrap around sensors seem to have helped those trucks. I really like mine and there is more to the advantages than just an exposed pipe but I will not get into that on this thread.

 

[MullenaxM]

Mike,



There is never enough questions. :-laf Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. Nice to know the regen counter is not reliable and that the idle counter resets on reflash. That would make the percentage verses total hours junk data in my mind since the percentage is not of the total hours. In my case 15% of what hours? We will never know.



The wrap is in my opinion not hurting my truck and in my opinion trucks that have had dealers wrap around sensors seem to have helped those trucks. I really like mine and there is more to the advantages than just an exposed pipe but I will not get into that on this thread.

Sorry, I didn't mean to say there was to many question over all, I was having trouble keeping up with all the questions spread out over so many different posts.



I had trouble scrolling up and down all the posts and trying to answer all the questions.



The main concern I have with the exhaust wrap is that during a active regeneration event the difference between enough heat and too much heat is only about 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Too much heat can crack the ceramic part of the DPF. But on the flip side it will probably help on the passive regeneration events by holding the heat in. But you must keep in mind that the vehicles I see are here in Texas and, in the summer time ,100 degrees ambient temperature is not uncommon.



So thats why I say the jury is still out, so far I have not seen any issues with the exhaust wraps, but for the possibility of a overheat condition of the exhaust and DPF during a active regeneration event, I have concerns.



The reason that we are wrapping the upstream O2 sensor is that right after a active regeneration the O2 sensor module will run a diagnostic test on the NAC by monitoring the upstream and downstream O2 sensors. To make a long story short (it gets complicated),this diagnostic test is temperature dependant and the reason that we were seeing a lot of the P2000 DTC's was because the upstream O2 sensor cooled down quicker than the downstream

O2 sensor. The difference was only about 50 degrees Fahrenheit and the O2 sensor wrap seems to take care of that.



Mike

 

[pcarlson]

The main concern I have with the exhaust wrap is that during a active regeneration event the difference between enough heat and too much heat is only about 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Too much heat can crack the ceramic part of the DPF. But on the flip side it will probably help on the passive regeneration events by holding the heat in. But you must keep in mind that the vehicles I see are here in Texas and, in the summer time ,100 degrees ambient temperature is not uncommon.



So thats why I say the jury is still out, so far I have not seen any issues with the exhaust wraps, but for the possibility of a overheat condition of the exhaust and DPF during a active regeneration event, I have concerns.



Mike

You might be off a few degrees other than 100 F. First I will say that with my laptop reading the factory egt's the factory sensors see higher then the 1285 F that you are referring to when I pull a heavy load up a long grade.



Cracking is more pronounced in severe temperature changes that is why most dpf's are internally wrapped to retain some heat and temper cooldown. Next you could say well you will melt it but we are hundreds of degrees away from that point, double your regen temperature then you will melt it. In order to see this you are going to have more problems than a DPF.



The OEM engineers had to design the system to operate at long hard pulls, regen and shut down in Alaska sub-zero temperatures and to be able to do the same long hard pulls in the southwest where temps can get well above a hundred degrees. They also had to consider dpf exposure temperature required for regeneration, max egt temps that could be experienced in max towing, max egts with regen, environmental conditions and they also had to design the dpf to withstand this daily. Plus they also had to consider a cushion factor to be designed in.



I do have more information from work but it comes in "a corporate protected" documents that I cannot not release. The above info was all prior released information by the OEM's but this should suffice to answer the temperature concerns as they have come up before.