5mph def issue see dealer - is this a joke? Unreal.
I know this post has been a month back but this same thing happened to me yesterday. I was livid that this type code came up limiting your miles or your screwed. Me and my family took a RV trip to myrtle beach for 9 days. No problems going down or while there. Def was about a quarter of a tank so I went ahead and purchased I think it's the peak brand def. it's in a cardboard blue and white box. I filled up my def as I have done many times before this trip home because it definitely uses more def pulling a load.
FYI I am driving a 2013 Ram 3500 Mega Cab Dually Laramie Edition with 31,000 miles on it. I am pulling a 2016 42 foot 5th wheel RV weighting in at 15,000 pounds. We start the journey home yesterday leaving South Carolina heading to Tennessee (home). At about 140 miles north my engine light comes on and at 180 miles I get this message on my dash read out "5MPH Max in 199 miles -def exhaust see dealer". The code did not go away like mentioned in this thread. The code was still showing when I pulled in to the dealership. I was shocked to be honest. I had never heard of this much less experienced it. So I get the wife on the cell to start looking for a Ram dealer. We found one in Columbia South Carolina and we were about 59 miles out. We got the dealer on the phone.. Explained the message and our situation being out of towners just trying to get home.
They take thier last customer at the shop at 2:30 on Saturdays. It was 1:50 and like I said we are 59 miles out. Thankfully the dealer there in Columbia was sensitive to the problem at hand so they said "come on over and we will have a look". We arrived about 2:40 because I was hauling ***** to get there. So here I am - wife, 2 kids, 2 dogs and a long ***** 5th wheel pulling into this very very tight dealership. These people were very nice people and that meant a lot during this mess. I had to find some where on the over crowded car lot to unhook the RV so the tech could get my truck in the garage. Also let me add that the tech and shop manger came up to the truck before I got out of it. The tech seemed very familiar with this code. I asked them both that this truck sells for $68,000 - $70,000 and I run the risk of putting me and my family stranded on the side of the road somewhere with little warning??? The tech said "it's just one of those things. I could go another 100 or 1000 miles and the code will come up again with no rhyme or reason.". Also let me add that this dealer told me they typically do not have a diesel mechanic working on Saturdays.
All this hassle time wise, money wise and a big delay on getting home was all fixed by plugging it up to the dealers computer and doing a override. That override by the way cost me $117.00. It was worth it no doubt as far as the cost I would have paid $300.00. What's my other option? However what ticks me off the most is its a simple onboard computer issue and nothing more. Nothing was mentioned at all about the brand of def or it being a bad def reason. No mention of anything bad, broken or any part replacement. The fact that it WILL happen again is a problem. Ram has no fix for this?? If not it's basically a money in Rams pocket code. I have only purchased Ram trucks starting with the single cab, then to the quad cab Laramie and now the Dually 3500 Laramie. People brag on my truck very often I assume being the Dually, Cummins engine, price tag and it being a Megacab which I rarely see. My truck is black with dark tinted windows with the smoke bugflector and smoke window visors so it does look mean and beefy. I have always recommended Ram trucks for years. I have said for years that the Ram trucks have been good to me giving me no problems. If there is nothing that can be done with this issue alone I am not sure I will be doing much bragging on the Ram. We travel a lot taking 3-4 RV trips a year as well as traveling without the RV 3-4 times a year. That's why this is a big deal to me.
The outcome of my experience yesterday could have turned out really bad. What if I was traveling on a Sunday (dealers are closed), how about traveling at 1:00 am on a Saturday night (dealers are closed until the following Monday). What if the closest Ram dealership has no diesel mechanic to address this? There is a ton of outcomes to this code problem. The risk at all is terrible and I am sure many families have been basically stranded in the dark in a state that they do not live in. I will be reading up more about this issue but if no fix or a solid assurance that this will not happen again. I am not sure what I will do just yet. I have a recall on some sort of rod braces that I haven't went to have corrected. I will be calling my local dealer tomorrow to set a appointment. Once there I will be asking what the deal is with this code. If that conversation doe not yield a better answer then I will be pushing on higher ups with Ram.
The end of my story aside of it being a big inconvenience. God was with me yesterday to pave the way through the channels of many loops making my story a smooth situation compared to how it could have ended.
I got these with service def, see dealer. called dealer & was told diagnosis was $130 & if def was bad another $350. so i checked def & sure enough it was, drained it & put in new def , turned off cel, but dont know how to turn off message warning. any body know?