Regens too often

[4570]

A friend of mine has a 1-ton 2010 ram and it's doing a regen about every 120 miles. No codes but would this be some sensor in the exhaust system. I believe this was the last year with no DEF.

 

[Hoefler]

How does he know it does a regen? Pre-Def will regen more often. How much idling does he do? Excessive idling will be the first thing I would eliminate.

 

[kthaxton]

Frequent slow, stop and go traffic increases regens as well.

 

[Diesel85]

Also bad/old fuel can cause this too. Winter fuel can also cause more regens and poor fuel economy in general.

 

[Jim W]

Also, towing a heavy trailer will cause regen more often.

My 2008, would go into regen every 150 miles or so when towing my Cougar 5th wheel, GVW combined was 16,900LBS scaled.

I have three gauges installed on my truck, EGT's, Boost and Transmission temperature. When I was towing, I would change the overhead display to show the fuel mileage the truck was doing. When the truck went into regen the fuel mileage would drop and the EGT"s would increase to a maximum of 1450F during the regen process. When the truck went out of the regen process the EGT's would drop to around 800F with the fuel mileage going up a little. This would last for approximately 20 min's or so about every 150 miles.

I sold the wife on the idea that the diesel engine truck would be cheaper to operate when towing over a gas truck. Will the first year really didn't work out so well my diesel fuel bill for approximately 2,400 miles towing out west was a little over $1,100 using about 242 gallons of diesel. The overhead mileage displayed averaged under 10 MPG's and the diesel fuel was between $4.45 and $4.75 per gallon. She was not happy camper that year.

 

[Turbo Terry]

Yesterday I went by construction site. A boring crew working. It was a cold wet winters day. 4 ram 3500 diesels were idling nobody in them. One was on fast idle. The men leave them run to have a warm place to go and dry out their wet gear etc. we used to do it back in the good old days as well . Imagine the def they are going thru and the damage to these motors.

 

[kthaxton]

Imagine the def they are going thru and the damage to these motors.

Not very much DEF at all compared to normal driving. DEF is used to convert NOx, NOx is created in high combustion temps. Combustion temps are not that high when idling.

 

[Topzide]

If they put them in fast idle, not so much, since you can bump them up to 1500 rpm. Still no the same as with a load but better then standard idle. I've shown several guys that feature on their work trucks. They all had no idea that was a feature and thanked me for the info! @Turbo Terry, next time you go buy, stop and show the others, and inform them of the benefits of the fast idle!

 

[brucejohnson]

A friend of mine has a 1-ton 2010 ram and it's doing a regen about every 120 miles. No codes but would this be some sensor in the exhaust system. I believe this was the last year with no DEF.

The regens at 120 miles do seem rather excessive for sure. Does the 2010 have a gauge to monitor the DPF status?
Not sure about the 2010 models, but I think they are processed pretty much like most RAMS with the regeneration function.
There is a passive mode and an active mode. Passive works through normal engine usage when the exhaust temperatures are high, like in towing or highway driving. The Active mode comes on every 24 hours of engine operation regardless of the Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) sensors information. It will also trigger the active mode when the DPF sensors detect a difference of inlet vs. exhaust pressures relating to the DPF being approximately 45% full.
So, usage plays an integral part on how much soot is produced and filtered. When the sensors detect ~45% the regeneration process activates which then burns the soot captured by the DPF into a fine ash, which "cleans" the DPF. The ash remains in the filter and will eventually plug the ceramic filter element.
Two ways to fix the DPF being plugged with ash. One is to have it professionally cleaned, where the ash is "mostly" removed from the DPF. Two, a little more costly, is replace the filter with a new one. The filters can last a long time IF the truck is treated with respect. Anything that adds soot will shorten the life of the DPF as the soot and regeneration creates the ash, which builds up in the ceramic filter media.
Could be time to clean or change the filter depending on service use and/or milage.
DEF is a totally separate system used to minimize NOx created in the combustion process.

 

[rncordy]

My 2024 is one year old and has 18,000 miles. About 14,000 were towing a 6000# travel trailer. A few days ago the CEL came on (while towing), code saying "Diesel Particulate Filter Efficiency Low", or something like that. Dealer replaced the filter and sent me on my way, all under warrantee. of course. This is my 5th Ram CTD and each had approximately the same towing profile. None of the earlier trucks needed any particulate filter attention (a total of about 500,000 miles). In fact I have never even heard of such a filter before now. Certainly none of my Rams had a gage showing the filter soot loading or efficiency.

Any suggestions how I "manage" this filter and perhaps extend its lifetime beyond 18,000 miles?

 

[Grumpy8811]

My 2024 is one year old and has 18,000 miles. About 14,000 were towing a 6000# travel trailer. A few days ago the CEL came on (while towing), code saying "Diesel Particulate Filter Efficiency Low", or something like that. Dealer replaced the filter and sent me on my way, all under warrantee. of course. This is my 5th Ram CTD and each had approximately the same towing profile. None of the earlier trucks needed any particulate filter attention (a total of about 500,000 miles). In fact I have never even heard of such a filter before now. Certainly none of my Rams had a gage showing the filter soot loading or efficiency.

Any suggestions how I "manage" this filter and perhaps extend its lifetime beyond 18,000 miles?

I would tend to think you have an outlier if the DPF required replacement at 18k miles.. now if it was to do it again I'd suggest there is something else wrong with the system as the DPF is just a recipient of and a processor of byproducts of combustion, so if it has another problem in a short life cycle, I'd imagine they need to look at programming or some other factor besides the DPF itself.

 

[rncordy]

The service manager said that since 2019 they have had a number of issues with these "filters" and programming twirks are being made. As Grumpy suggests, I hope I just got an outlier!

 

[Ozymandias]

Drive it like you stole it is the best you can do for a long life, and keep the idle time to a minimum as this loads the filter more then anything else.

 

[Grumpy8811]

Drive it like you stole it is the best you can do for a long life, and keep the idle time to a minimum as this loads the filter more then anything else.

exactly, worst thing for the DPF is a low heat signature in the exhaust system, which is compounded by long idle periods and slow speed lightly loaded operation
you'll find OTR trucks don't have the issues with DPF's that vehicles like fire trucks, school and transit buses, garbage trucks etc do just because of duty cycle. Same thing applies to daily drivers of diesel pickup trucks .

lets put it this way, if most people could get away with using a gasoline engine in their pickup truck, they probably made the more practical economical choice but its pretty well acknowledged that what type of vehicle a person drives is not a logical choice so much as emotional or else most of us would be driving subcompact cars

 

[Topzide]

If you do need to "idle" your truck, by all means, bump up the rpms! I've had to show many a contractor that had their RAM idling.
With truck in park and foot off of brake pedal, turn the cruise control on.
Then press the set button. (rpms will rise to 1000)
You can then press the cruise increase speed button to raise rpms to 1500.
This will help with keeping the temps up and working the engine.

I know that most of us are aware of this, but wanted to put it in so that others know. Of course this is how it works with auto trans. Not sure if it works on the manuals or not. Of course the lower the idle time , the better!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Signal73]

Kinda common, Ram had to release a TSB for P2459 code.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2024/MC-11008226-0001.pdf

 

[MichaelD86]

Running additives can cause excessive re gens. I had 2010 and put power service in every tank. I began to realize it was constantly doing a re gen. Stopped adding it and a few tanks later it was back to normal and mileage improved. With my 22 I no longer ever run additives.

 

[Grumpy8811]

If you do need to "idle" your truck, by all means, bump up the rpms! I've had to show many a contractor that had their RAM idling.
With truck in park and foot off of brake pedal, turn the cruise control on.

neighbor is the head maintenance guy at the local FD.
That is his one big complaint, he cant get the firefighters to use the fast idle..
he said they'll go on a call and leave that truck slow idling for hours..
I believe he said they now do a parked regen on all the trucks about once a week
just to reduce the problem

 

[Cummins12V98]

Running additives can cause excessive re gens. I had 2010 and put power service in every tank. I began to realize it was constantly doing a re gen. Stopped adding it and a few tanks later it was back to normal and mileage improved. With my 22 I no longer ever run additives.

I used to run Stanadyne fuel treatment in my 98 12V. My common sense brain told me additives would not be good with the emissions on my 11 and now 15 Cummins. So far that has paid off in $ savings and no issues.