Cropgun
Tremor Fiend
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2020
- Messages
- 406
- Reaction Points
- 944
- Location
- USA
- Current Ride
- '22 Tremor Powerstroke
- Current Ride #2
- '23 Tremor Powerstroke HO
Okay so I'm gonna make a bit of a longer post.
I am not an expert. I'm a random dude from the internet. Take everything you're about to read with a grain of salt and I encourage you to seek out additional sources. I have never owned a diesel pickup truck before. I have never worked on or maintained anything with DPF and DEF. I was however, a diesel mechanic in the Marine Corps. I also have a helicopter company and we have a small fleet of diesel semi trucks. I am also a life long "car guy"
A diesel engine isn't magic or mystery. It works nearly exactly the same as a gasser. You take care of it exactly the same. You change the filters and the fluids either on your own schedule or these days when the truck computer tells you to.
The only new bits you're gonna see that are new are a water separator, a turbo, and the emissions systems.
Beginner level
Best practices:
1. RTFM (Read the fucking manual). Seriously. Read it. All of it. Then do what it says. You will quickly learn that a diesel is in fact not magic.
2. Emissions. Part 1. As discussed a few times now, be mindful of regens. This will be the only diesel related thing you will have to "babysit" (more like be mindful of) compared to a gasser. You can go in the maintenance page of your gauge cluster and it will show you how full your DPF is by percentage. Forscan is required to show this. It takes a while to fill up. I have 4500 miles on my truck since july and I just noticed my first regen last week. (Edit: Added 3/7/21) Other owners are reporting a regen about every 500 miles or so and now that I have been paying attention that seems accurate enough. When you're getting close to 100% full on DPF just keep an eye on your gas mileage. This will be the only indication you are in regen. It will tank. It will be like 9-10mpg. Once you notice this you can go back to the maintenance page and you can watch the % full number drop in real time. The DPF is a soot trap. When the flow sensors tell the truck its full enough, it will basically dump fuel into the exhaust and create a torch effect to literally cook the soot out of the DPF and expel it out of the tailpipe as ash. More or less. This is a very generalized description. Hop on youtube and poke around. You may or may not notice a bad smell. Mine almost had a burnt clutch smell when sitting still. I've heard this lessens with time as this was the first time some of that stuff has ever been that hot.
When you are in regen the best thing you can do is try to drive highway speeds 55+ for a sustained period so that the truck can dump a bunch of fuel in there and clean it out. I actually stopped in the middle of mine for about 2 minutes to grab something from the shop as I was going by. I left the truck running. Thats when I noticed the smell. The truck continued to regen after I left again. It took about 15-20 minutes total. I want to say the percentage dropped to about 20-30% full and there was no smell when I got home.
Don't overthink this, or let it be an inconvenience. Just be mindful and help it out when possible.
3. Emissions Part 2. DEF fluid. As previously stated I have 4500 miles on my truck. The dealership filled my DEF to full when I picked it up. I still have half a tank of DEF. So at least 9k miles on a tank of DEF. I've read places that guys like to fill it when it reaches half empty. I haven't read up on this quite as much yet, not sure if there is shelf life on DEF or not. Main thing to worry about with DEF is that if you run out, your truck will go into LIMP mode. With 9k miles per DEF tank, shouldn't be hard to stay on top of this at all.
4. Water Separator. The truck will tell you if there is water in the fuel. You should pull over and drain it immediately. Figure out where it is now, while its in your garage and you have plenty of time to figure out how you would service it in the field.
5. Fuel quality. This goes hand in hand with the water separator. The better quality fuel you buy, the less you'll have to worry about water. Buy from busy places. Don't buy diesel from places that look like they're gonna go bankrupt at any second. If possible buy diesel from places with dedicated semi truck lanes. Don't be afraid to use the truck lane yourself. Just learn the customs and courtesies with the truck lane. Bonus here is that places with truck lanes are going to take all the fleet contract fuel cards and stuff that truckers use to save money on fuel. You can get in on those fleet cards yourself. Again, head to youtube, a lot of the RV'ing channels will cover this.
6. Engine Part 1. Your engine works a bit differently than a gasser even if having mostly the same parts. The fuel injection system operates significantly differently. Read up on that. Know that fuel injectors cost 1k plus, and the rabbit hole of diesel additives is worth consideration. Good luck with that. Also a reminder to RTFM.
7. Engine Part 2. Cold weather requires a bit more attention than usual. Again, RTFM. Has a cold weather section. Let glow plugs do their thing. If you have a block heater, use it if you can. In the winter months make sure the fuel you are buying at the pump is treated for cold weather and gelling. There will usually be a sticker on the pump saying it is treated, it will often say down to what temperature. if you can't find this fuel you will need an additive to prevent gelling if it gets cold enough where you live.
This is all that comes to mind at the moment. Again, not an expert. RTFM! Its not magic, enjoy your truck. Check out the turbo diesel forums on the interet. Not just this one. There is a ton of collective experience out there. Don't pidgen hole yourself to one source of information.
I am not an expert. I'm a random dude from the internet. Take everything you're about to read with a grain of salt and I encourage you to seek out additional sources. I have never owned a diesel pickup truck before. I have never worked on or maintained anything with DPF and DEF. I was however, a diesel mechanic in the Marine Corps. I also have a helicopter company and we have a small fleet of diesel semi trucks. I am also a life long "car guy"
A diesel engine isn't magic or mystery. It works nearly exactly the same as a gasser. You take care of it exactly the same. You change the filters and the fluids either on your own schedule or these days when the truck computer tells you to.
The only new bits you're gonna see that are new are a water separator, a turbo, and the emissions systems.
Beginner level
Best practices:
1. RTFM (Read the fucking manual). Seriously. Read it. All of it. Then do what it says. You will quickly learn that a diesel is in fact not magic.
2. Emissions. Part 1. As discussed a few times now, be mindful of regens. This will be the only diesel related thing you will have to "babysit" (more like be mindful of) compared to a gasser. You can go in the maintenance page of your gauge cluster and it will show you how full your DPF is by percentage. Forscan is required to show this. It takes a while to fill up. I have 4500 miles on my truck since july and I just noticed my first regen last week. (Edit: Added 3/7/21) Other owners are reporting a regen about every 500 miles or so and now that I have been paying attention that seems accurate enough. When you're getting close to 100% full on DPF just keep an eye on your gas mileage. This will be the only indication you are in regen. It will tank. It will be like 9-10mpg. Once you notice this you can go back to the maintenance page and you can watch the % full number drop in real time. The DPF is a soot trap. When the flow sensors tell the truck its full enough, it will basically dump fuel into the exhaust and create a torch effect to literally cook the soot out of the DPF and expel it out of the tailpipe as ash. More or less. This is a very generalized description. Hop on youtube and poke around. You may or may not notice a bad smell. Mine almost had a burnt clutch smell when sitting still. I've heard this lessens with time as this was the first time some of that stuff has ever been that hot.
When you are in regen the best thing you can do is try to drive highway speeds 55+ for a sustained period so that the truck can dump a bunch of fuel in there and clean it out. I actually stopped in the middle of mine for about 2 minutes to grab something from the shop as I was going by. I left the truck running. Thats when I noticed the smell. The truck continued to regen after I left again. It took about 15-20 minutes total. I want to say the percentage dropped to about 20-30% full and there was no smell when I got home.
Don't overthink this, or let it be an inconvenience. Just be mindful and help it out when possible.
3. Emissions Part 2. DEF fluid. As previously stated I have 4500 miles on my truck. The dealership filled my DEF to full when I picked it up. I still have half a tank of DEF. So at least 9k miles on a tank of DEF. I've read places that guys like to fill it when it reaches half empty. I haven't read up on this quite as much yet, not sure if there is shelf life on DEF or not. Main thing to worry about with DEF is that if you run out, your truck will go into LIMP mode. With 9k miles per DEF tank, shouldn't be hard to stay on top of this at all.
4. Water Separator. The truck will tell you if there is water in the fuel. You should pull over and drain it immediately. Figure out where it is now, while its in your garage and you have plenty of time to figure out how you would service it in the field.
5. Fuel quality. This goes hand in hand with the water separator. The better quality fuel you buy, the less you'll have to worry about water. Buy from busy places. Don't buy diesel from places that look like they're gonna go bankrupt at any second. If possible buy diesel from places with dedicated semi truck lanes. Don't be afraid to use the truck lane yourself. Just learn the customs and courtesies with the truck lane. Bonus here is that places with truck lanes are going to take all the fleet contract fuel cards and stuff that truckers use to save money on fuel. You can get in on those fleet cards yourself. Again, head to youtube, a lot of the RV'ing channels will cover this.
6. Engine Part 1. Your engine works a bit differently than a gasser even if having mostly the same parts. The fuel injection system operates significantly differently. Read up on that. Know that fuel injectors cost 1k plus, and the rabbit hole of diesel additives is worth consideration. Good luck with that. Also a reminder to RTFM.
7. Engine Part 2. Cold weather requires a bit more attention than usual. Again, RTFM. Has a cold weather section. Let glow plugs do their thing. If you have a block heater, use it if you can. In the winter months make sure the fuel you are buying at the pump is treated for cold weather and gelling. There will usually be a sticker on the pump saying it is treated, it will often say down to what temperature. if you can't find this fuel you will need an additive to prevent gelling if it gets cold enough where you live.
This is all that comes to mind at the moment. Again, not an expert. RTFM! Its not magic, enjoy your truck. Check out the turbo diesel forums on the interet. Not just this one. There is a ton of collective experience out there. Don't pidgen hole yourself to one source of information.
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