Frequent regens after switching to conventional

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Originally Posted by chrisri
If used appropriately most DPFs will be good for the life of the car. I'm on original, fully functioning DPF on my 07 diesel with 220k km. Still good. Car is used in city and suburbs, as is my wife's car, but every 600-800km we take it on the longer trip for a weekend or something. DPF do the regen then and is all good for stop and go traffic for next cycle.


VW threw enough money at me for me to sell them back my 3.0L TDI. It had 173,000 miles and vagcom had DPF loading at something over 50%. There is a poster on the Duramax forum that does hauling with his '17 for a living and he's still on the original DPF at 225,000 miles. I asked the question and he didn't mention cleaning in is response.
 
Originally Posted by wensteph
Originally Posted by chrisri
If used appropriately most DPFs will be good for the life of the car. I'm on original, fully functioning DPF on my 07 diesel with 220k km. Still good. Car is used in city and suburbs, as is my wife's car, but every 600-800km we take it on the longer trip for a weekend or something. DPF do the regen then and is all good for stop and go traffic for next cycle.
VW threw enough money at me for me to sell them back my 3.0L TDI. It had 173,000 miles and vagcom had DPF loading at something over 50%. There is a poster on the Duramax forum that does hauling with his '17 for a living and he's still on the original DPF at 225,000 miles. I asked the question and he didn't mention cleaning in is response.
For light trucks (zero experience with passenger cars, though I question some of the information I see posted from time to time on BITOG--not questioning what you posted though), the use case is key. The part I have set in bold font is one of the primary reasons (if not THE reason) the DPF has had zero issues after 225K miles and I would opine he did not clean the DPF. When towing and/or working the engine, there are passive regens that happen and the overall soot creation is far less at a steady speed versus stop and go driving. Totally speaking from a Ford Pwoerstroke experience, if you use a PSD for constant stop and go driving, your MPG will be in the toilet, your oil will be diluted above 5%, and (eventually--likely sooner than later) your emissions systems will be a money pit. Overall recently traded in a Dodge diesel for the same situation I describe--constant regens. The OEMs seriously need to "find a better way".
 
Every brand of light or medium diesel trucks will have their own set of sunshine pumpers or pot bangers. I don't know if it was the latest version of the Duramax (L5P) or the prior, but GM went to a 9th injector for DPF regen which pretty much did away with a fuel dilution problem. I most certainly haven't read through every thread on the Duramax forums since '17, and while there are complaints of codes being thrown, ECMs, and injector failures, there really aren't many pure emission control issues on the boards. Sure, plenty of owners hate regen kills milage and don't like the idea of the engine being choked by "all that crap", but the newer systems seem to be working pretty reliably. At least that brand.
wink.gif


edit to add other than replacing a NOx sensor I didn't have an emission system problem with the TDI (2011). There were, however, no small number of DEF system issues posted online. Seems like VW hadn't figured out that part.
 
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Originally Posted by 2015_PSD
Originally Posted by wensteph
Originally Posted by chrisri
If used appropriately most DPFs will be good for the life of the car. I'm on original, fully functioning DPF on my 07 diesel with 220k km. Still good. Car is used in city and suburbs, as is my wife's car, but every 600-800km we take it on the longer trip for a weekend or something. DPF do the regen then and is all good for stop and go traffic for next cycle.
VW threw enough money at me for me to sell them back my 3.0L TDI. It had 173,000 miles and vagcom had DPF loading at something over 50%. There is a poster on the Duramax forum that does hauling with his '17 for a living and he's still on the original DPF at 225,000 miles. I asked the question and he didn't mention cleaning in is response.
For light trucks (zero experience with passenger cars, though I question some of the information I see posted from time to time on BITOG--not questioning what you posted though), the use case is key. The part I have set in bold font is one of the primary reasons (if not THE reason) the DPF has had zero issues after 225K miles and I would opine he did not clean the DPF. When towing and/or working the engine, there are passive regens that happen and the overall soot creation is far less at a steady speed versus stop and go driving.

No doubt, much of the credit for my good luck with the emissions equipment on my Freightliner has to do with the duty cycle. Out of roughly 12k miles per month, only 400-600 miles are with an empty trailer. The rest of the time I'm zooming along at very close to 80k lbs and passive regeneration keeps the DPF "clean".

Long hours of idling require "active" regens where the engine will rev to 1200 rpm for 10 minutes. In hot summer weather, it will idle 8-9 hours before a 10 minute regen. In the coldest winter weather... maybe 2-3 hours of idling before a regen. All extended idling is done at 900 rpm.

I had my DPF cleaned at about 340k miles, about 9700 hours and having burned about 46k gallons of fuel. I believe the newer ones are capable of 500k miles before needing the DPF cleaned.
 
My 2017 L5P typically regens every 80-100 miles, the longest I've had it go between regens so far is 301 miles. I put a lot of hours on my truck and not so many miles, the DPF doesn't like it.
My dad has a 2016 LML with 45k miles and 3,000 hours on it. He uses his truck the same way I do and so far he hasn't had any emission system related problems. His truck does regen at about the same intervals that mine does.

I initiated a stationary service regen on my L5P a while back using my CTS2 and it held the truck at 2,500 RPM for 30-35 minutes. I think enabling a mobile regen is the way to go if you have a long trip planned. A mobile regen is completed as you drive just like when the truck does it on its own, but you get to choose when it starts.
 
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