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Regen Frequency

11K views 115 replies 22 participants last post by  Dogpatch 
#1 ·
I’m curious, for anyone that monitors their engine with some type of device. How often is your truck regening?

I have a 2014 2500 that is averaging a regen every 40 miles.
Seems really low. I do not drive heavy. 15 miles to work on highway is most of it. But still sees low.



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#2 ·
Roughly every 900-1000 miles or every 24 hours of operation. It seems more tied to the hours than the miles.
 
#3 ·
All depends on what you are doing. Lot of idling, stop and go, or even light cruising you will Regen more often. Towing heavy most of the time you might rarely see a regen.

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#4 ·
Every 40 miles seems a bit excessive! I would have to agree with badunit, as I’m in the 800’ish miles between regens. Depends on how much idling and if towing but every 40 does seem excessive.


AZJohnnyO
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#5 ·
For reference, I drive 50/50 urban and highway, almost never towing.

Every 40 miles is excessive under any normal condition if you ask me. How are you monitoring it and determining it is regenerating?
 
#7 ·
Every 40 miles is not right. If you are seeing that on some monitor, then it must be that it hasn't finished a regen cycle and is just restarting an unfinished cycle and that is why you are seeing it occur that often.

15 miles of driving isn't enough to finish a cycle.
 
#8 ·
every 40 miles is a real problem. I went about 9 months with only short drives do to family medical issues, It did go through a regen for about a week straight as farthest I went was 3 miles round trip each day, so it never finished regen and started again as soon as I started it up. I determined it was in regen mode based on the smell behind the truck and the drop in MPG while driving. Once I hit the highway, even through it was only for about 15 minutes to go to a Dr visist it finished, it did not do one again for a few months with short driving and idling.

Now I am hitting the highway about every month for a 1200 mile round trip. It almost always does a regen on the return which puts it about about 1,000 miles or so between regens, once again based on the instant drop in MPG and jump back to normal once completed.

So I have done serious short distance driving and idling for months, and periods of mostly highway miles also. every 40 miles is a problem under any driving conditions.
 
#11 ·
every 40 miles is a real problem. I went about 9 months with only short drives do to family medical issues, It did go through a regen for about a week straight as farthest I went was 3 miles round trip each day, so it never finished regen and started again as soon as I started it up. I determined it was in regen mode based on the smell behind the truck and the drop in MPG while driving. Once I hit the highway, even through it was only for about 15 minutes to go to a Dr visist it finished, it did not do one again for a few months with short driving and idling.



Now I am hitting the highway about every month for a 1200 mile round trip. It almost always does a regen on the return which puts it about about 1,000 miles or so between regens, once again based on the instant drop in MPG and jump back to normal once completed.



So I have done serious short distance driving and idling for months, and periods of mostly highway miles also. every 40 miles is a problem under any driving conditions.


I’ve thought it to be severely low too. I’ve had it to the dealer who worked with the ram engineers. They said the EGR valve needed cleaned. That has made no difference.

I’m at a loss as to why this truck is producing so much soot in such a short time.




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#9 ·
Right now mine is at an average of 1160 miles and 28.2 hours. Varies depending on the type of driving you do. More city driving and it will do it sooner, maybe around 700-800 miles and less hours.

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#12 ·
I didn't realize there was so much information to be had. I have an MM3 and have to look at EGTs to determine when it is regenerating. I assume your "DPF percentage full" is showing the DPF getting full very fast and/or not clearing out with the regen process?
 
#13 ·
If you bring it to a good dealer that deals with the diesels they should be able to measure how much soot it's producing and find out why.
 
#15 ·
OP, do you happen to have an aftermarket intake/filter? I have notice a correlation to people having frequent regens and having an aftermarket intake. I think a lot of people would say regens happening every 400 miles or less to be pretty excessive. Driving style matters of course.
 
#16 ·
Can’t a dealer with WiTech do a manual regen. Didn’t I read that a member here has done that for his customers while the truck idles and is more effective then the regens done by the truck running down the highway.
 
#17 ·
If you have the AlfaOBD software and reader, you can do a manual regen also.


AZJohnnyO
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#21 · (Edited)
The way to check it would be to connect a dealer level scan tool up, one that can see live sensor outputs and check that it is operating in the correct range. The pressure sensor can also get clogged up with soot.

But, the ecm should be seeing the sensor output, and should throw a code if it's not operating correctly.

Possibly you could use the alfa-obd, but I don't know if it sees live sensor data.
 
#23 ·
Wht are you using to see the regen cycles?

Will the OBD11 tell you? Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong place. I have the OBDLink ScanTool but didn't see anywhere where it tells me when it went through Regen. Sorry if this is a dumb question.
 
#24 ·
Will the OBD11 tell you? Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong place. I have the OBDLink ScanTool but didn't see anywhere where it tells me when it went through Regen. Sorry if this is a dumb question.
What software/app are you running with the OBD2 adapter? Most programs don't have the regen PID in the base app. You would have to add it manually. However you should be able to monitor EGT sensor3 and when it goes up over 1000 degrees it is regening



.
 
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#25 ·
My DPF guage never shows anything above zero. I use a standard amount of DEF but the DPF shows 0% ata ll times. How can that be possible?
 
#42 ·
Even if you cannot force a regen, the gauge could be useful for monitoring the status of the DPF. If it is consistently on the high side, you might have a problem. If it is getting full from city driving, you might think about going for a long drive. It might give a hint about when a regen is about to occur so you can plan for it and keep driving vs stopping in the middle (I've had them start as I was pulling into my driveway). And people are interested to see the DPF status.
 
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#43 ·
Agreed. But regardless of year or gauge, is it possible that I haven’t accumulated anything in the DPF in 7k miles? This is my first DEF diesel. Obviously the gauge could be wrong. Like I said, I use a fair amount of DEF. About 350-400 MPG of DEF.
 
#45 ·
It does seem odd that your DPF % full gauge would always be at zero. I would think you might get at least a percentage or two here and there, even with low miles and towing. But I wouldn't worry about it. I'd be more worried if it was hanging around 100% all the time.

The DPF gauge has to be one of those fake gauges that doesn't measure an actual measurable parameter. It is probably an algorithm based on the delta pressure across the DPF combined with engine RPM and throttle position and turbo boost and/or other things that gives some idea of the amount of exhaust gasses passing through. Together it can determine how clogged up (full) it is. There is no direct measure of DPF full %, it is just an estimate.

DEF is a totally different system.
 
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#46 ·
It does seem odd that your DPF % full gauge would always be at zero.

The DPF gauge is one of those fake gauges that doesn't measure an actual measurable parameter. It is probably an algorithm based on the delta pressure across the DPF combined with engine RPM and throttle position and turbo boost and/or other things that gives some idea of the amount of exhaust gasses passing through. Together it can determine how clogged up (full) it is.

DEF is a totally different system.
DPF restriction is taken from the DPF differential pressure sensor, measures the difference in flow pressures, in and out of the DPF.
 
#55 ·
I wonder why inlet reads 0.0? Inlet pressure should be the high one, outlet should be the low one, and delta should be the difference between the two. None of those things are true in that readout. It would all be corrected if inlet was reading 3.4 in Hg (1.8+1.6).
 
#56 ·
I’d have to say this truck hasn’t even been regening all along. Another reason these apps aren’t necessary, and should only be used as novelty items, they’re only as informative as how exactly they interpret the data given to them by the pcm. Now it’s making you worry over probably nothing. Have you received any messages on your EVIC, or any check engine lights (with a real scan tool)? A true inlet and outlet reading like that would most likely have you in limp mode.
 
#60 ·
Two years, and lots of fuel and DEF later, I still don't know if my 3500 has ever performed a regen.

If it has, it managed to go by completely unnoticed by me. Wonder if I'll be able to sleep tonight, not knowing?
 
#61 ·
Mine clearly tried to go into regen at idle after I remote started it this morning. I wonder if I'll be able to sleep tonight knowing I interrupted the regen once I got to work? No, I don't wonder, I'll sleep just fine...
 
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#63 ·
Other than when it regens in traffic or is in the middle of one when I shut down (smell and ting-tinging), the only way I've ever known was by watching EGTs. I've never really seen the MPG drop; it varies a lot during driving anyway. It is a good thing that it regens without any fanfare. That's how it is supposed to be.
 
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