Powerstroke diesel engine cleaning cycle

[Donald]

About 2 weeks ago I drove my new to me 2015 F-250 diesel about 90 minutes to get CarWell done, then home. It sat for several days so the CarWell can dry/set. Last Wed I drove it 20 minutes to Ford dealer. Latter in the day I drove it home from the Ford dealer, and as I was nearing my home I could smell a "hot" smell in the pickup. I parked and smoke came up from between the cab & bed and on the side just behind the door. About 10 minutes latter no more smoke. I looked under to see if the mechanic had left his glove on top of the exhaust or something similar. No glove.

So my initial thinking was if the smoke was from CarWell, why didn't it smoke on the 90 minute drive back from CarWell or why didn't it smoke when I drove to the Ford dealer.

Giving it more thought, I now think the diesel engine went through a cleaning cycle as I was nearing my home (from the Ford dealer) and that got the whole exhaust system a lot hotter and now it was hot enough to burn off some CarWell that had dripped on it.

Are there any dash indications when the engine goes through its cleaning cycle? Which I may or may not have been looking for.

 

[Astro14]

Yes, the little dash message center will say something like "cleaning exhaust filter, drive for 30 minutes".

I've seen it on a friend's F250 when I was borrowing the truck.

 

[Donald]

And what happens if after 15 minutes into the cleaning cycle I am home and shut off the engine?

I assume the cat/particulate filter unit will get hotter during the cleaning cycle?

How often does it do this cleaning cycle?

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted By: Astro14
Yes, the little dash message center will say something like "cleaning exhaust filter, drive for 30 minutes".

I've seen it on a friend's F250 when I was borrowing the truck.
It will only say "Cleaning Exhaust Filter" and the message appears for less than 3 seconds so it is very easy to miss. The easiest way to tell when a regen is happening is to turn on the instant MPG meter--the instant mileage will be in 10-12 mpg range. On the 2015-2016 models a regen will take 23-25 minutes at 65+ mph, the earlier 6.7L engines took less. A regen usually happens every 300-500 miles depending on idle and city driving.

OP - the EGTs on a regen are usually well above 1100°F and will definitely have a cooked smell if you just complete a regen and shut it down.

In the event that you have too many incomplete regens, you may see a "Drive to Clean" message and you should not ignore it. The next time I am at the dealer I plan to have them enable the regen "gauge" in to gauge area of the information center.

 

[bdcardinal]

Don't shut off a truck while in regen. I haven't seen it on the 6.7s yet, but the 6.4s would flood the rear 2 cylinders with fuel and wash down the cylinder walls with diesel. The city government here told all their drivers with 6.4L trucks to shut them off as soon as the trucks went into regen. Eventually they would not start due to hydrolock. They would tow them to us and we would drain 25+ quarts of oil out of the crankcase.

This is the same city government what managed to put DEF in the fuel and managed to put diesel in the DEF tank on a 6.7 flatbed.

 

[roadrunner1]

All of the above is correct, you can have your dealership enable the DPF gauge in your dash cluster with the IDS. I haven't seen any issues shutting down during a regen as I have a UOA every OC with virtually zero fuel dilution. Its nice to let them complete, but not practical every regen.

My best advise is to use a good fuel source with a quality fuel additive to increase cetane to minimize DPF loading. Its not uncommon for me to go up to 650 mi.+ during highway commuting. The computer in your truck will take care of everything, just drive and enjoy.

 

[Donald]

So if the msg only appears for 3 seconds, how does one know when its done?

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted By: Donald
So if the msg only appears for 3 seconds, how does one know when its done?
There is no message stating that it is complete. Use your instant MPG gauge and you will know it is complete when the MPGs return to normal (you will definitely know the regen is happening because your MPG will drastically drop for no apparent reason and the engine can run a little rough during a regen). Keep in mind the amount of time required is 20 minutes minimum (I have never seen it be less than this) at highway speeds. One of the forums I am on had a post where one guy locks out 6th gear during a regen to raise the RPMs and shorten the time.

The only issue here is the EGTs can go too high and the regen will stop and then restart again. I have had several of mine start just before I shut it down--it simply restarts when the truck is started again and back up to operating temp. I have to say that RoadRunner's truck is unique in the fact that he has had no fuel dilution, every UOA I have seen posted or discussed has some fuel in the oil--mine included. This can be impacted by operating conditions and I suspect that RR sees lots of highway miles.

 

[roadrunner1]

Also, if you decide to let the dealership add the DPF gauge to your information center it reads percentage of particulate. On my '15 a regen starts when 100% is reached and is complete somewhere between 20%-30%. I personally like the addition of knowing when a regen is about to begin, but as stated the truck will just restart another regen when needed if the previous one didn't complete.

With saying all of that Ford, and most other truck manufacturers, have tried to make the regen as unobtrusive as possible to the driver. Basically it happens and you don't need to know, but for those of us that are inquisitive the DPF% gauge is a nice addition.

 

[Astro14]

Maybe I'm confusing the messages. The truck in question is a 2012 F250. I drove it for a few days last fall in Colorado. I may have seen "cleaning filter" message in the little message window after I saw a message that said something like "cleaning cycle needed, drive for 30 minutes". Does that mean that the dealer set up or programmed that warning?

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted By: Astro14
Maybe I'm confusing the messages. The truck in question is a 2012 F250. I drove it for a few days last fall in Colorado. I may have seen "cleaning filter" message in the little message window after I saw a message that said something like "cleaning cycle needed, drive for 30 minutes". Does that mean that the dealer set up or programmed that warning?
No; I think you actually saw the "Drive to Clean" message which means that a number of regens failed to complete, which is different from the standard "Cleaning Filter" message (which likely immediately preceded the drive to clean message). From what I understand the drive to clean message is about 1 message away from driving to the dealer for a repair so they can either force regen after regen to clean the DPF or perform a repair to clean it. Many forums have complained there should be a way for the owner to force a regen instead of having to take it to the dealer to do so (if/when required).

 

[SwampSurvivor]

So, this is a dumb question - but how is it actually any better for the environment?

If it dumps out all the particulate matter at once, and uses massive amounts of fuel ...


Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Don't shut off a truck while in regen. I haven't seen it on the 6.7s yet, but the 6.4s would flood the rear 2 cylinders with fuel and wash down the cylinder walls with diesel. The city government here told all their drivers with 6.4L trucks to shut them off as soon as the trucks went into regen. Eventually they would not start due to hydrolock. They would tow them to us and we would drain 25+ quarts of oil out of the crankcase.

This is the same city government what managed to put DEF in the fuel and managed to put diesel in the DEF tank on a 6.7 flatbed.


Why would they shut the truck off as soon as it went into regen?

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
So, this is a dumb question - but how is it actually any better for the environment?

If it dumps out all the particulate matter at once, and uses massive amounts of fuel ...Why would they shut the truck off as soon as it went into regen?
A truck without SCR/EGR/DPF would have soot in the form of the familiar black smoke pouring out of the exhaust continously along with elevated levels of NOx. The emissions on these trucks while using about 1-1.5 gallons of diesel to accomplish it, eliminates this situation. My truck has zero smoke, zero smell, and the NOX is significantly reduced (on the order of 90% or more). The 6.0 and 6.4 engines handled regens differently than the 6.7s; the 6.7 uses 4 out of 8 cylinders and while the fuel dilution is less, it is still there, but not to the degree BD describes for the 6.4s (and the group doing that displayed less than stellar intelligence about diesel engines). Unlike the group that deliberately shut down the engine, there have been times when I see the regen message a very short distance from where I am going and I am not going to keep driving to complete the regen, so I go about my business. The regen starts again the next time I run the truck.

Here is a good overview of how it works (generally speaking):

Diesel SCR

 

[Donald]

I drove the truck today and there was no smoke and no msgs about a regen. So I am thinking it did a regen on my way home from the Ford dealer and that caused smoke from CarWell that had dripped on the cat/particulate filter.