What's new
Ram Heavy Duty Forum

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Regens at alarming rate!

I thought I would give a little update since I have about 1800 miles on my truck since changing the DPF pressure sensor and hoses, Air Filter, Fuel Filters and Oil and Filter and let everyone know how it has effected my truck. My regen hours between regens have been slowly climbing to my last one went to 10 hours and 381 miles with the same driving habits as before part replacements and my regens are happening less frequently and the gage does not climb as fast as it used to and will do a passive regen now as I have seen the gage go down now from like 35% to 23%. This has been very helpful as to not keep burning all that extra Diesel during regen cycles.

I have condensed my excel sheet to post part replacement to spare everyone.

Date:Start Regen MilesEnd Regen MilesMiles In RegenMiles Since Last RegenIdle HrsDrive HrsHrs Since Last Regen
11928​
267​
8/27/2022
12044​
12069​
25​
116​
65​
272​
5​
8/30/2022 Changed Differential Pressure Sensor 68312096AB, Differential Pressure Hoses 68376348AB, 68376349AC, Air Filter
8/31/2022
12207​
12236​
29​
138​
66​
276​
4​
9/6/2022
12553​
12576​
23​
317​
67​
284​
8​
9/13/2022
12881​
12906​
25​
305​
68​
292​
8​
FUEL FILTER/OIL FILTER T6 5/40 13027 9-14-2022
9/17/2022
13103​
13132​
29​
197​
69​
298​
6​
9/26/2022
13364​
13386​
22​
232​
71​
306​
8​
9/30/2022
13617​
13632​
15​
231​
72​
313​
7​
10/6/2022
14013​
14042​
29​
381​
74​
323​
10​
 
Well, you guys can add me to the list. It happened to me yesterday. 2022 3500 H/O Tradesman Dually from Mark Dodge, delivered mid Feb '22, 4050 miles, 274 total hours, with a high % of idle hours that I will do better about going forward. Driving down the road, message popped up for regen, regen started and very quickly after said Exhaust Filter Full, Power Reduced, See Dealer. I was still driving down the road, but it went from Regen to See Dealer within a short distance and time. Found this thread and others last night, so there's clearly an issue. Local Homestead, FL dealer service department said they had not heard about this issue, scheduled me for TWO WEEKS from now and told me not go on any long trips but that I could keep driving it. I let them know that I had seen the issue discussed on the forums and that there had been a letter circulating about the sensor and when I asked him to confirm that it's a warranty item he did confirm that. I'm going to write to RamCares Ram Chat and send all I can to the service department to get on the STAR list, but I have no intention of going through a never ending revolving door with the service department to get this dealt with. I plan to document document document. I didn't buy a brand new vehicle to be worrying about whether I can get an appointment or get an issue fully resolved. I'll do better with getting more frequent longer drives and the idle times, but I'm not going to deal with a regen every 10 hours. There's a problem and the manufacturer needs to address it and/or give an updated communication to their customers, dealers, and service departments.
 
Last edited:
I'm not saying you should do this... but I'll tell you what seems to have helped me in my situation with my truck constantly throwing "regen too often" codes all the damn time (about every week and a half).

I bought a 64 oz bottle of Hot Shot's Secret - P040464Z Diesel Extreme Clean and Boost and put half the bottle in 1/4 tank of diesel (30 gallon tank). Added another 1/4 tank of fuel. Drove it until it went back down to 1/4 tank and added the other half of bottle, then added another 1/4 tank of fuel. Drove it until it went back down to 1/4 tank again. Filled it up. It ran regen on its own shortly after that.

It's been a month since I started that process. No more codes. Period. Again, I used to get them about every week and a half. Now, a month later, no codes. Has it regened since then? Yes of course. Has it yelled at me that it's doing it too often? Nope. The jury is still out, but if this holds up, $40 bottle of Hot Hot's Secret was a good investment for me. Might not work for you, but seems to have done the trick so far for me.

I got the idea from this video from a guy with an EcoDiesel Ram.

I figured I'd try it.
 
I'm not saying you should do this... but I'll tell you what seems to have helped me in my situation with my truck constantly throwing "regen too often" codes all the damn time (about every week and a half).

I bought a 64 oz bottle of Hot Shot's Secret - P040464Z Diesel Extreme Clean and Boost and put half the bottle in 1/4 tank of diesel (30 gallon tank). Added another 1/4 tank of fuel. Drove it until it went back down to 1/4 tank and added the other half of bottle, then added another 1/4 tank of fuel. Drove it until it went back down to 1/4 tank again. Filled it up. It ran regen on its own shortly after that.

It's been a month since I started that process. No more codes. Period. Again, I used to get them about every week and a half. Now, a month later, no codes. Has it regened since then? Yes of course. Has it yelled at me that it's doing it too often? Nope. The jury is still out, but if this holds up, $40 bottle of Hot Hot's Secret was a good investment for me. Might not work for you, but seems to have done the trick so far for me.

I got the idea from this video from a guy with an EcoDiesel Ram.

I figured I'd try it.

This right here is why I always tell everyone to run some sort of diesel fuel additive. The fuel we get here isn't that great and this shortage is making the situation worse. I personally run HSS EDT in every tank, but there's also Primrose (I used to sell the stuff to fuel jobbers and it's where the founder of HSS came from), the Cummins endorsed PS, etc. We used to notice a ton of issues in tier 4 equipment as well as smaller fleets like local ISD's and such with their emissions when not treating fuel with something worthwhile, especially if they were running the cheapest bulk fuel they could find without any sort of polishing/treatment program. I have no particular loyalty to a fuel supplement brand, but the good ones do work when you need em. Unfortunately between emissions and most US ULSD being crap (There's not a ubuitious supply of "Top Tier" or Premium Diesel like there is with Gas) these modern diesels need something to help them out when running emissions intact. It's just the nature of the beast unlike the good ol days before HPCR/Emissions where we could burn just about damn near anything. For those of you that can get good quality diesel then yea additives might be seen as snake oil, you don't need them, but they do help where needed.

That said I probably wouldn't run Diesel Extreme at those dosages ever again lol.
 
This right here is why I always tell everyone to run some sort of diesel fuel additive. The fuel we get here isn't that great and this shortage is making the situation worse. I personally run HSS EDT in every tank, but there's also Primrose (I used to sell the stuff to fuel jobbers and it's where the founder of HSS came from), the Cummins endorsed PS, etc. We used to notice a ton of issues in tier 4 equipment as well as smaller fleets like local ISD's and such with their emissions when not treating fuel with something worthwhile, especially if they were running the cheapest bulk fuel they could find without any sort of polishing/treatment program. I have no particular loyalty to a fuel supplement brand, but the good ones do work when you need em. Unfortunately between emissions and most US ULSD being crap (There's not a ubuitious supply of "Top Tier" or Premium Diesel like there is with Gas) these modern diesels need something to help them out when running emissions intact. It's just the nature of the beast unlike the good ol days before HPCR/Emissions where we could burn just about damn near anything. For those of you that can get good quality diesel then yea additives might be seen as snake oil, you don't need them, but they do help where needed.

That said I probably wouldn't run Diesel Extreme at those dosages ever again lol.
Over six weeks now, still no codes. I doubt I'll run DE that concentrated again, but I will definitely continue to use it, along with the EDT version. I'm a believer.
 
Today I got the new Differential Pressure Sensor 68312096AB and the 2 Differential Pressure Hoses 68376348AB upstream and 68376349AC downstream and installed them. Took about 30 minutes all in all. I also changed the air filter today at 12180 miles while I was at it to see if these changes will effect my regen issue. When I had the dealer look at my truck for this issue on July 25, 2022 they applied TSB 18-094-22 that has had no effect on the regen issue.

Here is my current regen rate as of late.

Date:Start Regen MilesEnd Regen MilesMiles In RegenMiles Since Last RegenIdle HrsDrive HrsHrs Since Last Regen
9625​
210​
7/12/2022​
9791​
9813​
22​
166​
56​
214​
4​
7/16/2022​
9936​
9958​
22​
123​
56​
218​
4​
7/19/2022​
10038​
10061​
23​
80​
57​
221​
3​
7/21/2022​
10217​
10241​
24​
156​
57​
225​
4​
7/25/2022​
10443​
10461​
18​
202​
58​
231​
6​
7/27/2022​
10583​
10613​
30​
122​
59​
234​
3​
7/29/2022​
10795​
10823​
28​
182​
60​
240​
6​
8/2/2022​
10944​
10968​
24​
121​
61​
243​
3​
8/5/2022​
11198​
11222​
24​
230​
62​
249​
6​
8/8/2022​
11347​
11371​
24​
125​
62​
253​
4​
8/10/2022​
11489​
11510​
21​
118​
62​
256​
3​
8/13/2022​
11721​
11753​
32​
211​
64​
262​
6​
8/22/2022​
11907​
11928​
21​
154​
64​
267​
5​
8/27/2022​
12044​
12069​
25​
116​
65​
272​
5​
Recently moved to KC from Houston so not sure if elevation change or diesel blend mixtures but I'm regening every 100-120 miles the last 7 weeks. First dealer visit did a force regen and by the second start the truck was already at 30% dpf. After my regen this week I'll drop it off again. Are you still seeing good mileage between regens?
 
I don’t know how to search my old post, but here’s the skinny of my version of what happened. Regens were occurring about every 80 miles and eventually plugged up, dealer replacement at my cost. 40,000 miles later I am stranded in Montana with the same situation. Dealership replaced again at my expense as there is supposedly no warranty on emissions after 25,000 miles. Immediately after replacement it started to do rapid regen cycles again and I knew there was another problem that set no codes and went undiagnosed. Turns out that the intercooler tubes were leaking boost. Repairs made in my shed and haven’t had a problem since. It may have been a one off situation but it is still working good.
 
Recently moved to KC from Houston so not sure if elevation change or diesel blend mixtures but I'm regening every 100-120 miles the last 7 weeks. First dealer visit did a force regen and by the second start the truck was already at 30% dpf. After my regen this week I'll drop it off again. Are you still seeing good mileage between regens?
Max Motors in Belton, MO has been good to me, not had any problems with the work that has been done there.
 
I don’t know how to search my old post, but here’s the skinny of my version of what happened. Regens were occurring about every 80 miles and eventually plugged up, dealer replacement at my cost. 40,000 miles later I am stranded in Montana with the same situation. Dealership replaced again at my expense as there is supposedly no warranty on emissions after 25,000 miles. Immediately after replacement it started to do rapid regen cycles again and I knew there was another problem that set no codes and went undiagnosed. Turns out that the intercooler tubes were leaking boost. Repairs made in my shed and haven’t had a problem since. It may have been a one off situation but it is still working good.
Read your post while driving to work this morning. Could only achieve 27 psi boost no mater how hard I pushed the truck. It use to get 31 psig at least when I first got the truck. Which kinda makes since. The truck was in a front end accident right before arriving to KC. The intercooler was forsure damaged and replace and they even had issues with sourcing the clamps. I beat you they rushed to install the hoses and it has a leak. Unfortunately there are no autonation in KC so how hard is it to reach the tubes? Take off the lower front bumper or bottom front skid?
 
Read your post while driving to work this morning. Could only achieve 27 psi boost no mater how hard I pushed the truck. It use to get 31 psig at least when I first got the truck. Which kinda makes since. The truck was in a front end accident right before arriving to KC. The intercooler was forsure damaged and replace and they even had issues with sourcing the clamps. I beat you they rushed to install the hoses and it has a leak. Unfortunately there are no autonation in KC so how hard is it to reach the tubes? Take off the lower front bumper or bottom front skid?
Boost tube clamps aren’t hard to get at. Passenger side pull the intake tube from the air box to turbo. Driver side you can get the TB side from in the engine bay. Bottom for both you might need to pull the plastic valence for easier access. I have a CJC intercooler guard since I hate those valences and I’ve always ripped them off either intentionally or unintentionally lol.
 
Boost tube clamps aren’t hard to get at. Passenger side pull the intake tube from the air box to turbo. Driver side you can get the TB side from in the engine bay. Bottom for both you might need to pull the plastic valence for easier access. I have a CJC intercooler guard since I hate those valences and I’ve always ripped them off either intentionally or unintentionally lol.
So I had to replace my air filter and went ahead retighten everything and removed the inlet hose. Didn't notice anything out of the ordinary tightness. I did notice the intercooler hose had a good wear on from a cross over line. Did you have a noticeable wear leak or did you use one a pressure cap to leak check?
 
So I had to replace my air filter and went ahead retighten everything and removed the inlet hose. Didn't notice anything out of the ordinary tightness. I did notice the intercooler hose had a good wear on from a cross over line. Did you have a noticeable wear leak or did you use one a pressure cap to leak check?
I haven’t tested for boost leaks, but I did install the banks monster ram and the boost tubes. Didn’t like the cold side tube being plastic.
 
Never go to dealer for this issue, even at 100%,run on interstate above 15 hundred rpm,until reads regenerate in progress an dont stop if you can till clears,dealer will charge you over 300$ to do a computer service an if you run on interstate it will clear out,i run diesel additive archoil, an if you buy,start with the system clean 1st,add to nearly empty tank an follow directions on bottle then continue with the treatment on every tank,dont buy EDT,IT SUCKS ,AN will be doing more regens,i soon wont have to worry about this problem cause im doing a performance upgrade to my 6.7,
Goodluck...
This is not always the case.
Not good advice.
If code P242F is set the truck will suspend all active regeneration cycles. At this point you have to have a good scan tool to be able to access regenerative timers and reset them. Otherwise the truck will not regenerate. If the DPF is indeed full, and you continue to force the truck to run, you can compound the issue rather than fix it.
 
Maybe a delete kit is in order
 
Simple stuff first:

1. Stock air box?
2. OEM engine air filter?
2a. Mopar 53034051AB (orange engine air filter) or
2b. Fleetguard AF27684 (orange engine air filter)
3. Check all charge air boots for cracks or leaks
4. Check all charge air components for leaks
5. OEM fuel filters? (Or fleetguard) and are they clean and have been changed properly?
6. What is the cetane and content of the diesel fuel you are running? (B5, B20, etc)
7. Is your engine crankcase overfilled? Are you running a low ash oil? (CK-4 10w30 or 5w40 D.E.O.)
8. Have you or they performed an oil analysis to see if you have fuel dilution in the engine oil?
9. Is your truck losing any coolant, even small amounts over time with no external leaks?
10. Any sign of burning coolant? Any white spots or black soot in the tailpipe?
11. Any sign of a loss of power or boost at any point during operation?

Advanced stuff:
1. Do the pre and post differential pressure sensors in the DPF read correctly?
2. What is the measured soot load in grams across the DPF when the truck is reading “0%” on the dash gauge?
3. What active or pending codes are in the ECM?
4. Any signs or symptoms of an EGR valve malfunction or failure?
5. Did they test fuel injectors for flow rates, excessive return rates, etc?
6. Are all current software flashes / updates / TSB’s applied to all powertrain components?

I have made it a point to watch my regeneration cycles very closely. My truck sees a mix of highway and local driving, as well as a mix of loaded and unloaded operation. (More unloaded than loaded). I have been logging my data and will include it below for the sake of discussion. From what I have noticed over the past four months, it seems fuel quality / cetane rating may be a factor to consider. I regularly run Hotshots EDT in my fuel at the “performance dose” of 2oz per 25 gallon. I started running the Hotshots EDT after the first entry on this sheet. Previously I had concerns and suspicions of more frequent regenerations as well. You’ll note on my sheet below, the one time I was unable to treat my fuel (ran out and couldn’t get any at the time of fill up) that the time between regeneration cycles was much lower. I also had an issue where I was sold the wrong engine air filter by my Ram dealer and that was changed out for the correct one after starting this sheet. These frequent regeneration issues seem very common, especially on the 2022’s. There are a lot of things that have to be checked and inspected to make an accurate diagnosis on the problem. If you have a dealer that is inexperienced with diesel your results may vary with regard to a proper fix.
IMG_1671.jpeg
IMG_1672.jpeg
 
Last edited:
This applies to the 2500's too.


BighornHDRam,

Good afternoon. I picked up my HD from Mark Dodge Dec 4th, you? When I picked it up I specifically asked about Recalls and TSBs, and was told by Aaron that active Recalls and TSBs were taken care of. Did you use a reader to gather your data? I have milage, def, et cetera at every fill up. But I would be interested to see the deep data. Your "3 minutes at 45% before the CEL" is spot on.

@jebruns thanks, that is the same letter I got back in July of last year when I ordered my truck.

@RamCares anything of value to be added?

Be safe,
Randy
The missing Particulate Matter sensor would not be the cause for frequent regenerations, as the sensor’s sole purpose is to detect the amount of soot passing out of the system. If the amount of soot particles gets too high, it will trigger an error code to indicate that the DPF has been compromised and is no longer adequately trapping soot.
 
Simple stuff first:

1. Stock air box?
2. OEM engine air filter?
2a. Mopar 53034051AB (orange engine air filter) or
2b. Fleetguard AF27684 (orange engine air filter)
3. Check all charge air boots for cracks or leaks
4. Check all charge air components for leaks
5. OEM fuel filters? (Or fleetguard) and are they clean and have been changed properly?
6. What is the cetane and content of the diesel fuel you are running? (B5, B20, etc)
7. Is your engine crankcase overfilled? Are you running a low ash oil? (CK-4 10w30 or 5w40 D.E.O.)
8. Have you or they performed an oil analysis to see if you have fuel dilution in the engine oil?
9. Is your truck losing any coolant, even small amounts over time with no external leaks?
10. Any sign of burning coolant? Any spot in the tailpipe?
11. Any sign of a loss of power or boost at any point during operation?

Advanced stuff:
1. Do the pre and post differential pressure sensors in the DPF read correctly?
2. What is the measured soot load in grams across the DPF when the truck is reading “0%” on the dash gauge?
3. What active or pending codes are in the ECM?
4. Any signs or symptoms of an EGR valve malfunction or failure?
5. Did they test fuel injectors for flow rates, excessive return rates, etc?
6. Are all current software flashes / updates / TSB’s applied to all powertrain components?

I have made it a point to watch my regeneration cycles very closely. My truck sees a mix of highway and local driving, as well as a mix of loaded and unloaded operation. (More unloaded than loaded). I have been logging my data and will include it below for the sake of discussion. From what I have noticed over the past four months, it seems fuel quality / cetane rating may be a factor to consider. I regularly run Hotshots EDT in my fuel at the “performance dose” of 2oz per 25 gallon. I started running the Hotshots EDT after the first entry on this sheet. Previously I had concerns and suspicions of more frequent regenerations as well. You’ll note on my sheet below, the one time I was unable to treat my fuel (ran out and couldn’t get any at the time of fill up) that the time between regeneration cycles was much lower. I also had an issue where I was sold the wrong engine air filter by my Ram dealer and that was changed out for the correct one after starting this sheet. These frequent regeneration issues seem very common, especially on the 2022’s. There are a lot of things that have to be checked and inspected to make an accurate diagnosis on the problem. If you have a dealer that is inexperienced with diesel your results may vary with regard to a proper fix.
View attachment 55457
View attachment 55458
Will be replace the fuel filter the first time 15k change interval. Is this too long or should I increase frequency with oil changes every 10k miles? Just swapped to the approved mopar AB filter after running Docs air filter for a couple of months. Charging tubes were recently replaced due to front end damage so intercooler and tubes are all new. I'm seeing a wear on the turbo charger exit due some hoses pinching but doesn't look warn through. I have noticed my max boost is holding around 25 psig which down from New around 32 psig. Maybe I got some faulty new parts and have a leak. Oil I used 5-40 shell Rotella which seemed to be good when changed but was driving 110miles a day and wasn't paying attention till my commute cut down to 15 miles a day. Just purchased a insight cts3 and I'm currently only seeing psig reads .07 at idle. 50% looked to be around .25 psig when regen occurred.
 
@Bullwinkle_The_Black_Ram

I would check for boost leaks, even small ones, especially after all the front end work. If you’re not getting enough air to the truck it’ll run less efficiently and you’ll soot up faster.

Change your fuel filters at the same interval you change your oil. How do they usually look when you pull them out? 15k intervals on these filters isn’t bad provided you’re not seeing signs of them being severely degraded / filled when removed.

5w40 is fine as long as it meets Cummins spec and CK4. Should be full synthetic per book. Just make sure you’re not overfilled.
 
@Bullwinkle_The_Black_Ram

I would check for boost leaks, even small ones, especially after all the front end work. If you’re not getting enough air to the truck it’ll run less efficiently and you’ll soot up faster.

Change your fuel filters at the same interval you change your oil. How do they usually look when you pull them out? 15k intervals on these filters isn’t bad provided you’re not seeing signs of them being severely degraded / filled when removed.

5w40 is fine as long as it meets Cummins spec and CK4. Should be full synthetic per book. Just make sure you’re not overfilled.
First fuel filters change today 15,100 miles and besides dumping diesel all over me it went pretty smooth. The water separator was dirty and the fuel filter under the hood was kinda grey. I believe I got real lucky because starting up after the filter swap the DPF pressure was .03 psig vs .07 psig before. Once the truck warmed up the truck had more power and could final hit 32 psig boost vs the 25 psig last week. Ran 30 miles +75mph with WOT sprints and 0% dpf. Ran around town for another 10 miles 30-50 mph hitting the truck hard dpf psig still low and still reading 0% dpf. Made 5 stops and a touch less car wash with a 20 minute idle and still reading 0% dpf. Before fuel change it would have regen from that trip alone even though I had just finished a regen before parking the truck yesterday. The jury is still out but so far good results. Crazy how sensitive these trucks are for just a fuel filter to cause issues and swapping to an OEM filter Tuesday. I did purchase a insight cts3 last week to help monitor egt2 temps and you would be surprised how hard it is to stay @ 650 F for passive regen. Anything besides +75 mph, accelerating or grades the EGT2 temps would drop 100-200F quickly. I'll do an update next week to let everyone know. Also been track regen info and will post it all next week.
 

Attachments

  • 20230421_161910.jpg
    20230421_161910.jpg
    623.9 KB · Views: 13
First fuel filters change today 15,100 miles and besides dumping diesel all over me it went pretty smooth. The water separator was dirty and the fuel filter under the hood was kinda grey. I believe I got real lucky because starting up after the filter swap the DPF pressure was .03 psig vs .07 psig before. Once the truck warmed up the truck had more power and could final hit 32 psig boost vs the 25 psig last week. Ran 30 miles +75mph with WOT sprints and 0% dpf. Ran around town for another 10 miles 30-50 mph hitting the truck hard dpf psig still low and still reading 0% dpf. Made 5 stops and a touch less car wash with a 20 minute idle and still reading 0% dpf. Before fuel change it would have regen from that trip alone even though I had just finished a regen before parking the truck yesterday. The jury is still out but so far good results. Crazy how sensitive these trucks are for just a fuel filter to cause issues and swapping to an OEM filter Tuesday. I did purchase an insight cts3 last week to help monitor egt2 temps and you would be surprised how hard it is to stay @ 650 F for passive regen. Anything besides +75 mph, accelerating or grades the EGT2 temps would drop 100-200F quickly. I'll do an update next week to let everyone know. Also been track regen info and will post it all next week.
The rear mounted water separator will usually be pretty dark in color after a 10-15k interval. In most situations the black color comes, not from dirt, but from small particles called “asphaltenes”. They’re a tar-like byproduct of high pressure common rail fuel injection. The 25-30k psi fuel rail pressures tend to heat the fuel to extremely high momentary temperatures. When that happens, the asphaltenes are generated as a byproduct. They are harmless to the fuel system as they are soft a pliable but the filtration media in the two fuel system filters will capture them. The water separator, being the first in line, captures the vast majority of them. This is yet another reason why the filter intervals shouldn’t exceed 15k. It’s also a good reason why you should avoid running the fuel tank lower than 1/8-1/4 level. The quantity of fuel in the tank helps to dissipate heat in the fuel. The lower the tank level, the hotter the fuel will run as it has less volume to draw heat away. The hotter the fuel is entering the system, the more asphaltenes are generated and so on.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top