Regens at alarming rate!

[mbarber84]

What even hurts more is the EPA ran off most companies making deletes. They are legal in Canada (shocking). Most of the US doesn’t smog vehicles so it allowed enthusiasts to make these CTD great again. Unfortunately it gets harder and harder, and pushes people to buy new vehicles every time the warranty runs out. HD wise, the hemi is fine but you want to get into a 1500, your stuck with a BS e-torque- 2,000$ generator, expensive batteries, more systems to fail- you can thank the US EPA/ CA CARB for that.

Contrary to common belief, emissions defeat devices and removal of emissions equipment is illegal in Canada as well. The only difference being that Canada does not have the regulatory means to enforce the laws to the same extent that is done in the States.

 

[LegendaryLawman]

Contrary to common belief, emissions defeat devices and removal of emissions equipment is illegal in Canada as well. The only difference being that Canada does not have the regulatory means to enforce the laws to the same extent that is done in the States.

Illegal by statute but not enforced so it’s defacto legal. Similar to US immigration laws curgently…

 

[kfscoll]

They are marketed specifically for the purpose they’re built for. Which is towing or hauling. When’s the last time you saw a Ram advertisement with a 3/4 or 1 ton truck full of people driving around town admiring Christmas lights? The other manufacturers are the same way. These are purpose built trucks designed and tuned for hauling and towing. Nothing more. It’s never been anything less. The fact that they’ve become a “fad” doesn’t mean that they can be effectively utilized outside of their primary purpose. The manufacturers can’t control what people do with the trucks once they’re sold, but they are indeed marketed for their primary purpose.

I don’t buy that. If they were solely for towing and hauling, they wouldn’t offer options like reclining rear heated seats, leather dashboard toppers, and real burled wood interior trim. I bought my $80K truck (that has none of those options, FWIW) to occasionally tow my RV but I don’t want and can’t afford to park my truck unless it’s towing my fifth wheel. That’s a preposterous expectation, and Ram damned well knows it. I’ve got 28K miles in 17 months on my ‘22 from driving up and down the highway like a fool at 80+ trying to fend off soot-based regenerations. It’s no wonder Ram drivers rate as the worst on the road - it’s because we’re all driving like maniacs trying to keep the DPF gauge clear.

I think I might stop trying so hard to keep it from actively regenerating. I’m pretty sure I could get 500-600 miles between regens just driving as I normally would - it seems to take a whole lot longer after an active regen for that first segment to illuminate on the DPF gauge than it does after a passive regen drops the gauge to zero. I’m sure zero on the DPF gauge covers a super-wide range of actual soot loads; I just wish I had more insight into what they were. Assuming no other contributing factors (like leaky injectors or dodgy fuel pumps), 600 miles between regens seems like a sufficient interval to avoid problematic oil dilution, especially since I’ve never had an active regen take more than 15-20 minutes.

The worst part is that everyone’s trucks started off working just great and over time developed this tendency to regenerate more frequently. Why is that? If Chrysler could answer that question, I think they’d get to the root of the problem.

 

[mbarber84]

I don’t buy that. If they were solely for towing and hauling, they wouldn’t offer options like reclining rear heated seats, leather dashboard toppers, and real burled wood interior trim. I bought my $80K truck (that has none of those options, FWIW) to occasionally tow my RV but I don’t want and can’t afford to park my truck unless it’s towing my fifth wheel. That’s a preposterous expectation, and Ram damned well knows it. I’ve got 28K miles in 17 months on my ‘22 from driving up and down the highway like a fool at 80+ trying to fend off soot-based regenerations. It’s no wonder Ram drivers rate as the worst on the road - it’s because we’re all driving like maniacs trying to keep the DPF gauge clear.

I think I might stop trying so hard to keep it from actively regenerating. I’m pretty sure I could get 500-600 miles between regens just driving as I normally would - it seems to take a whole lot longer after an active regen for that first segment to illuminate on the DPF gauge than it does after a passive regen drops the gauge to zero. I’m sure zero on the DPF gauge covers a super-wide range of actual soot loads; I just wish I had more insight into what they were. Assuming no other contributing factors (like leaky injectors or dodgy fuel pumps), 600 miles between regens seems like a sufficient interval to avoid problematic oil dilution, especially since I’ve never had an active regen take more than 15-20 minutes.

The worst part is that everyone’s trucks started off working just great and over time developed this tendency to regenerate more frequently. Why is that? If Chrysler could answer that question, I think they’d get to the root of the problem.

You don’t have to buy it, but it’s the truth.
The luxury is there as an option for those that travel or wish to have a more plush interior. Especially for those that tote RV’s or haul horses regularly. The truck becomes an extension of the home while on the road. The same level of comfort can be had in a class 8 over the road tractor if you wish. Plenty of high level interiors available. The interior doesn’t determine what the truck is designed to do. The engine, drivetrain, structure, and programming does. And they are indeed primarily designed and tuned to be tow tractors. At no point will you see them marketed as anything less. That’s why the GVWR’s are so high and the tow ratings ever increasing. Neither Ram, nor Ford or GM view these trucks as daily commuter passenger vehicles. That has never been the case, and certainly not with ever increasing emissions regulations which require the truck to work harder in order to keep the emissions system cleaned out. Millions of buyers may use them as personal conveyances but that does not summarily determine that they are indeed passenger vehicles. Quite literally, the very nature of daily driving flies directly in the face of what diesel trucks were intended to do or were recommended to do. IE: short trips, stop and go driving, extended idling, low or no load operation etc etc.

If you can achieve 600 miles between active regeneration cycles in a mixed duty cycle scenario, that should be sufficient to reduce your fuel dilution and give your emissions system a pretty healthy life.

You (and everyone else) might not want to hear it, believe it, buy it, etc but the harsh reality remains. They’re not daily driving vehicles and doing such creates more problems, predominantly with emissions.

The trucks all start out working great because the emissions system has absolutely zero soot loading. It takes a while for build up to occur but once it starts, and doesn’t get fully cleared out, you end up in an endless cycle….especially when the truck is constantly being driven at low or no loaded condition. Again, some of these regen issues are the result of components failing and that has to be addressed, but there are more than a few that are the result of nothing more than improper operation and less than ideal duty cycle.

 

[mbarber84]

Yeah but they really aren’t. Go to any dealership and see what they say.

My truck has 31k miles on it. Half of those towing. I didn’t tow for about 3 months and bam, regen issues.

What the dealer tells you is what you need to hear in order for you to buy one. Dealers are about the last place you want to go to get factual information about these trucks. They’ll tell you whatever they think you want to hear. Had a guy on here not long ago with a Regen issue that said his dealer told him the truck doesn’t regenerate when towing. How’s that sound? lol

 

[jasmith348]

22 of those 40 years were trouble free because you had no emissions to contend with. The game changed in 2007. Even then, it was much easier to get away with more casual driving between 2007 and 2018 because the emissions systems were higher flowing and less restrictive. As the Tier emissions continuously got more stringent, the noose ultimately tightens on what we can / can’t do with these. That was inevitable.


Millions upon millions of these trucks are sold and used for the sole purpose of pulling trailers and hauling heavy loads. When they’re used solely for their designed purpose, regeneration frequency issues are practically nonexistent. The ones that do demonstrate problems in those duty cycles are easily attributable to a component

What the dealer tells you is what you need to hear in order for you to buy one. Dealers are about the last place you want to go to get factual information about these trucks. They’ll tell you whatever they think you want to hear. Had a guy on here not long ago with a Regen issue that said his dealer told him the truck doesn’t regenerate when towing. How’s that sound? lol

Well, thanks for admitting I'm right.

 

[jasmith348]

What software update are they claiming will fix your regeneration frequency issue?

You dont have to worry about it, just us that don't use our trucks correctly.

 

[mbarber84]

You dont have to worry about it, just us that don't use our trucks correctly.

No need to get indignant. What I’ve provided you is accurate information based on decades in the diesel industry. You may not like it, and that’s just fine. But what Ive said throughout this thread is the absolute truth. I don’t come here to invest my time in idle speculation.

 

[kfscoll]

You don’t have to buy it, but it’s the truth.
The luxury is there as an option for those that travel or wish to have a more plush interior. Especially for those that tote RV’s or haul horses regularly. The truck becomes an extension of the home while on the road. The same level of comfort can be had in a class 8 over the road tractor if you wish. Plenty of high level interiors available. The interior doesn’t determine what the truck is designed to do. The engine, drivetrain, structure, and programming does. And they are indeed primarily designed and tuned to be tow tractors. At no point will you see them marketed as anything less. That’s why the GVWR’s are so high and the tow ratings ever increasing. Neither Ram, nor Ford or GM view these trucks as daily commuter passenger vehicles. That has never been the case, and certainly not with ever increasing emissions regulations which require the truck to work harder in order to keep the emissions system cleaned out. Millions of buyers may use them as personal conveyances but that does not summarily determine that they are indeed passenger vehicles. Quite literally, the very nature of daily driving flies directly in the face of what diesel trucks were intended to do or were recommended to do. IE: short trips, stop and go driving, extended idling, low or no load operation etc etc.

If you can achieve 600 miles between active regeneration cycles in a mixed duty cycle scenario, that should be sufficient to reduce your fuel dilution and give your emissions system a pretty healthy life.

You (and everyone else) might not want to hear it, believe it, buy it, etc but the harsh reality remains. They’re not daily driving vehicles and doing such creates more problems, predominantly with emissions.

The trucks all start out working great because the emissions system has absolutely zero soot loading. It takes a while for build up to occur but once it starts, and doesn’t get fully cleared out, you end up in an endless cycle….especially when the truck is constantly being driven at low or no loaded condition. Again, some of these regen issues are the result of components failing and that has to be addressed, but there are more than a few that are the result of nothing more than improper operation and less than ideal duty cycle.

Fair enough. FWIW it took 166 miles from my last active regen for my DPF gauge to register one segment with very mixed-mode driving. Assuming linearity of the gauge (and I in no way know if it behaves linearly), that'd get me to just under 700 miles between active regens. I can live with that.

 

[mbarber84]

Fair enough. FWIW it took 166 miles from my last active regen for my DPF gauge to register one segment with very mixed-mode driving. Assuming linearity of the gauge (and I in no way know if it behaves linearly), that'd get me to just under 700 miles between active regens. I can live with that.

I think 700 miles (if you’re able to achieve that) would be absolutely fine. Especially if you’re doing a lot of local, low speed driving or short trips. If the truck does indeed make it that far, it sounds to me like your emissions system is working just fine. Obviously not there in person to witness its daily operation so take that with some due caution. One thing I would add, is that if your truck is used for daily low speed driving and you track the cycles, if you have a close idea when it’s going to regenerate and can get it to a highway or put a load on it, you would be well served to do so. A regeneration at a constant highway speed that is allowed to start, run, and complete while continuously operating is going to be far more effective at reducing the soot load as opposed to a regeneration cycle that’s being conducted in stop & go driving (or one that starts but gets interrupted and has to be restarted on a subsequent trip). The “cleaner” you can get the DPF while in regeneration, the longer you’ll go before it registers soot loading again. Obviously repeated low-performing regeneration cycles leads to more regeneration cycles being needed much sooner.

 

[kfscoll]

I think 700 miles (if you’re able to achieve that) would be absolutely fine. Especially if you’re doing a lot of local, low speed driving or short trips. If the truck does indeed make it that far, it sounds to me like your emissions system is working just fine. Obviously not there in person to witness its daily operation so take that with some due caution. One thing I would add, is that if your truck is used for daily low speed driving and you track the cycles, if you have a close idea when it’s going to regenerate and can get it to a highway or put a load on it, you would be well served to do so. A regeneration at a constant highway speed that is allowed to start, run, and complete while continuously operating is going to be far more effective at reducing the soot load as opposed to a regeneration cycle that’s being conducted in stop & go driving (or one that starts but gets interrupted and has to be restarted on a subsequent trip). The “cleaner” you can get the DPF while in regeneration, the longer you’ll go before it registers soot loading again. Obviously repeated low-performing regeneration cycles leads to more regeneration cycles being needed much sooner.

I absolutely make an effort to hit the highway when I know the truck's about to actively regenerate, but thanks for the reminder.

One issue I have is that my driveway is a steep incline so it's not easy for me to get accurate oil level readings. I need to make an effort to park it on the street periodically so I can keep an eye on the oil level.

I think it's very likely that my truck is operating properly since I've never gotten a "keep driving" message or thrown a code; it sounds like most people with real issues are in constant active regen despite highway driving and/or load-hauling. I'm just naturally disappointed that I have to monitor the DPF gauge so closely given the relatively low amount of around-town, low-speed driving I do. Oh well - I rarely let the gauge get past one segment before I go for a highway run, so maybe I need to let the truck generate more soot until it goes into active regen to get a better handle on what my truck's regeneration cycle frequency is under more typical use cases.

Maybe I'm just overthinking this.

 

[mbarber84]

I absolutely make an effort to hit the highway when I know the truck's about to actively regenerate, but thanks for the reminder.

One issue I have is that my driveway is a steep incline so it's not easy for me to get accurate oil level readings. I need to make an effort to park it on the street periodically so I can keep an eye on the oil level.

I think it's very likely that my truck is operating properly since I've never gotten a "keep driving" message or thrown a code; it sounds like most people with real issues are in constant active regen despite highway driving and/or load-hauling. I'm just naturally disappointed that I have to monitor the DPF gauge so closely given the relatively low amount of around-town, low-speed driving I do. Oh well - I rarely let the gauge get past one segment before I go for a highway run, so maybe I need to let the truck generate more soot until it goes into active regen to get a better handle on what my truck's regeneration cycle frequency is under more typical use cases.

Maybe I'm just overthinking this.

If you’re not getting any intervention messages for the regeneration, no trouble codes related to emissions, then I would say you probably don’t have anything to worry about. Watching the DPF gauge isn’t a bad idea. Glance at it occasionally and see what it’s doing. If it’s going up and down, everything is likely working fine. If you can catch a regen cycle starting, then it becomes easier to determine your frequency. Record date, time, miles, and engine hours when it started the cycle. Then time, miles, and engine hours it completed the cycle. From that point forward you have a baseline for planning. You already know regeneration is going to happen when the gauge gets closed to 50% full, or if 24 engine hours surpass without a regen. On that basis alone you’ll know how much to watch the gauge. Once you have about 5 cycles documented, you can start to see a pattern for how your trucks emissions system is handling your driving style and duty cycles. I use my iPhone to snap a picture of the dash when the cycle starts and when the cycle finishes. Those pictures capture all the data I need without having to write anything down. Then when I get home, I enter the data into my spreadsheet.

 

[Units]

If you’re not getting any intervention messages for the regeneration, no trouble codes related to emissions, then I would say you probably don’t have anything to worry about. Watching the DPF gauge isn’t a bad idea. Glance at it occasionally and see what it’s doing. If it’s going up and down, everything is likely working fine. If you can catch a regen cycle starting, then it becomes easier to determine your frequency. Record date, time, miles, and engine hours when it started the cycle. Then time, miles, and engine hours it completed the cycle. From that point forward you have a baseline for planning. You already know regeneration is going to happen when the gauge gets closed to 50% full, or if 24 engine hours surpass without a regen. On that basis alone you’ll know how much to watch the gauge. Once you have about 5 cycles documented, you can start to see a pattern for how your trucks emissions system is handling your driving style and duty cycles. I use my iPhone to snap a picture of the dash when the cycle starts and when the cycle finishes. Those pictures capture all the data I need without having to write anything down. Then when I get home, I enter the data into my spreadsheet. View attachment 69830View attachment 69831
View attachment 69832

Looking at the pictures you have up of the regen, I noticed you have cruise enabled. Did you notice a brief difference in engine operation when it went into regen while using cruise?

 

[mbarber84]

Looking at the pictures you have up of the regen, I noticed you have cruise enabled. Did you notice a brief difference in engine operation when it went into regen while using cruise?

I have never noticed any difference in operation when running at 75mph on cruise. The engines just shy of 2,000rpm at that speed so it’s churning out a good amount of power. There’s no drop in performance or change in feel. If you come to a stop light, or you’re driving at slow speed, you can definitely hear a tone change in the engine, due to the parameters that are in effect when the truck is in an active regeneration mode.

 

[Units]

I have never noticed any difference in operation when running at 75mph on cruise. The engines just shy of 2,000rpm at that speed so it’s churning out a good amount of power. There’s no drop in performance or change in feel. If you come to a stop light, or you’re driving at slow speed, you can definitely hear a tone change in the engine, due to the parameters that are in effect when the truck is in an active regeneration mode.

Interesting, mine has a slight “bump” to the motor almost like a split second pause when an active regeneration starts. I’ve only noticed it while using cruise. Maybe in the programming. I haven’t noticed in any other instance than using cruise, but then I use it all the time. Gonna have to try and catch a regen not using cruise.

 

[oledirteh]

I have been keeping a close eye on my regens as of late, and my past 3 regens have happened at the 24 hour mark. Otherwise, my gauge reads 0%. I will hit 90000 miles today on the way home from work. I run hot shot edt every few tanks. Banks cai w/ monster intake and heater grid delete.

 

[IDC2022]

Looks like you may be in for a new DPF soon or the DPF particulate sensor is faulty

I have an open star case as well as ram CAIR , CAIRs was suppose to cal me in 48 hours haven’t heard back yet it’s been 5 days !!

I think I will let the NHTSA know there’s something wrong with my emission on my truck that the dealer cannot figure out. Which is definitely a safety issue! the toxic fumes are coming into my truck. I’m sure EPA would love to know this as well.

I usually buy a new ram every 2-3 years since 2012 6.7 ! I’m over it RAM starting to be a piece of crap brand for me


Ram know they have a problem trust me my opinion!!!!!!


Ram Keeps kicking the bucket down the road total BS!

 

[oledirteh]

Today hit my 24 hour regen. i must have the unicorn ram.

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

I have an open star case as well as ram CAIR , CAIRs was suppose to cal me in 48 hours haven’t heard back yet it’s been 5 days !!

I think I will let the NHTSA know there’s something wrong with my emission on my truck that the dealer cannot figure out. Which is definitely a safety issue! the toxic fumes are coming into my truck. I’m sure EPA would love to know this as well.

I usually buy a new ram every 2-3 years since 2012 6.7 ! I’m over it RAM starting to be a piece of crap brand for me


Ram know they have a problem trust me my opinion!!!!!!


Ram Keeps kicking the bucket down the road total BS!

All brands are the same dont kid yourself…

 

[oledirteh]

All brands are the same dont kid yourself…

yup. go to our local ram/ford dealer and the ford dealer's garage has a wait list for work. i dont know about chevy/gmc though as i dont follow what is going on (That may change if they come out with the 8.3L) cause of rust issues that have had.