I have been using Blue Def on my Ram and just when I learned how to decipher the Jan 2022 date codes, they went and changed them. It used to start with a two letter code and then had numbers to represent year and julian calender dates. Now it is all numbers. Does anyone know how to decipher the new 11 number code?
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new 2022 blue DEF code format
- Thread starter rudyyoko
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Ostracize
Well-Known Member
Thank you! I just went to buy some Def today and I noticed the code was different. Thanks for the info!!!
Godzilla
Member
Is there a shelf life for it? I've been driving diesels since before we started having to use the stuff and I never knew there was a concern.
~2 years but subject to storage conditions.
When you buy jugs CHECK THE SEALS.
I don't think it was here, but on another forum, someone had a DEF failure because some sh*tstick returned a jug of DEF to Walmart and it was just tap water.
Godzilla
Member
Thanks. WTF is wrong with some people? OTC meds are damn near impossible to open thanks to the Tylenol killer back in the early 80s.
Guy wasn't even smart enough to use the high dollar top shelf Blue Platinum DEF.
KneeDeep
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Keep out of direct sunlight and keep from freezing.
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Will_T
Well-Known Member
And maybe they just changed them again or maybe different plants use different code formats. I just purchased this morning from Lowes a box of the regular Blue DEF. It was still wrapped on a pallet just off the truck so newly arrived. Below is a photo showing the code from two different sides of the box. Both sides have letters also but one code has an extra five numbers. Just going by how we used to be able to decipher the code, I would say this box was in 2021 but going by how recently Lowes got it in, maybe not. Perhaps you no longer need to subtract one from the first two numbers so this box was maybe made in 2022. That would make more sense as there is a shortage of it and DEF is being produced and sold immediately. It does not make sense that a pallet Lowes just got in would have been made 6 months ago. But if I assume 2022 then the next set of numbers would make no sense. So it must be 2021. There have been two different ways to decode the day of the year with Blue DEF. Using the method posted above, the 051 means that this box would have been made on November 11th 2021. The other, older method would have it as Feb 20, 2021. Again seems off as the last box I bought from Lowes about 2 months ago decoded to a manufacture date in Feb 2022. I suppose Lowe's supplier could have reverted back to a batch that is older though. Weird and so convoluted. Why can't they just put the date of manufacture on the box??!!
Does anyone looking at the following photo decode the box to a date other than Nov 11, 2021? And why does one side have the extra "00054" numbers.
Lab_Rat
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Using personal field experience, the first thing that jumps out at me is “22051” as a Julian date, which if correct, would mean 20February2022.
As for the other dates, nothing logical comes to mind, but a WAG would be possibly a batch number (00054), and employee badge numbers (CP7 and 8111).
All is pure speculation on my part.
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Will_T
Well-Known Member
If they have changed to using that format, it would be nice. And easy. Not sure though. It makes more sense though that this just arrived batch would have been made in Feb rather than 3 months earlier in Nov given the shortage of DEF on the shelves these days.
CP7 is a plant code.
Will_T
Well-Known Member
Makes sense. But the question is what is the date of manufacture and how have they changed the code for that on these most recent boxes?
Will_T
Well-Known Member
Looked at a pallet yesterday and all the boxes had a similar code format to what I posted in #9 above. So, until someone gets definite information as to how the string is working now and what it means, I think we have no way of knowing the manufacture date. Yes, you can read a Julian date in 22051. But that is not how it used to work. Even though you could also previously read a Julian date from the code, to get the true manufacture date, you needed to subtract one year and then do some convoluted math with the day of the year before you knew the date of manufacture. Likely you need to do the same with this new code string, but until we know the key to decipher it, we won't know for sure.
Mike Hornsby
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I am asking for help to understand the code on box of peak platinum def fluid I bought last week
224052098303A thanks you in advance for any help, why does it have to be so complicated!!
Nick
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I just put a jug of blue def in my truck . I flattened the card board box and under the bottom inside flap was the date in plain english 8 November 23 . Naturally you have to take the box apart to read it . It would be to easy to do that on the outside of the box .
A goofy code like that is the manufacturer's way of making sure old DEF doesn't sit on the shelf since most peope can't decipher the code. Given the government's rabid emmisions regulations enforcement, you would think they would force the DEF manufacturers to use an easy to read code. But nope. I do check my boxed DEF with a refractometer if I am not sure.
Will_T
Well-Known Member
Yes, this must be the reason. If you could easily see the date of manufacture, many people would grab the freshest box on the shelf leaving the older ones to outdate.
The last box pf Peak Blue I purchased did have some sort of code on the box, but you could not read it because it was so lightly inked. All the boxes on the pallet were like that. For someone who puts few miles on the truck at certain times of the year, that could be an issue. I might purchase a box because my DEF level is getting down and I remember a couple of years ago when I could not find DEF on a shelf anywhere. But this time of year, my truck is hardly driven so it is always possible the box may sit a month or two before I need to open it. Then once I put it in, it will be late spring or early summer before I need another. Most of my miles are driven between May and October when I will go through several boxes. At least when it is sitting this time of year, the temps are not an issue.
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When buying the jugs, in addition to checking date codes and safety seals, also be sure that the fluid has been stored somewhere out of direct sunlight and preferably in a climate controlled portion of the store. A lot of these gas stations and auto parts stores love to store the DEF in the entry way, where they’re bombarded with sunlight, and experience temperature fluctuations repeatedly.
Buy the ones most recently manufactured if possible.
Best practice for the DEF system in these trucks is to run the tank down to 1/4 level, add one jug (2.5 gal) and that takes you to 3/4. Run it down to 1/4 and repeat.
Repeatedly and consistently running the DEF level down below 1/4 or 1/8 can significantly increase the risk of crystallization contamination on the DEF sending unit. Likewise, filling it more than the max capacity on the tank can also create issues. (Specifically where the level sensor can no longer detect the fluid level). There’s a gap of air that’s required at the top of the fluid in the tank. When that gap gets filled with fluid, you get a “no-echo” situation from the sonar-style level sensor.
Buy the ones most recently manufactured if possible.
Best practice for the DEF system in these trucks is to run the tank down to 1/4 level, add one jug (2.5 gal) and that takes you to 3/4. Run it down to 1/4 and repeat.
Repeatedly and consistently running the DEF level down below 1/4 or 1/8 can significantly increase the risk of crystallization contamination on the DEF sending unit. Likewise, filling it more than the max capacity on the tank can also create issues. (Specifically where the level sensor can no longer detect the fluid level). There’s a gap of air that’s required at the top of the fluid in the tank. When that gap gets filled with fluid, you get a “no-echo” situation from the sonar-style level sensor.
Will_T
Well-Known Member
Yeah, good advice, especially for someone like me who drives many fewer miles several months of the year. But as pointed out, the manufacturer makes it almost impossible to know. They seem to have several strategies to avoid the consumer grabbing the freshest boxes. Whether it is stamped under a sealed flap, inked so lightly you can't read it, or just such a jumbled mess of a code it can't be deciphered, the aim is the same., to avoid consumers being able to tell if a box is old. I know back when you could read and understand the code on a Blue DEF box, they were almost always all fresh. But one time, I found a shelf of boxes that were all a year old. Ever since, I have wanted to be able to tell the date of manufacture.