Service DEF message?

[Texasram1]

Saturday night my truck chimed and the cluster had a message about a DEF system issue and to see the dealer ASAP. The message was only there for a few seconds so I cant recall what it said verbatim.
Has anyone else had this happen? Maybe a loose connection or bad sensor somewhere?

I’m about to do a long road trip and fear the issue coming back and shutting the truck down.

 

[Diane]

Did you ever figure out what happened?
The same thing happened to me yesterday.
I went ahead and topped off the DEF even though it was between 1/2 and 1/4.
Drove 100 miles, fast, slow, up hills, it never came bsck.
I’m going cross country next week and I’m a bit stressed.

 

[mbarber84]

Be careful “topping off” the DEF tank on these trucks. It’s not too hard to overfill them. When the tank gets overfilled, the level sensor can struggle to read the level accurately and you can easily end up with a P203E code for a “no echo” scenario from the level sensor. The level sensor uses a kind of sonar wave to detect fluid level. In order for it to work correctly, there has to be an air gap between the top of the fluid and the top inside of the tank. When it’s overfilled, that air gap is taken up by fluid and the sonar sender on the level sensor will not be able to detect fluid level. That’ll end up with P203E and ultimately a countdown to 5mph derate.

The best practice for DEF in these trucks is to run the level down to 1/4 remaining, then add 2.5 gallons to the tank. That’ll get you to 3/4 full. Run it from there back down to 1/4 and repeat.

This is especially true in climates that get down to 12°F or colder, as the DEF will freeze. If the tank is topped off and it freezes and expands enough, the fluid will take up the air gap in the tank via expansion. Same failure will occur as described above.

 

[mbarber84]

Saturday night my truck chimed and the cluster had a message about a DEF system issue and to see the dealer ASAP. The message was only there for a few seconds so I cant recall what it said verbatim.
Has anyone else had this happen? Maybe a loose connection or bad sensor somewhere?

I’m about to do a long road trip and fear the issue coming back and shutting the truck down.

Sometimes when you get that message but no check engine light, it indicates the first time the onboard diagnostics are seeing an issue. If it fails the diagnostics a few times, it’ll trip the MIL to turn on and register an active code. A good scan tool may be able to read the codes in the “pending” status, meaning the computer has seen a fault, but not enough times to label it a malfunction. Once it fails a few times, you get an active DTC and an MIL on the dash

 

[PD Luke]

I also had that same message without CEL but it did go away. My message popped up about 45 minutes after adding DEF. I did not fill the DEF tank full. As others have mentioned I prefer to only fill 3/4 full. The next time I turned the truck on the message was still there. I scheduled service at the dealer a week later to check this message out and take care of my particulate sensor recall. It's about a 50 minute drive to the dealer. On the drive to the dealer my Service DEF System message went away. When I checked in for service the dealer check right away to see if their were any stored codes. No codes, no record of it happening. Luckily not a wasted trip as I took care of the particulate sensor recall.

 

[20Limited3500]

Well, I had the Exhaust Filter Full Power Reduced See Dealer message pop up last month on Nov 12th. Truck has just under 46K miles, 10K since Y78 recall was completed. I drove it home and parked it. Checked codes and had P242F for Ash Accumulation. Attempted to reset it and couldn't clear it like I can normally with other codes (have bypass cable for alfaobd). Looked at DPF gauge, it was red and full. Finally got it into the dealer on Friday the 1st. On the drive to them in the morning it started a regen. Finished just before I arrived at dealer. Gauge went to around 50%. Told service advisor it had done this. Still wanted them to look at it since I was unable to reset the code before and check engine light was still on. Heard back later in the day that the DPF needed to be replaced. Thankfully it is still under the emission 7/70 warranty so it is all covered. Asked them if this was "normal" to go out so soon knowing that it shouldn't be. They said no, that it isn't normal. Prior to middle of last year when I picked up a commuter car, I had been daily driving my truck to and from work (6 miles each way). Pretty sure that is a big part of why it got clogged never getting up to temp to burn off on a regular basis. Hopefully this won't happen again now that I don't daily drive it. Should get it back as early as Tuesday this coming week they said. Fingers crossed. Going to try to get a pic of it if I can to see how clogged it is.

 

[AH64ID]

Well, I had the Exhaust Filter Full Power Reduced See Dealer message pop up last month on Nov 12th. Truck has just under 46K miles, 10K since Y78 recall was completed. I drove it home and parked it. Checked codes and had P242F for Ash Accumulation. Attempted to reset it and couldn't clear it like I can normally with other codes (have bypass cable for alfaobd). Looked at DPF gauge, it was red and full. Finally got it into the dealer on Friday the 1st. On the drive to them in the morning it started a regen. Finished just before I arrived at dealer. Gauge went to around 50%. Told service advisor it had done this. Still wanted them to look at it since I was unable to reset the code before and check engine light was still on. Heard back later in the day that the DPF needed to be replaced. Thankfully it is still under the emission 7/70 warranty so it is all covered. Asked them if this was "normal" to go out so soon knowing that it shouldn't be. They said no, that it isn't normal. Prior to middle of last year when I picked up a commuter car, I had been daily driving my truck to and from work (6 miles each way). Pretty sure that is a big part of why it got clogged never getting up to temp to burn off on a regular basis. Hopefully this won't happen again now that I don't daily drive it. Should get it back as early as Tuesday this coming week they said. Fingers crossed. Going to try to get a pic of it if I can to see how clogged it is.

That’s unfortunate, but good that your dealer is getting you fixed.

This was the wrong thread to post in thou, it’s old and isn’t related to DPF issues.

 

[20Limited3500]

That’s unfortunate, but good that your dealer is getting you fixed.

This was the wrong thread to post in thou, it’s old and isn’t related to DPF issues.

You are correct. I honestly thought that it said DPF and not DEF. My bad.