engine didn’t regen at all 6k miles

[jeffn]

I just round tripped from CA to FL and back over the last 7 days and not once did the gauge show the DPF loading or regening. I was towing light the entire time, about 10k on the way out and empty coming back. I was running pretty hot both ways, 2100-2200 RPM, but other than that nothing stands out as extraordinary. No warning lights or stored messages, aside from horrible mileage due to speed and some bad headwinds in NM and AZ everything ran normal.

Will the engine bypass regen if the exhaust gasses are hot enough to purge the DPF while running?

 

[Will_T]

Not sure what year and engine you have? But my 2021 SO regens every 24 hours even if the DPF shows 0%. My DPF has never shown above about 0%, maybe 2 or 3%, hard to tell. Others have said the same. How are you determining it has not done any regens? I have a Banks iDash and have one of the fields set to Regen: On|Off so it is easy to see the regens. But they have been at 24 hours, 48, 72, etc. I also have the EGTs displayed so I can confirm the regens there also.

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

The only time you will see a regen message is if you are on the DPF gauge screen on the EVIC

 

[jeffn]

The only time you will see a regen message is if you are on the DPF gauge screen on the EVIC

I was on the DPF screen in the EVIC the entire trip, over 80 hours of driving. Typically I will see that gauge value increase to between 40-50% and a “regen in progress“ message will display and stay on until the process is complete. I watched that gauge stay on zero for 6,000 miles and it never displayed regen in progress.

The driving behavior was normal and I had no error messages, surely the DPF would overload with that many miles if it were malfunctioning.

 

[jeffn]

Not sure what year and engine you have? But my 2021 SO regens every 24 hours even if the DPF shows 0%. My DPF has never shown above about 0%, maybe 2 or 3%, hard to tell. Others have said the same. How are you determining it has not done any regens? I have a Banks iDash and have one of the fields set to Regen: On|Off so it is easy to see the regens. But they have been at 24 hours, 48, 72, etc. I also have the EGTs displayed so I can confirm the regens there also.

2020 3500 HO.

My DPF gauge will normally show an increase to 40-50% and a “regen in progress” will display before sending the gauge back to zero. I had 7 straight days of driving, 20 hours on Saturday alone, and the regen message did not display once.

 

[GPurcell01]

Towing and hammering down - you were passively regen the entire time which kept it clean enough

 

[jeffn]

Towing and hammering down - you were passively regen the entire time which kept it clean enough

thanks, that is what I was hoping to be the case. I did some research before posting but there is little information that was on point for my question as it relates to current gen HD trucks. I was running it hot, my average MPG over the entire trips was just 9.6, which really sucked given current fuel prices. I was not pulling a lot of weight but the wind resistance does a number on me. I hit dust storm conditions in Arizona and it was a full on head wind, my MPG in that section dropped down to 6 at 65 MPH. I actually thought something was wrong until I got out at a rest stop, probably sustained 50 MPH winds. Thankfully I have 100 gallons of fuel.

 

[AEV_CUMMINS]

By the end of the trip, what was your DPF percentage at? You said it usually goes to regen at 4-50%, but did you start this trip at 0% and end at 50%? Or did you start at 15% and end at 60% raising your question? If it is nearing full then I would also be a little concerned

 

[Will_T]

2020 3500 HO.

My DPF gauge will normally show an increase to 40-50% and a “regen in progress” will display before sending the gauge back to zero. I had 7 straight days of driving, 20 hours on Saturday alone, and the regen message did not display once.

This is so interesting as so many of us, me included, have never seen the DPF Gauge go much above 0% if at all. Others like yourself have trucks that do very different. Odd.
But like I said, mine does regen every 24 hours regardless. And I do see the Regen switch to On and the EGR temp climb so I know it is in regen.

 

[jeffn]

By the end of the trip, what was your DPF percentage at? You said it usually goes to regen at 4-50%, but did you start this trip at 0% and end at 50%? Or did you start at 15% and end at 60% raising your question? If it is nearing full then I would also be a little concerned

I don’t recall what it was at before I left but when I got going and was about a hundred miles in I scrolled over to the DPF gauge and it was at 0%, when I got home yesterday morning it was at 0% and had not moved off the bottom for the entire 6,000 miles I drove. I watched that gauge religiously through the trip, ocassionally scrolling to different displays but staying on the DPF for 98% of the time waiting for it to move.

 

[GPurcell01]

I don’t recall what it was at before I left but when I got going and was about a hundred miles in I scrolled over to the DPF gauge and it was at 0%, when I got home yesterday morning it was at 0% and had not moved off the bottom for the entire 6,000 miles I drove. I watched that gauge religiously through the trip, ocassionally scrolling to different displays but staying on the DPF for 98% of the time waiting for it to move.

Yup sounds like you have been in a passive regen the entire time. Really not surprised by that with how it was being driven.

 

[AEV_CUMMINS]

So in reality you, like many others and just like how my truck acted in the first 3000km's before delete.. never really got off 0% and if any, under 5% forsure. It would appear that me driving with the boost gauge on and you towing heavy are similar in engine load These Cummins like to be driven and use the entire RPM available.. they are not happy lugging around while owners give them the 1000 yard stare at the mpg gauge. The more you drive it, the more it keeps on asking for more and rewarding you for it. Many Youtube videos of similar experiences and over the long haul, making sure you are working the Cummins will always yield a far better result over the alternative. I am happy to tell you that you can alleviate any worries if any you had as you sir, just gave your truck a gift in a nice break-in!

 

[jeffn]

So in reality you, like many others and just like how my truck acted in the first 3000km's before delete.. never really got off 0% and if any, under 5% forsure. It would appear that me driving with the boost gauge on and you towing heavy are similar in engine load These Cummins like to be driven and use the entire RPM available.. they are not happy lugging around while owners give them the 1000 yard stare at the mpg gauge. The more you drive it, the more it keeps on asking for more and rewarding you for it. Many Youtube videos of similar experiences and over the long haul, making sure you are working the Cummins will always yield a far better result over the alternative. I am happy to tell you that you can alleviate any worries if any you had as you sir, just gave your truck a gift in a nice break-in!

thanks. I’ve put 30k miles on this truck in a year, don’t recall the DPF behaving this way before but I also can’t say I have been as focused on it as much as I was thus trip. I was on a tight schedule and pushed it harder than normal.

 

[jkempken]

Can pretty much guarantee you it did an active regen every 24 engine hours. it may have only been for 10 miles or around 7 minutes @ 80 mph so you may have missed it on the gage.

 

[jeffn]

Can pretty much guarantee you it did an active regen every 24 engine hours. it may have only been for 10 miles or around 7 minutes @ 80 mph so you may have missed it on the gage.

I can guarantee that it didn’t. Even if I missed the message on the gauge, I would have seen the DPF gauge move up in advance of a regen. You would probably be surprised at how much I watch my gauges, truck and trailer TPMS, over a 10 minute interval.

And I drive max 75 mph when towing.

 

[jeffn]

I can guarantee that it didn’t. Even if I missed the message on the gauge, I would have seen the DPF gauge move up in advance of a regen. You would probably be surprised at how much I watch my gauges, truck and trailer TPMS, over a 10 minute interval.

And I drive max 75 mph when towing.

and I drove for 7 days... it's possible that I missed a message but to miss 7 of them?

 

[Will_T]

I would have seen the DPF gauge move up in advance of a regen.

As pointed out, many, including me, do not have any movement of the DPF gauge before a regen so people should not be looking to that to indicate a regen.

and I drove for 7 days... it's possible that I missed a message but to miss 7 of them?

Not sure about this? If you are on the DPF screen is a message supposed to briefly pop up when a regen starts? I have never seen that and I think I would have since I know when a regen is about to start and see it switch on on my Banks iDash. I then glance at the trucks DPF screen display, but nothing has changed there. So, on my truck at least, either there is no message on the dash DPF screen that regen is occurring, or it is so brief, I miss it. (Unlikely since I am watching for it).

The only way I know a regen is about to happen is when I approach a 24 hour interval on the engine. The only way I know when it is in regen is that my Banks iDash changes the regen display from "Off" to "On". And then I can watch the EG temp climb. When the regen is over, the iDash changes the regen display back to "Off" and the EGT start to fall. I never see anything indicating a regen on the DPF screen of the truck's dash display. Nothing ever changes on that DPF screen on my dash evic except that maybe sometimes the DPF indicates 1, 2, or maybe 3%. Hard to tell as it really looks like it has not moved at all.

 

[jeffn]

My truck consistently moves the DPF gauge up to, approximately, the 50% mark before regen starts. This is not a new truck anymore, I have 650 hours on it over the last year and I am very familiar with how it works. The “regen in progress“ message displays until the regen is completed, which varies in length based on engine RPM at the time. It’s not uncommon for the regen to take 5+ minutes.

 

[Will_T]

Interesting how the different years or models may play into how this works on different trucks. I never see what you describe in my truck and when the 24-hour interval regens happen they always last for at least 10 or 15 minutes maybe a little longer. And I never see anything on the DPF screen. Weird.

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

My truck consistently moves the DPF gauge up to, approximately, the 50% mark before regen starts. This is not a new truck anymore, I have 650 hours on it over the last year and I am very familiar with how it works. The “regen in progress“ message displays until the regen is completed, which varies in length based on engine RPM at the time. It’s not uncommon for the regen to take 5+ minutes.

If it was doing a passive regen (based on the fact you were towing and at highway seeds) it wont display a message it is just always acting like a regen as you are driving