diesel particulate filter

I didn't think it was legal to remove emission equipment from a vehicle. To the OP, we have a Cummins and have not had any problem with the DPF or it's regeneration (currently 65,000 miles and 6.5 yrs. of ownership). It seems to regenerate once every 10,000 miles.

Once I took our motorhome in for a window repair. The service shop parked it in a waiting area and left it running for quite a while. I happened to look over at it and saw the headlights on which meant the engine was running. I went over to it and turned it off. It was probably on for 40 or more minutes idling.

On the way home the regeneration light came on earlier than normal. But, it did it's 'thing' and the light went off.

I, too, didn't know that CAT built any engines with the DPF. Learn something all the time.

MM.

We had a customer with a truck that idled a lot and drove at slow speeds all the time. The light came on and it would only idle. We opened up the DPF and it was very clean. Blew through with compressed air and no soot. Cat had to clean the DPF and reset the computer to tell it that it was mechanically cleaned, not just regenerated. It has been fine for about 8 months now.

I would suggest finding a cat dealer that works on a lot of trucks. They should be good with the system.

JackMS wrote:
What they probably(hopefully) did at cat dealer was a regeneration. The engine runs at high rpm and an extra injector in the exhaust, after the turbo, sprays fuel to make the exhaust very hot and burn the soot out of the DPF. The filter may need to be removed and cleaned to get it right. You may have a button on your dash that let's you do the regen. Check your manual to see if it talks about this.

Yes thats what they did...no regen button...my question is why is this happening at such low miles...the people that owened it originally had same problem so under 20k miles...my thinking this is some kind of malfunction with the system

What they probably(hopefully) did at cat dealer was a regeneration. The engine runs at high rpm and an extra injector in the exhaust, after the turbo, sprays fuel to make the exhaust very hot and burn the soot out of the DPF. The filter may need to be removed and cleaned to get it right. You may have a button on your dash that let's you do the regen. Check your manual to see if it talks about this.

I thought cat didnt produce any on-highway engines after 2007 ? is the 2007 still in that target range? this is the first i have heard of this and am very curious :h

employer wrote:

wny_pat wrote:
Are you doing a lot of idling? That will cause it.

Not really I was pushing it pretty hard running about 75 - 80....I lost power then engine shut off was able to go again but this thing has me stumped would like to figure out how to fix or service and figure out if it does happen how to repair on the road. ..thanks for the reply

Your higher speeds may be a factor. If its choked for air (dirty filter or sometimes an obstructed inlet from the body builder) it will run rich under high load, except unlike old diesel which just blew black smoke, your diesel is collecting it and storing it until that light comes on. DPF-equipped diesels actually are more likely to make soot because of their lower combustion temps, which were done to reduce NOx emissions.

Getting more air into your engine (assuming you do not have any EGR problems.... ) will maintain a cleaner burn and make it less likely to plug up the DPF.

moisheh wrote:
Wayne beat me to the punch. Those Cat engines are horrible. Is yours a C9? Cat actually sells a tool for cleaning the DPF. Monkeying with emission systems is not usually a good idea but if your unit were mine I would have someone delete the DPF and the EGR valve.

Moisheh

Yep C9....I will take your advice and waynes...its a complete stop down with that thing

Wayne beat me to the punch. Those Cat engines are horrible. Is yours a C9? Cat actually sells a tool for cleaning the DPF. Monkeying with emission systems is not usually a good idea but if your unit were mine I would have someone delete the DPF and the EGR valve.

Moisheh

I hate to tell you this, but Caterpillar had significant problems with their diesel emissions so much so that they entirely withdrew from the over the road market. They could not keep the engines running and met emissions standards. There have been many trucks on the secondary market that are literally worthless with a Caterpillar engine- operators could not keep them in service. Unfortunately, your model year is right in the bulls eye of the problems before caterpillar withdrew from the market.

mrkoje wrote:
On the pickups a lot of people are taking their trucks to a diesel shop and having them "delete" the DPF (diesel particulate filter) and also removing the extra emissions stuff. You might not want to consider that if you live in a place where they do emissions tests or inspections. Up here in Montana people do it all the time on their trucks. I don't see how it would be much different on a MH.

Thanks