Diesels Hassle

Trackrig wrote:

I'm not sure I understand Donn's comment about "Newer diesels do not like daily commutes"? The mfgs know that a lot of people are using them for daily communtes or like a plumber going from house to house doing repairs. Mine is almost up to operating temp by the time I'm to the end of the street.

Bill

In colder climates you need to keep the RPMs up to get them to regen the DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter). We have a fleet (200+) Duramax/Allisons operating in the extreme cold of the Arctic at maximum speeds of 45 mph for short durations (typically <15 mins). If you don't run in manual maintaining 1800 rpm +, they won't regen and thus load up the DPF and eventually go into limp. I know this is an extreme example but it does speak to the late model issue. If you were in bumper-to-bumper commute over several days and several miles without getting a chance to "blow out the DPF" you could have a problem. The DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid) is not associated with this problem. DEF is a NOx reducer and allows the manufacturer to run hotter tuning thus the increased horsepower you are seeing. Dodge was the last to add DEF thus the new numbers they are putting up. GM had a few problems with the DEF system but seem to have the issues corrected (DEF freezing - increased the tank heater, and level reading problem - new program for the computer).