Questions about new Ram w/ diesel
I'm about to take the plunge into the diesel world. Got my sights set on a 2014 Ram 3500 dually cc w/ AISIN trans. While BSing with the service manager, he said to be careful when adding DEF to the ...
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That's semi-horse manure.
It is true that DEF has a shelf life of about a year, and it's also true that you need to be careful to neither spill it nor contaminate it with other stuff like grease, dirt, or oil, etc.
But it's no big deal, actually. You don't want to spill it because it makes a mess and can cause skin irritation or damage paint unless washed off thoroughly right away. But it is essentially concentrated urine, so it's not like spilling nerve gas or anything.
The gumming up the injectors bit, well, not the fuel injectors, of course, because it never gets anywhere near them. There is a special injector just for the DEF itself located in the exhaust stream, and THAT could get fouled. But there is only one of them. And if you only buy DEF when you really need it, and pay attention to its expiration date and the process of adding it, it is no big deal.
Gummed up fuel injectors are rare, and usually a product of a really old engine that has been run on crappy farm-fuel that's been sitting around for a couple years already. Fuel injectors, gasoline as well as diesel, are subject to bad juju if you get a load of bad fuel, or damage if you try to run water-contaminated fuel. But you can nearly eliminate that risk by buying only from places that see fairly high turnover in their fuel stocks, i.e. avoid tiny stations far from any traffic.
The idiot to whom you spoke is just that: an idiot.
It is true that DEF has a shelf life of about a year, and it's also true that you need to be careful to neither spill it nor contaminate it with other stuff like grease, dirt, or oil, etc.
But it's no big deal, actually. You don't want to spill it because it makes a mess and can cause skin irritation or damage paint unless washed off thoroughly right away. But it is essentially concentrated urine, so it's not like spilling nerve gas or anything.
The gumming up the injectors bit, well, not the fuel injectors, of course, because it never gets anywhere near them. There is a special injector just for the DEF itself located in the exhaust stream, and THAT could get fouled. But there is only one of them. And if you only buy DEF when you really need it, and pay attention to its expiration date and the process of adding it, it is no big deal.
Gummed up fuel injectors are rare, and usually a product of a really old engine that has been run on crappy farm-fuel that's been sitting around for a couple years already. Fuel injectors, gasoline as well as diesel, are subject to bad juju if you get a load of bad fuel, or damage if you try to run water-contaminated fuel. But you can nearly eliminate that risk by buying only from places that see fairly high turnover in their fuel stocks, i.e. avoid tiny stations far from any traffic.
The idiot to whom you spoke is just that: an idiot.
