Exhaust cleaning

Does anyone know the criteria for the system to work properly ?
I keep on getting the messages; "Drive to clean exhaust (OK)" and then "Cleaning Exhaust system (OK)"
I cant seem to shake 'em

??????
1) Temperature range?
2) Time running or distance traveled?
3) RPM and/or speed?

Thank You

You need to put some miles on it. I think the manual says it can take up to 20 minutes for a full regen. Once in a while mine will start getting pushy so I hit the freeway for a bit and that seems to work. It's been a bit since I've looked in the manual, but I think you have to stay above 35mph for it to continue to run the regen.

If you're getting those messages a lot then I would jump on driving it some distance quickly. I think at a certain point it goes into limp mode and you have to get the dealer to do a manual regen.

FWIW, I don't know your driving style, but don't baby it if you are. They like to see boost. My commute to work is 14ish miles. In the mornings I'm able to cruise at 70mplh for most of it. The drive home is usually all traffic. Even with that I get the messages maybe every couple of weeks.

Thanks! I'll take it for a long drive today. See what happens.
Normally, I don't have too much time for long drives, except when we do a weekend trip with the 5'vr

Success!
After a 6 min. warm up I got the 'cleaning' message.
At that point I drove 29min. @ 70mph until the blue message came on telling me my exhaust system has been cleaned

Yours tells you it's clean? That's cool. Mine just tells me when it's doing the cleaning. And I know it's completed the cleaning because I've seen the messages while driving long distances.

Yeah, Not normally do I get feed back. But I think this time, with the 'orange' lettered warning message in the DIC being on for almost a half hour,
it switched to the 'blue' lettered completion message. Lasted about 4 sec.

Here's a great idea - DELETE the whole mess and smile ...!!!

My 02 7.3 don't have any of that but my neighbor has a newer model. He claims that his will regen best when loaded or pulling a trailer so that the boost is high, exhaust is hotter, and it takes a lot less time for the process.

Zorro said:

Here's a great idea - DELETE the whole mess and smile ...!!!

Click to expand...

Unfortunately those of us in a state that deals with smog can't do that. And to be honest I don't really have an issue with mine. I see the message pop up telling me it's cleaning my exhaust and I move on.

john mathis said:

My 02 7.3 don't have any of that but my neighbor has a newer model. He claims that his will regen best when loaded or pulling a trailer so that the boost is high, exhaust is hotter, and it takes a lot less time for the process.

Click to expand...

If he's loaded it shouldn't be doing a regen at all. I don't think I've ever gotten a regen while towing. The hot exhaust is doing the cleaning. But then my truck seems odd. I can go 1000 miles between regens. The most was 2200. That was driving to and from Washington state for a buddy. Usually when I'm loaded I don't ever see a regen message. And I have the message center. So it's hard to miss the orange letters.

If you are getting the drive to clean messages, it means that regens are not being completed. The filter is full and the pressure sensors in the DPF see that. A lot of city stop and go driving is not good for the DPF. If you know you are in a regen and have arrived at your destination, place the truck in park and let it idle for 30 sec to a minute. That will turn off the regen so you don't have the injectors dripping fuel which will get into your oil and further dilute it.

A digital monitor is very useful so you can see the status of the DPF and once you establish the average of when your truck goes into a REGEN (miles apart; mine is usually out at about 500 miles because I have a mix of city and highway in a 18 mile trip to work), you can keep driving and allow the regen to complete. You can also see your fuel level, DEF level, EGTs, etc.

If you don't want to buy a monitor, there are phone apps like Torque Pro and FORScan. You just need a Bluetooth adaptor for your OBD2 port to read the PIDS on your phone.

You can also have the 3rd screen, a ghost screen, on the gauge function onscreen turned on to see soot load percentage than you'll know when it goes to 100%, you will have a REGEN.