3500 Dodge Ram Woes

New 3500 Cummins diesel Ram truck with 7012 miles on it puts up a nice DEF alarm warning.
150 miles and it goes into 5mph limp mode.
I was 6.5 hours away last night. I only thought Duramax's had this problem and Cummins diesels were fool proof. Now i'm nervous its going to happen over and over.

Needed a Nox sensor. Why?

Are you sure your def tank level isn’t to low?

Do you have a code reader that will clear code?

Do you know what relay(s) you need to jumper to get you 150 more miles (on one key cycle)?

Hit up a Cummins forum, it’s a modern diesel you need to be prepared!

Red

Def refill intervals on modern diesels tend to follow oil change intervals. Depending on your duty cycle it could be time to refill!

Red

I have a 15 Ram 3500 that did that when it got below -15. It left me stranded in Iowa once and in Wisconsin twice both times on a weekend. I cured it with a EFILive tuner and programming. No problems since and I have over 130K on the clock. It had been to the dealer at least six times to be fixed.

I always keep it at 100% full.
It cleared the code once then 35 miles later, no engine light but said it was going to to 5mph after the next 150 miles.
I was 450+ miles away from home yesterday.

It was 91 degrees yesterday and the truck has 7800 miles on it.
3rd time adding DEF Fluid.
Container of DEF was new and never opened.
This sure does not give me a warm a fuzzy feeling to drive long distances on the weekends now.

Granted my truck is a 1500 Eco Diesel but there is a way to jumper a relay to get you out of limp mode if you reach the end of the count down

Red

I'd like to know how to do it.
I was told you can only do it once with a hand held code remover.

I was digging on the Cummins forums and there was mention of letting your def tank level drop a bit as when you continually top it off the system thinks you are not using any DEF.

Something to consider!

Red

Diesel tech says there is a shelf life once added to your DEF tank. If you're not driving it a lot and putting a load on the engine, theres a great possibility that the DEF fluid is getting old and contaminating the system causing error codes.
Just throwing this out there which does make sense. Truck isn't driven much at all.

It's a shame that deleting that crap on the newer trucks voids the warranty. It ought to extend it, lol.

Like someone mentioned I would let the DEF tank get low so you can reduce the average age of what is in the def tank. We have had a few DEF pickup trucks here at my work and the DEF systems have given very little trouble. Each truck has had a DEF tank and heater replaced once in its life but beyond that no other problems. When we quit driving our ford truck every day it eventually came up with a contaminated DEF code that would come back as soon as you cleared it. It had a 1/2 tank of DEF so I topped it off with fresh and the problem hasn't come back. The 2016 chevy I use as my personal truck uses so little DEF with my driving that I worry about it getting old so when it says it is low(no gauge) I only put 2.5 gallons in it instead of the 5 it holds.

my new 2500 has just under 9k on it and I've put about 4 gallon in it so far and it's down to a 1/4 tank of def now and I just purchased 2 new jugs of fluid today. I haven't had any issues. I do let mine run down usually to around 1/2 before I top it off. I have read someplace that it's mostly water.

https://www.jmesales.com/commonly-asked-questions-about-diesel-exhaust-fluid-def/

Keeping it full is your problem. I bought a new aerial fire truck at work (over $1M), and it was the first the department had with DEF. They "topped it off" 2-3 times a WEEK, so the level sensor never moved. Threw a code for a defective sensor and the entire tank had to be replaced under warranty. 6 weeks later, same thing. That's when we found the root cause. It's one of the many safeties required by the government to make sure you don't mess with the system. let it go down to AT LEAST 1/2 is what Cummins told us...

If you ever get stuck somewhere and run low, distilled water will get you on your way.

I won't own a diesel anything built after Oct 2003, and my preference is pre 1998. 1998 is when the low NOx software started and EGR started Oct 2003.

Kevin

The last time I filled it right up to the top was when it was just above 1/4 tank.
I was towing when it went down.
Now 800 miles later driving with no trailer, the gauge hadn't moved.
I've been driving it every day since to get that gauge to come down some.

I thought it was mostly piss.

Urea diluted with distilled water apparently which is why distilled water won't hurt it, at least in above freezing. Tap water will cause problems because of the various chemicals and minerals in it.

Kevin

That's what Urea is. Dried up piss. Sure gets expensive when you gotta buy it by the gallon.

Shoot man....Follow me and my dogs around awhile. I won't charge you a dime!

Just keep driving it. You get too paranoid carry a jug with you (I’d do it anyways). I’ve had to drain DEF tanks to appease customers that were convinced the gauge wasn’t going to move. All of these guys topped off too often.