Blue Def Date Codes

[turbopilot]

In the continuing game of hiding production dates on BlueDef boxes they changed the date codes again. BlueDef and dealers do not want you to know if you are buying old DEF so they scramble the production date codes. Some time in the last few months it changed again. So far I cannot find a code cypher to translate the latest scramble of numbers. Anyone break the code?

 

[RandyB]

Expires 12-21?? Only a guess. That'd be too easy, though.

 

[turbopilot]

Expires 12-21?? Only a guess. That'd be too easy, though.

The prior codes gave date of manufacture. Year was minus 1 and day was minus 360. And it started with a letter indicating factory where made.

 

[RandyB]

The previous code was the year of expiration. Subtract 1 year from expiration for manufacture date. Then, the reverse Julian date, for cripe's sake. Maybe big brother spent some of our tax dollars to mandate a reasonable and across the market readable code?

With only a 1 year shelf life, the 12-21 sorta makes sense if you recently bought this box. I have emailed Old World Ind asking for the cypher code.

Edit to add response from PEAK tech support team:

end quote



So, it appears that they still use the same ridiculous reverse Julian date to keep everyone clueless. Apparently a new manufacture site or recoding to numerical from alphabetical added more confusion. I expressed my confusion and desire to have them change to a user friendly date code like Expires on: Dec 21 2021.

 

[turbopilot]

View attachment 5039

The previous code was the year of expiration. Subtract 1 year from expiration for manufacture date. Then, the reverse Julian date, for cripe's sake. Maybe big brother spent some of our tax dollars to mandate a reasonable and across the market readable code?

With only a 1 year shelf life, the 12-21 sorta makes sense if you recently bought this box. I have emailed Old World Ind asking for the cypher code.

Maybe I missed an update. The old cypher I was working from was year of manufacture. They are clearly trying to hide the truth. Date of manufacture in hot climates is very important.

 

[RandyB]

Here they go again. Moving the cheese in the maze. Old World Industries, makers of Blue DEF continues to hide the date in a code that still utilizes a reverse Julian calendar, but they keep moving it in the code. Here's one:

The CP7 used to lead the code followed by the 5 digit manufactured on date code. In the box above, OWI has interpreted that the 23162 is the manufactured date code. Like previous translations.
23 represents the manufactured year, drop the 20 and add 1
162 represents the days remaining in the year
so...23162 = a July 22, 2022 manufacture. Whodeverthunkit?

BTW, I prefer boxed DEF for these reasons:
1. My DEF tank and fuel fill are about 30 feet apart. In a busy truck lane and needing DEF it is bothersome to relocate forward and piss off the truckers. I can put in 2.5 gallons just about anywhere.
2. Even though the Blue DEF date code is idiotic, at least there IS one. I've never seen nor heard of a date for bulk supplies.
3. The leftover 2.5 gallon jugs are handy for repurposing.

 

[Rich W.]

I also prefer box DEF for all those reasons. I can buy DEF with a very recent date code by shopping around then store it under conditions I can control and add it at my leisure. I also never have to pay $25/jug at some rip-off “convenience” store out of desperation. Also pump DEF has a high potential for contamination that box DEF prevents. And its much easier and more convenient to test box DEF with your Defometer.

My coach, like all Newmars I guess, also has the DEF fill at the oposite end from the fuel fill, so even if I wanted pump DEF I too would have to move my coach to get it. A couple days ago, I noticed Home Depot was selling Blue DEF for $22 per 2.5 gal jug, and my local Chevron membership station still sells their brand for $12, so it pays to shop around and find a trusted source. Tractor supply usually has reasonable pricing.

In my Ford truck its a different story. The emissions system has been absolutely trouble free, the DEF filler is right next to the fuel fill, and pump DEF at my Chevron is around $3/gallon. So the Ford gets pump DEF.

 

[Ventana]

My hybrid approach.

I use box DEF when I'm at my home base. On the road, I keep an empty DEF jug in the rig and fill it at truck stops. At the campground I use a tester to verify the DEF quality.

 

[RandyB]

Old World Industries has made yet another change to the DEF date code. I called OWI tech services for them to translate. The tech guy was great. He confirmed that they have something around 12 different formats. It was also confirmed that there a lot of packages out there without ANY code. I personally went through 3 stores and dozens of boxes to find a date code.
In this particular case, I was told to look for a 23 or 24 in the code. This represents the expiration year. The next 3 numbers represent the normal Julian date of manufacture (previous codes used reverse Julian). So the 5 numbers that mattered to me were 24065.
24-1= 2023 year of manufacture.
065= March 6.
I will be calling the tech line every time I’m shopping for OWI Blue DEF to get the code translated. If everyone would inundate them with calls, perhaps they would finally relent and print a Gregorian date such as: Manufactured on March 6, 2023

 

[Richpatty]

As an update to this thread, I confirmed what BlueDef is using for date codes…it’s a bit odd, but it appears to be largely the same as the last post in this thread in 2023.

I emailed the company and this was their answer for this code: 2066260633174 002751
—————————-
Thank you for your email. Here is how you decipher this bottling plants date code.
2066/26/063/3174/002751

2066=the bottling plant
26=the year minus a year

063=HOW MANY DAYS IN THE YEAR
3174=batch number

002751=tank number

The Def you purchased was made on March 4, 2025.

 

[osuallen]

As an update to this thread, I confirmed what BlueDef is using for date codes…it’s a bit odd, but it appears to be largely the same as the last post in this thread in 2023.

I emailed the company and this was their answer for this code: 2066260633174 002751
—————————-
Thank you for your email. Here is how you decipher this bottling plants date code.
2066/26/063/3174/002751

2066=the bottling plant
26=the year minus a year

063=HOW MANY DAYS IN THE YEAR
3174=batch number

002751=tank number

The Def you purchased was made on March 4, 2025.

I was in Tractor Supply today and their house brand DEF ($7.99/2.5 gal jug) has the date clearly stamped - 2025-01-17. I looked at the Blue DEF jug boxes on the shelves and there was no date code anywhere on the exterior of the boxes (looked on all 6 sides multiple times).

 

[Richpatty]

Sigh… how does that happen?

 

[Richpatty]

Btw, the date code for March 4 (in my above post) was for a box at Costco, so they must turn it over quickly. That was only 3-4 weeks ago.

 

[osuallen]

Sigh… how does that happen?

Yeah, I ran across that before I saw your updated post and I figured they had given up on the date code.