Diesel Laptops Handheld Heavy-Duty Diesel Diagnostic Scan Tool with DPF Regen

[Neal]

During this last trip which just ended I wanted to monitor the DPF soot level. I was afraid to touch anything so I waited until I got home and today put the coach in storage and fired up my Diesel Laptops Handheld scan tool. I updated it just prior to leaving a month ago, for those that have them be sure to check for updates.

Once I got the right 9-pin connector attached, amazing how several look so close to one another I started looking at the information. I don't recall viewing a datastream area last time I used this so this screenshot is interesting. What I wasn't sure was how to get the DPF soot level as when I went to the DPF Regen area I got as far as an Actuator Test and I didn't want to go into that. Anyone recall how to view the soot level which I believe we've seen shown at 200% and the steps to get there?

 

[Rich W.]

I haven’t done the update but IIRC this unit doesn’t show your actual soot percentage. The “Diesel Decoder” does (along with about 500 other live data parameters) and OTR shows it along with about 30 other important parameters. If the Handhed now does this it would be worth the update hassel which to me sounded just involved enough that it wasn’t worth it. But maybe it is…?

 

[Rich W.]

In the 45,000 miles and three years I’ve driven my coach I’ve learned the best defense against DPF problems is to drive it hard to take full advantage of passive regen, and if you interrupt an active regen (pulling off the highway and having the warnings go off), either get back out on the road and run it hard or if thats not practical, do a forced regen to finish up the process.

I definitely found that lagging along at a leisurley pace on back roads and through small towns with frequent stops is the worst thing you can do when the regen need arises. If that instance arises again, I’ll change course and head for an interstate or stop and do a forced regen. Knowing what the rig needs and what it’s trying to do, is key and I had to learn all that on my own.

 

[Neal]

As previously discussed, my theory and concern area is high altitude ops but I hope to never prove any of these theories. I got lucky in my incident and don't ever want to be in that situation again so I'll take precautions but trying to find some indicator in the process of learning.

 

[Rich W.]

I went through the pages on the device yesterday but finally just got frustrated with it. I found the “data stream” pages probably the same way you did, but got what seemed like inconsistent results using it - probably operator error. OTR was better for reading live data but I didn’t feel the need to keep paying the $600/ year subscription. But FWIW heres the process I used:

 

[Neal]

Yeah, went through that for the datastream area, but I didn't get too deep into the DPF section and stopped when it was going to do the Actuation Test. But I recall seeing some 200% number somewhere. I just didn't have time to wait on a regen if somehow I triggered one looking through the screens.

 

[Rich W.]

You can always interrupt a regen without causing any problems, other than the incomplete regen status if your soot level was high, so there’s no harm in initiating one. Just pressing the brake pedal will stop a regen and it can be re-started any time.

It takes a lot of stop and go, low speed/rpm driving, or as you found some set of circumstances in high altitude driving (still unclear exactly what happened), to load enough soot to require a forced regen. I’m finding that for the most part, highway driving takes care of it and my soot levels are never high enough to even trigger an active regen, much less the need for a forced one.

I don ’t use cruise control as much these days, I shift manually often, and generally try to run at higher rpm. Using the cruise control and running in “D” will try to keep you at the lowest rpm possible, and while thats great for fuel economy, its also what loads your DPF. As to post #1, if I saw 47% I’d run a forced regen.

 

[Neal]

That may be the number for us to watch. I see you have a recent regen and a near 0 reading. Did you just do a forced regen?

 

[Rich W.]

That may be the number for us to watch. I see you have a recent regen and a near 0 reading. Did you just do a forced regen?

Yes, I generally do one after any trip that involves low rpm driving - back roads, two lane highways, stop and go, etc. I’m going to the coast later this week and will be driving slow, winding two-lane roads (Hwy 1 and others like it) so that will probably cause some soot loading. I’ll watch it and report any useful findings and subsequent actions.

 

[Joe Hogan]

For those that have no idea what is being discussed here, a nice video on DPF by Banks,