Man I’m tired of these rotten DEF systems

[redbaron]

that one bolt in the middle of the tank is the strapping that holds tank in place. Once that is removed and the zip ties are cut, you have plenty of room to lift it and rotate it for angles to pull the head out. looks worse than it really is. The first time is about a 30 min job, but after that it would take you 15 min tops to do it.

You mentioned getting a filter, thats a good plan. I would drain and replace the filter and fill with fresh once you are done with everything.

 

[J&JD]

An update on my DEF head problems. New head installed along with a shut off valve for the tank heater line. I now believe that the tank heater was the main cause of my sensor problems as you could feel how hot the lines were after a short trip with the weather around 60 degrees outside. No way should there be engine coolant circulating through the system. Maybe the third time is the charm as this is my 3rd DEF head.

 

[Jim]

An update on my DEF head problems. New head installed along with a shut off valve for the tank heater line. I now believe that the tank heater was the main cause of my sensor problems as you could feel how hot the lines were after a short trip with the weather around 60 degrees outside. No way should there be engine coolant circulating through the system. Maybe the third time is the charm as this is my 3rd DEF head. View attachment 26619

Did you install the shut off valve on the tank heater line as a backup?

 

[J&JD]

Did you install the shut off valve on the tank heater line as a backup?

Where we live here in Northern California it rarely if ever freezes and we don’t participate in @neal’s snow caravans so I believe I will just leave the valve shut until or unless those on the rv forums advise me otherwise. From what I understand, the factory valve is only supposed to activate open when the DEF tank gets somewhere in the neighborhood of 11-12 degrees. Never in my 20 plus years of pusher ownership have I ever come close to being around that temperature range.

 

[Jim]

Where we live here in Northern California it rarely if ever freezes and we don’t participate in @neal’s snow caravans so I believe I will just leave the valve shut until or unless those on the rv forums advise me otherwise. From what I understand, the factory valve is only supposed to activate open when the DEF tank gets somewhere in the neighborhood of 11-12 degrees. Never in my 20 plus years of pusher ownership have I ever come close to being around that temperature range.

Yep, that should work.

You might want to leave it open and let the DEF header operate normally, and then upon failure you could use the valve. That way you would have an emergency "get out of jail card" to use until you can find a 4th replacement header.

But either way, I'd say your ahead of the game!

 

[J&JD]

Yep, that should work.

You might want to leave it open and let the DEF header operate normally, and then upon failure you could use the valve. That way you would have an emergency "get out of jail card" to use until you can find a 4th replacement header.

But either way, I'd say your ahead of the game!

It’s not the DEF head that is acting abnormally it’s the valve that controls the engine coolant circulating through the head. When it fails it fails open which can then cause the head sensors to fail and then all hell breaks loose with engine warnings etc. if I don’t need heat circulating through the head why even chance it. I’ll leave the valve closed for now.

 

[redbaron]

It’s not the DEF head that is acting abnormally it’s the valve that controls the engine coolant circulating through the head. When it fails it fails open which can then cause the head sensors to fail and then all hell breaks loose with engine warnings etc. if I don’t need heat circulating through the head why even chance it. I’ll leave the valve closed for now.

I’ve kept mine closed since installing.

 

[Jim]

I’ve kept mine closed since installing.

Then why bother replacing the DEF header? Just put in the valve and call it good. Same end result.

 

[J&JD]

Then why bother replacing the DEF header? Just put in the valve and call it good. Same end result.

No, because the head was damaged and just putting in a valve would not cure all the codes the damaged head was throwing. The new shut off valve will , hopefully, stop a bad coolant circulating unit from damaging the new DEF head.

 

[Jim]

No, because the head was damaged and just putting in a valve would not cure all the codes the damaged head was throwing. The new shut off valve will , hopefully, stop a bad coolant circulating unit from damaging the new DEF head.

I think the damaged head only throws codes when the DEF overheats. A few cycles of not overheating and the code will reset.

If that is the case, and it certainly was the case with mine, then bypassing the DEF header altogether, which happens when you terminate the flow of coolant into the DEF header, will allow the required cycles to occur and the code to go away.

Or am I missing something?