# Frequent Regens



## KpaxFAQ (Sep 1, 2013)

operator said:


> I have had the scanguage 2 monitor for awhile now (6 months or so) and have been watching my regens and soot mass frequently. Recently, the past 3-4k miles or so i have been doing a regen every 100-250 miles or so. I generally average 500-600 miles before a regen. I am just trying to track down what would cause the uptick. As of the date i have 18700 miles with 50 completed regens. My commute is 80 miles a day with 70 being at interstate speeds of over 70 mph. I have also been using the same fueling station, the fueling station is a rather heavy use station on a turnpike exit.



Well you're in Florida so I can't chalk it up to winter....

Have you changed the oil in the last 3-4K and did you do it yourself? 

Does your soot level go all the way down every time there's a regen, how long as the regens taking to complete when you have them.


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## GlennGlenn (Nov 27, 2015)

operator said:


> I have had the scanguage 2 monitor for awhile now (6 months or so) and have been watching my regens and soot mass frequently. Recently, the past 3-4k miles or so i have been doing a regen every 100-250 miles or so. I generally average 500-600 miles before a regen. _*I am just trying to track down what would cause the uptick.*_ As of the date i have 18700 miles with 50 completed regens. My commute is 80 miles a day with 70 being at interstate speeds of over 70 mph. I have also been using the same fueling station, the fueling station is a rather heavy use station on a turnpike exit.


I am assuming you're under warranty? Have you talked to dealer or taken it in??? Most guys I know talk of Regens everywhere from 600-1000 miles between cycles. What brand of fuel are you using? Have they perhaps changed suppliers recently?? @diesel may be the guy to talk to since he's got over 150,000 on his car and is most familiar with regens.


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## LiveTrash (May 24, 2015)

The DPF sensor is what triggers a regen. If it's a faulty sensor then it could be triggering a regen too early. In your case, way too early. I'd take it to the dealer and axe them.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

LiveTrash said:


> I'd take it to the dealer and axe them.


And go all Lizzy Borden on them? That seems drastic. :grin:


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## PanJet (Jun 18, 2013)

Unfortunately, unless there's a CEL or an actual problem, I don't think taking it to the dealer is going to accomplish anything at all. Technically, you're not even supposed to know when regens are happening. It's only the few CTD owners out there with a Scan Gauge or some other kind of gauge that even realize it.

Honestly, I think a lot of factors go into how often it regens: atmospheric conditions, fuel quality, driving conditions between regens (short vs. long distance), driving conditions during the last regen (did it get a good burn?).

Just in the last three months, I've had regens as close as 80 miles between each other, and with little variation in driving conditions, others that were almost 700 miles apart - almost all short distance driving in all of these scenarios. In December and the first week of January, I had two regens where the soot mass dropped all the way to three and barely climbed for the next two weeks of driving, but on my last one, it burned all the way down to 3 STM, and within 10 miles of freeway driving after it completed it was all the way back up to 17 grams, but took 100 miles or more to complete the last 5 grams (mine always starts at 22 or just prior to it). I've had regens take 30 miles of solids 70 mph freeway driving to go from 22 to 3 grams, and others do a supposed complete regen in just 10 miles of driving around town with frequently slowing and stopping.

I haven't been able to pin down what causes all the variation, but so far, I haven't had any actual problems despite countless interrupted regens, so I'm going to keep crossing my fingers and hope all is well in the end.

FYI, I've had 90 completed regens in about 33,000 miles. The first 8,000 miles were nearly all long-distance, but then our commuting situation changed, and it's almost all short distance now with only a ten mile commute to work.


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## KpaxFAQ (Sep 1, 2013)

PanJet said:


> Unfortunately, unless there's a CEL or an actual problem, I don't think taking it to the dealer is going to accomplish anything at all. Technically, you're not even supposed to know when regens are happening. It's only the few CTD owners out there with a Scan Gauge or some other kind of gauge that even realize it.
> 
> Honestly, I think a lot of factors go into how often it regens: atmospheric conditions, fuel quality, driving conditions between regens (short vs. long distance), driving conditions during the last regen (did it get a good burn?).
> 
> ...


Great post, regens are a complicated subject. There's more than just the differential pressure sensor that goes into how often, long, and hot a regen is. There's seems to be all kinds of different qualities of "regens" based on driving circumstances and temperatures are a big one too. 

I agreed with you, no CEL or driveability issues = waste of time at dealer.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

operator said:


> I have had the scanguage 2 monitor for awhile now (6 months or so) and have been watching my regens and soot mass frequently. Recently, the past 3-4k miles or so i have been doing a regen every 100-250 miles or so. I generally average 500-600 miles before a regen. I am just trying to track down what would cause the uptick. As of the date i have 18700 miles with 50 completed regens. My commute is 80 miles a day with 70 being at interstate speeds of over 70 mph. I have also been using the same fueling station, the fueling station is a rather heavy use station on a turnpike exit.


Based on your symptoms, I would first suspect incorrect oil. Next suspect would possibly be B20, but I personally don't have any experience with it. is it possible the fueling station is using it? And/or getting their fuel from a new source?


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## operator (Jan 2, 2015)

It is going in for its 3rd oil change on Wednesday. Will see how it performs after that. The dealer doesnt sell diesel cruzes and it is not my purchasing dealer as i recently moved 35 miles away. But they performed my last oil change and the paperwork said that they used the correct oil. I sure hope they did and do this upcoming oil change.


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## GlennGlenn (Nov 27, 2015)

operator said:


> It is going in for its 3rd oil change on Wednesday. Will see how it performs after that. The dealer doesnt sell diesel cruzes and it is not my purchasing dealer as i recently moved 35 miles away. But they performed my last oil change and the paperwork said that they used the correct oil. I sure hope they did and do this upcoming oil change.


 @operator , I'd ask ( or axe  ) about it anyway . I run B11 and since my last Regen that stopped at 3, I am now already at 15 on the Scangauge in about 100 miles, so that surprised me.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

GlennGlenn said:


> @*operator* , I'd ask ( or axe  ) about it anyway . I run B11 and since my last Regen that stopped at 3, I am now already at 15 on the Scangauge in about 100 miles, so that surprised me.


Did you start refueling at a different station that only has B11 or did you switch for different reasons?


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## operator (Jan 2, 2015)

I told the service writer about it when i dropped it off last week. He didnt even ask how i knew it was doing a regen. At any rate im not sure how good this dealer really is. Anywho ill pick it up this Saturday and let you know, been driving the truck and the dealer hours are extremely inconvenient (closes at 5:30 PM).


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

OK. Keep us posted. Good luck with getting it resolved properly.


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## operator (Jan 2, 2015)

OK here is an update. Went to pick up my car yesterday. Told the service writer to make sure they use dexos 2 and fill up with DEF fluid. Assures me that it will get done. Start the car and wham DEF is at 26% just were i left it. I think OK no problem maybe the sensor is going bad and it didn't relearn that the tank was full. Go to check the tank, i only have a 10 inch steak knife in the car and stick it in the tank to take a measurement. Nothing 10 inch in depth. Little frustrated because i look at the receipt and of course it says they added def on the parts sheet. Go back to the service writers who are all gone at this point as its closed and tell the clerk that they forgot the DEF please have them fill it up in the morning. 

Get a call this morning from service writer saying that he got a note about my chevy cruze and that he talked to the service manager, they check the car and def is reading 100% and the tank is full right up to under the lip of the fill port. That i must have just looked at the gauge and it didn't reset. I told him i stuck the tank last night to make sure that the DEF was full and that he is lying to me. He proceeds to tell me that he doesn't know blah blah that it was full when he checked it this morning. I just hung up on him.

Having served in the Army for over 10 years im not mad that they forgot, I am pissed because they violated their integrity (veterans will know what i mean). It would not be nearly as bad if they had just said look we made a mistake, were going to fix it, and move on. Now i cannot even be certain that they are putting the Dexos2 oil in because I dont trust them.


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## pandrad61 (Jul 8, 2015)

When you have the oil change done always request to get the last 1/2 quart back of oil. this proves they used dexos 2 oil. now i hate to be that guy but top off on the DEF if not what you think. GM under maint programe only covers a max of 1 gallon thats there "top off"


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## pandrad61 (Jul 8, 2015)

if it makes ya feel better my CTd is regenerating in Florida a lot. like every 10 days of daily driving when i turn the car off the fans are still blowing hard.


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## Louis (Dec 28, 2015)

Could the increase in regens be related to the latest emission related recall ?


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## vwgtiglx (Jun 13, 2013)

pandrad61 said:


> When you have the oil change done always request to get the last 1/2 quart back of oil. this proves they used dexos 2 oil. now i hate to be that guy but top off on the DEF if not what you think. GM under maint programe only covers a max of 1 gallon thats there "top off"


My car has always taken at least 2 gallons to "top off" with DEF, with each of my 4 free oil changes, every 6 months, during my first 2 years of ownership. My dealership never hesitated to do that because of any GM maintenence program.


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## pandrad61 (Jul 8, 2015)

im stating that if you look in the fine writing GM will only give you 1 gallon of DEF. now most dealers will simply truly top it off to keep customers happy. seeing as most diesel trucks are very expensive you don't want to lose a customer over a 10$ jug.


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

I am curious, I have a light that comes on if I need to keep driving to complete a regen, how does the average driver know he needs to keep driving without it? In 43,000km my light has only come once at around 6,000km. I think it must be fairly bad before it comes on. If you ignore it will start flashing and if you still ignore it your car will go into limp mode.


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## PanJet (Jun 18, 2013)

Aussie said:


> I am curious, I have a light that comes on if I need to keep driving to complete a regen, how does the average driver know he needs to keep driving without it? In 43,000km my light has only come once at around 6,000km. I think it must be fairly bad before it comes on. If you ignore it will start flashing and if you still ignore it your car will go into limp mode.


The North American Cruze diesel is supposed to have the same thing, but so far I've never heard of anyone actually have it functioning properly. It seems by the time it gets bad enough to trigger the light, it barely gives enough time to do any driving, seconds maybe, and then goes directly to limp mode and forces you to take it in to a dealer for a manual regen. @diesel wrote up a good thread about why he thinks this is happening, and it appears to be more a fluke than an actual problem. 

So far I've never heard of anyone with a North American CTD who's gotten "the light" without going directly to limp mode. This leads me to believe that the NA CTD is actually pretty good at managing to do regens even on short-distance driving - and the lights that some are getting are possibly related to the phenomena that @diesel observed.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

pandrad61 said:


> When you have the oil change done always request to get the last 1/2 quart back of oil. this proves they used dexos 2 oil. now i hate to be that guy but top off on the DEF if not what you think. GM under maint programe only covers a max of 1 gallon thats there "top off"


That's not entirely true. The dealers (in the US at least, and when I was on my free changes) are paid a flat $75 for the service. 



Louis said:


> Could the increase in regens be related to the latest emission related recall ?


I've never had the emissions recall and at 156K miles I am still getting nearly 1000 miles between regens. 



Aussie said:


> I am curious, I have a light that comes on if I need to keep driving to complete a regen, how does the average driver know he needs to keep driving without it? In 43,000km my light has only come once at around 6,000km. I think it must be fairly bad before it comes on. If you ignore it will start flashing and if you still ignore it your car will go into limp mode.


i wish we had something like that. Especially to show us the "pre-regen" I posted about.


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## magnusson (Jun 15, 2014)

I know its hard to not take something thats "free" but change your oil youself/fill def, integrity problems solved bro.


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## pandrad61 (Jul 8, 2015)

magnusson said:


> I know its hard to not take something thats "free" but change your oil youself/fill def, integrity problems solved bro.


not really, why would you waste free maint for 24k or 24 months? i dont mind topping off def if they dont but i drive by a truckers stop quite often and def is not all that expensive. now out of free maint period absolutely do your self


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## operator (Jan 2, 2015)

Another Update,

Went to pick up my car again, and talked to the parts guy to see if they carried Dexos 2 oil and to purchase a quart. He looked in his system and said they had just run out because they used it on a diesel cruze that was just serviced last Friday (my cruze). So I feel a little better at least knowing they are using the correct oil. Checked the Def fluid resevoir again and it was filled up. 

Like i said before it didnt bother me that they forgot to fill it up or even if they are only allowed to bill 1 gallon, thats fine just tell me, dont lie to me and tell me you did it when you didn't. As far as changing my own oil and topping off DEF, I will do that after my 4 included oil changes. At the end of the day i paid for them with the new car so i might as well use them.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

operator said:


> Another Update,
> 
> Went to pick up my car again, and talked to the parts guy to see if they carried Dexos 2 oil and to purchase a quart. He looked in his system and said they had just run out because they used it on a diesel cruze that was just serviced last Friday (my cruze). So I feel a little better at least knowing they are using the correct oil. Checked the Def fluid resevoir again and it was filled up.
> 
> Like i said before it didnt bother me that they forgot to fill it up or even if they are only allowed to bill 1 gallon, thats fine just tell me, dont lie to me and tell me you did it when you didn't. As far as changing my own oil and topping off DEF, I will do that after my 4 included oil changes. At the end of the day i paid for them with the new car so i might as well use them.


My car was perfectly happy for the first 30K miles on the free oil changes.


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## MOTO13 (Mar 26, 2014)

pandrad61 said:


> not really, why would you waste free maint for 24k or 24 months? i dont mind topping off def if they dont but i drive by a truckers stop quite often and def is not all that expensive. now out of free maint period absolutely do your self


With the CTD being new and all the commotion about proper oil and the lack of proper dealer training for the CTD, I never even considered going to a dealer for an oil change. Too risky. The time wasted and inconvenience of something going wrong was not worth it. I have done it myself from day one. I know exactly what oil is in my car and what filter is there also. My peace of mind is worth $75. Heck, GM can't even get the parts supply right for some sensor issues, so letting them do routine maintenance when a specific oil is called for wasn't on my "hope they get it right" agenda.


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## IndyDiesel (May 24, 2015)

MOTO13 said:


> With the CTD being new and all the commotion about proper oil and the lack of proper dealer training for the CTD, I never even considered going to a dealer for an oil change. Too risky. The time wasted and inconvenience of something going wrong was not worth it. I have done it myself from day one. I know exactly what oil is in my car and what filter is there also. My peace of mind is worth $75. Heck, GM can't even get the parts supply right for some sensor issues, so letting them do routine maintenance when a specific oil is called for wasn't on my "hope they get it right" agenda.


I had 15 CTD I just watched the dealer do the service and I saw with my own eyes the proper oil being used, I want a good relationship with my dealer, I am very confident they know what they are doing now. I like the idea of dealer service especially while under warranty, if there are any issues I won't have a problem getting the warranty to cover repair. Not every dealer sucks.


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