Star Freezing Fix

Daf105paccar wanted to know what my issues were, and I think? I found a fix.

I had a lot of build quality issues. Stuff like damaged and broken interior pieces, the windshield wiper linkages sawing through air lines deep inside the dash, wrong engine fan and mounts installed from factory, etc.
But what has been plaguing me is frozen def and air system every winter and all winter. Truck is now on it's 3rd winter.
I always had to keep the winter front on, or the air system would freeze.
Then even when I let it run and warm up for up to 3 hours in the yard, as soon as I hit the highway the engine lights would come on and the engine would go into derate because of the frozen def system.
So the dealer and I were treating it like a frozen def fluid problem. And as far as the air system, it gets so bad I have to tarp the entire cab and hood and I've had 2 tiger torches burning under it for 6 hours at times.

Anyway, just happened again and myself and the dealer found a few things out. The def problems were caused by not the def fluid freezing, but moisture in my air system that runs the def system. So a few things that I had to do:
1. New air dryer right off the bat. Dealer said there was so much moisture getting pumped through my system after it, it was polluting everything. (despite me draining all the air tanks a couple times a day and getting tons of water out of them.) I even have to heat them with the torch in the winter to get them drained.
2. Today I am replacing all the pull cord type tank drain ####s with quarter turns. The pull type, I discovered, are trapping water and not draining completely.
3. Adding this. http://www.haldex.com/en/North-Amer...erAir-Line/Consep-CondenserSeparator/41292939
It goes in after the air dryer to remove any moisture the dryer misses. I talked to a few people that have added this to their DD Detroits and it made a big difference.
4. I'm adding a tee in the main air line between the air dryer and the wet tank, with a line and cap facing up, so that I can add a tiny bit of methyl alcohol if I ever do freeze. That way I don't pollute the dryers.

So we'll see what happens. So far after the new dryer I ran all week with no issue. Dealer said Detroit has made changes to their engine after mine was built. The now are like Cummins, and do not use air to run and purge the def system. So they are less dependent on 100% dry air. So they must have been aware there was a problem. Just sucks it took me 3 years to get an answer.

 

Day one after fixes. It actually worked all day at minus 18*C. Every night when I get home I shut it down, drain all the tanks to zero, take the cap off the line we installed after the air dryer, add a few drops of air tool oil and methyl alcohol then start and build it back up until the air dryer purges then shut it down for the night.

 

Hahahaha, you're funny. No but they keep telling me my Detroit is the best of the new junk? LOL.

I'm being cautiously optimistic at this point....only day one so far.

 

Instead of an injector I put a tee in the main line right after the dryer and ahead of the wet tank, ran a nice straight line up the frame rail and capped it. So I do like I said, drain then add a cap full every night.

Problem with injectors is I have seen them fill with moisture also. This way too, if I have a freeze up, I can just pour it down the line and give it a good dose to thaw, then drain the system.

 

Well this winter is bad because it is going from above to below freezing day to day and lots of rain/freezing rain.
But this truck has been very bad from day one. You wouldn't believe the moisture I can drain from my wet tank a couple times a day.
I need to find out where the compressor draws the air on this truck. Could it be water that is coming in through the external air filter cans?

What made it even worse is me and the dealer were treating all the def problems on the def system heaters not keeping up, yet now we are finding out it is air system problems screwing the def up.