Taking the plunge. My journey as an O/O.

Had a bit of an o #### moment on I-80 Westbound in Nevada shortly after leaving Utah.

30k lbs in the box, got hit with a massive rogue gust that pushed hard enough to tilt my cab pretty significantly. Don't think any tires left the ground, but it was definitely a pucker moment.

I tend to ride fairly close to the outside of the road, thankfully. If I ran to the center of the road, I might have hit the 4-wheeler beside me.

As it was, the 4 wheeler that was starting a pass dropped back fast and watched me for about 3 minutes before zipping past. He was either calling in my truck or watching to see if I was drunk, I guess. He was far enough into my wind shadow he might not have even felt the gust.

 

I checked the codes. No clear faults. Bad Def, nox emissions, and a 25% derate.

Ran a manual regen yesterday and that cleared the L2 engine fault. The L1 fault cleared about 300 miles into today's driving day.

Nothing I feel comfortable trying to work on, since none of the faults are clear.

 

SPN 3364 FMI 2
SPN 4364 FMI 18
SPN 5246 FMI 15

None of those codes indicate a specific issue, as noted above. I can't remember which is which.

L1 / L2 / L3 engine codes are the dummy lights.

L1 engine code is a single engine error LED lit. "Hey there might be a problem."
L2 engine code is two engine error LEDs lit. "Yup, you got a problem. Watch yerself."
L3 engine code is three engine error LEDs lit. "Screw you, driver, something's wrong and I'm shutting down."

I am certain that the problem is sensor related. I take 34's regularly, and up until a few months ago, the truck would go into an auto regen at least once every 34.

Now, the truck never goes into an auto regen. Whatever sensor tells the truck that an auto-regen is needed has failed. Sensor, wiring, electronics, or code, I don't know, but it's not a filter or injector.

 

Which of those answers directly addresses a failure to start an automatic regen when in opti-idle state. Because that is the problem. The codes only confirm that the truck is not cleaning the DPF system as it should while I am on a 34.

 

Well, first pass analysis and troubleshooting came up with this.

The injectors which push DEF into the exhaust system are apparently okay, but there is something of a design flaw with the direction that the injectors push the DEF. Supposedly this doesn't impact all DD15 engine DEF systems, but it does impact a lot of them. Essentially I have a DEF crystal buildup around the injectors that is causing issues. There is an 'apron' assembly that can be placed next to the injector to help the DEF and exhaust mix properly and prevent DEF crystal buildup.

I spoke to the home terminal shop, and they verified that this apron insert process was a common thing for 2016 Freightliners with dd15 engines. Not all trucks needed the DEF injector apron assembly, but a lot did. Mine never got one as a company truck.

I am still not entirely convinced that this is going to address the problem I want fixed, but it will apparently fix at least one problem that may or may not be related. I have driven the same sorts of patterns and mileage in this truck for over 500k miles now, and this issue is new.

So, they are doing the work, and then I'll take her out on the road and see what happens next 34.