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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 449
 
| We just purchased this truck 5 days ago. On day 3 we had an error message on the dash saying "poor Exhaust fluid quality." We have added more DEF to the truck and drove it about 35 miles and the light is not going off. Anyone have this issue and if so, what needs to be done. The truck has 55K miles on it so I am not even sure if the DEF system is still under warranty. Any help would be appreciated!! Thanks! |
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Location: Saskatchewan | We had the same issues on our 2013 3500 Duramax, everything with the DEF and it wouldn't reset itself after topping it up and when it gets too low the truck powers itself down, not so great when the hubby works out of this truck in the bush in northern Alberta!! Had problems right from day one those systems are junk!! After a few calls to the dealership and finding out everyone is having issues, they wrote up a warranty letter protecting our warranty package on the truck and we ripped that sucker out and had a H & S mini max chip installed and dualled the exhaust. Best decision ever, had nothing but exhaust issues with our Dodge too, did the same thing two years, tore it out, chip installed, zero problems now. My advice is get it to a dealer to get it scanned or consider what we did. Best of luck!! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 449
| Thank you very much! The Chevy dealership is telling me it could be frozen because the fluid level was very low when we purchased the truck. They are saying to let it thaw out, either wait for warmer weather or keep it in a heated building overnight, and then drive it for 30+ miles and it should reset itself. That would be great if it would but we are now thinking what in the heck do you do in the winter to keep it from freezing?? We don't have a heated garage to keep it parked in. Kinda silly really!!! |
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Location: KS | We have a 2011 Chevy 3500 that we bought new. Have never had any problems with it-hope you get yours figured out!! |
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  Damn Yankee
Posts: 12390
 
Location: Somewhere between raising hell and Amazing Grace | I have never heard of the dpf fluid freezing.....we had nothing but trouble with the self cleaning exhaust in a 2008 dodge 2500 diesel. We now have a 5500 dodge diesel where we have to put the fluid in a separate tank and have never had trouble. And we have had plent of nights and days in negative temps |
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Location: Saskatchewan | Boy oh boy lol, that DEF fluid is awful in this cold weather up here and is always freezing!!! We had the truck sit in the shop for over 24 hours and that sucker was still slushy, hubby had to take the tank off to put the new step bars on. He just looked at me and was like well good think she's getting ripped out tomorrow its nothing but slush. After inspecting it all after it was out from under the truck, the lines the DEF fluid run through are so small no wonder is was always freezing. Truckers with newer rigs have nothing but issues up here too but remember we get down to -40C with the windchill on a regular basis during the winter. The DEF not resetting itself after refilling was a issue in warm weather right from the get go that required the computer reset all the time. What a pain in the rear. |
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Location: Saskatchewan | missroselee - 2014-02-12 11:42 AM I have never heard of the dpf fluid freezing.....we had nothing but trouble with the self cleaning exhaust in a 2008 dodge 2500 diesel. We now have a 5500 dodge diesel where we have to put the fluid in a separate tank and have never had trouble. And we have had plent of nights and days in negative temps
Our 2008 Dodge left me stranded 5 hours from home it wouldn't self clean, that was when we decided enough. Dodge honored the warranty as well as they did the chip install and removed the exhaust and filters. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 477
Location: IA | We just traded off our 2011 Chevy 3500 Duramax after only having it since last May due to this exact issue....with the mileage on the OP, and the timing, it could be the same truck!
We bought ours with 47K in May, that light came on in July at 48K. Topped off the fluid, couldn't get the light to turn off, took it to the dealership. They said that the carbon had plugged the sensors, and put it in Neutral and FLOORED it. That truck was so hot, the engine was glowing. $300 please, thank you and you're good.
Nope, end of August, same thing at 49K. Dealership said that it must have been because we drove it on lots of short trips----no, never less than 100 miles one way. Checked sensors, reset computer, $250 thanks goodbye.
Middle of September, guess what? This time, the sensor was actually bad, missed it or it wasn't bad enough to detect the first time, didn't charge labor but $350 for the part.....I told them if I ever came back, I would be setting it on fire in their lot and they were giving me a new one.
Early December.....again. This time, reset for free.
Early January......again. This time, they said that it had not been driven enough. We decided that we'd had enough, called around, got it reset (for free this time) and took to to trade off. Made it 20 miles from the dealership and the light came on. I told him drive the sucker, if it went into "limp home mode" topping out at 55, that was fine because that was the speed limit on the highway anyway.
When we traded it off, the salesman said that the first 1/2 of those 2011 Diesels had this problem, but they had fixed it for the last half of that year and 2012. The fix would be to have the computer replaced for $2000, but we were done with it so made our deal and headed home. Good luck!!
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 Firecracker Dog Lover
Posts: 3175
| MObrlrcr - 2014-02-12 9:28 AM
Thank you very much! The Chevy dealership is telling me it could be frozen because the fluid level was very low when we purchased the truck. They are saying to let it thaw out, either wait for warmer weather or keep it in a heated building overnight, and then drive it for 30+ miles and it should reset itself. That would be great if it would but we are now thinking what in the heck do you do in the winter to keep it from freezing?? We don't have a heated garage to keep it parked in. Kinda silly really!!!
Do you plug it in at all? |
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 The Comeback Kid
Posts: 1564
Location: lost in missouri | take it to the dealership. it is still covered by warranty def (diesel exhaust fluid) issues fall under the exhaust systems warranty of 100k miles. it is known that at times the tanks that hold the fluid need replaced. they need to examine it. exhaust fluid low light and those issues are different from the exhaust fluid quality light. I am a GM warranty administrator for 12 years and drive an 2005 3/4 ton duramax, 2011 3/4 ton duramax that we just traded for a new one ton duramax. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 449
| redracinmo - 2014-02-13 11:12 AM
take it to the dealership. it is still covered by warranty def (diesel exhaust fluid) issues fall under the exhaust systems warranty of 100k miles. it is known that at times the tanks that hold the fluid need replaced. they need to examine it. exhaust fluid low light and those issues are different from the exhaust fluid quality light. I am a GM warranty administrator for 12 years and drive an 2005 3/4 ton duramax, 2011 3/4 ton duramax that we just traded for a new one ton duramax.
Thank you for the info on the warranty. Our Chevy dealer here told me it was not covered under warranty anymore. It ran out at 50K, I believe, is what they told me. It just really sucks! We have had this truck 1 week today :( |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 449
| brlraceaddict - 2014-02-12 5:25 PM
MObrlrcr - 2014-02-12 9:28 AM
Thank you very much! The Chevy dealership is telling me it could be frozen because the fluid level was very low when we purchased the truck. They are saying to let it thaw out, either wait for warmer weather or keep it in a heated building overnight, and then drive it for 30+ miles and it should reset itself. That would be great if it would but we are now thinking what in the heck do you do in the winter to keep it from freezing?? We don't have a heated garage to keep it parked in. Kinda silly really!!!
Do you plug it in at all?
No, we haven't plugged it in. We have had it one week. Not sure if plugging it in would keep the DEF tank from freezing anyways??? Do you think it would? |
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 The best bad guy on the internet
Posts: 3519
Location: Arizona | This is why I will take a gas truck over a diesel any day!! No thanks! |
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Regular
Posts: 54
| Def does freeze. But the tanks have heaters in them that run warm Coolent from the engine threw the tank. Emissions is covered till100,000 miles find a new dealer that knows about def or take the truck back of you just got it. That's not right and they are taking advantage of you. |
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 Quack Quack Woodle Woodle
Posts: 7905
Location: Texas | I know this is an old thread but it came up in my extensive googling... lol. My 2012 has been at the dealership for a week now.... I had this "low quality" message pop up on Tuesday. I added DEF and it wouldn't go away. Added more Wed morning and it was still counting down the miles to limp mode. I stopped by the dealership on my way to work Wed. afternoon to see if maybe the sensor needed reset or something. They kept it and I had to find a ride to work and they still haven't been able to fix it. They tried a particulate burnoff, they dropped the tank and emptied it... and I really don't know what else because they're so hard to get to call you back. At first they told me it was probably the water content.... that some guy a couple weeks ago had too much water in his DEF and this happened, and they reccomend only using the GM brand of DEF. At first they said it would be under warranty, then told me if it was the actual fluid that I'd have to pay $500......So we called PEAK... who makes the DEF we used... and we found out PEAK also makes the GM brand.... hmph.... I've had to beg borrow and steal this week to get myself to work and such... had to cancel a month-old appointment to get much needed repairs on my trailer and now I'm looking at trying to find a truck to borrow to get to a 3 day race I pre entered for this weekend and also planned to set up a booth at.... talk about loss of income. They are telling us they don't know what it is and they've never seen this problem before but google comes up with all kinds of results, especially with the 2011's and a recall they did for the system not working in the colder temps. I'm about to make them rent me a truck!
eta they JUST NOW today tried replacing the nox sensors.... they have to run another particulate burnoff on it and hopefully it will be fixed.
Edited by fifteenflat 2014-12-03 12:27 PM
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 Big Gun
Posts: 2216
Location: Texas | We had the same problem, finally had to replace the whole tank |
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Quack Quack Woodle Woodle
Posts: 7905
Location: Texas | replacing the sensors and injectors didn't work. Last time I talked to him he was getting pretty frustrated that GM wasn't doing more to help the situation and was going to check the used lot for a truck with a GN ball for me to borrow. Hopefully tomorrow it's either fixed or the find me a loaner that will get me to Glen Rose this weekend lol. |
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 Expert
Posts: 3815
Location: The best kept secret in TX | Honestly the only way we got rid of it was to do the EGR delete. Yes it is illegal in most states. Yes it is kind of expensive. But we haven't had one problem since. We put everything back just like it was stock and made it look like it still had it on there stock. But it isn't hooked up.
My dad didn't want to do a delete kit and instead decided to change out his DEF pump. $900 estimate from the dealer later he decided to take it off and clean it instead of replace it. Sure enough after a good cleaning of the pump and cleaning each injector it was perfect. |
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Expert
Posts: 4766
Location: Bandera, TX | 15flat, I had nightmares with my truck. This past July 4th I couldn't believe the run around we were given by multiple dealerships. Sonora, Mike had someone in town clear the dic codes that were cleared a week before in Castroville. Next, it was in Pecos...the guys said we'll do you a favor and not hook it up to the computer give us cash and we can work it in fast. Well, when your trying to make a run over the fourth things need to get done fast so hubby paid cash and off we went up into NM. Had it develop same issue between Albuquerque and Grants headed to Prescott/Window Rock. Laid over in the high desert with wild horses all around my trailer. Two days later we pull out heading for AZ. Before we got the rig onto the IH the lights come on again. I told hubby turn East! I had enough of fighting the truck. We were determined to make TX and all I could think of is it losing power headed over the mountain at Albuquerque. Called my son and he said the mountain should put a strain on the motor and clear some of the junk. We made it over that hump and sure enough the truck ran good for a bit...about 4 hours to Carlsbad. Then the lights and dic showed limiter on next fuel up. So we filled up with the engine running thinking we could slip that in unnoticed. Got about 20 mi South of town and we were dropped to 55mph We limped all the way into Ft Stockton where I penned the horses and we took the motorcycle out of the rig so we had transportation (other than horses) dropped the truck there on the lot at 2am. They kept the truck for the next two weeks. Hauled a few loads of hay the next couple of weeks with no problems. Get loaded for ANHA guess what happened... the truck was sitting in the used truck lot the next day. There had been two other times that I had the issue and it had been "fixed". I finally fixed it by getting rid of the problem. Got a letter and now I've been told I'm able to collect on my past repairs.
I have to have a duramax the engine and tranny are a good match for our hill country. So I bought another, dang me! |
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Veteran
Posts: 276
| We were also told by a dealership to only use their "better" more expensive DEF. I rolled my eyes at them, but maybe we will have to if we experience more problems. Ours only had the check engine light on. We just took it in, since it is still under warranty. It wasn't having any other problems.
What kind of mileage do you get after the delete kit? Any better? My husband wants to do the delete after we are out of warranty, just wondering if we would see any savings on fuel. |
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Location: Saskatchewan | Our fuel economy doubled and we have 8,000 pounds in the back of our truck of rig welding equipment with the welder. He can now make it to work, 8 hours north on a tank and still have fuel left. The power it has now is unreal with the DEF tank gone and delete kit. We have it set at the middle setting not street performace as if something goes wrong our warranty still covers it. It's pretty sad when we drove through the GM lot 6 months ago around the back of the building to see no word of a lie over 100 DEF tanks sitting piled up outside the shop lol. Rip the sucker out its worth the money. |
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Quack Quack Woodle Woodle
Posts: 7905
Location: Texas | Last I talked to them was this AM... they had some special engineer in yesterday and he still didn't figure it out. I'm convinced it's in the computer. I just wonder how long they wait to start changing out the whole system..... The service mgr asked them to just unhook it and let me use it for the weekend but they won't because it's illegal..... boo...lol. They went to the used lot to try to find me a loaner but for some reason if they get a trade in with a gn ball they remove it... double boo. I found a friend who has a little bumperpull that a half ton could handle... hopefully they can find me a smaller truck easier and we can pull the ball off my truck. Only thing is I've had my 16+hand 1300 pound gelding in that trailer and I'll have to leave the slant open lol poor guy gets a little cramped in there. This blows. I love that truck.
Edited by fifteenflat 2014-12-04 1:37 PM
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Quack Quack Woodle Woodle
Posts: 7905
Location: Texas | well... dang if I wasn't driving past the dealership on my way to work and they called to tell me I could pick it up. I flipped a U and got her lol. The guy working on it just gave up and took it out on the highway and aired it out.... and it worked. if this happens again that %($*% is getting deleted...... |
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 I Don't Brag
Posts: 6960
| This thread just confirms my decision that I probably will never again have a new truck. I'll stick with my '03 Ford with the "gasp" 6.0 diesel and 6 speed. Makes no sense to me to have a system that requires you to drive around until it finishes it's cycle.
Stupid EPA requirements. We have an '03 Dodge, and '06 Ford and hubby supports us with his 1984 Peterbilt with zero computer components in it (and he gets better MPG than the new and improved computerized engines).
New and "improved" is not always better. |
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 Semper Fi
Location: North Texas | rodeoveteran - 2014-12-04 5:34 PM This thread just confirms my decision that I probably will never again have a new truck. I'll stick with my '03 Ford with the "gasp" 6.0 diesel and 6 speed. Makes no sense to me to have a system that requires you to drive around until it finishes it's cycle. Stupid EPA requirements. We have an '03 Dodge, and '06 Ford and hubby supports us with his 1984 Peterbilt with zero computer components in it (and he gets better MPG than the new and improved computerized engines). New and "improved" is not always better.
Amen! I absolutely loath the EPA! |
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 Angel in a Sorrel Coat
Posts: 16030
Location: In a happy place | foundation horse - 2014-12-04 5:44 PM rodeoveteran - 2014-12-04 5:34 PM This thread just confirms my decision that I probably will never again have a new truck. I'll stick with my '03 Ford with the "gasp" 6.0 diesel and 6 speed. Makes no sense to me to have a system that requires you to drive around until it finishes it's cycle. Stupid EPA requirements. We have an '03 Dodge, and '06 Ford and hubby supports us with his 1984 Peterbilt with zero computer components in it (and he gets better MPG than the new and improved computerized engines). New and "improved" is not always better. Amen! I absolutely loath the EPA!
Me too! |
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 Swiffer PIcker Upper
Posts: 4015
Location: Four Corners Colorado | fifteenflat - 2014-12-04 2:01 PM well... dang if I wasn't driving past the dealership on my way to work and they called to tell me I could pick it up. I flipped a U and got her lol. The guy working on it just gave up and took it out on the highway and aired it out.... and it worked. if this happens again that %($*% is getting deleted......
If it is out of warranty just get it deleted! There are a couple people who are already deleting them of of 2015's
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Veteran
Posts: 276
| Thanks for the info, I think we will start looking for someone to delete it. I would love it if we got even 11-12mpg rather than 9-10. I really like this truck and the power issue isn't that big of a deal to me, since we only use it to pull our horses, and I really ease around with them anyway. The mileage would be awesome, though!
Yes, if you guys have a reliable "older" diesel, KEEP IT! I still have my 2500 Dodge that I bought before college and my husband drives it everyday and we use it as a back-up if we are going separate ways on the weekends. It gets so much better mileage and still has way more power. I wish it didn't have over 200k miles and was a dually, we'd just use it as our main truck. It has not had a single thing go wrong with it in the 8 1/2 years I've owned it, not even the clutch... we are driving it until the wheels fall off. |
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Expert
Posts: 4766
Location: Bandera, TX | SpaceCowboy - 2014-12-04 9:02 AM We were also told by a dealership to only use their "better" more expensive DEF. I rolled my eyes at them, but maybe we will have to if we experience more problems. Ours only had the check engine light on. We just took it in, since it is still under warranty. It wasn't having any other problems. What kind of mileage do you get after the delete kit? Any better? My husband wants to do the delete after we are out of warranty, just wondering if we would see any savings on fuel.
My son did the delete kit on his. He's now getting 15-17 mpg not bad as we are in the hills. We looked into doing my 2011 but have several friends high in TX DPS they are going to start checking for trucks that have gone through a delete. I elected to just drive new till another solution occurs. Seriously looking at a tractor with no heavy computers on board. The only other option is having stock haulers and I much prefer doing ourselves. |
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2011 Chevy 3500 Duramax....Diesel Exhaust fluid issue