Chief_jeep
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Justin
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2022
- Threads
- 17
- Messages
- 389
- Reaction score
- 447
- Location
- Park City, UT
- Vehicle(s)
- 2022 Gladiator Ecodiesel
- Occupation
- Real Estate Agent
- Thread starter
- #1
Back in October I had an experience with abnormal DEF consumption. I drove around 4-5 hours to Southern Utah, was wheeling in Sand Hollow for three days and drove back the same drive. I filled the DEF tank prior to the third day of wheeling and went through almost the entire tank by the time I got home. It never has burned def like that in the past and hasn't again until this week.
Jumping to this week, I filled my def tank the evening prior to leaving for a camping trip. It wasn't 100% full but well over 75%. We had a 6.5 hour drive, mostly on highways and some freeways. As I was pulling up to the trailhead, I got a notification on the dash that the def tank was low and the vehicle wouldn't start in 500 miles. I thought it was a crazy amount of DEF that had been burned on the drive there but didn't think too much into it. It was at 1/4 tank and should be sufficient for the amount of distance we had to travel before going into the next town. We drove maybe 20 miles and got to our campsite for the evening. The next day we were going over Pearl Pass into Crested Butte, CO. OnX reports said there was snow but I called the ranger station and they assured me it was open. We traversed one small snow field safely and made it to the top of the pass. There was another snowfield on the other side of the pass that would've been very dangerous to traverse. It was very off camber and if you slid, you'd have rolled hundreds of feet down the mountain. We decided to turn around and go another way into CB. I turned the vehicle back on and got a notification expect this time it said 270 miles to empty. I had only gone maybe 35 miles since it was at 500 miles and now the tank was showing only about 10-15% full. Also noted, that I was parked on 'flat' ground. At this point, I was fairly concerned that we wouldn't make it to CB before running out of DEF. We decided to drive down into Aspen and refill it only to back track and come back up the same way. Since then the def has been going at a very normal rate. The tank was 100% full after leaving Aspen. We drove off-road for another couple hours during the trip and then an 8 hour drive home. It's currently around 80-85% full which seems normal.
During the trip, I had the windows down a lot and was in 4Hi going up very steep grades for extended periods. I noticed that the cooling fans don't kick into high until 239-240 degree oil temp. Oil temps climb rapidly under load until they hit 239-240 and then they stay in the low 240's until the load is significantly reduced. It was the same for highway driving. The only time I noticed a difference was on I-70 going 80mph. It was 93 outside and the oil temps slowly kept climbing to mid 250's. The cooling system couldn't seem to keep up and get it back in the 240's so I reduced my speed to 75 and it quickly dropped back into the low 240's. That seems incredibly hot for normal operating temps and I know everyone wants a solution to cool the diesel. Has anyone looked into the thermostat and when the cooling system really starts working hard? It seems that if it would kick on at 220 the same it does at 240 that it could solve some of the oil derating issue. Just my observation as I watch my oil temps very closely this trip.
Jumping to this week, I filled my def tank the evening prior to leaving for a camping trip. It wasn't 100% full but well over 75%. We had a 6.5 hour drive, mostly on highways and some freeways. As I was pulling up to the trailhead, I got a notification on the dash that the def tank was low and the vehicle wouldn't start in 500 miles. I thought it was a crazy amount of DEF that had been burned on the drive there but didn't think too much into it. It was at 1/4 tank and should be sufficient for the amount of distance we had to travel before going into the next town. We drove maybe 20 miles and got to our campsite for the evening. The next day we were going over Pearl Pass into Crested Butte, CO. OnX reports said there was snow but I called the ranger station and they assured me it was open. We traversed one small snow field safely and made it to the top of the pass. There was another snowfield on the other side of the pass that would've been very dangerous to traverse. It was very off camber and if you slid, you'd have rolled hundreds of feet down the mountain. We decided to turn around and go another way into CB. I turned the vehicle back on and got a notification expect this time it said 270 miles to empty. I had only gone maybe 35 miles since it was at 500 miles and now the tank was showing only about 10-15% full. Also noted, that I was parked on 'flat' ground. At this point, I was fairly concerned that we wouldn't make it to CB before running out of DEF. We decided to drive down into Aspen and refill it only to back track and come back up the same way. Since then the def has been going at a very normal rate. The tank was 100% full after leaving Aspen. We drove off-road for another couple hours during the trip and then an 8 hour drive home. It's currently around 80-85% full which seems normal.
During the trip, I had the windows down a lot and was in 4Hi going up very steep grades for extended periods. I noticed that the cooling fans don't kick into high until 239-240 degree oil temp. Oil temps climb rapidly under load until they hit 239-240 and then they stay in the low 240's until the load is significantly reduced. It was the same for highway driving. The only time I noticed a difference was on I-70 going 80mph. It was 93 outside and the oil temps slowly kept climbing to mid 250's. The cooling system couldn't seem to keep up and get it back in the 240's so I reduced my speed to 75 and it quickly dropped back into the low 240's. That seems incredibly hot for normal operating temps and I know everyone wants a solution to cool the diesel. Has anyone looked into the thermostat and when the cooling system really starts working hard? It seems that if it would kick on at 220 the same it does at 240 that it could solve some of the oil derating issue. Just my observation as I watch my oil temps very closely this trip.
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