GM with the 2.8 diesel

[Copperhead]

For those that need DEF, check out commercial truck dealerships and commercial truck service locations. My commercial truck tire dealer has DEF at $1.85 a gallon. They will fill any vehicle.... diesel car, diesel pickup, diesel truck. Same for the Mack Dealership near me. Same price and will fill up anything that comes in. And considering these locations go thru a LOT of DEF, their stuff is pretty fresh. Yes, DEF does have a shelf life. I wouldn't keep a jug of it around for very long before putting it in the tank or throwing it away. A bad batch of DEF can really mess up things.

 

[Btown]

Considering that is a fluid designed to be consumed, and the truck will shut down if it runs out (in many cases, that will then require being towed to a dealer to be resurrected), you raise a heck of a point. Can't remember if DEF can freeze.... In a pickup, I'd be tempted to carry a spare jug in back. Thanks for the update. Rgds, D.

Yes it can freeze. The DEF tanks have heaters to thaw them in cold weather. It may seem hard to believe, but the VW Passats have an issue with the heaters failing and the entire DEF tank needs to be replaced. If you were past your 36 month 36,000 miles you were out of luck. Not sure if they changed their attitude about this since diesel gate. By the way the Passats would go about 15000-20000 miles on five gallons of DEF. They were the least polluting NOX diesels though. Not sure why VW just didn't have them use more fluid and be legal.

 

[3930dave]

Yes it can freeze. The DEF tanks have heaters to thaw them in cold weather. It may seem hard to believe, but the VW Passats have an issue with the heaters failing and the entire DEF tank needs to be replaced. If you were past your 36 month 36,000 miles you were out of luck. Not sure if they changed their attitude about this since diesel gate. By the way the Passats would go about 15000-20000 miles on five gallons of DEF. They were the least polluting NOX diesels though. Not sure why VW just didn't have them use more fluid and be legal.

Good info. It would be trivial to monitor (onboard computer that is) the health of those heaters, and throw a failure code. Some people would ignore the code, but some tanks might have been saved.

Haven't kept up with the latest news, but I don't anticipate VW marketing diesels here again soon. A shame.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

For those that need DEF, check out commercial truck dealerships and commercial truck service locations. My commercial truck tire dealer has DEF at $1.85 a gallon. They will fill any vehicle.... diesel car, diesel pickup, diesel truck. Same for the Mack Dealership near me. Same price and will fill up anything that comes in. And considering these locations go thru a LOT of DEF, their stuff is pretty fresh. Yes, DEF does have a shelf life. I wouldn't keep a jug of it around for very long before putting it in the tank or throwing it away. A bad batch of DEF can really mess up things.

Good advice. There are more bulk tanks around these days.

DEF is now just another critical fluid to be replaced. The biggest problem is remote areas. I did a couple of long drives last year (gas vehicle) where fuel stops had to be carefully thought out. Everything went fine, but I had 40L of extra gas with me at all times. Belt and Suspenders admittedly, but that is where my extra jug of DEF came from - good point about rotating fluids.

Rdgs, D.

 

[tcartwri]

Would it really have been that difficult to put a gauge in that worked full range? I mean, everything else has a more precise gauge - oil life, fuel filter, fuel level, miles till empty, and so on. In the digital age I got a binary gauge on the DEF - yes you have it, or no you don't have it. Yes, I understand that the remaining DEF would have likely been enough for a few K more miles, but I just think that if you have a gauge it would be nice to have it read more precisely, so I would know whether to add a 1 gallon jug, or a 2.5 gallon jug if I wanted to top it off.

I believe most DEF tanks have a liner ( bladder ) in them to control expansion during freezing. That is why putting a fluid level sensor in them is a problem.

Our tdi Passat would go forever on a tank of def.....but then I guess that's because the emissions were getting turned off... lol

 

[DieselBound]

I believe most DEF tanks have a liner ( bladder ) in them to control expansion during freezing. That is why putting a fluid level sensor in them is a problem.

Our tdi Passat would go forever on a tank of def.....but then I guess that's because the emissions were getting turned off... lol

I believe that VAG (VW Audi) only played tricks with the non-DEF systems. The added costs for this stuff was problematic for the lower-end vehicles: Passats, BMW, MB, light-duty diesel trucks, all of these are in the higher-end range cost-wise.

 

[Btown]

I believe that VAG (VW Audi) only played tricks with the non-DEF systems. The added costs for this stuff was problematic for the lower-end vehicles: Passats, BMW, MB, light-duty diesel trucks, all of these are in the higher-end range cost-wise.

No they played games with the DEF ones too including 2012-2014 Passats, 3.0 Tauregs and Audis. All of the 2015 VW's used DEF Golfs, Jettas, Beetles etc. and all of them are in the recall. My Passat can get 50+ mpg on long highway runs if you keep the speed at 70 mph.

 

[DieselBound]

No they played games with the DEF ones too including 2012-2014 Passats, 3.0 Tauregs and Audis. All of the 2015 VW's used DEF Golfs, Jettas, Beetles etc. and all of them are in the recall. My Passat can get 50+ mpg on long highway runs if you keep the speed at 70 mph.

OK, hadn't heard, thanks for the info.

For me I'm stuck back in the MKIV era (and am "exempt" from being implicated ).

 

[Btown]

OK, hadn't heard, thanks for the info. For me I'm stuck back in the MKIV era (and am "exempt" from being implicated ).

Ahh. The lovely ALH motors. Love those 90 hp oil burners. I had a Y2K Beetle, great fuel economy, but bumpy ride. I heard VW messed with the DEF cars so the DEF fill up would coincide with oil changes every 10k miles. A lot report that you can go around 18,000+ miles on 5 gallons of DEF. these were also the least polluting cars also. It's just stupid what they did.

 

[KenB2920]

You don't own it unless you have a post a photo of it ..... Show of your truck and the duramax, I'm excited to see it under the hood