Regen concern on new LS engine

[elbowroom]

So, my 3135 went into regen for the first time this week...at 15 hours (?!). Seems a far cry from the 50 or so advertised, but it could have been how it was operated initially.

I started the engine and let it warm at fairly low idle, maybe 1000 rpm and was doing something else. All of a sudden, I heard the engine "cycling" up and down and "bucking" at each cycle. I ran over and saw the regen light blinking. I increased the speed to >2000 rpm and it seemed to smooth out. Shortly after, the DPF temperature light came on, which I assume it meant it was up to temperature to perform regen.

Here is a pic at that moment:


It finished after 10-15 minutes and everything went back to normal. I used it a little and then parked it in the shed.

However, my bigger concern is I worked it pretty good most the next day, putting 7 more hours on it (loader work, etc.). I had operated it >2000 rpm but would idle it down when I got off the tractor for a few minutes at a time. To my surprise, it went into regen AGAIN at 22 hours, 6-7 hours later.

Questions:
1. Is the cycling of the engine at 1500 rpm or less normal when regen is attempted?
2. Am I operating it in such a manner that drastically reduces the time between regen's?
3. Should I be concerned about this or simply monitor for a while.

Also, am I delirious or does the engine have more power during regen? It sure seemed like it...

Thanks!

 

[namesray]

So, my 3135 went into regen for the first time this week...at 15 hours (?!). Seems a far cry from the 50 or so advertised, but it could have been how it was operated initially.

I started the engine and let it warm at fairly low idle, maybe 1000 rpm and was doing something else. All of a sudden, I heard the engine "cycling" up and down and "bucking" at each cycle. I ran over and saw the regen light blinking. I increased the speed to >2000 rpm and it seemed to smooth out. Shortly after, the DPF temperature light came on, which I assume it meant it was up to temperature to perform regen.

Here is a pic at that moment:
View attachment 467514

It finished after 10-15 minutes and everything went back to normal. I used it a little and then parked it in the shed.

However, my bigger concern is I worked it pretty good most the next day, putting 7 more hours on it (loader work, etc.). I had operated it >2000 rpm but would idle it down when I got off the tractor for a few minutes at a time. To my surprise, it went into regen AGAIN at 22 hours, 6-7 hours later.

Questions:
1. Is the cycling of the engine at 1500 rpm or less normal when regen is attempted?
2. Am I operating it in such a manner that drastically reduces the time between regen's?
3. Should I be concerned about this or simply monitor for a while.

Also, am I delirious or does the engine have more power during regen? It sure seemed like it...

Thanks!

I cannot speciffically help you with an LS tractor regen system, but my kubota regen intervals have me also wondering. My first regen was at 22 hours. Far from the 50+ hours I have heard about. I have about 350 hours on it now and regen cycles for me are between 9 and 20 hours. And it doesnt seem to matter how I run it much. I have experimented with trying to keep rpms at pto speed all the time, even when I am not needing it such as when I am leaving the tractor for a couple minutes to do something then get right back on. It might add an hour or two between regens, but not much.

If I am bush hogging or skidding heavy logs (really really working tractor), then the regens get further apart, up to the 20 hours apart. I cant work it this hard all the time, so it is what it is.

I dont let my tractor warm up too much (like a minute or so) then I am on it going easy until I see temp guage move up, then I go to full load work.

My tractor is a gear shift, so I get some high revs mixed with idling down between gears and direction changes. I think a hst transmission, which would limit the rpms up and down, would have less regens.

I think I have heard that LS tractors do regen about every 10 hours by design, but I am not an expert.

I would call dealer and ask them what cycles should be. Biggest thing is use the correct engine oil class with low ash content and try to limit low rpm ideling.

As for it having more power while it is regening, I say no way. It has to be using more hp up to do the regen, not much, but some. It just sounds louder/different. Best wishes

 

[elbowroom]

Ok, thanks. So I am delirious, I blame Jack Daniels.

 

[alexsbuddy]

I am not familiar with the 3135 (i have a XG3037 Tier 4), but I think the regen cycle is initiated when the soot load is at 60% or a set number of hours after the previous regen, whichever is sooner. My guess is that you hit the soot load threshold first and it initiated the regen cycle. It is my understanding that running the tractor at low rpms actually builds up soot faster than running it at higher rpms. Need to research this more, but seems plausible.

 

[Supraman0614]

I have an XR4145 and used it lightly for the first several hours. I experienced the same thing on my first regen (rpm fluctuation, etc.). That was at about 30 hours. I had a strange issue with the exhaust emitting grey-colored smoke just before my first regen. I talked to my dealer who suggested that the fuel may be poor quality. I was using fuel from one of the local gas stations (on-road ULSD). Recently, I bought a 300-gal fuel tank and had it filled with off-highway ULSD (the red-dyed stuff). No more smoking issue. I agree with alexsbuddy's post above that low rpm work builds soot in the exhaust. When it went into regen for the second time at 68 hours, I was doing some loader work and had the rpm's up around 2k. I didn't notice it was in regen until I looked at the dash and saw the light on.

I would be willing to bet that there are a number of factors that go into regen timing, but it seems to me that what you are experiencing could be considered normal for these engines.

 

[elbowroom]

Appreciate the response, thank you.

The rpm fluctuating seems odd. I was assuming that it would automatically increase the rpm during regen, but upon further consideration, that might be a safety issue. Seems like they could program a delay until rpm was increased manually. It runs really rough when at 1500 rpm or less when attempting regen.

I have been using ULSD on road diesel (green stuff). Should be the same as off road, however it does have a concentration of bio diesel in it. Labels give a range of bio, but not an exact amount.

I have been using the ESC for loader work. Hit the button and it ramps to my preset of 2200 rpm and when I tap the brake to get off it automatically goes down to wherever the manual throttle lever is set. I like it. However, the rpm ramp up/down is quick which probably blows some soot through the system. I will try to have it drop down to something more than idle speed in the future.