DEF consumption, normal?

[awesmdiver]

First time diesel owner and have a 2020 ecoDiesel Rebel with 2900 miles on it. I've consumed about 145 gallons of fuel so far and the DEF gauge is now in the red. I see mention of filling DEF when doing 10K oil change, but obviously that is not correct. Is this consumption normal?

 

[gorilla57]

Did you fill it all the way up to the filler nozzle when you bought it? The gauges are notoriously wrong, so if you think it was full when you bought it, it most likely was not 100% full.

 

[Sascwatch]

I am at approximately 13700km and have averaged 10-11L/100km which would give me a total fuel usage of 1370-1507 litres. 2000-3000km of the 13700km were below -10C so no def usage would have occurred.

I have used approximately 10 gallons (37.8L) of def which is less than the 3% (41.1-45.21L) I think your supposed to use.

My math could be wrong but my tank was filled at the dealer pre sale, I added another 5 gallons and just the other day added about 4 gallons and it still reads full.

I think def usage is supposed to be in the 3-5% range. It also depends on your driving style, freeway driving should use less def as there is enough heat generated by the combustion process to self clean the filters I’ve read.

3% of 145 gallons is 4.35 which is about right comparing it to my usage.

Also my def gauge is very unreliable under 1/2 a tank, you can watch the needle go up and down as you drive sometimes as much as a quarter tank in 20-30 seconds.

 

[Boston]

20mpg?

Def consumption varies with use and tends to be a little heavier during running in. Was it full when you left the dealer?

 

[J-Cooz]

I've heard def usage is more during the first few thousand miles.

 

[Zoompastu]

I’ve added 7.5 gallons in 6,8xx miles....could add another gallon easily. I’m mostly doing interstate driving. It doses seem to drink it up.

 

[Aseras]

Mine sucked down 2 jugs the first 3,000 miles. Hasn't moved an inch since then ( another 3,500 miles )

It literally went to the engine wont restart in XX miles. It's a lie. it wont activate the relay for the starter, you can use a paperclip on the relay and it will fire right up.

 

[awesmdiver]

20mpg?

Def consumption varies with use and tends to be a little heavier during running in. Was it full when you left the dealer?

Yeah, average 20MPG. Well the gauge did say full when drove off the dealer lot, but maybe it wasn't. Got the 500 mile warning now, so off to auto store to refill. Under 3K still. Hopefully it is break-in consumption and gets better in future. Just want to make sure no issues with any sensors causing DEF to be fed to much.

 

[gorilla57]

Here is a little update for my DEF consumption.

Filled to the top at 1021 miles since the dealership DID NOT fill it when I bought it.
Added 2.5 gal exactly today (I had calculated out roughly when I was gonna need to fill it) at 3186 miles.
I am averaging about 23mpg over the 2165 miles on the truck since I topped off the DEF.
This averages out to 2.6% DEF to fuel usage, which is pretty spot on for what's been posted online about DEF consumption.
2.5gal over 2165 miles is 866mpg of DEF.

Hope this data helps others out who may be seeing drastically different numbers.

 

[Zoompastu]

Added another 2.5 gallon jug today. Just over 8000 miles and I can’t remember but it’s my fourth or fifth 2.5 gallon jug.

 

[EugeneYYZ]

Added another 2.5 gallon jug today. Just over 8000 miles and I can’t remember but it’s my fourth or fifth 2.5 gallon jug.

yepp , it consume much more than previous generation ecodiesel

 

[Zoompastu]

The jugs are messy too... they always leak when filling and the air vent never seems to work right. I think I’m going start filling DEF at the truck stop. It’s WAY cheaper per gallon, under $3.

 

[J-Cooz]

The jugs are messy too... they always leak when filling and the air vent never seems to work right. I think I’m going start filling DEF at the truck stop. It’s WAY cheaper per gallon, under $3.

I did mine at a truck stop. Was much cheaper and no mess. Felt cool pulling up with the big rigs too

 

[Zoompastu]

I did mine at a truck stop. Was much cheaper and no mess. Felt cool pulling up with the big rigs too

I get to do that daily. Stared driving truck 1.5 years ago. Love it!

Just make sure when anybody uses the DEF nozzle make sure there are no crusty flakes around it or buildup on the inside. You do not want any of those flakes or chunks to go into your DEF tank. Semi trucks actually have filters for that.

 

[SilverSurfer15]

The jugs are messy too... they always leak when filling and the air vent never seems to work right. I think I’m going start filling DEF at the truck stop. It’s WAY cheaper per gallon, under $3.

I used to have that problem back years ago but now they seem fine. Are you buying the standard blue def box deal? I was just thinking how they did a great job improving these since the last time I had used one (2014).

 

[moonoil]

I took delivery of my 2020 Limited 4x4 ecodiesel the third week in June. I filled the tank to full within a few days of getting it. It took about 3 gallons to fill it up. At around 6500 miles I started getting messages that the truck would not restart after "X" miles. I let it count down to about 50 miles and then refilled. It took about 5.5 gallons to refill. I took two cross country trips in the first 6k miles. One I towed a trailer about 1k miles.
I used Valvoline Premium blue DEF for all the additions so far. The tank definitely didn't last 10k but I am not too surprised given the comments on this forum. BTW the little blue Hopkins Flotool DEF funnel on Amazon makes the process really easy.

 

[Zoompastu]

I used to have that problem back years ago but now they seem fine. Are you buying the standard blue def box deal? I was just thinking how they did a great job improving these since the last time I had used one (2014).

I was using loves brand from the loves truckstop.

 

[SilverSurfer15]

I was using loves brand from the loves truckstop.

That might be part of it. I’ve been impressed with the peak brand one they sell everywhere. Although I’ve only used two boxes lol.

 

[Boston]

A gallon per thousand miles of def is pretty typical with light freeway type usage. As much as double that rate with heavy loads including towing.
Keep driving. It takes much longer for a diesel to perform as expected than it does a gasser.

 

[Zoompastu]

‘

That might be part of it. I’ve been impressed with the peak brand one they sell everywhere. Although I’ve only used two boxes lol.

No I don’t think so… The loves brand is API approved and I only use loves in my semi trucks. The Freightliner I had used less DEF than the Volvo I currently drive. The way a lot of things are manufactured nowadays it’s quite possible it all comes from the same facility one gets poured into a peak bottle the other gets poured into a loves bottle. Kind of like the NAPA motor oil… that comes from Valvoline.