MBS Regeneration

[rotdoxdad]

Why driving your MBS, how can you tell when your coach is going thru it’s regeneration process. Is there anything that tells you this so you could get a feel for how often this happens and maybe change driving habits to decrease the frequency and maybe improve fuel economy.

[FFred]

Drive as much as you can at speed , do not idle for long periods of time, is about all you can control.

[Mikegjax]

Originally Posted by rotdoxdad

Why driving your MBS, how can you tell when your coach is going thru it’s regeneration process. Is there anything that tells you this so you could get a feel for how often this happens and maybe change driving habits to decrease the frequency and maybe improve fuel economy.

I have slightly over 50,000 miles on my 2013 MBS. My iCarsoft MBII scanner shows I have never had a regeneration occur. If you are doing mostly highway and little city driving, not much idling you should not have a regen. very often.


Supposedly you would notice a decrease in performance during regen.

BTW, if you take MBS in for servicing the dealer can tell you when you had your last regen. Just ask them.

[JimHs1]

new to MBS Sprinter. What is regeneration and why does it occur? There is no info in the MB manual on this.

[DaveJordan]

Originally Posted by JimHs1

What is regeneration and why does it occur?

From what I've gleaned over the years...

Modern diesel engines use a "diesel particulate filter" to remove soot / particulates from the exhaust. Heating the filter to high temperatures burns out the stuff that's been caught in the filter, allowing the exhaust to flow freely through the filter. If the engine is running at high enough load for enough of the time the filter doesn't get clogged. But if the engine is running at low power or idle, the exhaust isn't hot enough and the filter gets restricted.

A "regeneration" cycle artificially creates the heat needed to clean the filter if the filter gets too restricted.

Here's an article on diesel particulate filters and regeneration:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_particulate_filter

Dave

[Mikegjax]

Originally Posted by DaveJordan

From what I've gleaned over the years...

Modern diesel engines use a "diesel particulate filter" to remove soot / particulates from the exhaust. Heating the filter to high temperatures burns out the stuff that's been caught in the filter, allowing the exhaust to flow freely through the filter. If the engine is running at high enough load for enough of the time the filter doesn't get clogged. But if the engine is running at low power or idle, the exhaust isn't hot enough and the filter gets restricted.

A "regeneration" cycle artificially creates the heat needed to clean the filter if the filter gets too restricted.

Here's an article on diesel particulate filters and regeneration:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_particulate_filter

Dave

Spot on Dave.

[AudiDudi]

Twice after shutting off the engine in a parking lot after driving for a while, I have heard the exhaust "popping and clicking". I'm guessing I interupted a regen.

[MNtraveler]

Originally Posted by AudiDudi

Twice after shutting off the engine in a parking lot after driving for a while, I have heard the exhaust "popping and clicking". I'm guessing I interupted a regen.

Unless you are hearing something different, popping and clicking is typically the hot exhaust lines and especially the catalytic converter cooling down and the metal contracting here and there.

[FFred]

There is one caution to never ideling a MB.

If you do a long hard pull , up rocky top,and pull into a rest stop , you should allow the turbo about 3 min to cool.

THe turbo will be working hard and be very warm and stopping the engine will stop the lubricating and cooling of the engine oil flow to the turbo.

The lube oil can cook," coke" in the oil passages which can block future oil flow.

In a campground there is plenty of time to cool the turbo oil, the caution is ONLY for a really heavy pull , and an immediate stop.

[TheWolfPaq82]

Originally Posted by FFred

There is one caution to never ideling a MB.

If you do a long hard pull , up rocky top,and pull into a rest stop , you should allow the turbo about 3 min to cool.

THe turbo will be working hard and be very warm and stopping the engine will stop the lubricating and cooling of the engine oil flow to the turbo.

The lube oil can cook," coke" in the oil passages which can block future oil flow.

In a campground there is plenty of time to cool the turbo oil, the caution is ONLY for a really heavy pull , and an immediate stop.

Glad you brought that up. Not a lot people...or diesel / turbo newbies know to do that.

[AudiDudi]

Originally Posted by MNtraveler

Unless you are hearing something different, popping and clicking is typically the hot exhaust lines and especially the catalytic converter cooling down and the metal contracting here and there.

That's what I assumed it was.