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What Brand DEF are you using and how much ?

33374 Views 17 Replies 14 Participants Last post by  Mike


Some owners on here are getting more miles per Urea than others. Just curious what brand everyone is using. Maybe there is a certain brand that works best in the Eco Diesel. The amount of Urea that's injected, is computer controlled so maybe some Urea's do a better job and require less then others.
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4,500 miles and still over 1/2 a tank.

I hear all kinds of stories about DEF consumption. Never heard much talk about brands except related to pricing. When I fill mine I will just go to the local Pilot truck stop and fill it from one of their bulk pumps. $2.79 a gallon.

Want to say urea is urea like a good cigar is a smoke.
4,500 miles and still over 1/2 a tank.

I hear all kinds of stories about DEF consumption. Never heard much talk about brands except related to pricing. When I fill mine I will just go to the local Pilot truck stop and fill it from one of their bulk pumps. $2.79 a gallon.

Want to say urea is urea like a good cigar is a smoke.
also never really heard anything about brands when it comes to DEF
DEF has a standard - ISO 22241http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_exhaust_fluid#cite_note-ISO-1.
32.5% urea and rest is deionized water, it should not matter as brand is irrelevant so as long as you see the ISO certification.
Drinking DEF

Just got back from a long road trip of 3000 miles. My DEF gauge is just now into the red with a total of about 4000 miles on the ED. Hope this isn't a consistent trend as it appears I'm using twice the amount Ram said I would. I'm not pulling the engine hard as I'm getting over 25 MPG average since new. If this keeps up at this rate I'll be looking for a chip that will bypass the anti-soot system.
Ryan you are right. That's crazy.

I would mention that consumption to the dealer and see if there's some way they can monitor the amount injected.

As f now there is no delete available for any diesel using the DEF system. At least not a simple one for mass use. I think some big-money race trucks do it somehow but nothing is marketed that will do it.

My take here is our computer systems are quite complex with lots of difficult parameters to overcome.
well we know DEF consumption is affected by application. Even prolonged periods of lugging (like highway driving) will adversely affect your consumption, not to mention towing...
I'm not getting my hopes up. Although I'm not sure where the true "full" mark is on the DEF gauge it was near the 100% number upon delivery and surely wasn't more than a gallon or two low if that. I've also heard highway miles will eat the DEF which raises a concern for me as all my miles are highway miles. I'm probably just getting my panties in a wad as 8 gallons of DEF every 5000 miles is about $23 or .0046 per mile. Fuel costs 15 cents a mile so the added per mile cost of the DEF is minimal, its just that Ram was not timid in all their promotional material claiming that the DEF tank would go to the service interval of 10,000 miles. I broke two of my rules with this purchase by buying a beta unit of anything and buying MoPar so I'm probably waiting for my fears to be realized and am more pessimistic than necessary, but being deceived about the product quickly destroys the very limited amount of trust I have in Chrysler as a company and in their product into which I've invested $55K.
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I had used 3/4 tank of DEF at 1600 miles but it was a LOT of towing miles and the rest on the highway. Even at that it is still a minimal cost and I don't mind paying it.
followup

Per 10%'s suggestion I asked my dealer about the excessive use of DEF and he said to wait. On the first tank of DEF the system is dealing with more than the usual contaminants and various particles thinking some manufacturing residue would have an effect. I think he's stroking me, but we will see. I've been shopping for DEF and if I buy it in a 55 gallon barrel its $3.13 a gallon plus a drum deposit. The local Pilot/Flying J has it as a pump dispense on the island for $2.89. No reason to mess with storage and such with those prices.
I used right at one gallon per 1000 miles. Re-filled with 7500 miles on truck and put right at 7.5 gallons in. I don't tow and don't drive on interstate much so my driving is pretty easy.
And I used Blue Def from Sams. Paid about 4.68 per gallon
I used the one from the pump in flights gas station or pilot
First jug I bought was the peak blue def. It was from a local auto parts store....way overpaid. Something like 14.00 for 2.5 gallons. A couple thousand miles later i see it at a truck stop at the pump. Around 2.79 a gallon. I just recently found it at a local farm store for 7.99 +tax for 2.5 gallons! That figures out to be slightly more than the truck stop, but it's much closer and convenient. If I'm going past the truck stop I'll top off, but I don't travel that way often.

My usage has been in the ball park of 1000 miles per gallon.....maybe slightly lower than that. I don't have my figures in front of me.
There is BlueDef from Walmart and one near it that is $7.88 in Colorado and has the exact same "ingredients" named Supertech Diesel Exhaust Fluid. I fill mine with the Supertech.
Yes apparently it uses a lot more DEF on the very first tank when brand new. The last time I filled my DEF was about 5,000kms ago, and still have over half left. My truck has 36,000kms, so it is well broken in. Not much towing on this last tank, but that is about to change. It was Chrysler DEF, but I agree that it shouldn't make a difference. But I also think that for the cost, I might continue just getting a jug from the stealership to avoid having any warranty issues if the DEF ever clogs up or has issues...kind of like insurance haha. I've got 4 years left on my extended warranty...
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