How bad are short commutes really?

[ttusomeone]

I've got a 2019 power wagon and considering trading it for a new 2500 with a cummins. I've got a few reasons why a cummins would be better for me, but I also have reasons why it wouldn't (one big one being the cost). I would like perspective on how big an issue short commutes are with diesels and the emissions systems. During the typical weekday, my truck gets driven 9 miles. That's essentially one continuous trip as I work from home but take my daughter to school, so that's the trip to drop her off and come back home. My wife picks her up on her way home in the evening. So would this short trip 4-5 days a week make it a lot more likely I'll experience issues down the road with a diesel?

 

[GTyankee]

I don't know much about diesel engines, but i drove every size truck & worked several diesel powered construction equipment for 33 years
The shop mechanics told us to work a diesel almost like you were mad at it


I would be guessing, but you would likely clear out the Particulate Filter if you took weekend drives at highway speeds

My little 3.0 Ecodiesel does not like short trips, i see the message that my Ram has to go through a Regen about once a month, because of the short trips.
I discovered that i could drive 40 miles in the highest gear at 60 + MPH to get the message to go away
Or
I can drop down to a lower gear & do 60 MPH & i cut the miles down to 20 & it will clear the message

 

[crash68]

If you were doing a lot of traveling on the weekends to get the engine up to operating temperature, it would probably offset the short trips. Unlike a gasser diesels bleed off heat when not working them. From a cold start it takes me a good 15 min continuous drive on the freeway to get the oil in my EcoD barely up to temp, it has a quart less of oil than the CTD. A CTD also has an extra 800 lbs over the Hemi, a lot more engine to heat up. One little nawty secret about the CTD both the dash oil temperature and pressure are computer calculated values, no actual sensors for either.
The short trip/not really working the engine is what held me back from buy a CTD and I'm a bit of a diesel junkie so the cost wasn't a factor, and an opportunity arose that took the large trailer out of the picture for any time soon.

 

[ttusomeone]

Thanks for the replies. The lack of other input leads me to believe that short trips aren’t the best for a diesel, especially if I’m not making long trips on the weekend (which I may go a weekend without doing). Most weeks I’m only using between 10-12 gallons of gas, so I’m definitely not a heavy driver at least until Spring/Summer get here. I’m thinking I’ll stick with my Power Wagon for now and make some longer trips pulling the trailer and seeing if my mind is changed.

 

[Dennis Shellito]

Getting the engine up to full operating temp is important, and I think you would in 9 miles, but I don't think the emissions equipment will like such short drives multiple times a week without running longer trips on occasion. I sold my old Town Car recently and started driving my deleted 2011 Cummins daily and I decided it was not good for it and about a month ago bought a Hyundai Accent for short commutes and save the truck for longer drives and pulling my travel trailer.

 

[Fuel35 67]

Your deleted Cummins was just fine with short trips. It’s a problem with emissions intact, short drives on 7.5-12. The 13’s and up better suited with DEF and so the EGR doesn’t work as much.

 

[Gr8bawana]

I've only driven my CTD about 14K miles in the last 2 years. Most of our driving is short trips to the store or what-not 10-15 miles in our rural area.
I have towed our TT several times as well, 2-3 thousand miles.
Although we usually go into town every couple of months and it's around a 180 mile round trip on the highway and I have no idea if or how many times it has dome a regen. I've read that it is pretty un-noticeable but I have never gotten any message on the dash.

 

[Fuel35 67]

The smell is really noticeable on the 7.5-12 trucks, not sure on 13 and up.

 

[MyTruck]

Mine is 2015 2500 CTD with 45K miles. Short commute 5 days/ week. Office is only 5 miles away from the house. The truck always regens somewhere 600-700 miles. I had no issues so far.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Mine is 2015 2500 CTD with 45K miles. Short commute 5 days/ week. Office is only 5 miles away from the house. The truck always regens somewhere 600-700 miles. I had no issues so far.

Do you get a notification on the dash?

 

[ramffml]

I would not worry about "driving it like you stole it" like some say you should. There was a guy on youtube on "pickup truck + suv talk" that put over 1 million miles on his duramax as a long distance hauler, didn't have any issues with the engine and he drove "like there was an egg between the pedal and his foot".

 

[Fuel35 67]

And he’s pulling weight, working that Diesel engine. With the Cummins, ya gotta work it once in awhile, whether that means getting on it or hooking up to some weight.

 

[Sandevino]

The engine won’t die or cease on you. You might get lower fuel mileage during the regen cycles but you’ve got nothing to worry about.

 

[MyTruck]

Do you get a notification on the dash?

I have a Kiwi OBDII reader.

 

[bigcitymike]

I have a 2019 3500 6.7 I bought in Feb 2020. 1 year later (27k miles), with two cross country trips (6,500 per trip) and various other smaller trips, I've yet to get a notification on the dash about it needing to regen. When I check the particulate filter status it's low or next to nothing. Often wondered if it was even working. Outside of those two big trips, and with this COVID mess, most of my trips are 15-20 mile round trips into town and back, with the occasional 100 mile trip to a larger town and back home. Truck runs great so far.

 

[Regcabguy]

Diesels don't like being used as a grocery getter. I have a pre-emissions 5.9 Cummins that I don't use as a getter but periodically still have to fully warm it up and make a half dozen full throttle runs uphills in order to desoot the cat. The first run in obnoxious,but ater a few more it's clean.

 

[Scottsjeeprolet]

I drive my 2017 2500 20 miles a day round trip and no issues. Once a month or so i will run it up the highway to blow things out.

 

[Scottly]

I used my 2018 Cummins as a commuter...8 miles each way, 5 days a week. Grocery store on the weekends. Never got the REGEN message, but I know it was doing it's thing because I could smell it when I pulled into my office sometimes. My 2020 Chevy Duramax did the same thing...less driving due to COVID. just got a 2021 Cummins and don't really worry about it much. It's be fine.

 

[ttusomeone]

I used my 2018 Cummins as a commuter...8 miles each way, 5 days a week. Grocery store on the weekends. Never got the REGEN message, but I know it was doing it's thing because I could smell it when I pulled into my office sometimes. My 2020 Chevy Duramax did the same thing...less driving due to COVID. just got a 2021 Cummins and don't really worry about it much. It's be fine.

I'm still debating on whether to keep my power wagon or trade for a cummins. Your reply makes me lean more towards the latter...

 

[jejb]

I'm still debating on whether to keep my power wagon or trade for a cummins. Your reply makes me lean more towards the latter...

Might depend on how long you intend to own the truck too. Looks like Scottly doesn't keep trucks more than a year or two. Probably not enough time for issues to show up.