Infamous P203E on 2014 Ecodiesel

[Shane R Tedhams]

This is for a 2014 Ram 1500 Laramie Ecodiesel approx 135000 first p203e and approx 141000

About 4 months back the check engine light came on scanned it and got the p203e code. Drove it all the way down to 0 miles because the Dealership wanted 3000 to replace the tank. Well, I went the cheap route and after multiple attempts at fixing it I finally got it to work by soaking the tank in distilled water. About a month ago it came back! I drove it down to 12 miles and decided to soak the tank again. This time it didnt work. Here are the troubleshooting steps that I took and what the outcome was:
1. Drove it down to 12 miles remaining, siphoned out a half gallon of def because that's about all that was in the tank. Boiled 7 gallons of distilled water and put it in tank, I did not siphon out the water and refill with def this time. That worked for 1 full day driving approximately 40-50 miles and the "engine will not restart" did not come on at all. It was 37 degrees the day I did it and 25 degrees the next day. At 3PM (the day it was 25) the message popped back up and wasn't going to restart in 12 miles. I know the water partially froze but no guarantees it was a solid block of ice.
2. Disconnected negative and positive terminals put them together for 10 minutes to try and reset the ECM. That didnt work
3. Dropped the tank soaked it in distilled water(this is how I found out it was partially froze) refilled with 1 gallon of def fluid. Didnt work.
4. Spliced a capacitor reading 37pf onto pins 1 and 2 of the def sensor at the tank. Didnt work. We were hoping in theory that the sensor read in capacitance but we arent 100% sure.When we started it we had a P203e,d,b, and a couple others. Deleted them and have a pending p203d

If anyone else has any ideas it would be much appreciated. Since I have dropped the def tank I will spend the 1400 to buy a new one if I have to go that route but if someone knows of a cheaper easier way that would be awesome! Also I heard about an egr/def delete but I'm more of DIY kinda guy. If you have instructions on how to do it yourself go ahead and send them my way! Feel free to ask any questions. I have a very quick response time.

 

[Brandon-w]

Try using alfaobd to shut off the Def? I've seen the option in the settings to do that. Not sure it'll Work or not but worth a shot.

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[tidefan1967]

Why not just delete it along with the other emissions garbage if you can depending on your state inspection laws. Since your long out of warranty you are the perfect candidate. Here's one example, there are quite a few others. Yes these kits are expensive but much cheaper than that $3K you were talking about initially and its a permanent fix.

https://hddieselsupply.ca/i-26911555-2014-2018-dodge-ram-3-0l-eco-diesel-dpf-egr-delete-kit.html

 

[Shane R Tedhams]

Thank you for the responses. I email AlfaObd to see if there is an option for my truck and if there isnt I will definitely do the egr delete because there would be that and replacing the tank left. I dont want another tank because I'm sure it will end up doing the same thing.

 

[Shane R Tedhams]

A little update on this:
I bought AlfaOBD and a OBDLink MX bluetooth adapter ($130 total). I do not recommend the Chinese manufacture blue ELM 327 mini as it did not work for me. Anyways in the Engine settings on Alfaobd I chose tried all of the settings for the SCR, DPF, and DEF. The only ones that work at the time was DPF regen and to extend mileage to 50 miles. Went and got gas and the picked up 2.5 gallons of DEF. Left the truck running and filled the DEF which now has approx 3.5 gallons in it, 2.5 is recommended for most of the tests. After filling the tank I shut the truck off and tried the def gauge reset again and it didnt work. I tried 3 more times following the instructions on alfaobd and still nothing. I fired her back up and drove a half mile to my brothers house, shut it off, tried the def gauge reset again and it worked! It now shows a half tank and no more service def message. I'm sure the half tank is what it automatically resets to but will update more tomorrow. The p203xx codes have been cleared and have not came back on in the 20-30 miles I drove it. Tomorrow will probably consist mostly of the egr coolant test, dpf regen test, and particulate filter test because I haven't had a regen in over 4 months. I'll let you guys know though.

 

[Shane R Tedhams]

Also, there is not an option to turn off the DEF system according to AlfaOBD customer service. There may be a workaround but I am not sure.

 

[Brandon-w]

Also, there is not an option to turn off the DEF system according to AlfaOBD customer service. There may be a workaround but I am not sure.

That's good to Know. Happy it is working again for You though. Knew I seen Def and dpf options in there wasn't sure if they'd work or not. Keep Us updated. [emoji106]

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[Shane R Tedhams]

Another update: Egr coolant regeneration and particulate filter regeneration both worked successfully! If you are using your phone do not click off test screen and do not let your display timeout because it will stop the test.

 

[Shane R Tedhams]

Questions, concerns, and update sort of. It has been 8 hours since doing those tests and things seem to be a little strange, I might be overthinking it but I am not sure. Also, as you can tell I like to be as informative as I possibly can be.

Alright so for starters I followed the instructions that AlfaOBD for ANDROID gives you when you click on the tests and are ready to start. Coolant temp was greater than what was recommended on both tests. Approximately 194 degrees Farenheit for both is what my temperature was. Oil life gauge said 60% (I read somewhere about something to do with the oil when performing these tests, I dont really remember what it was about). Engine was idle at approx 1.5-1.8 rpms before hitting "Start Test", and away we go!

Anyways: The first thing I noticed is where my Avg MPG used to be on my dashboard it is now a compass. No big deal I can change it back but I'm curious as to how it got there. I may have accidentally changed it but if i didnt i was wondering if it was a common occurrence. The only tests I can remember performing that had anything to do with the instrument cluster was DEF gauge reset and a test to make maybe the automatic regen message pop up. I honestly dont remember if that was it or not. Both tests passed successfully though but whatever the second one was supposed to do it didnt do.

I know AlfaOBD sends the command to perform the tests but is it supposed to tell you when its finished? It tells you the process is complete but with those two tests it never told me that the tests were performed successfully and everything is running smooth. I know Alfa has live graphs but I dont really understand them and have to guess what they mean. The two graphs I used for both tests were: Particulate Filter exhaust temperature. Which was at like 150 degrees roughly and then jumped up to 699 during the particulate filter regen, and the other one was the percentage of soot mass. Which was at 16% before and 2% after particulate filter test. I performed this test three times. The first time it ran for 15 minutes and I accidentally disconnected from the Engine on Alfa. The second time it ran for approximately 20-30 minutes at 2500-2600 RPMs that's when 150 degrees went to approx 699 and soot mass percentage went from 16 to 2. I then drove home from the car wash I performed it at which is roughly 5 miles let the coolant heat back up to ~194 degrees F (I was detailing my car for 2 hours after first and second try), and performed the test again. This time it ran for 10 minutes and I just assumed that it was because I already did it and didnt need to do it for 15 to 30 minutes again. This is when I found about the screen timeout and switching screens.

After doing the test a third time I started the EGR coolant Regen test. Oh boy oh boy oh boy I did not want to do this one in the driveway but had no choice, it was starting to get packed at the carwash. The echo from being in the stall at the wash was loud enough at 2500 RPMs I couldn't even fathom what it would sound like at 3600 RPMs. Anyways, I read the instructions "engine at idle, coolant Temp must be above 185 degrees F before hitting start test". Once I hit start the process started; revd itself up to 2750 rpms from regular idol (~1.5-1.8) for 30 seconds. After 30 seconds it would rev up and idle at 3600 rpms, which it did. This is where I really really found out about screen timeout and changing screens. It was supposed to idle at 3600 rpms for 1 hour, it didnt. The test lasted for 15 minutes and idled back down to normal rpms. This is when I got worried and called my brother. He made the same assumption I did; that it said idle at 3600 rpms for up to 1 hour. My sub conscience told me that something wasn't right so i looked at the instructions again and it said for one hour. That's when I figured out the only thing that could've ended the test was when the screen on my phone time-out. Which made me realize that the same thing happened with the particulate filter regen. I started the egr coolant regen again and that's when it worked! 3600 rpms for 1 hour and then idled back down. I looked at the graphs again and this time my soot mass was at 10%. I dont really know how that happened but I will run with it for the moment

Now onto some questions:

Would either def gauge rest or the other test change setting on my instrument cluster?

Is there a guide to using AlfaOBD that explains the tests you can do in further detail and explains how to use the graphs, other than the forum on here?

If not can anyone tell me how to figure out how to know if these tests were performed correctly?

Is it normal for the soot mass to increase 8% when doing Egr Coolant Regen? From my assumption it sounds right because it isnt regenerating the filter it's basically revving the engine to perform the test. Which is weird because if it's going to do that it might as well do a regen too. I could be wrong but hotter temps means less soot right? Or could it be from the 5 miles I drove?

I again tried the DPF regen test (Automatic regen when conditions are right on next engine start) I drove it maybe a half mile still no autoregen please get on highway message. On average how far do I need to drive it to get the message to appear?

Final question: My average gas mileage dropped from 17.9 to 11.7, is this from doing these two tests? 17.9 is low itself and I dont know if it was at that because of driving on ice and snow for the past month or if it was due to something else. 2 months ago I had it at 22.9.

Some additional information: Tried the Urea dosage test again and a couple other DEF related tests, they all failed. I dont really know why. Today when performing all of these tests it was 40 degrees F outside.

If you made it this far, hats off to you! Seriously. If you need anymore information feel free to ask I have a pretty good response time.

 

[Brandon-w]

That is pretty awesome info. On that note I know Alfa can change settings in the cluster. The accidental disconnect during the test may have scrambled some signal.

Is that mileage on the display after the tests or have you done some more driving since then? Id say the 3000 rpm idle would definately knock off the mpg for sure. Cold doesn't help any either. Wish I could give you more difinitive answers. I do Beleive you are the first to mess about with this stuff. I'd do it but I drive a hemi not a Diesel.

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[Shane R Tedhams]

That is pretty awesome info. On that note I know Alfa can change settings in the cluster. The accidental disconnect during the test may have scrambled some signal.

Is that mileage on the display after the tests or have you done some more driving since then? Id say the 3000 rpm idle would definately knock off the mpg for sure. Cold doesn't help any either. Wish I could give you more difinitive answers. I do Beleive you are the first to mess about with this stuff. I'd do it but I drive a hemi not a Diesel.

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The best info I can give about the MPG is I know it was 17 mpg before testing and 11 after testing and driving a total of 8 miles. Agreed! It would have to effect your gas mileage somehow lol, my thing about it tho is when you sit at regular idle your mpg gauge stays at 0 and it stayed at 0 during this test. After reading 2 posts about what the egr coolant is I probably won't ever do it again I would be too afraid of the damage it could do to you engine if it ever leaked or burst opened from that amount of heat.

 

[Brandon-w]

Yeah that sounds sketchy! I was thinking that was a long time to sit there holding that rpm. I think once the weather warms up you'll be in better shape. Hemi usually sits around 20 mpg in the summer, soon as winter hits I'm down 5mpg at least.
I will say as a mechanic don't look too far into the little things like you're dealing with. You'll make yourself so damn paranoid you won't wana drive it. [emoji53]

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[Shane R Tedhams]

I MADE A MISTAKE!!! My regular rpms at idle is ~750 not 1.5 to 1.7

 

[Shane R Tedhams]

Yeah that sounds sketchy! I was thinking that was a long time to sit there holding that rpm. I think once the weather warms up you'll be in better shape. Hemi usually sits around 20 mpg in the summer, soon as winter hits I'm down 5mpg at least.
I will say as a mechanic don't look too far into the little things like you're dealing with. You'll make yourself so damn paranoid you won't wana drive it. [emoji53]

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Definitely! Warmer weather is always better. I cant say that for vehicles but I know I thrive in it lol. I just drove up to the store. About a half mile, still sitting steady at 11mpg. Soot mass is at 41 now. I'm going to take your advice for the time being and leave things be. I'm pretty sure a lot of it has to do with the DEF tank not working but until someone can verify a fix I'm just going to throw a piece of duct tape over everything except the speedo.

 

[Brandon-w]

[emoji1787] That sounds like the dashboard of my old Ford! Typical Ford The only thing that worked on it was all The lights! I'd reset the avg fuel economy on the info center and see if it gets better. I can be at 20 mpg with mine and can remote start it twice and I'm down to 8. I think it calculates engine load when moving but when it's stopped it reads as 0 but calculates fuel consumption and then averages both as you start to move. With all the stuff I'm reading Im somewhat happy I bought the hemi instead. As much as I love diesels.

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[Shane R Tedhams]

[emoji1787] That sounds like the dashboard of my old Ford! Typical Ford The only thing that worked on it was all The lights! I'd reset the avg fuel economy on the info center and see if it gets better. I can be at 20 mpg with mine and can remote start it twice and I'm down to 8. I think it calculates engine load when moving but when it's stopped it reads as 0 but calculates fuel consumption and then averages both as you start to move. With all the stuff I'm reading Im somewhat happy I bought the hemi instead. As much as I love diesels.

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I think you just solved my problem! Since I deleted my def codes I was able to use remote start again. I wonder if that's what is causing it? Diesels are awesome just not the whole emissions control system or whatever you want to call it. Hemis are pretty sweet too. I never thought in a million years I'd be buying a Ram tho.

 

[Shane R Tedhams]

Pulled some data off the gauges log and this kind of struck me odd.