Question for other 2011-2015 Duramax owners...DEF

Seth Boyer · Dec 6, 2015

I bought a 2015 2500HD Duramax back in June. It's been an amazing truck. My only problem has been dealing with the dealership on what GM covers in the Complete Care 2 year 24,000 coverage.

My question for you guys is what has your dealer been covering as far as filling up the DEF fluid?

Everything I read through on any of the GM paperwork says Top Off or that they will Fill Up the system. Three times I've been in now. First they didn't fill up when it was new. At 500 miles it already was giving me warnings to fill the system. At 5,000 I had it in for my first oil change and it should have been 'topped off' then. Now at 8,200 miles it was back down to nearly 15%. I stop in to tell them to fill it up and I'm told GM will only pay for 2.5 gallons at scheduled maintenance. I was in a rush and went ahead and paid for the $23 2.5 gallon jug.

Bob Harvey · Dec 6, 2015

Well, YOU bought the unit...............

David G · Dec 6, 2015

I have a Ford, so I get no care, would bet I go through roughly a gallon and a half per thousand miles.

Seth Boyer · Dec 6, 2015

(quoted from post at 03:02:33 12/07/15) Well, YOU bought the unit...............

Yes. I do realize that I bought the truck. Thanks for making that clear.

David G · Dec 6, 2015

Adding DEF is pretty painless, this is my second truck with it, this looks just a question on who pays for the DEF under the care period.

Brian Schmidt · Dec 6, 2015

Do they fill the diesel fuel tank for you too at every service? Should you expect them
to fill the DEF tank?

DEF in a 2.5 gallon container is less than $9 and more typically $6-7. I wouldn't worry
about or spend the effort fussing with the dealer over this. Just buy it, fill it and be
done with it.

Seth Boyer · Dec 6, 2015

I'm not fussing about the cost of the DEF. The point is in what GM literature I've read they say they will top it off at every service under the 2year/24,000 coverage.

All I'm asking is what are other dealers doing for any of you other guys who own one of these trucks.

David G · Dec 6, 2015

I looked this up, from what I can tell DEF top off is included with an oil change, it does look like oil changes are limited to 4 during the 24000 mile period.

RBoots · Dec 6, 2015

We got a new Peterbilt truck
at work last week. We had to
go pick it up in Grand Rapids
and bring it back. It had one
bar of DEF showing on the 4
bar DEF gauge. Fuel was in
the red, so we had to fill it
with fuel before heading for
home with it. They told us it
had enough DEF to make it
home, but I guess we should
have bought a jug when we put
fuel in it, as it ran out of
DEF before we made it home.
We had to drive it in limp
mode to one of our satellite
garages for the night. Spend
a lot of money on the stuff,
seems like it could have at
least been topped off with
fuel and DEF.

Ross

Hay Porter · Dec 6, 2015

My dealership has been very good about topping off the DEF as part of the service agreement. The Service Manager did say however GM only
allows up to 3 gallons. I just keep a 2.5 gallon jug handy as my 2015 is the second DEF Duramax I have owned.

chuck from neb · Dec 6, 2015

Well we have a john Deere combine with def and we fill it ourselves ...its just like
putting fuel in it ....not going to complain about 10 dollars worth of def

JayinNY · Dec 6, 2015

What I'd like to know is what is def, what does it do,
and will the truck run without it? I mean if you just
let it the tank go empty? I'm glad none of my diesels
need that.

chuck from neb · Dec 6, 2015

In a nutshell def cleans the exhaust so there are no pollutants discharged into the
atmosphere...they will not run without def

David G · Dec 6, 2015

That is not correct, DEF converts NOX to Nitrogen and water, the other pollutants are unchanged.

Bob · Dec 7, 2015

Do you also expect GM to pay for any personal hygiene products your wife or GF or significant other may need? Or, for yourself, for that matter?

MarkB_MI · Dec 7, 2015

Sounds like it was an oversight that they didn't top off the DEF when it was delivered, and a second oversight when you came in for an oil change. It's not like you're asking for anything free; the cost of the dealer prep and scheduled service was factored into the price of the vehicle. The next time you come into the dealership, mention to the short DEF to the salesman who sold you the truck; maybe he'll see you get an extra jug to make up for the earlier oversights.

LAA · Dec 7, 2015

I may not be understanding correctly but it seems you are getting way more miles per jug out of your DEF than my Son does. I know his 2015
3/4 ton duramax goes through a 2.5 gallon jug every 800 - 1000 miles, maybe he has a problem or some sensor out of whack. He buys DEF at
the local bulk plant by the case and it is roughly 1/3rd the cost of NAPA.

David G · Dec 7, 2015

DEF reduces the amount of EGR required to lower NOX, it is a a lot better than EGR, so it is a good thing.

The vehicle will go into limp mode if it runs out.

ditchwitch · Dec 7, 2015

I have a 2015 3500 Denali Dually . Mine did the same to me they never filled it up durning the
services except when i drove it off the lot. Only thing i can warn you about is the injecton pump
is a new CP4 High Pressure pump and it dont like water. It will destroy the pump. I would make
sure you put an additive in the fuel for lubrication because of the lower sulfur content in fuel
nowdays. I do alot of driving /hauling and i try to put something in there once every 4 or 5
tanks. The reason i tell you this is because at 26000 miles my 2015 put me on the side of the road
because the pump crapped out. They had my truck for a month in the shop. The pump internally
destroyed. The process for this is when they take the lines off and there is any metal on the
screen lots of stuff has to be replaced. Pump all injectors,all the lines from the pump to the
injectors they have to drop the tank clean it out and flush all the lines from tank to pump. To
the tune of about 8k but it was under warranty so no cost to me except for the inconvenience but
they give me a truck to drive so all was good. I say this but now i have little over 51k miles on
the truck and its been one Bad A$$ truck. No problems sence.

ditchwitch · Dec 7, 2015

I get between 4k and 5k miles on 5 gallons. And it depends on if your hauling heavy loads also

John M · Dec 7, 2015

Dont worry! There was a time when some on here said you could a wizz in the DEF tank and be good to go!

Doug Cotton · Dec 7, 2015

My dealer has filled every time
when in for oil change.

W_B · Dec 8, 2015

After reading through all the responses here I've come to the conclusion that diesel pickup trucks are a real big PITA. Glad mine's a gasser.

Question for other 2011-2015 Duramax owners...DEF

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

New User

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Similar threads