Malfunction Indicator Light

Driving along the other day, I encountered a hill and had to downshift, in sequence, from 10th gear to 7th gear, I had 43K pounds of dog food in the box! I looked down and noticed that the amber engine light, or more properly termed, "Malfunction Indicator Light", came on.

Of course no driver wants to see this light, but it's not as bad as the red engine light. Anyway, the engine is a Detroit Diesel DD15. So the question is:

Will this light go out on its own?

The last time this happened to me, I recall having to get the DPF cleaned, so I'm thinking this is going to happen again. I've been driving nearly 800 miles with the light on so far and the truck seems to running just fine in terms of mileage and driveability.

 

Just toggled through the parked menu and there are 0 active faults.

 

This is still an ongoing problem, but let me give an update since my last post. I put the tractor in the shop and took some home time. Two days later I'm ready to hit the road and I think all is well because the MIL is not on, go to engage the cruise control and it just doesn't work. #### it!

So I have a pick up deadline to meet and I'm going to meet it. I drive 3 hrs empty to Kingman, AZ and pick up a heavy load going into CA. To make a long story short, the MIL came on again on the way up, just after getting out of the shop and has stayed on for nearly a month now. The engine is not derating itself. I have been able to get a code, 3251 and it indicates, "data drifting low". On the road, I didn't have the time to download and dissect all of the .pdfs that are out there on this code.

Anyway I put the truck in the shop yesterday and told the service writer what the deal was and he asked me if the tractor ever does a regen while I'm driving at interstate speeds. I asked how would I know if it's regening or not? He says the regen light comes on, I told him I know this light and I've never seen it come on ever in this truck. This tractor has 318K on it and is a DD15, Cascadia Evolution.

Something is telling me when I call the shop later today I'm going to get some bad news, like the DPF needs replacing or cleaned, which can take a weeks time and is done by an outside vendor and not the company shop.

I know they would put me in a different truck if it took a week and I hate switching trucks because now i have to learn the intricacies of a different tractor.

 

I was thinking the same thing when the tech told me this, as I've never seen a regen light come on while driving at normal interstate speeds. Then again, who am I to argue with a tech? LOL!

 

Here's a follow up from the Freightliner dealer, where I'm currently at awaiting repairs/assessment of the situation.

I've had the truck into the company maintenance twice and they reset the MIL twice. So far I've driven this tractor over 33K miles and most of the time the MIL has been on. No loss of power or derate from my perspective as the driver.

The other day while driving through Nevada at high elevation, the yellow "check engine" light came on. I kept driving for an hour or so and hit a rest area, so I stopped and did a 30 minute break. I started the engine and noticed the "check engine light" was out, so I thought it was just a fluke and continued on.

After a few days, of the light coming on and off, finally the "yellow DPF regen" light came on today. I found a truck stop and attempted to do a manual regen, but was unable to do so. So there are problems that need to be fixed or looked into.

After seeing the "regen" light and not being able to do one, I realized that this is serious and not going away. The next step would have been a flashing regen light and then the engine would just shut down, or so I'm told. I asked if it would just derate and was told an absolute "No, it will shutdown".

Waiting on the express lane diagnosis. Maybe it will be a hotel room tonight!