Poor designs, build quality, and temperamental weather also take their toll. (Read the fine print on your warranty documents and you’ll find these shops are justified in this practice.)īut it’s not only poor quality DEF that causes problems. Automakers expect these facilities to have chemical test strips on hand to determine the quality of DEF in their products. Dealership service departments routinely charge their clients for time spent on tracing a warning light down to contaminated DEF even when these vehicles are still within the time and distance limits of their warranty. We covered the risks of using poor quality DEF fluid in earlier columns and provided warnings to drivers regarding the costs of diagnosing check engine lights that are caused by this fluid when it contains anything more than trace amounts of hydrocarbons.
Ignoring the DEF light is never a good idea, so if it comes on, the driver should pull over and have their DEF refilled immediately.This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Drivers need to be vigilant when it comes to DEF, so that they don’t lose time, damage their vehicles, and end up in big trouble with their employer. The solution, obviously, is proactive maintenance. The repairs can be very costly, and of course can result in unwanted downtime for the driver. This not only results in a loss of power, it can also damage the DEF system itself. Drivers sometimes forget to check the DEF fluid when they check their fuel levels. Most often, loss of DEF fluid is due to driver error. This type of contamination most often occurs when someone accidentally puts diesel fuel in the DEF tank. The DEF warning light can also indicate contaminated fuel. If you ignore the solid red, your vehicle speed will be reduced to a snail’s pace – 5 miles per hour – until you top up the DEF tank. If you decide to ignore it, at the point where you run out of DEF, the light will glow solid red. If your DEF drops below 2.5%, the light will be a solid amber. Here’s are some things to know about driving with a DEF light on:īefore your DEF tank ends up empty, you will see an alert on your dash in the form of the DEF light.
The DEF light glows when it is time to add fluid, and as to whether it is safe to drive with the light on, yes, it is. DEF is, essentially, a mixture that is added to the vehicle's engine to reduce environmental harm by combining with the diesel gas. This affects truck drivers more than it does drivers of passenger vehicles. The DEF (diesel exhaust fluid) light is a driver warning system that lets you know when your DEF tank is nearly empty. One troubling scenario to have is having the DEF light come on. Of course it could also mean a breakdown. A tractor trailer at the side of the road ideally means that the driver has pulled over for a well-earned nap.
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