My wife took my truck to the local mechanic (I trust him -- does good work, was an SAE certified Dodge and GM MEchanic at the closest dealership, straight shooter!) for a CEL this morning. The code came back as P2453 Diesel Particulate Filter Differential Pressor Sensor Circuit Performance.

Any idea what this actually means? The CEL came on first this last Sunday, driving about 250 miles home from a camping trip, loaded with approx. 4000 lbs in the bed, driving 65-70 on the freeway for most of it, up and down the bluffs in northeast Iowa at the bigging of the trip. From what little I can find between the Dodge and Chevy forums, this is usally either a faulty pressure sensor, a bad ECM, or a DPF in need of longer/more frequent Regen cycles. I have been told to take the truck out and run it hard, but I don't see how much harder I could/should run it than loaded with 4000 lbs in the bed and running freeway speeds??

Any and all opinions are welcome. I have an extended warranty on the truck, but without going over the paperwork (I am 6 hours away on another jobsite, truck and warranty are at home) I can't say if the emissions system is included or not.

I will update my signature next, as this is for my 2010 3500 dually, not the 2006 Mega Cab I traded in.

 

Crawl under the truck, look on the exhaust of the tranny. You will see a sensor that has two hoses coming from it. Make sure that it is seated good and not corroded.

If it is it may be faulty. The emissions system is covered by the warranty.

 

My warranty is expired now -- 103,000 miles on the truck. As far as I can tell all miles were stock. Right before the warranty expired (99,700 miles) the local dealer replaced the common fuel rail, as it had a small, weeping leak near the #1 injector line (kept showing fresh diesel weeping around the ground point by the #1 and #2 injector lines) but I doubt that would have much effect. I also read online about there being issues with loose induction boots though, and I bet they removed the intake horn,etc. to replace the rail. It is thunderstorming here today, so I can't crawl around underneath it. I will check them out tomorrow. My mechanic cleared the code, and asked me to keep an eye on it. The truck ran well from southwest Iowa until around Dubuque, when the light came back. I was following my wife, and noticed there would periodically be a very brief puff of black smoke from the tailpipe. Not like a semi stating out at a stop sign, but more like a small cough. My wife swears there wasn't any stumble, stutter, or other event while driving, so I presume the puff is the start of a REGEN cycle? She was hauling our Eagle Cap slide-in camper, about 3800 lbs, running 65-70mph on the freeway.