This wound being my first issue with my truck At 157,xxx miles I got the p200a code and was noticing worse fuel milage and more DEF being used. I was able to get the intake manifold replaced last week after I located a kit at another dealership. FYI, these are on national backorder so I feel I got lucky finding one locally. I do have an unlimited milage warranty so it cost me $225 out of the $2400 total the dealer charged. My local mechanic quoted me $1600 in case the warranty didn't cover it. Truck is running great and my fuel milage and power is back up where it belongs. All in all not the worst thing that could've happened.
I would like to start by congratulating you on being able to get this squared away relatively cheaply with a warranty I also have had, and unfortunately am having this issue again. The root cause of the problem is the existence of the EGR. Its purpose is to recirculate exhaust air back into your air intake. Unfortunately you are never going to get perfect combustion, so unburnt oil/diesel/exhaust air turns into a nasty black tar paste substance that in turn gets put into your air intake manifold via your EGR Valve.
This is a fundamental design flaw of the truck (most modern Diesel engines) but our Ecodiesels are even more susceptible to damage from it because they use plastic butterfly swirl valves which will get contaminated and stuck. This is what is throwing the P200a or B as well as a P2D2D, P2D2E codes possiblely. Each code has to do with the flaps/swirl valves not functioning properly due to contamination.
What the dealer did for you was remove a dirty part that was gummed up and placed a brand new clean part that will unfortunately end up suffering the same fate eventually. Now there are things you can do to reduce that contamination so you don’t run into the same problem anytime soon
1st delete EGR. It’s not to expensive also not very difficult to do and will have the greatest impact on stopping your issues from happening again. Unfortunately it’s illegal if you get caught and it’s is a EPA violation. So if you don’t want to break the law like myself, you have a couple other options but they don’t work quite as well.
Don’t let truck sit and idle for hours or even 30 min. Once it’s up to temp; leave. Use diesel fuel additives. They have a few different types for different purposes so you will need to do some research. HotShot Diesel is a good place to start. Don’t use the truck as a grocery getter. It must be driven on the highway once a week. I would say for at least 15-20 min. The rpm needs to get above 2500. Don’t remove the foam or cover in engine compartment. Its not just for noise. These engines need to run hot enough to clean out deposits before they can build up.
You can use Air intake manifold cleaner and douche out the system as well as the EGR pipe every so often. Treat it like an oil change routine. They make many professional units that really do amazing things in regards to cleaning your system (EGR, Intake manifold, turbo, innercooler, charged tubes). It just depends on how much you want to spend. Liquid moly has a nice cleaning solution in can that will help. If you are looking for a deep clean then I would recommend buying a JLM diesel Extreme intake manifold cleaner kit. 2 aerosol solution and it works amazing. you can do it from home. It might cost 160 bucks for the kit. I also belive Wynn has a powered diesel EGR/ Induction cleaner tool, which is essentially the same thing but even more on the professional mechanic scale.
So anyways the finally two things you can do to help with this problem would be installing an aftermarket oil catch can kit. (Highly recommend) if installed right it will be a barrier for a lot of the unburnt deposits before they are allowed to hit your intake. 100% I feel like this is a clear (Design Flaw) and this filtration system should of been designed into the truck and not an aftermarket/afterthought for the Ecodiesel.
Finally the last thing is purchasing a GDE (Green Diesel) HOT TUNE. I don’t have one myself, but I hear that a lot of people have had a ton of success with Alleviating most of these issues by simply installing this. I would still recommend following the other instructions, but from what I hear this tune makes a big difference.
Unfortunately this truck stock is not a gas car and if you we’re expecting the same experience as a normal everyday driver then you (like myself) were fooled by the dealer. With that said I STILL love my Ecodiesel. It has great mpg, amazing towing ability, unmatched towing mpg, and plenty of balls. The Truck forced me to become educated not only on vehicles in general, but even more importantly diesel vehicles. I have learned a great deal from watching European YouTube channels and would recommend doing so if you want to understand more about these types of engines.
The USA is far behind Europe because they have so many more of these emission complaint diesels on the road already so they have had the time to come up with some of the best solutions. Like if you are broke and need to clean an air intake; buy oven cleaner (sodium hydroxide) Easy off in USA, Mr Muscle in Europe. It costs 3 bucks a can and works better then almost any professional cleaner. Also learned how to make my own Draino/ degreasers/ engine cleaner out of Lye Granulars and distilled water. (Super cheap but be careful very toxic if ingested and will burn hands, eyes, 100% need protection)
Ive gone on a bit of a tangent but I wanted to try and share some of the things I have learned about the truck. I’ll finish by saying if you haven’t already Invested in the alfaOBD APP then do so right away. It Works only on android and windows but it’s extremely powerful for the ecodiesel truck as a Bidirectional diagnostic tool. It only cost 60 bucks plus a cheap tablet and it will give you many options. Most importantly the ability to measure your current DPF filter soot/clogged level. And it will allow you to do a Forced Regeneration on the DPF.
I know you might think why are you taking about the exhaust when this whole reply was about the intake. Well intake and the exhaust are all apart of the vehicle airflow system. If you are noticing more and more regens or soot build up, then it’s most likely being caused by the same problem that is going to mess up your Air intake manifold. It’s a good way to watch the health of your vehicle. Also Alfaobd can do 1 million other amazing things I won’t get into right now.
If anyone has questions about this or input I would love to hear from you and help/learn. My email is
[email protected] that’s the best way to get ahold of me and hopefully I’ll hear from some of you guys soon with insight or questions
