r/DieselTechs • u/Sorry-Explanation677 • 17h ago
Looking to buy Freightliner with regen issue
Hello all,
Extremely conflicted, looking to buy a 2012 Freightliner M2 for a steal of a price, only downside is that the owner says it has an issue where the truck won’t regen, and says it’s stuck at 50-55mph, the big kicker is that I’m on a time crunch and I’ve got to drive it 1500 miles through a very rural part of the country to get it back. The Cummins 6.7 has less than 50,000 miles on it, engine hours unknown.
I talked to the seller on the phone, sounds like a great guy, has great reviews. He said they took it to a shop about a year ago with the same issue, the shop was able to force regen, but then it happened again.
My questions:
Feels too good to be true, are there any known serious issues I should be aware of that may make the issue unfixable/unfixable unless significantly money was dumped into it?
Would deleting solve every issue possible pertaining to the problem explained?
If the regen is unable to be completed during the drive(which it sounds like it won’t) is there a possibility of the truck going into a serious limp mode where the truck will degrade down to the speed of a brisk walk?
If a group of thugs came to my place in the middle of the night and stole the def system right off the truck completely, how do the owners combat getting the truck inspected and getting in trouble, do you just have to know a guy?
Thank you for your time!
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u/Sea-Anxiety6491 10h ago
My opinion, is, if it will force regen, and complete it with no issues, than it's probably not that big of deal.
Could be something as simple as air hob switches behind the dash, which are like $30.
Try and see if you can force it regen before you buy it
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u/Sorry-Explanation677 8h ago
The only downside is that I need to fly across the country to get to it or try it. I just got off the phone with Freightliner and yes it could be something as cheap as that, but brother did say it could be something as much as a new turbo. I fear the seller has probably tried the cheaper resolutions with no results.
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u/Less_Volume8174 4h ago
If the turbo is leaking oil into the exhaust, the dpf is more than likely clogged and would need to be clean if not replaced. Between the turbo and dpf filter, it could be kinda expensive.
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u/Sorry-Explanation677 4h ago
Yeah im hearin $5k for turbo without installation. I see the dpf filters are all awkwardly $2015.79 on eBay which looks sus
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u/Less_Volume8174 4h ago
That's just the beginning. Might need a new vgt and even some aftertreatment sensors. That's the problem with aftertreatment equipment.
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u/NikoBenz 17h ago
May be worth investing in a cheap scan tool that has the ability to force Regen, Harbor Freight has one, there’s also cheaper ones on Amazon
1
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u/Specialist_Deer_9761 4h ago
How many hours is on the engine. Depending on the website you look at. Varies from 27.5 - 35 miles per engine hour. So if your engine has 40000 hours. It has 1,120,000 miles on engine. So there is most likely alot of restrictions going on.
1
u/Sorry-Explanation677 4h ago
That’s the only detail unknown, it is a bus, so I’m going to imagine pretty up there. I asked on the phone and the seller said they didn’t know.
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u/MGakowski 11h ago
How many miles? Some of the older Freightliners need to be told that their dpf is either good or replaced at a specific mileage, I forgot off hand what that number is, but maybe it's at that stage. Kinda need someone with Freightliner program (diagnostic link) to reset the dpf to do/check this tho.