Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) Tracking - Fuelly Forums

Click here to see important news regarding the aCar App

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 12-18-2014, 10:09 AM   #1
Registered Member
 
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 6
Country: United States
Location: Fredericksburg, VA
Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) Tracking

I am curious to see if anyone else is interested in tracking their DEF usage like we track our fuel usage.

I would prefer to see a section for tracking this in various vehicles, but would settle for a section to where it just tracks DEF usage in general, provided it keeps detailed info about MY usage on MY account.

So the twenty dollar question is: Does anyone else feel this way, or am I the only one that is OCD enough to care?
__________________

jack0351 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-19-2014, 04:44 AM   #2
Registered Member
 
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 3
Country: United States
I think that a bigger question is, how many people actually fill their own DEF?

Our vehicle takes DEF, and I have only had to put it in one time. That was the time that the dealer forgot to install it. For us, our DEF tank makes it between oil changes. Our dealer fills it every time that they change the oil as part of the service. So I don't really have any idea how many actual gallons of DEF are being added...
__________________

CADmanks is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-19-2014, 05:21 AM   #3
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 1,852
Country: United States
Location: north east PA
Can't check now with the database error, but isn't there a place to track service items like oil changes? if so, it should be possible to track DEF use there.
trollbait is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-19-2014, 11:02 AM   #4
BDC
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 274
Country: United States
I just used the note feature for all maintenance. DEF is pretty much the same thing. You might want to track your "mileage" for DEF usage, but the note function is the best way to do that, and just calculate the mileage and cost per mile yourself if you're really worried about it. You can add a cost and have that logged but it's just a one-time cost per "note."

I assume that many/most diesel owners that actually have DEF will have it changed by a mechanic or dealer, which makes the "mileage" aspect of it unnecessary because the dealer will drain the existing fluid and then refill it completely. Keep in mind most Jetta TDIs don't have it, which probably makes up the majority of Fuelly diesel users. None of the Europeans use it either because in Europe (save France) they don't care about pollution, just about CO2.
BDC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2014, 09:02 AM   #5
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 3,385
Country: United Kingdom
Location: Mid Wales
Saying Europe "doesnt care about pollution" is an insane comment. Most of the highest ranking "greenest" countries on the planet are European. The US ranks 33rd in the World. Ranks are here: http://epi.yale.edu/epi/country-rankings
__________________



Please subscribe to my YouTube channel
Draigflag is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-22-2014, 07:24 AM   #6
Registered Member
 
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 6
Country: United States
Location: Fredericksburg, VA
BDC-
I wish my DEF intervals were at the oil changes. I fill the DEF about 3 times in my oil change interval, and I imagine the big rigs are even worse about it.

Plus, when I'm using my truck for work purposes, it is nice to be able to properly account for ALL of my expenses, even if DEF only adds about a penny per mile.

Europe uses DEF, they just call it AdBlue. Their emissions requirements are pretty close in line with ours.

But again, the point of the thread is to find out if anyone actually wants to track their DEF (AdBlue) usage with the Fuelly website/app.

I want to be able to compare my empty usage to when I've got 20,000 pounds hooked up to my truck, and how much that impacts my bottom line. A pleasure use only vehicle isn't going to care, but one used for work will.
jack0351 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-22-2014, 08:14 PM   #7
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 1
Country: United States
Location: Clarksville, TN
I would love to see a feature so that we would be able to track DEF mpg.
blackhawk783 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-29-2014, 08:20 AM   #8
BDC
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 274
Country: United States
I don't mean to derail, but do European diesel subcompacts really need DEF? I was under the impression that only the larger vehicles used adblue, especially since most of the smaller federalized diesels (i.e. most TDIs) don't require it. Given that our NOx requirements are more stringent than europe, and since DEF is used for reducing NOx (thus basically all diesels other than TDI Jettas require DEF), I was under the assumption that all of the very small diesels in europe would not require DEF. And if that's the case, that probably means the majority of european diesel owners do not need DEF tracking.

Maybe Draigflaig can add something useful to a thread and tell us if his european subcompact uses adblue. I am unable to find much via google searching. I would say the feature is much more pertinent to be if it's used in all european diesels versus just the big ones, as it is in the US.
BDC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-29-2014, 09:14 AM   #9
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 3,385
Country: United Kingdom
Location: Mid Wales
Personaly i've never heard of any kind of additive for any diesel vehicle, personel or commercial until I joined Fuelly. I think this is another strange US only thing...
__________________



Please subscribe to my YouTube channel
Draigflag is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-29-2014, 10:25 AM   #10
BDC
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 274
Country: United States
Exactly -- most european diesel owners don't need to track DEF usage because it's not required for the diesel subcompacts that everyone over there drives.

I suppose using notes to track the cost of DEF is the best way to do this for now. Since few europeans and most american diesel owners (aka TDIs) don't need it, I don't suppose it will be high on the list of new features for development. But you can calculate and record the cost and DEF "MPG" yourself using notes. I do this for all my maintenance costs.
__________________

BDC is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Fuelly iOS Apps
Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 11:50 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.