I'm considering a 180G but scared of EGR DEF

I'm wanting to upgrade to a newer more reliable machine but I've had bad experience with EGR in powerstroke 6.0 motors. Should I worry about that on a John Deere 180G? Could I just delete it and have no worries? Is DEF system on all of those too? Is it troubling? I'll have a chance to check it out Saturday.

I have had zero problems with deere def in agricultural equipment, but traded off at 2500 hours. In ag applications deere used a to small def tank, so needs def at every fuel fill. Talk to a dealership service manager if you can find one that has several years experience. Across other equipment makes, def varies with the actual installation, so experience in a dozer may not carry through to the same engine in a hoe. Is this machine the first model year with def? There are always problems with anything new. I would be much more comfortable with a machine built a couple of years after introduction.

I’m not sure how many years Deere has been running DEF/EGR on their engines to meet emissions BS. Not even sure what year the US started requiring it lol. What I can tell you is based on my experience with trucks and drill rigs running with it.....

Minimize idle time. Warm up and cool down is fine. Hours of needless idling is not. The DPF doesn’t like it and if the engine isn’t under load and making heat stuff doesn’t want to work right.

Pick a brand of DEF and stick with it. The only DEF issues I’ve encountered were due to mixing brands. Could be coincidence but it was like $8,000 in repairs so we use Peak out of the box in everything. Zero from bulk pumps. I think you’d be better off relieving yourself in the DEF tank than bulk based on my experience lol.

Keep the coolant per spec and change it per spec. Test it too. When that stuff gets mixed and matched it seems to want to attack the egr cooler and related parts.

If you like to shut your master switch off at the end of the day you can, but with a DEF machine you have to wait for the tank to purge the lines. It’ll have an indicator light by the master. When it goes off you’re good to go. I even wait longer with all the computers our drills have on them. Factory tech tells us to let them have plenty of time to shut down.

Now that I’ve scared you lol. I’m keeping track of around 8-10 pieces with DEF/EGR. Several Cummins powered, two Cat, two Mack and one Kubota. Knock on wood other that an early Ram Cummins not liking the DEF we’ve had good luck. Our maintenance is top notch.

Like it or not it’s what we’ve got to work with LOL. Most of the time it works to the point that other than filling the DEF you don’t even know it’s there. Might have an occasional sensor issue of some sort. In my experience what causes the expensive repairs are neglect such as excessive idle time, poor maintenance etc. If you buy used I’d sure want to see what the idle time percentage is and any repairs it’s had done.

terex herder said:

I have had zero problems with deere def in agricultural equipment, but traded off at 2500 hours. .

Click to expand...

the machine im looking at has 5000 hrs

davecampbell said:

the machine im looking at has 5000 hrs

Click to expand...

Has it been in your area since new? If so can you get records on it? That’s what would make or break the deal for me.

Junkyard said:

If you buy used I’d sure want to see what the idle time percentage is and any repairs it’s had done.

Click to expand...

Can I pull the idle time up on the screen of does that need to be pulled by a tech with a laptop? This is an estate sale so I only have the owners son to get info from. I may be able to take the vin to the local dealer and see if he has had it into them

davecampbell said:

Can I pull the idle time up on the screen of does that need to be pulled by a tech with a laptop? This is an estate sale so I only have the owners son to get info from. I may be able to take the vin to the local dealer and see if he has had it into them

Click to expand...

You might be able to, I’m not near as familiar with Deere. It may not be a hourly percentage, it may be shown in gallons of fuel used where you’d have to do your own math to get an idea. If it’s still got the dealers stickers on it I’d start with them for info.

Also, don’t compare your experience with a Ford 6.0, the worst Diesel engine ever put in a truck! I work for a large construction company in Nj and we have Cats and Komatsu excavators. Never any problems with the Cats. The Komatsus, if you let them idle to olong will give some warning about idiling and then we turn off the auto idle and let it clear out. The foreman’s all have 6.7 powerstrokes and let them idle all day and they just elevate the idle and go into regen and smoke and stink us out!

Check with Deere about the dpf. 5,000 hours may be about time for a new dpf. You are looking at dropping what, $70,000-$90,000? Get a Deere mechanic out to look the machine over, pull codes. It could be the best $500 you ever spend.

terex herder said:

Check with Deere about the dpf. 5,000 hours may be about time for a new dpf. You are looking at dropping what, $70,000-$90,000? Get a Deere mechanic out to look the machine over, pull codes. It could be the best $500 you ever spend.

Click to expand...

Yes, they are asking $70,000, that scares me too.

It may only have dpf. Depends on when it was manufactured. I’ve heard a lot of horror stories on the def of the g series. Idk first hand. Personally I’d be scared of it without warranty it could get costly very quick. It just Deere but all of them in general with def. we have a Komatsu loader and excavator with dpf so far so good. We have a Kubota ctl with def and have had one related issue under warranty. I don’t think it’s very easy to delete it either on most equipment. To me that’s a lot of hrs def wise. That’s just my thoughts personally and again I don’t know first hand. Good luck whatever u decide

The only DEF machine we have is a 325FL with 1900 HRS so far with no problems.

Running a '13 350 6.7 with 180K miles and the only DEF failure was the in tank DEF heater. For reference the transmission went out right after the DEF heater. $6k for a new trans and $400 for a new DEF heater..

My truck is an '18 350 6.7 with 50K miles and no issues. Also have a '19 RAM 3500 6.7 with 30k miles and no DEF issues.

We have a strict DEF policy - only buy it in the 2.5 gallon jugs and either pour it all in the tank or throw the remaining away. No saving partial jugs or re-using the cheap expanding funnels that come with each jug. I can buy DEF in 2.5 gal jugs from our fuel supplier cheap so there is no reason for contamination.

terex herder said:

Get a Deere mechanic out to look the machine over, pull codes.

Click to expand...

If you do this, ask the tech to pull a load profile. That will tell you the number of hours the engine has run at a given rpm and load. For example, if the bulk of the hours were below 30% load, then that could cause EGR issues, frequent regens or premature plugging of the DPF, to name a few.

southernman13 said:

It may only have dpf.

Click to expand...

I think that is the case. I did not see a DEF tank or filler anywhere. I really liked the machine. We did have to jump start it and they said is had been run 2 days ago, only other fault I found was the 5400 hrs on the meter. I'm going to see what I can find for comparable sales with that many hours on it. If that machine originally sold for 140,000 then 70,000 seems ok since it still has half of its life left, except for the fact that the first 5000 hours is generally much more trouble free than the second 5000.

southernman13 said:

It may only have dpf

Click to expand...

True. If there is an "E" before the last 6 digits of the serial number, then it does not have DEF. If it has an "F", it has DEF.

mg2361 said:

True. If there is an "E" before the last 6 digits of the serial number, then it does not have DEF. If it has an "F", it has DEF.

Click to expand...

It has an E

That machine has a DOC and a DPF. No DEF.