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DC ambulance shuts off due to emission issue, patient dies


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I don't think that older E-Series would have the regen system, it's fairly new tecnology and it may not even be a diesel. Our new transit buses for the last 2-3 years have this technology, they perform the regen process without ever shutting down. As long as the bus is running, even making multiple stops, the process continues without shutting down and the process is much faster when the bus is on the freeway. Why the hell would an emergency ambulance be designed to shut down if a city bus isn't?

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I don't think any E-series had a DPF let alone urea injection which is what was running low. I know the 6.4 Navistar had a DPF in Ford trucks but not urea injection and these engines were too big to shoehorn in to the E-series so they stuck with the 6.0 as long as they could. The new Ford 6.7 uses DPF and urea injection both but again they are too big to stick in the E-series. If the ambulance was Super Duty based then it could be a Ford but emergency vehicles are not required to have the engine shut down in the case of low urea.

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I don't think any E-series had a DPF let alone urea injection which is what was running low. I know the 6.4 Navistar had a DPF in Ford trucks but not urea injection and these engines were too big to shoehorn in to the E-series so they stuck with the 6.0 as long as they could. The new Ford 6.7 uses DPF and urea injection both but again they are too big to stick in the E-series. If the ambulance was Super Duty based then it could be a Ford but emergency vehicles are not required to have the engine shut down in the case of low urea.

 

I remember reading the original article (I stumbled on it on Twitter in the last week) and I think the issue was the vehicle wasn't properly reprogrammed to not shut off. (As you note, the EPA waives emergency vehicles from the shut-off requirement).

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Something is amiss with this article. On a Ford, running out of DEF will cause limp mode. It will continue to operate power and speed reduced indefinitely until shut off. Once shut off without DEF, it will only idle. Either it was not a Ford, or <gasp> the media got something wrong.

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Also, how irresponsible is the ambulance company in this scenario?

 

They are probably required by law to maintain these vehicles in safe working order, and that would quite obviously include REPLENISHING THE #$)(*#)$(*@#$I DEF.

I agree that maybe this is more on their shoulders with fleet management we are being told..

I did a search and apparently there have been other unrelated incidences with the ambulance service,

Edited by jpd80
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Okay if this was an E-Series, then the ambulance company is run by incompetents.

 

To assume that the DEF ran out, and to announce that as a cause, and to go on and on about DEF without bothering to confirm whether or not the vehicle in question even USED DEF...........

 

I mean, if true, how amazing that NONE of the warning systems triggered, seeings how THERE WERE NO WARNING SYSTEMS because THERE WAS NO DEF. Geez. Can you imagine these people trying to figure out how to bypass the DEF settings on an E-Series with no DEF tank?

 

And I can believe that this was an E-Series with a clogged fuel filter.

 

The 6.0/6.4 PSDs are notorious for clogged fuel filters, because they have TWO fuel filters. The one that always gets changed and the one that "nobody knows about" that never gets changed.

 

If this company is incompetently operated, which we have every reason to believe, then it shouldn't be the least bit surprising that they *never* changed one of the PSD fuel filters, because, why--once incompetence is established on this level--would you assume that any task was performed competently?

Edited by RichardJensen
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Never heard Ford mentioned in any of this. I think since Ford has build so many ambulances over the last 20 years,some automatically assumed the ambulance in question was a Ford. If the problem was caused by running out of DEF, the ambulance couldn't have been an E series, as others pointed out no E series was ever built with the 6.4L or 6.7L Powerstroke diesels. If it was a Ford and it did run out of DEF, it would have to have been a Super Duty.

 

If the problem was caused by a clogged fuel filter, it could have been a maintenance issue. Most diesels do have primary and secondary fuel filters, and usually both are changed at the same interval. Ford has however had problems with rust developing inside the fuel tanks of some diesel trucks resulting in stalling and no start conditions when the rust particles plug the primary fuel filter.

 

I am sure we will find out what kind of ambulance it was and exactly what happened. Not that it makes any difference, but I heard the victim was actually a suspect.

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