A co-worker of mine picked up an 08 diesel and is having issues with the catalytic converter.  If he drives around in town for two hours or so, his over head will display a warning that his cat is 80% plugged.  Once out on the hiway and getting some flow through the engine then it will blow the 'soot' out of the cat.  His question to me is can he straight pipe this year or will he need to get some software in order to fool the computer.  The truck is basically stock, 4X4, manual trans.  He is worried about the cat plugging up and then having to purchase a new one.  I am not familiar with the CR so any help would be great, thanks.

He will need exhaust and a programmer. The only one you can buy is raceme unless you can find a eu smart, edge, or h&s. The biggest thing is those pickups need to be used not just drove around. Also no idleing, run exhaust brake all the time espcially if you have to idle.

Thanks, I was thinking that he would need some programmer.  I did not know about using the exhaust brake, I will let him know about that.  We live a ways out of town, but he does not tow or haul with it so that might not help him a whole lot.  Thanks for the response.

His DPF is what is plugging, not the cat.

How long is he running on the highway for?

The exhaust brake keeps the vanes free in the turbo, towing or not.

He needs to find a way to verify he has the latest software in the ECM, or things could get expensive.

Running exhaust brake also puts a load on the engine to help keep heat in the cylinders

If he lives in an area where he has to pass an e check eliminating the dpf is an automatic fail.