[Closed] Diesel particulate filters??

Rings a bell (it might not be the same) but the gaffers TDI golf had a problem, basically he was driving conservatively and the filter had built up a bit. Garage recommended giving it some proper beans on the accelerator every now and again to clear it.

Edit, re-read your post, looks like you've been doing that already, sorry.

A lot of vw and audi have these and also have problems. There is loads on the web about it being due to not driving teh car in teh correct way. Town tootling seems to be worst as it clogs. I had one on my van and had it removed. Some companies that do remaps can do this. It needs a software change to tell the ecu it no longer has a dpf, as well as either a new pipe fitted, or the insides smashing out. I no longer get regen lights or problems with the O2 sensors...

Failing this, take it for a thrash on teh motorway to get it to the right temp to regen properly. This will of course cause all the extra polution that the stupid thing was supposed to save.

Someone on here will scream think of the children, but if we didnt have them then we probably wouldnt have all the pollution of digging up the expensive metals that go in them.. oh, but that happens in a far away country so its ok...

Exactly the same here. 2nd time with Mazda 6. took it to Feather Diesel in Elland which is where the garages send them. they managed to regen the DPF, but the mechanic told me to get rid, then adding that lots of cars have the same issue.
He also told me to drive it mainly in 4th !( I normally progress up to 5-6th quickly then plod along as it is a sofa of a car). Give it more beans more of the time.

It's a real shame as it's ok as a car, but I won't have another Mazda and probably not a (newer) diesel either. Apparently they do it for emissions reasons, but essentially that's a huge bluff if you have to thrash it for it to stop breaking.. There's a Mazda 6 forum where other people are also going bonkers about the same thing if you want to share the pain some more.

best of luck

It is a bluff, to do a regen, more fuel is actually injected to burn the soot off... So a dpf is fitted, uses more fuel as it blocks then uses more fuel to clear itself...

Epic fail.

This will of course cause all the extra polution that the stupid thing was supposed to save

No it won't. The DPF will get hot and burn all the soot into CO2 which wouldn't have happened had it not been there.

VW and Ford DPFs work differently. I think Ford need the additive, and VWs don't.

On VWs the DPF is cleared out by some invisble engine trickery first, then if that doesn't work it'll show a light which is when you need to thrash it for a short trip. The light goes out when you have done enough - job done.

I think that Fords just put in additive to cause the gunk to burn off (into just CO2) and that most people don't know that they need to top it up... but I dunno for sure. Someone on here was moaning about his DPF when he hadn't put any additive in at all since he had it.

The 'think of the children' part isn't about overall pollution, it's about fine smoke down at city street level getting into peoples lungs and causing havoc. So if you have to spend more energy somewhere else to remove smoke at street level, then it's a win in local health terms. Not in Climate Change terms tho, not least because the cars do slightly fewer mpg with them.

Epic fail.

The fail is yours for not understanding what a DPF is for. From the wiki article about particulate matter:

The effects of inhaling particulate matter that have been widely studied in humans and animals now include asthma, lung cancer, cardiovascular issues, and premature death. The size of the particle is a main determinant of where in the respiratory tract the particle will come to rest when inhaled. Because of their small size, particles on the order of ~10 micrometers or less can penetrate the deepest part of the lungs.[7] Larger particles are generally filtered in the nose and throat and do not cause problems, but particulate matter smaller than about 10 micrometers, referred to as PM10, can settle in the bronchi and lungs and cause health problems.

Oh God! I have just had to have one fitted on our Multivan at great expense as the German city I live has decided to become an 'environmental zone'. So how long do I have before the damn thing clogs??

It won't if you treat it right. RTFM on the subject, for sure.

RTFM?

Have any of you guys seen the joke that is the reset procedure for manually topping up the additive on the Ford DPF?

Read the flippin manual 🙂 In mine there is a detailed section as to what you have to do although my model doesn't have one.

Gary - do tell? I don't really know about Fords, just what I've heard.

I have an '07 Golf with one and I hate it.

As said above, every so often the light pops on and it needs a 10-15min run down a dual carriageway/ motorway to burn it off. Who thought that it was ok to produce a car that needs to be driven "in a certain way" every few hundred miles?

And what if you can't get to a bit of road without obstacles long enough to run it for 10mins? Apparently VW now advise that its not suitable for people in the Channel Islands for that reason.

When I spoke to the dealer about it, they start waffling on about suitable for motorway driving, not short distances - but who buys a car knowing how they will drive it for the next 3yrs?

The whole thing annoys me 'cause its a badly engineered solution rushed out to meet an EU requirement (which is trying to do the right thing). Not sure if the technology has moved on in the last couple of years - don't seem to hear muuch about BMW diesels having a problem, but I would seriously consider buying a car with one in the future.

As said above, every so often the light pops on and it needs a 10-15min run down a dual carriageway/ motorway to burn it off. Who thought that it was ok to produce a car that needs to be driven "in a certain way" every few hundred miles?

Or rather, not driven a certain way all the time.

It's a good idea because it saves on toxic pollutants. Or do you not give a crap about how what you do affects others?

but who buys a car knowing how they will drive it for the next 3yrs?

Me.

The whole thing annoys me 'cause its a badly engineered solution rushed out to meet an EU requirement

DPFs have been around for ages. It's just a difficult problem. Just be grateful you don't live in the US where diesels have to have NOx scrubbers fitted as well.

i have a mazda 6 diesel and have exactly the same problem at service time. is your dpf light flashing or on all the time?

ive also heard that the dpf light starts flashing on mazda 6 diesels when the service is due and is reset when you take it back to mazda.

I'm taking mine in at the weekend- it was serviced by an independaent(because main dealers are such a con) a month ago and the light started flashing 2 weeks later ( when it reached to 20000km service interval. Exactly the same thing happenned last spring when it was due it's previous and when i phoned up my local mazda garage they said if it was flashing it was just due for a service and would be reset when in.

If your not losing power ( idle mode) your car probably just needs a service.

With the Mazda's very few independents have the ability to reset the dpf system after servicing, due to Mazda not sharing there software apparently.
Thats why at work one of our clients insist the the Mazda 6 is booked in to a main dealer, I do as i'm told unlike one of my colleagues who went with an independent and then the car needed a new dpf unit.

Molgrips I completely understand how it works from reading VW tech manauals and documents. I also completely understand that it doesnt work well at all. Count yourself lucky you dont have one on your car... If the vehicle does motorway driving, no probs... Its correct that the Chanel islands with a very low speed limit dont recommend them. They never get hot enough to work.

Having to do an extra journey or miles in your car to make your car work is wrong. The electrical trickery you mention is a sensor measuring the presure differential across the filter. When it builds up or blocks enough, it regens. Or adds extra fuel to raise the temp enough to regen. Whilst its doing this it may run as rough as a tractor. If this fails it has to go to a dealer to get it cleared at your expense.

I got sick of it and got rid of it. Curiously I now have no problems and I do an extra 6mpg.

Know your enemy:

VW T5 dpf

[IMG] [/IMG]

The mesh is actually a solid matrix that runs for approx 12 inches in teh one I took off my car. Not restrictive at all...

[IMG] [/IMG]

Or rather, not driven a certain way all the time

As in the type of journey, rather than how you drive. Circumstances change - 2 yrs ago I did a lot of motorway miles, now I don't - as a result I end up doing a lot of shorter journeys - dpf light comes on more frequently, requiring detour to piece of straight road.

DPFs may have been around for a while but are now mandatory - and it is only since they became mandatory that a lot of issues have arisen. Difficult problem yes, but badly engineered also.

i have a mazda 6 diesel and have exactly the same problem at service time. is your dpf light flashing or on all the time?

ive also heard that the dpf light starts flashing on mazda 6 diesels when the service is due and is reset when you take it back to mazda.

The DPF light is off and then starts flashing, at no time is it on all the time.

The first time it happened was a few months after I'd had it serviced at a indy garage.

Both times were roughly about when a service was due, this and the fact there was no noticable difference in the way the car was running makes me suspect it may be a fleecing exercise, but if the manual says get it to a dealer ASAP and the internet forums are full of people who have lost engines, what do u do?

weirdly both my DPF instances were after long motorway runs-so how does that work? one driving non-stop from Devon, stopping for fuel in Manchester and it came on and entered limp home mode and this weekend coming back from Dalbeattie. I was doing 'ahem' 70 'ahem' and a bit.... and suddenly lost power needing to change down to 3rd and 4th to keep going. Prob with the low gearing is that even in 5th you struggle to do over 2-3000 revs on the motorway

As in the type of journey, rather than how you drive. Circumstances change - 2 yrs ago I did a lot of motorway miles, now I don't - as a result I end up doing a lot of shorter journeys - dpf light comes on more frequently, requiring detour to piece of straight road.

Not really an issue is it. If you'd bought a landrover to work in the fields and then changed jobs to become a barman would you still drive the landrover to work every day or pick a more suitable vehicle?

Fortunately my D doesnt have a DPF, if it did I'd probably have no problems as I don't drive everywhere in top, if I did I'd remove it or buy a more suitable car.

A DPF is an engineering solution, its pretty damn good and it was aimed at vehicles that do lots of motorway miles (i.e. reps cars) initially. Engineering solutions are compromises.

. Prob with the low gearing is that even in 5th you struggle to do over 2-3000 revs on the motorway

You don't HAVE to use 5th you know? If you need to race the engine a bit you can use 4th... 🙂

[url= http://www.aa-academy.com/Training/Learning%20Zone/Diesel%20Particulate%20Filter%20(DPF).asp ]Clever AA stuff on dpf's[/url]

I think that the manual suggests a certain rev range rather than speed...

Ive had untold problems on my Seat Leon FR with its DPF. Luckily so far its been under warranty but rest assured it will be coming off as soon as thats expired. Its as if its a giant scam because its an expensive and inconvenient solution, even when its free as I usually have to take a day off work and have once been forced to call the AA to get the car to the dealer. I was wondering about following up down the missold path as I wasnt told anything about it when I bought the car but I guess 3 years later is a bit late to go about starting that argument. The price of a new exhaust is less than one regen and will result in improved performance (slightly) and better mpg. Go figure.

Molgrips: http://www.talkford.com/topic/150061-dpf-additive-eolys/

And worst of all, once the light comes on, apparently you can't do it at home.

Didn't realise it could come off, does it count as an engine mod under insurance?

I think there is a dpf delete solution for seat's, try Pendle Performance. Martin there is pretty good.

Is there a video for the reset procedure? That would be hilarious!!

Not really an issue is it. If you'd bought a landrover to work in the fields and then changed jobs to become a barman would you still drive the landrover to work every day or pick a more suitable vehicle?

No but I did buy a car to drive on the roads and that requirement hasn't changed. I'm not aware of people generally buying a car for the motorway only.

Now its out of warranty I hadn't explored the option of taking it out - how much does that cost and is it classed as a custom mod by the insurance company?

dpf delete here: http://www.pendleperformance.com/

and http://www.masperformance.co.uk/
and http://www.race-tune.com/dpfdelete.php

just google dpf delete tuning and go from there.

Martin at Pendle (top link) did mine and its clear and problem free after 50k miles. You dont need to change your car.....

My mazda 6 is going into the garage for the second time in 6 months to get done. I only really drive motor way miles too which makes it all the more annoying
I couldn't get it to work but others have had success
http://www.cdn.dk/mazda6/tips.htm