Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 50 total)
  • So, it turns out my wife destroys DPFs… how much £?
  • Rich_s
    Full Member

    My trusty Golf (5 years, 130k) has been used by her for 2 months and she just rang to announce “a light’s come on, and another light is flashing”.

    Turns out it’s the DPF and engine management light – limp mode and time to visit dealer.

    Local independent vw specialist is talking about Terraclean and 200 notes.

    Last time she had this happen (mazda 5) the local main dealer bunged it on a laptop and forced a regen for free (twice).

    Any experience of whether a vw main dealer will/might do this FOC or not? Any knowledge of the Terraclean thing being any good?

    It is one of the affected vw diesels too…

    munrobiker
    Free Member

    Everything I’ve seen about Terraclean on the Briskoda forum has said that it destroys cars.

    poly
    Free Member

    experience of whether a vw main dealer will/might do this FOC

    Golf (5 years, 130k)

    I’d be thoroughly amazed if they do. Do you do your job FOC?

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    Rich_s
    Full Member

    Er, well, the Mazda dealer did it for free for an 8 year old 67k mile model. Twice. That’s why I was asking. Thanks for the comment though.

    greenstix7
    Free Member

    I heard figures of around £900 for a replacement DPF.
    I don’t thing short trips suit modern diesels?

    michaelbowden
    Full Member

    Lots of short journeys??

    Take it foe a nice run down a couple of motorway junctions first.

    Rich_s
    Full Member

    Gone beyond giving it a racing tune – it’s in limp mode.

    LeeW
    Full Member

    Rich_s – Member

    Er, well, the Mazda dealer did it for free for an 8 year old 67k mile model. Twice. That’s why I was asking. Thanks for the comment though.

    Sounds like you were lucky, did you wear a low cut top?

    fifeandy
    Free Member

    I don’t thing short trips suit modern diesels?

    Depends how heavy your right foot is 😀

    Take it foe a nice run down a couple of motorway junctions first.

    Bit late for that once its in limp home mode

    ElShalimo
    Full Member

    A dealer forced “regen” will buy you some time until it happens again…if she doesn’t change her driving style/habits.
    Lots of short journeys are really bad for DPFs. Maybe take it on a long run once a week for a good 20mins at high revs, e.g. m-way driving but in a lower gear. This is basically an Italian tune-up.

    Ask your local specialist what the long term prognosis is. They might say a regen fixes it, or they might say it’ll keep coming back until you replace the DPF as they are now viewed as consumables by the industry.

    Rich_s
    Full Member

    @LeeW – lols!

    @ElShalimo – I’ve done all 130k in that car, mostly motorway which is obviously what’s kept it sweet until now. Her journey is 18miles each way taking up to an hour. So nice and hot, but not enough high revs methinks. Any idea on whether ash build up will be an issue at 130k?

    poly
    Free Member

    Er, well, the Mazda dealer did it for free for an 8 year old 67k mile model. Twice. That’s why I was asking. Thanks for the comment though.

    Did they think you were considering another Mazda? Most dealers change £40-60 for just plugging in the diagnostics box and resetting anything.

    What you may find is if you are in limp home mode somewhere remote that breakdown cover may be able to reset the limp home mode at the roadside, and let you burn off the soot. I’ve had that. It wasn’t a long term fix (although in my case it was actually the EGR valve getting gummed up with soot rather than a blocked DPF. I’m sure there are lots of variables – where you are, how busy they are, if they want (or think they will get) the DPF work, the skill/experience of the operator, your attitude, a couple kids in the back who they really don’t want in their truck for 3 hour tow home…

    allan23
    Free Member

    Her journey is 18miles each way taking up to an hour.

    That sounds like lots of slow stop\start traffic.

    Get shut and buy her a petrol car. That’s what I did with my diesel when I dropped from a 25 mile to a 10 mile commute.

    FunkyDunc
    Free Member

    Take it foe a nice run down a couple of motorway junctions first.

    What is sitting at 2000rpm for a few minutes going to achieve?

    Surely revving the engine hard when warm is going to be more beneficial?

    (yes I know in OP’s case it will make no odds)

    bigyinn
    Free Member

    Being a bit in the dark about DPFs (Scenic diesel doesnt have one), doesn’t the car warn you that a car need a good thrapping or does it just assume that you are doing that regularly?
    Where I live there are no motorways etc, so one a week it’ll get warmed up and then driven with more revs than normal to clear out the sh*t a bit.

    ElShalimo
    Full Member

    What is sitting at 2000rpm for a few minutes going to achieve?

    it’s not a few minutes, it’s usually at least 20 mins to get the whole exhaust system nice and HOT. Warm doesn’t work. It has to be very hot, this is why the DPF, cat etc are made of very expensive metals due to the extreme heat required to burn particulate matter into ash.

    jambalaya
    Free Member

    One of the hidden costs of diesel ownership. Have had a number of friends run into this issue, all city owners of diesels doing mostly short trips. All cost a lot to sort.

    No way it would be done free, 5 years and 130k miles. Would suggest taking it to a decent independent.

    fifeandy
    Free Member

    What is sitting at 2000rpm for a few minutes going to achieve?

    it’s not a few minutes, it’s usually at least 20 mins to get the whole exhaust system nice and HOT. Warm doesn’t work. It has to be very hot, this is why the DPF, cat etc are made of very expensive metals due to the extreme heat required to burn particulate matter into ash.In addition, you’d usually do it in 3rd/4th gear for the purpose of a DPF clean, so rather more than 2000rpm too.

    taxi25
    Free Member

    Get the dpf removed and get the ecu mapped so the light doesn’t come on. I know your not supposed to but nobody checks. Your call on the enviromental impact of this.

    Rich_s
    Full Member

    Get shut and buy her a petrol car.

    Don’t get me started. Last Feb (when we had issues with her Mazda getting clogged) I said, let’s get shot and have a Yeti 1.2tsi on lease (99 per month for her mileage). Petrol/dsg/not our problem.

    Fast forward another 6 months, another clogged dpf from the bag o’shite and she has a big huffy moment and says “YOU sort it then”. So I lease an Octavia, and give her my faultless 130k mile 5y/o Golf.

    So guess whose fault this current issue is and who’s been tasked with sorting it out (and no doubt paying for it)? 😀

    That’s why I need to know about main dealer’s position and the independent’s solution before I sort it. What I will be doing is taking the Golf back off her and wanging it up and down the motorways a bit.

    13thfloormonk
    Full Member

    Intersting, we just had some EGR pipework replaced on our CR-V, mechanic mentioned (as an aside) the DPF.

    Didn’t say anything about high revs, just mentioned needed an occasional long journey to sort it out, maybe does the same thing in the long run.

    We got the car cheap otherwise would have considered a run-around, once we move flats we will mostly be doing… 15 minute shuttles to local train station 🙁

    Get the dpf removed and get the ecu mapped so the light doesn’t come on. I know your not supposed to but nobody checks. Your call on the enviromental impact of this.

    More the health of people around you isn’t it? I thought the particulates were crazy cancerous no?

    Tallpaul
    Full Member

    You need to understand the operating parameters of your cars DPF to make a meaningful assessment of how best to maintain its function.

    I’d also suggest that extended periods in low gears at high revs on a regular basis could result in other problems. If you are regularly driving short distances and/or in stop-start traffic, a DPF equipped car is the wrong tool for the job. Assuming that 20 minutes on a motorway is the remedy to such use is false hope.

    P-Jay
    Free Member

    bigyinn – Member

    Being a bit in the dark about DPFs (Scenic diesel doesn’t have one), doesn’t the car warn you that a car need a good thrapping or does it just assume that you are doing that regularly?
    Where I live there are no motorways etc, so one a week it’ll get warmed up and then driven with more revs than normal to clear out the sh*t a bit.

    VW Diesels are ‘intelligent’ and will try to clear themselves but you have to consider you can’t ‘blow out’ a DPF, that not how they work, what goes in, stays in.

    You can however reduce the volume of the contents as it’s made up of 2 things, Soot and Ash.

    There’s a long expiation of how it works, but simply put once the engine is up to temp as long as you’re cruising above 38mph for more than a few minutes it will regenerate – it burns the soot into ash, I can’t remember the exact figure but once it’s done the ash is something like 10% of the volume of the soot. It will change the way the engine works to make it run hotter and hotter as the filter fills to try to regenerate, but once it’s full, it’s full.

    Sadly for the OP once it’s blocked / full is can no longer regenerate. It’s possible that if before it went he took it for a decent run it might have burn enough soot give them some more room, but they’re not an infinite thing and whilst they don’t say it, 100k miles seems to be roughly the extent that most manufacturers give a fig about their products to.

    Rich_s
    Full Member

    Aye. Think I’ll wang it into the local independent and see what they reckon. I was hoping that it wasn’t an ash problem, but I guess it might be so old that it’s running out of room so when Mrs_s drives it it clogs with soot more readily…

    Just not used them that much (couple of MOTs only) so not sure whether I trust them yet.

    Happy days!

    pdw
    Free Member

    Being a bit in the dark about DPFs (Scenic diesel doesnt have one), doesn’t the car warn you that a car need a good thrapping or does it just assume that you are doing that regularly?

    You’d think, wouldn’t you? But no, it depends on the car. My 3 series eventually popped up a DPF fault once the DPF was blocked, but hadn’t bothered to mention two other faults that were preventing it from regenerating, despite one of them registering a fault code on the ECU.

    You’d think that any sane system would flag a warning light when it’s in a state where it wants to regen but can’t because of another fault, but apparently not.

    Where I live there are no motorways etc, so one a week it’ll get warmed up and then driven with more revs than normal to clear out the sh*t a bit.

    It’s not really about giving it a thrashing, it’s just about hitting the conditions that the ECU deems necessary to perform a regen. One of these is the engine getting up to temperature, so a failed thermostat can prevent this happening. As above, there will be other fault codes that can prevent it (in my case, a failed throttle body).

    As a word of caution, once I’d sorted out the other faults, I followed the received wisdom for forcing a regen. It caught fire.
    Fortunately damage was limited to a melted undertray and the DPF itself, which was replaced with a 2nd hand one for £300. Nasty things.

    13thfloormonk
    Full Member

    Soo… just went off and read a few other websites. We inherited the CRV from my wife’s folks and I suspect it will have done a lot of short runs to and from the shops, so am concerned it could develop DPF issues.

    Does anyone use additives to the fuel to help clean the DPF out? (apparently the additives contain catalysts which help the soot burn at lower temps).

    Does anyone think fancy diesel is worth it to reduce particulates?

    Rich_s
    Full Member

    Dunno about the particulates, but shell and bp diesel deffo make ours run slightly more economically (1-2mpg). Nitro is interesting, much quicker (5% I’d say), and with me no change in economy presumably as I’m using that performance to make progress.

    0303062650
    Free Member

    Hi.

    A few options open to you:

    a) take a trip to a specialist and have the EGR + DPF ‘deleted’ – this also requires alteration to the ecu code (often referred to as the map) – the legalities of this are very dubious, but, currently it isn’t possible for this to be detected during the MOT.

    b) find some dude with VCDS/Vagcom and force a regen, explain to the primary driver that driving style needs to be altered and the car must be ran on ‘vpower diesel’ as it’s cleaner.

    c) use a combination of long arms and deep pockets, replace the dpf then ensure option b) is discussed on a regular basis until driving style changes

    d) force a regen, sell it and buy a petrol / lease something that’s petrol.

    e) don’t bother with that nasty fossil fuel crap and get an electric car.

    f) buy her a bike and explain that according to the WHO diesel fumes are more harmful to humans than asbestos.

    notmyrealname
    Free Member

    find some dude with VCDS/Vagcom and force a regen, explain to the primary driver that driving style needs to be altered and the car must be ran on ‘vpower diesel’ as it’s cleaner.

    I’d go with this personally.
    I’ve got the software and may be able to help you out depending on where you are.

    allthegear
    Free Member

    I love the irony of cyclists telling each other to have the filter that prevents cyclists having to breath the toxic pollution diesel cars emit removed…

    Rachel

    Rich_s
    Full Member

    It’s booked in for terraclean tomorrow but if I can sort a fix in the meantime…

    In Wirral, notmyrealname. Any good?

    cbike
    Free Member

    electric car?

    notmyrealname
    Free Member

    In Wirral, notmyrealname. Any good?

    Couldn’t be further away 😆
    With any luck someone else will pop up closer to you with it.

    Rich_s
    Full Member

    Thanks for the offer! Just so I know, what is the kit you have for sorting out this problem?

    Sandwich
    Full Member

    If you drive to notmyrealname the problem will have gone away once you get there!

    TimothyD
    Free Member

    deleted

    jambalaya
    Free Member

    VW Diesels are ‘intelligent’ and will try to clear themselves

    Oh the irony ! Intelligent enough to fake emissions tests, why not programme them to help the car need an expensive service item ? Limp mode is brilliant too, take a basically working car and make it non functional. Sensors and warning lights are main dealer gold mines.

    OP buy her a Yaris Hybrid … or that Yeti, the bikes will go in there nicely 😉

    Rich_s
    Full Member

    She can f#*?ing buy it herself! 😉

    It’s fitting the 3 nippers in that’s the problem!

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Oh the irony ! Intelligent enough to fake emissions tests, why not programme them to help the car need an expensive service item ?

    You really think the entire company is a racket? Wow..

    0303062650
    Free Member

    I’ve had my hands in vw/audi cars as a bit of a hobby for years, I’ve been so impressed with them, until I ‘upgraded’ from a MK4 Golf.

    How society has been flogged this crazy idea that diesel engines are ‘better’ for the environment. What rubbish!

    I really don’t support the idea of removing the egr/dpf, for one, we don’t know whether legislation/laws will be altered to allow MOT stations to check for dpf/egr or whether emissions for diesel engines will have to comply with similar checks for petrol.

    Terraclean will clean out the dpf, but not it’s soot loading – which can be read using VCDS. You’ll also need to ensure the engine oil & filter are changed after the clean too.

    If you have offroad parking, I’d seriously look at getting an EV. 4 years of £0 road fund licensing and it’ll pay for your charging station. If you have or are thinking about solar PV too, it’s a much better deal.

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