Here’s what the DPF looks like (Picture © Vauxhall)
Not many drivers know what a Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) is – until it costs them serious money. And replacing one can cost £1000 or more. Green Flag attends a lot of cars that have broken down with DPF problems and they are caused by one primary factor: the DPF is clogged with soot because the driver has ignored the warning lamp. Here’s everything you need to know about the DPF dilemma.
What is a DPF?
The Diesel Particulate Filter is in the exhaust system of all diesel-powered cars sold new since 2009. It is a vital component that is designed to enable cars to pass increasingly tough emissions legislation. The DPF’s job is to trap the particles that are caused by the compression-ignition combustion process and thereby prevent harmful smoke from being pumped into the atmosphere.
How does it work?
Like any filter, the DPF will gradually get clogged with the soot that it traps. However, the car is designed to clean it by heating this residue up, turning it to ash and expelling it. This happens about every 300 miles, either when you travel at motorway speed, or because the Engine Control Unit initiates what’s known as regeneration by raising exhaust temperatures artificially.
Why it goes wrong
In stop/start traffic, or on short journeys, a regeneration may not get time to complete. This will cause the DPF to block partially and an orange light (left) will come on in the instrument cluster. Ignore the light and continue driving slowly or in traffic and eventually the engine will lose power and stop. This will prompt a trip to the garage and things will get expensive. And I mean really expensive: if the car needs a new DPF, we’re talking more than £1000.
What to do if you see the warning light
When the DPF warning lamp comes on (check your handbook to see exactly what the one on your diesel looks like) it’s time to take the vehicle on a longer run, preferably on a faster road such as a dual carriageway or motorway. Driving at 40mph or more for 10 minutes should prompt the DPF to go into ‘regeneration’ mode and burn off soot which will clear any blockage.
How to prevent problems in the first place
Before you buy a car, consider the kind of mileage you do. If most of your miles involve short journeys or sitting in stop-start traffic where the car never really gets going, plump for petrol rather than diesel. There’s another good reason for this. Diesel cars are generally more expensive than petrol and because diesel is pricier at the pumps too, you don’t see any payback from a diesel car’s improved economy unless you do a healthy annual mileage.
Why not get rid of the DPF?
One answer to problems with the DPF might be to remove it altogether. But DPFs are installed for a very good reason – they cut pollution – so it’s not a very responsible solution. Also, from February 2014, any car that’s had its DPF removed is an MOT failure. Despite this, there are still companies advertising on the internet to remove DPFs and do the associated re-programming of engine software. Don’t be tempted: it may well invalidate your warranty as well as making your car dirtier and potentially unroadworthy.
Nick Reid is a fellow of the Institute of the Motor Industry and head of transformation at Green Flag
Good info…I wanted an idea of how many or the ratio of a ‘hot’ 15 min at 50 + mph to counter the chance of clogging the DPF warning ..for example a week of urban start stopping cycles followed by at least a 20 mile round trip at 50+ mph to regenerate the DPF…would seem adequate .
Is not just running at higher speed for say 20 minutes … Is the revs that is important too as is this that heat the car parts….a lot of people that use the motorways all the time still have dpf problems as they change gears and car doesn’t really make much effort with revs constant at 20…so the idea is keep it at one gear lower than required for the speed you going like instead of fifth use fourth….or instead of fourth third keeping rev at 30 or 25…this way it will heat up to the required 600c tu burn sutt … It may also be beneficial to use a diesel dpf additive to help burn happen at a lower temp… This has worked for me.. Engine light gone so has limp drive mode and car now smoother.
Alternatively (but I am having this done too) halfords will deep clean dpf I think for £98 and will reset faults log.
Halfords will do it cheaply – but the DPF clogging can be caused by other issues that cause the EMS to prevent the car from revving high enough to effect a DPF clean. Turner Diagnostics at Hemel Hempstead will diagnose and sort any underlying issues before cleaning the DPF – if this isn’t done a clean will become ineffective quite shortly, with soot/ash again building up.
Don’t have that problem with some cars, like the Range Rover Sport, at 76mph in 8th gear, I’m doing 1850rpm, and the DPF has never required any high reving of engine to empty (burn off to ash) the contents, in the three years from new I have had the car. This is quite normal for this make and other high performance cars running on Diesel. When I asked on purchasing was told that if the light ever came on due to very short runs, just take it for a 15-20 mile run at speed above 50mph, being a Automatic it will quickly change up gears, but foes have paddle controls to manually change gears or when using Sports box option.
my car was emitting just a little smoke, first thing morning. Informed mechanic in my next service and he quoted me 700 quid. Took to another garage, and the old geezer told me that young mechanics nowadays are just plai lazy, dont want to find out whats wrong with cars. They are more fitters that mechanics. He took car for 30 minute run on manual and did revs of between 3.5 & 4.5, brought it back and the machine accepted to reset. Told me to use manual for two days and all will be well. Now its fab and no smoke, drips clean clear water.
I had my dpf deep cleaned at Halfords in Chester after 75 miles on motorway at 70mph my warning light came on it cost me 85 pounds for deep clean at Halfords all they do is put a cleaner you a
Can get yourself put into top sensor and rev engine for about 20 mins don’t trust Halfords to deep clean they just put a cleaner into sensor
The DPF seems a crazy idea to me, typical of ill informed government legislation.
If, in order to regen the filter, motor manufacturers need to increase the amount of fuel entering the exhaust system to burn off the soot then this in itself increases pollution and adds to the causes of global warming plus the carbon footprint of manufacturing DPF filters in the first place. DPF filter is a waste of time it does not reduce pollution overall.
I am fine with the idea but it seems nobody can actually design a dpf that works.
Why not make the filter replaceable at the service interval?
My guess is that they would lose too much money by ripping us off.
Thank you really good information from start to finish just bought such a car sales man did explain it and what to do thankfully 10 out of ten though people will find your information priceless thank you again .astra Alan
Sam
40mph for 10 mins LOL really and that will clean and Regen.
Have a look at what your saying.
Providing the engine is running at over 2000rpm throughout the duration, 40 for 10 minutes (I think Vauxhall advise 12-15 minutes) would suffice. But the idea is to find a road where you can remain in the same gear without having to stop.
Works for my Zafira 2.0 CDTI, providing it is kept above 2500 RPM. That said, Since I started using Shell V-Power about 3 years ago and that made a MASSIVE difference to the regeneration frequency. Before that she was getting us to do a forced regen every 2-3 weeks, then after we started using V Power we maybe get one every 4-6 months. Our driving distances, speeds and style have not changed.
Thank you – concise, straight forward and very helpful!
The associated problems with having a diesel car with a DPF is making me think seriously of considering returning to a petrol model. My 52 plate Astra 1.7 CDTI eco4 without a DPFgave me mpg in excess of 60 running around and over 70 longer distance. I switched to a newer model with a DPF and the economy slumped, even after altering my driving style from easy to absolute caution to the degree I wasn’t enjoying my driving anymore. Whilst the DPF was regenerating the economy fell even further to the degree I was wondering if I was being short changed by fuel stations!. Now it seems there are further considerations to be made with the DPF probably needing to be replaced somewhere around the 70,000-80,000 mile mark at some expense; thereby further negating the reason for switching to diesel in the first place with my annual mileage being around 14,000. Buying a 2nd hand higher mileage diesel now seems to be a no goer. If I do buy another diesel, it will either be an old model pre DPF, or as new as I can and not hold it for too long; which probably doesn’t make sense. Very disappointing.
Did 160 miles on the motorway doing 50+mph and still have the warning light on. Think the dpf is a waste of time and more trouble than anything.
Hi time if you have a problem car will not Regen if you have a faulty glow plug or a sensor problem.
I have a 57 Astra H (disastra!) i have a stuck glo plug and mine regens frequently.
Great nice and neat! So… here i go… i bought a bmw x5 for a whole big bag of money and because of a damn dpf, my x5 five is Barely moving and almost going into accidents because of this dpf thing. I already paid over a 1000 usd to clean it and replace a bunch of useless things. well…. tell you what… i am going to remove this dpf rip-off thing and wont care about anything….!
Hi mate I am a tech at BMW I can understand your pain don’t remove the Dpf you need to force Regen the car and make sure the car has not been mapped as that makes them block the Dpf quicker.
Hi Sam, How do you force a Regen of bmw 3 series 2 litre diesel. Thanks Ben
You can force a regen yourself by driving at 2500 rpm for 20 mins. With bmw there will be a reason why the dpf is blocked and will need to be diagnosed first . Bmw block due to glow plugs failing as they use post injection to clean the dpf . Get it looked at by a specialist who can correctly diagnose the problem with the dpf system and if needed clean the dpf .
Hope this helps .
Mike
Sorry Sam but that is not correct. Firstly, you cannot “force” regenerate a BMW dpf, you can only send a “request” to regenerate. If there is a fault preventing regeneration, it still won’t perform one. Secondly, if a car has been BADLY remapped, then yes this could create dpf problems but done properly it isn’t an issue whatsoever. The biggest cause of dpf failure on most BMW’s is engine/egr thermostat failure and this is often missed by garages, even by BMW main dealers. Many models do not have a coolant temperature gauge so it gets overlooked. The coolant temp should reach 90 degrees C and needs to get above 75 degrees C to meet regen criteria. If it doesn’t it won’t regenerate. It is the first thing to check on any diesel bmw. If the car doesn’t have a temp gauge, search on YouTube for bmw hidden menu access on the instrument cluster. The temp can be accessed through this and is fairly simple to do.
Well done bud, good reply – some people do not have a clue but feel they need to comment anyway. not knocking them wanting to help but if they don’t KNOW don’t offer a fix.
That’s a great reply, my 2005 3Ltr X3 is in limp mode, tried loads of dpf cleaners, tried driving at high revs (when I can eventually get it revving high) got the temp gauge to read half way, but I still can’t get it to clear, is it possible to take the dpf off the car, & pressure wash it out, then beat it with a blow lamp before refitting back on the car???? In theory it sounds like a plan.
Brilliant advice thanks both my cars are petrol never had any problems besides I don’t do high milage
No DPF’s on a petrol engine, at least not yet although they are talking of introducing a petrol version next year (2017). After 23 years of owning diesel cars, I fear that my current DPF-less diesel will be my last as there are just too many problems with the emissions controls on modern diesel cars, and not just particulate filters but also swirl flaps and EGR Valves which are all related to emissions and cost a fortune. Most 1.4 turbo petrol cars will return 40mpg – 50mpg these days, and the £2000 you will save on replacing the DPF buys a lot of petrol!. So unless you do 10,000’s of miles every year, petrol seems the way forward now.
Thanks Green Flag
I’ve done @ 300 miles, mostly on the motorway, since the DPF warning light began flashing on my Mazda 6 2.2D, and I’ve seen and been given some conflicting advice on getting it resolved.
The manual says to drive at >2200 rpm, a mechanic says 3000-4000 rpm and the Wynns cleaner says drive normally.
I also noticed in the manual that it can be caused by the engine oil being passed its sell-by date, and this has made me wonder. The oil is fine, checked by the mechanic, and only 4000 miles since it was replaced, but I noticed the warning started at 40,010 miles. Could it be the case that the oil change wasn’t recorded on the computer when the 36,000 mile service was done, and it thinks it needs changed and I don’t have a problem with the DPF at all? Any help would be appreciated as I have a 300 mile round trip to the airport this Friday and my dealer can’t look at it before then.
P.s. I’m on my second bottle of DPF cleaner.
Billy, I have a Mazda 6 2.2D. Mazda also use the DPF warning light as a ‘service indicator’ and it will come on exactly 13,000 miles after the last time it was reset – whether there’s anything wrong with it or not! All a ploy to get you to always get it serviced at Mazda. Make a note of the mileage last time the DPF light was reset or last time it was serviced at Mazda and if the light comes on check it’s 13000 miles after that. If it is you can either take it to Mazda and give them £100 to reset it or search YouTube for ‘Mazda 6 DPF reset’ and there are a few videos that show you how to do it yourself – all you need is a bit of wire and 5 minutes spare time!
a oil change must be entered into the ecu diagnosticly, if the ecu thinks the oil is past its saturation level it will not regen, i got a mazda 6 recently with knackered dpf, added treatment sat on motorway 2500 rmp for 25 miles, came home told ecu oil changed done cleared codes good as new, but dealerships wrote the car off with a £1000 estimated bill!
Absolute scam again by big corporations that that sell these so called environment aids to extract money from the public when will we waken up.
A blocked Dpf can damage egr and turbo that’s the worst thing a damaged turbo can damage the engine.
On tuesday my Chevrolet Cruze blue out smoke from the exhaust covering 2 lanes of the motorway and revved to a ridiculous level with no feet on the pedal. Managed to pull over onto lay-by and get towed to local garage. Result was a 6 year old car getting oil mixed with diesel and blowing the turbo and possibly damaging the engine. Terminal end to a car with a previous history of DPF forced regens and a blocked DPF with no previous warning.
All those symptoms match those of a blown turbo, rather than a blocked DPF, which should normally shut the car down, or slow to a stop, if not cleared after warning. Beware some cheaper cars use the light for service intervals as well, so do check, and ensure reset the computer or service light.
A turbo going nearly always blows engine, mixing oil as there is no way to turn it off to stop the turbo once gone, it continues till engine etc wrecked unfortunately. Very common on BMWs.
What happens after successful regens and soot turns to ash how long have you got before dpf fills up , also does regen happen automatically every time on long motorway runs and does this save the liquid coming into play with urban driving saving you money on a refill.
I haver read this thread, interesting but I still have a doubt.
I read everywhere of long journeys, short trips etc, but no one defines things more exactly (or, at least, less generically).
My question is: How long is considered to be a “short journey”, in miles? I drive almost every day for 15-20 miles, twice a day, most of the time over 60-70 Km/h (35-45 mph), with occasional long journeys (>60 miles). Would this be enough to keep my DPF healthy?
Thanks in advance,
Max
All depends on how your jurney is how hot the exhaust gets how car is build sometimes even. The abs needs to read the speed off the road so it can Regen on motoer way also needs to get hot eg 15 miles doing 30 50 mph it won’t work
Got a Vauxhall Antara 2012 plate got stuck in a taffic jam thought it was over heating as it looked like smoke appearing from under the bonnet, got home checked the coolant that was fine took it to the garage and they found soot around the turbo and the omissions lead was off. The DFP warning light has not come on at all. I do tow a horse trailer
Very good article , this resolve my problem without taking the car to a garage
Thank You
Hi have 09 insignia 2l diesel.Driving this car for more then 2 years and already changed 4 dpf pressure sensors last one last me for 1 month and it’s a dealer sensor.Maybe anyone had similar problems and knows what may cause this sensor fault.Because I was ar 3 mechanics non of them have a clue what’s wrong with the car
Complete rubbish. I do a 40 mile plus round trip to work and back 6 times a week. Audi A6 avant sline ,80 mph in cruise control. Dpf had blocked 3 times. These companies know their parts which fail, they know which parts cost money and unless forced to (VW emissions scandal) will never recall a car. No car can ever be bought with 100% reliability, and used add on warranties are a joke. BUY NEW. USE THE CONSUMER RIGHTS ACT TO FORCE THEM TO FIX THEIR CARS.
You are 100 % right I have problems with WV Jetta 1.6 TDI bought it 5 months ago APROVED CAR and since I’ve been in garage 5 times to do force regeneration and doesn’t matter if you do 20 miles or 100 miles a day (which I did to prove point) still got clogged up every 3 weeks!!! Don’t buy diesels!
1. Lmao @ moaning about fuel economy. When ur driving at twice the usual rpm, the engine is turning at twice the speed. That means it goes through twice as many cycles of suck, squeeze, bang, blow. So how much more fuel do u think it should use….? (For the not so sharp, it’s twice as much).
2. It’s not just the speed (mph) that matters, it’s the engine speed (rpm) as well. 80 mph in 6th on the motorway, your probably only @ 2k rpm, that’s not high enough.
Tut tut Tony. Driving at twice the revs does not use twice the fuel. You are still moving the same vehicle. Try freewheeling at doubl the revs.Doh
Honda Accord 2.2 diesel driven for 18months mainly long journeys 110miles per day never had an issue.5wks ago dpf light came on Honda cleared it 14days later came on again, back to honda another regen, 7days later on again, back to Honda another regen, 6days later on again, 3regens in 5wks now in for the 4th time with Honda who have been told to diagnose deeper…Any advice anyone?
Do you do motorways or does your engine run always on low regimes? If so (no motorways, low regimes), try to make it run faster for some time (i.e.40 mph with 4th gear for 5 minutes after you have traveed th first 10-15 miles, this should bring th DPF to higher temperaure and favour automatic regen.
But the lower and lower time intervals between forced regens, make me think to an electronic proble. The sensor, maybe, or the ECU is faulty….
Max
Please buy a new car, stop wasting your money. Your throwing good money after BAD.
If you run your diesel on Shell V-Power you are unlikely to have a problem with the DPF throughout it’s life.
Never had a problem with DPF on my Honda 2.2 Diesel and always use Shell V Power diesel.
There are 3xsoftware ungrades on these cars get Honda dealer to check your car has had them otherwise light will keep coming on!
I own a 10 plate Accord Type S. The DPF warning light has just come on for a 3rd time. It’s been to the dealers and had two forced regenerations…at £120 each time. They’ve had their diagnostics kit out but on both occasions there was no fault code showing. They think it may be a faullty sensor. The problem needs sorting as it’s costing me money now. This is my first diesel car…and i think it will be my last!!
I found out this problem today. Luckily I can still initiate the regen myself to clear the build up.
In the manual it says that it will automatically regen with no warning but the dealership say a warning light comes on for two seconds only, not really a long enough warning in my opinion. What i want to know is how do i know it has completed its regen?
You can’t ,of course. :-/
“Due to some reason”, it seems that vendors tend not to make their customers aware of what is happening under the hood.
If you are lucky enough, you’ve got a partial regen, which should grant you some extra distance, while -hopefully- you’ll drive a little longer and faster (i.e. on a motorway) so that passive regen will silently take place by itself or another auto-regen procedure will be initiated: this seems the only phenomenon the driver is allowed to notice, due to the warning light.
The persistence of that light, I think, depends on the builder: in my VW Touran (2.0 TDI BlueMotion) the lamp stays lit during the whole procedure… at least this is what the user manual says, since I never saw it to come up.
The car has now 4500 Km, most of them in daily 25-30 Km trips (twice a day) on mixed/hills and several sporadic journeys (>100 Km) on motorways; I know that auto clean-up should take place every 6-700 Km, so it must have happened several times until now.
The only symptom of that (according to the Manual, again), is a little higher fuel consumption during the procedure, a little smell from the exhaust and the engine fan running longer than usual (due to overheating, I think) after you stop and turn the engine off (this only, I noticed a couple times).
Maybe I’ve been lucky and this has been enough, until, now…
Best things,
Max – Italy
You don’t unfortunately, simply because manufacturers don’t / won’t fit simple dash board lights to say when a DPF is in its regeneration process, which if they did you would know to continue to drive until the process has finished, thus reducing failed or incomplete DPF regenerations. I’ve yet to see any car manufacturer fit a simple warning light to show this, I wonder why they don’t.
I drive a Citroen c4 grand Picasso and am havn this prob plus loss of powers habe used 2 jugs of the stuff u pour down into the diesel… am ready to scream!
My 10 plate Vauxhall zafira did a regen last week and promptly blew the engine. I’ve had the car from almost new, it’s been serviced on time by Vauxhall, probably done regens previously with no problem. As previously described loads of smoke, VERY high revs managed to pull over on busy dual carriageway . Bottom line, almost caused a pile up, and now have a pile of useless junk with a Vauxhall badge on it ! Nobody ever mentioned this potential problem to me, so what do I do now? I cover about 20k a year and always thought diesels were supposed to be reliable work horses. Not happy!
I’ve set up a petition today to get some legal redress against car manufacturers – will you sign it? I could not cover everything I wanted to put in but one is limited to the number of characters you can use. Feel free to forward it on to anyone else you know
Post this link in your browser to sign the petition:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/167609/sponsors/ae5RBUT5wWgC7BrDzmb
My petition:
Protect consumers who experience emission problems with their diesel vehicles
Since 2009 diesel vehicles have been fitted with a diesel particulate filter (DPFs) to remove particles of soot etc from the exhaust to protect the environment and the air we breathe. These filters are failing or becoming clogged up and consumers are being presented with costly repair bills.
I personally was advised that to repair my Honda Civic which was under 4 years old and had covered 33000 miles the cost would be over £3600. Almost 20% of its cost new. Correspondence with Honda UK proved unsuccessful. Some manufacturers do not include DPF’s in their warranties. I would like to see Manufacturers being forced to give 1) A retrospective guarantee on DPF’s for a period of 10 years or 150,000 miles 2) To recall all vehicles sold since 2009 and test the DPFs, compensating owners
Post this link in your browser to sign the petition:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/167609/sponsors/ae5RBUT5wWgC7BrDzmb
In the U.S they have had laws since 1996, which makes the manufacturers liable for all major emissions components fitted to vehicles for a period of 8 years / 80,000 miles, its called the Federal Emissions Warranty. Perhaps UK consumers need to grow a backbone and demand the same, or would that take effort and hence take them away from watching Coronation Street and Facebook?.
Honda want to charge me almost £3700 to replace dpf on my Civic. I am writing an e-petition on the governments website requesting that manufacturers be made to give a no quibble 150,000 mile/10 year guarantee. Only by legislation will manufacturers be forced to give consumers a vehicle which is fit for purpose instead of excuses like you havn’t driven it correctly.
Hopefully it will be published by the end of next week and you can add your signatures
Hi.I have a Honda CRV 2011..bought 2 yrs ago and had nothing but trouble with dpf..2 regens and I’ve just been told it needs replacing.. over £4000 which I really can’t afford..just signed yr petition.
Hi kaz who has told you that you need a new dpf the dealer or a independent garage what is the miles on your car.
You can get OE Quality aftermarket replacement DPF’s for most cars on a certain well known Auction site and they have one for a Civic listed for £400. Reward the dealers for their R&D failures by taking your servicing and repair business elsewhere.
Hi Roland.
It was not the Regen that blow up the engine it was your turbo that failed and sucked oil into the engine and locked up.
If you have full service history with Vauxhall and all is Upto date fight with Vauxhall head office they should pay for this as a goodwill.
Don’t let them get away with it. You have a good case.
Sadly sometimes diesel from the DPF regeneration process can leak into the sump oil (google it) diluting and degrading the oil and hence causing problems with the lubrication of the turbo bearings. Sometimes the oil level can rise to a point where the engine ‘runs away’. It can happen on any car which uses this type of DPF regeneration process.
Get an electric car second hand if you do under 5000 miles a year. Cheaper and hardly anything goes wrong. Charge at home and you are laughing. Second hand electric card are getting cheaper…
And the reason why Electric Cars are getting cheaper on the second hand market is because wear and aging of the batteries have seriously reduced their charge range and the batteries are getting close to needing replacement. Since a new battery pack can cost between £5000 – £10000, who wants to buy a second hand car with the knowledge that very soon you will have to spend £5k+ on a brand new battery pack. I bet you didn’t read that little gem in the glossy brochures did you?.
That’s not entirely true. Most manufacturers guarantee their power packs for 8-12 years. Tesla cars are reaching 100k miles and beyond and still have 85% capacity. A new battery pack for a the leaf appears to be £4600 fitted. If you factor in the cost of ownership during the 8-12 years I’m pretty sure you’ll be quids in at £46.00 per 1000miles plus electricity cost; even against fuel cost per mile of a average diesel car consuming roughly 50mpg totaling £107(£5.36 per gallon) to cover the same distance. In addition this is not taking into account the ever rising cost of petrol/diesel, which is likely to be double the price it is now by 10years from now. Battery pack costs will be dramatically reduced in the same period, although it’s accepted that there will be an increase in electricity costs in that period as well, they will undoubtedly be relatively small.
I have a 2011 X5 diesel same problem BMW has refused to help . I have filed complaint with national highway safety , Federal Trade Commision , and Attorney General .
I am stuck with a car that can’t be traded in , driven or sold . I am left with no choice but to drop it at the junk yard .
I just bought a 3 year old Jaguar XF S. The day I drove it out of the garage the amber DPF warning light came on! I drove straight back to garage who told me to blast it on the motorway!! I did this which did the trick only to have the light come back on 10 days later after doing 4 big motorway journeys. Two days after, the warning light turned red and the engine light also came on.. power of car affected. Garage picked up from me following day. They said they did a diagnostic and did a regen! I got car back today…lot less diesel and 110 more miles on clock! Looks to me like they’ve just blasted on motorway too. If that’s all they’ve done there will be trouble, with a red warning light it needs a proper clean!! Too late to ring them now! Any advice?
I run Dpf cleaning ltd. You need to find out why the car is not being able to do a passive regeneration along the motorway sounds like it’s not doing a full burn . Could be Ash soot or a faulty sensor get the dpf cleaned and get a full diagnostic to why this is happening from a company who know what they are doing .
Hi Mike, Jaguar put some DPF fluid in and carried out a full diagnostic only to find I have got 2 heavy oil leaks also! I am in dispute with the garage I bought the car from at the minute. Thanks
If you have just bought the car, then surely you should have some Warranty from the dealer?. Take it back, stating that you believe it was sold to you with the fault and therefore is not fit for purpose, and unless its fixed you will take further action under The Consumer Rights Act (previously Sale of Goods Act). Do you have any finance on the car? (Even a credit card used for purchasing it), if so the Finance / Credit card company are jointly liable with the dealer for resolving this for you. My final piece of advice, once it fixed, sell the car, because in the coming years you’ll have nothing but problems, and once out of warranty you are setting yourself up for paying out for regular £300 – £400 professional cleanings and eventually a four figure bill when the DPF reaches the end of its service life and needs replacing.
just signed the petition, no problems yet! but keeping everything crossed
I was advised to drive ten miles at above 2000rvs at about 50mph. Did it today, and lights gone off
Driven 100k’s miles with DPF cars, one of which is a pure commuter car, all are VW’s, never a problem. I think the secret is Shell V-Power, a nice clean fuel with a much lower carbon and fuller burn. It may cost a little more at the pump, but with Shell points and extra MPG in real world driving it’s amounts to a couple of pence per litre, well worth it and solves all sorts of emission problems.
I am always shocked by how much replacement DPF’s cost from the dealer, anything from £800 to £2000, some comments here reporting that they have been quoted into the £2000 – £3500 region. How can a component that is mass produced for large scale car manufacturing all over the world and has been fitted to most cars for nearly a decade still cost so much to replace?. Simple – the dealer can charge what they like, as the DPF is a legal requirement, and will eventually fail, so because its something that your car has to have, and it is a consumable then for them its guaranteed service revenue. You can find after market DPF systems for most cars for between £250 and £600, and fitting should cost no more than an hour or two in labour at most High Street Garages, so reward the dealers for their greed by cutting them out of the equation, and save a lot of money at the same time too.
Let me tell you about the worst case scenario when one of these goes wrong.
Our car: BMW X3 20d 2010 with 100,000K on the clock. No DPF dash lights or anything like that.
Turbo started to make a bit of a whining sound, not too bad but we could hear it, then it seemed to go away. Car seemed to be running fine though. The next day my wife called to say the noise had become more noticeable. I told her to call for roadside service. At that point it was all over.
Bottom line, according to the BMW specialist (not dealer) due to the high number of short trips my wife’s car does, the DPF was fairly blocked which forced gases past the turbo bearings, eventually destroying the oil and turbo. After fitting a new replacement genuine turbo they discovered that the gases had also somehow forced their way into the cooling system – and anywhere else they could escape. There was a lot of black soot under the hood which is a tell-tale sign. Icing on the cake was the torx bolts shearing off when they tried to remove the head. In the end we decided to go with a second-hand replacement engine. That’s what’s happening at the moment.
Lessons learned, for me anyway:
1. The car needs regular long drives. Don’t use a turbo diesel as your town and occasional trip car.
2. A blocked DPF exacerbates oil degradation. According to the BMW specialist (not dealer), you must change the oil more often than the recommended service interval on the dash recommends. The 25000 KM’s the computer tells you is just BMW marketing, or maybe some idealistic autobahn driving scenario.
3. Don’t buy a diesel car. They’re just time bombs. Funny how you only find out about these things once you have the problem. Google or Youtube DPF e.g.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzRR8BTVsyw
The whining sound on your X3 was almost due to worn turbo bearings, which once starting the typical ‘whine’ will give out shortly afterwards. The only reasons for worn turbo bearings is oil starvation, due to either a blocked oil feed pipe, not allowing the engine to idle for 20seconds after a hard run, not having the correct grade oil or simply not changing the oil often enough (every 16000KM). There is no water cooling involved in a turbo, the oil does all the cooling required, so I don’t understand what your garage is telling you. Very often when a turbo ‘goes’ it will force oil and bits of shredded metal through the intercooler, which would also need replacing, all interconnecting pipework would have to be flushed through to ensure the they are perfectly clean. Lots of short low speed trips will often block a DPF, it will also carbonise the cylinder head. Using good quality fuel can help immeasurably with the soot issue, as can a nice long high rev blast down the motorway.
I think manufacturers have been extending the service intervals to please the fleet providers, where service costs matter, but usually dispose of cars after 60,000miles (just under 100,000km). So, they only need a product to last that length of time without problem to satisfy their needs. It’s quite common for turbos (commuter petrol/diesel combustion engine) to only last 70-80,000miles; considering how fast the blades turn in such a hot hostile environment and maintaining exceptionally close rotational and end tolerance, this is not surprising.
To summerise, oil is the key to a long lasting turbo. Regular changes of the correct grade will keep it singing along nicely for many, many miles without problem.
Very well explained mate.
But if the dpf was blocked it will strain the turbo from bost and damage the turbo bearing making it fail
If the dpf was partially blocked there would be less gas flowing through, which in turn would mean the turbo wouldn’t spool, giving poor performance. Sam, I fail to see how this would ‘strain’ the turbo since spin speed is directly proportional to flow of exhaust gas. A supercharger on the other hand would result in something totally different and more akin to what you suggest. I feel happy to be educated tho if you can so kind to explain 😀
back pressure build up
As I work for main dealer and seen this on quite few cars where the dpf completely blocked and damaged the turbo also seen where dpf has block and thrown back the carbon and damaged the turbo.
Ah, what you are trying to say is, back pressure builds, the ECU detects this and goes into a forced regeneration, throwing more fuel into the system, causing more heat in an attempt to burn the carbon out of the DPF, unfortunately it’s so blocked that the heat doesn’t flow out of the exhaust but travels backwards, cooking oil seals and turns bearing oil to ash creating a non floating bearing, instant metal to metal, turbo innards shatter……. Basically, it’s rubbish ECU software TBH, it should never allow the car to get to that stage. The fore pressure sensor should signal that the issue is not sorted and has gone too far out of parameter and go into limp (non turbo) mode to prevent any damage. Guess BMW still have more R&D to do!
Not just BMW mate fords merc even Audi I seen it on if it’s in limp mode it don’t mean the turbo don’t spin it just cuts out the actuator but when u crank the engine regardless turbo still spins mate
My last Passat was a 1999 model which had 250,000 on the same turbo. As others have pointed out, all the latest technology added to diesels to try and make them less polluting has really clobbered their efficiency, my 99 Passat would easily get 65 MPG on my 20 mile commute home, the 2005 Passat I replaced it with struggles to do 50 MPG over the same journey. The day of the diesel is over, it was a blind alley that punters were driven down by bad advice from the government. As soon as they announce the scrapage scheme I’m out.
Just bought Audi A1 First week PDF light came on car juddering no power fan coming on all the time and stop/start not working. Garage did test run said everything was ok!! Had it 3 weeks now and PDF comes on every couple of days same thing happening, I’m doing miles up and down motorway as hand book advises… seems to clear light then comes back on within 2 days. Booked in again with garage can’t get appointments ent for 10 days !! So disappointed, Audi just keep saying well if your worried just call Audi assist!! What can I do, any advice please… I’m a woman and feel garage not taking me seriously
Could you give us more information, please Jan? Is the car brand new? Or a used model? Did you know you have 30 days to reject the vehicle? Please see our story outlining the Consumer Rights Act and the rights car buyers have – it’s important to act quickly, and put everything in writing (email is fine) so you have a record: http://34.248.221.191/2015/new-consumer-rights-act-what-it-means-for-car-owners/
Hi January Lyle, What you are explaining is a typical example of ash accumulation in the DPF which is none combustible, so any short fixes will only remove soot at best. Ash arises from the combustion of additives in engine oil and like your log fire at home ash is non-combustible, ash needs to be physically removed by a professional service.
That’s assuming your garage has carried out a full emissions diagnostic check. However as mentioned your issue is common.
Hi James vehicle is used car yes I just been asking about the warranty as I did not know this… they asked if I want a petrol model if I’m doing short journeys, I really want I have fixed as it’s a beautiful car A1 S line, 1.6tdi style edition. We previously had 3 diesel cars with no problem doing mix of short and long journeys so why this one? I have put in the BP fuel ultimate (2tanks now) to see if any differences and did a 400 round trip at the weekend, let’s see how long now before light comes back on…
Just don’t mind of premium fuel unless the manual states you SHOULD use it, it doesn’t make any practical difference, since the extra power it gives is compensated by the car’s ECU in order to give proper performance. Also the supposed “cleanlines” is just a scam…
For who’s interested, there are many videos on Youtube about this issue: this is just one among them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPPkPAbzwbU
Since your Audi is a used one, it’s almost impossible to know how did the previous owner use that car: As afar as you know, he/she may have run hundreds of miles in very short trips @ 25 Mph…
I bet it will be OK after the guys at the garage will do a forced cleanup.
I’ve never bought a used one, but I wonder if the “guarantee” they give with those cars only covers the engine and mechanics or also other parts such as the filtering system…
Cheers,
Max
Can’t agree with you. After running many, many different cars for many 100,000’s of miles I can tell you V.Power WILL give you a higher MPG, it WILL prevent DPF problems, it will clean up an old engine and it’s emissions, it will give you a smoother running engine that has more get up and go. After running a car run on V.Power and then putting supermarket fuel in it, on every occasion there is a lack of performance. If there is no difference when you put V.power in your tank, it’s usually because it takes time to clean out the varnish, gums and carbon from the fuel system; given time, you will see a difference in performance and confirmed by the HC and CO numbers when it comes to MOT time.
Thanks for your answer.. yes it’s probably going to cost me when it goes in but that’s Audi … someone also told me to use redex??
Crickey, what a great thread this is to the uninitiated. PDF,DPF,EGR, Let me explain my driving. I run a 2013 Dacia Duster Laureate 1.5 DCI 4WD & very pleased with it. Bought new in 2013 & I’ve only done 20k. Now the naughty bit. I coast at every opportunity & am delighted that most of my running is around the 2000+ rpm in top (6th)
Consequently my mileage is always around 45-48mpg. Now reading this, I’m wondering if I’m heading for trouble. Another thing is, I never use is the AC, unless I remember every now & then to turn it on, as I once read you should.
Beware and read your manual to learn the various warning lights . Dealers use them to make easy money , I use quality fuel and top additive to ensure soot burnt @ lower temperature but you still need some revs to shift it in exhaust to burn . All dpf cars should have been made with auto feed to aid this like the later add blue ones .Bad liaison between government and manufacturers .Don’t panic go through regen process with additive or pay dealer to use your fuel to do it in garage hence bad mpg .Every thing in the closed loop must be kept clean or they clog up , misrepresentation of mpg by manufacturers as they knew this . Class action required , we are lucky as live out of town and park @ edge of town now as shortens low rev miles , collusion ? . Our 4×4 is to enable getting out in the winter and on field etc and we pay for it
When buying diesel with DPF make sure the DPF if fitted just after the turbo this will get hotter very quickly helping to clean it better, Vauxhall, Jaguar and Alfa Romeo use this method, the main cause of soot on diesels is no one ever uses a good injector cleaner, I used to service diesel injectors and pumps and you would not believe how fast the injector will clog, I have seen a poor atomising injectors that have done less than 10,000miles, this will throw out a smog of soot just the stuff to clog the DPF, use a full bottle of Forte in half a tank of fuel and then diesel magic or Wynn’s every 5 – 10.000 miles or less if you drive short journeys, the worse condition the injectors are the better the result, for diesels this is a must just to keep them in good condition and keep the mpg at its best.
DPF cleaner you ask? How is it going to clean a DPF in the exhaust lol, it’s just an injector cleaner and a gimmick avoid.
Hi Guys,
I’ve bought a Zafira 2007 CDTI1.9 with 90k on the clock. I’d only had the damn thing a week and the swirling glow plug lights came on and off, i took it to the garage and there’s no faults coming on their machine, so i took it to vauxhall and they said it needed a regeneration. I had this done at £95 two days later the glow plugs came back on, took it back they regenerated it again, i thought i’d cracked it but today the lights came on again. So earlier i had the engine cleaned via nitrogen engine system management company at the cost of £80. Started it back up still the glow plug lights are coming on and off! I’ve had an utter nightmare with this car in the short 3 weeks i’ve had it 🙁
Hi everyone, I have had a Honda Civic diesel since 2013 and only now am I having problems with the filter. When the DPF light came on, I was told to run the engine at 55 mph, in third gear up and down the motorway a few times until the light went off. They didn’t tell me how long to do this for, so I did this a couple of times a week for about a month until an engine icon came on also. Honda said the regen didn’t work, and I am now presented with a £1000 bill. They told me that I am not doing enough miles on the car. Being retired, I only do about 3000 miles per year. I am not happy that they didn’t inform me when I bought the car that I had to do long journeys, to prevent DPF problems.
My Zafira just had Terra clean done throughout the whole engine… it worked for an hour took the car our for a long spin then when sat in traffic the engine light came back on and i was back to limp mode… My mechanic reckons all the carbon has blocked the dpf filter completely now and seeing as i cant drive it the only 2 solutions are replace the dpf system completely or heat the filter to 500 degrees and burn the carbon out of it… Or another 3rd option is to remove the filter completely. Which is illegal…
I have a honda accord and this is the 2 d time in 6 weeks my pdf light has come on. I dont get the chance to try the continuios running thing because it just has the check with professionals light. I paid honda to do a regen and dont think they completed it properley because it only took maxium 15 mins and i was told it should take an hour and half.. I paid the bill because the light was off but now its back on.. Why is it happening now i have had the car 3.5 yrs with no problems its an 59 plate.
Hi. Looks like your DPF is full beyond force regen level hence its failing regen. It could be a faulty sensor too. Unfortunately main dealer doesn’t know much about DPF plus they want you to Change it as well.
A lot of people try going on motorway to clean the DPF which is not a good idea. You don’t know how full your DPF is. Doing on motorway and putting your foot down can result in high back pressure which can damage your turbo pipe, turbo or in worst situation can damage the engine.
Your DPF needs cleaning.
Hi Carol.
Unfortunately most of the time main dealer is no help. Do you know any error code showing on your dash? Does it have any power left?
Thanks
What sort of driving do you do (urban or motorway) and what brand of fuel do you use?
Please see my post of 31.1.2018
I had a Honda 2.2 Diesel. My local Honda dealership tried to charge me £3,680 re my DPF problem. This was after consulting with Honda UK. After 6 weeks of arguments and twice unsuccessfully asking for a breakdown of the parts and labour which made up their estimate I took the car away. A local independent garage looked at it, found the problem, bought the part from Honda for £250 and fitted it for under £50. I will never ever have any more dealings with Honda.
I had the same problem with my VW Touran. I drove in on moterway at around 60MPH in 5th gear (Generally I will use 6th car) and the sign went off in less than 5 min. Thank you
I’m wondering when BMW is gonna fix emissions parts and software I’ve had my 335d in garage more hours then on the road playing the emission guessing game costing me thousands of dollars. And not fixing the problem, which is all from egr, dpf, software , sweral flaps, causing back pressure srs, massair, injector, exhaust pressure sceners , vacuum reservoir and line to melt. Along with exhisisive engine heat and wair on turbos
Nothing wrong with diesel cars, per se. The problem is with governments and car makers introducing legislation & technology which has not been fully developed. It is then left to the customer- you & I- to do the testing and development. Owners and drivers of heavy goods vehicles have had this problem for years- vehicle being unleashed on to the consumer without sufficient trialling and development, costing vast amounts of money when unrefined tech leaves them facing huge breakdown and repair bills. When considering buying a diesel car, I would recommend one from a manufacturer with at least 50 years experience in diesels- some car makers are “still learning” and are leaving it to the public to discover their products’ shortcomings.
Hi
DPF well they fitted to trucks also. The have automatic regeneration. Ignore the regeneration process 3 time’s, kill it and the dpf is 5000 to 6000 on a merc..So if you have issues in your car van etc. stop the car and rev the car above 1750.for a while Basically trying to burn the soot out ,any thing near hundred thousand miles or above could be ash. Will need cleaned. Ford’s use additives but need topped up around 70000 miles but means it cleans the dpf at lower temperature which is better for shorter journeys but as above 10 mins above 2000 revs on a dual carriage at running temperature will clean it. I run 2 cars with dpf no issue. Think big key I use only shell or Bp, the additives create less sulphur, less soot. Every now then use advance rather pay a few pence extra than 1000+ avoid asda fuel ran in Mondeo notthinh but issues 2ltr 2010 model.
If you don’t do motoways just think about giving a rev up to 2000rpm for 10 min at running temp longer if cold.
2014 Vauxhall Cascada, All figures approximate, using OPL DPF app with OBD2 adaptor
Hi, these are my findings while running a Cascada for 3 years, the app is a must otherwise a lot of guesswork is used….Use of the DPF is a black art, they need a dashboard gauge, but the manufacturers don’t fit them….. The % and temperatures shown are displayed on the app.
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0-83%. DPF slowly fills, passive regen not possible, engine runs at ~300’c even on long runs, (need 600′ to regenerate)
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84% No warning lights, but will allow passive regen (2500revs, 10mile trip, 600’c) If a passive regen does not occur then it is stored as a failed regen, dpf keeps filling
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~90%. Mandatory Warning Light after failed passive regens, 2500revs, 10mile trip needed. If a regen is not possible, due to traffic jam, low fuel or similar, then dpf continues to fill.
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>95% -100% May not regenerate. Check if app shows regen. Need to manually clean filter/force regen at dealer.
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If vehicle is only used for short trips, wait until filter is over 84% and then regenerate the filter by doing a motorway trip (2500revs,10miles, 600′) otherwise motorway trips to regenerate are a waste of time and fuel.
Possibly at a preset mileage (500miles) there could be a warning light for a regen
even though there could have been a recent regeneration
Regen restores filter from 84% to 30%.
Short run, 1.0mile fills the filter 1%.
Mixed run, 2.5miles fills the filter 1%.
Motorway, 6.0miles fills the filter 1%
Additives appear to make little difference
Please note these are my findings on a Cascada, they may or may not suit your vehicle (or even another Cascada!)
Good Luck
I am able to do forced DPF regenerations using some specialist software. I wonder if it’s worth doing this procedure every 6 months or so as preventative maintenance. My only concern is that perhaps running a forced regeneration could cause more harm than good if the DPF is not heavily blocked.
Hi My Astra 2.0 turbi diesel 2011 has a problem with the DPF. The garage cant get it to passivley regenerate and I am unsure whether to get a static regeneration as they have said they have had a similar model which has caught fire. Is this normal? I am unsure whether I need to purchase an expensive new DPF or risk the cheaper static regeneration. Does anyone have any thoughts or experience on this? thanks
Hi, so this happened: I was driving for 10-15mins on a motorway with 1.9-2.1k rpms, the car then prompted a warning message which means DPF needs cleaning, and after several seconds the car started to make a lot of smoke, I mean A LOT… After driving it for 30mins with 3-3.5k rpm I stopped, but it was still smoking, I turned off the engine, because I had to, and when I turned it back on later (engine was not cooled down) – there was no light nor the smoke. Turbos seem to work properly. Please help, is this okay, or is it something else than DPF? Thank you!
I purchased a Vauxhall Meriva 1.7 cdti a few months back and being my first diesel car I knew nothing about diesel particulate filters and the problems associated with them until one night the dpf light came on and code 55 came up on the information panel, so I checked the handbook and it didn’t seem too serious so I just kept driving, then the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree and the car and spanner symbol came on.
So I drove it home and parked it contacted green flag who sent someone out and he explained a bit about it and that I needed to drive it for twenty minutes on the motorway to clear the build up of soot out of the engine.
I had the car taken back to the dealer as it was still under warranty and the handbook recommended this and they checked it and did a diagnostic and apparently the active cleaning cycle which activates the ecu had kicked in but other than that the car was fine and again I was advised to drive it on the motorway for about 20 minutes to help the system clear itself.
I did this yesterday and again today with a longer run but the fault light is still on though the car is running fine.
How do you know if the system is cleaning?
Does the light go off when the regenerative cycle is complete?
So far mine hasn’t and it just feels like I am wasting petrol, I would never have bought diesel if I had know about this.
hi i got w 204 (2012.12) cdi with 2.2 engine , recently i changed the mileage 200k to 140 k after an hour EML turned on, when i diagnose it , it showed that ur DPf is clogged so remove the entire dpf and cleaned (the process took 3 hours to clean) and dpf was clogged about 45% . when i start the car the light was gone but after few minutes the EML turned on again,
the car is on limp mode and has lost its power when running on highway
so if i increase the mileage about 210k km will the light turn off?
Read all this lot of misinformation a diesel engine will generate more exhaust heat from pulling using the torque than reving it hard creates so yes 1800 rpm at 60 is fine. on motorway run engine uses passive regen meaning no extra fueling or timing alterations just uses built up heat if this condition cannot be met due to to high soot accumulation being one reason of many it thenhas to go into ECU controlled regen slightly higher fuel level through injectors retarted injection timing resulting in higher exhaust temps extra injection pulses ect to burn soot into ash this one can still fail if dpf is at high soot content this is when a diagnostic is used to carry out forced regen although regen cannot be forced it can only happen when all criteria is met enough fuel soot content below certain level depending on car so won’t get in to numbers here I have had a lot of success removing dpf and using dpf liquid cleaners and steam cleaner at this point the dpf has to be pretty bad and had its life to fail on this one after cleaning I usually do diagnostic regen as well afterwards u usually then see a big differance in dpf before and after pressure and calculated soot contents can go very low I do a lot of short trips in my own dpf equipped car I make a point of 20 mile round trip once a month at 60mph top gear 1750 rpm after this soot content and dpf pressures are much better as tend to check on my autel diagnostic so there is your proof no need to rev them to death if dpf is reasonably healthy