Best urban driving style to avoid clogged egr/dpf?
Discussion
Having had to replace my EGR valve at only 32k I'm wondering if there's a way to prolong the life of this and other effected parts by adopting a different driving style. Most of us know modern diesels don't much like urban driving and need regular motorway trips to keep things clear by maintaining hotter exhaust temperatures and burning the soot off. But this is at a sustained load so I imagine its a low soot output:exhaust temperature ratio.
Sometimes lots of town driving's innevitable though and it's not always practical to get a good motorway run in every week. So the big question is whether it's better to drive using harder acceleration in town and therefore increasing the workload of the engine to help burn off/blow through more soot? Or is it better to accelerate gently to prevent lots of soot being created in the first place?
Older diesels seem to put out a lot of soot under harder acceleration which would make you think the engine chucks out lots of soot when accelerating hard, but then it could just be all built up soot in.the exhaust system being blown out...
Whaddya reckon?
Sometimes lots of town driving's innevitable though and it's not always practical to get a good motorway run in every week. So the big question is whether it's better to drive using harder acceleration in town and therefore increasing the workload of the engine to help burn off/blow through more soot? Or is it better to accelerate gently to prevent lots of soot being created in the first place?
Older diesels seem to put out a lot of soot under harder acceleration which would make you think the engine chucks out lots of soot when accelerating hard, but then it could just be all built up soot in.the exhaust system being blown out...
Whaddya reckon?
Putting your foot down for short bursts will just burn more fuel, create more soot and smoke and just make things worse.
If you really can't give it a good run for the DPF regen, then I'd seriously think about getting rid and getting a petrol. A dealer would probably bite your hand off if you wanted to trade him for the equivalent petrol model, as Diesels are a lot easier to sell.
If you really can't give it a good run for the DPF regen, then I'd seriously think about getting rid and getting a petrol. A dealer would probably bite your hand off if you wanted to trade him for the equivalent petrol model, as Diesels are a lot easier to sell.
Edited by TheTurbonator on Tuesday 4th March 20:55
Thing is though I'm a contractor so some months I might be in the city and others I might be doing mega motorway miles.
All i'd like to know is which is the best method when driving in cities as it seems a bit of a mysterious one, not a vehicle appraisal. Besides, I doubt every diesel out there does exclusively motorway miles.
All i'd like to know is which is the best method when driving in cities as it seems a bit of a mysterious one, not a vehicle appraisal. Besides, I doubt every diesel out there does exclusively motorway miles.
The wife's last car an astra 1.9 cdti had 2 egr's, inlet manifold and associated parts (totally gummed up) in 40k miles, it only did one 80 mile motorway run once a week and it was always run on the cheapest supermarket diesel, she's got the latest one now a 2.0 cdti if she's town driving she tends to use higher gears and it's only run on shell diesel and it seems to be doing okay.
Ubbs
Ubbs
The wife's last car an astra 1.9 cdti had 2 egr's, inlet manifold and associated parts (totally gummed up) in 40k miles, it only did one 80 mile motorway run once a week and it was always run on the cheapest supermarket diesel, she's got the latest one now a 2.0 cdti if she's town driving she tends to use higher gears and it's only run on shell diesel and it seems to be doing okay.
Ubbs
Ubbs
The wife's last car an astra 1.9 cdti had 2 egr's, inlet manifold and associated parts (totally gummed up) in 40k miles, it only did one 80 mile motorway run once a week and it was always run on the cheapest supermarket diesel, she's got the latest one now a 2.0 cdti if she's town driving she tends to use higher gears and it's only run on shell diesel and it seems to be doing okay.
Ubbs
Ubbs
The ecu will sense when it is best to regenerate the DPF, and as you have identified, this is at sustained high exhaust temperatures such as on a motorway drive.
Diesel smoke is caused by a rich mixture, and always seems to me to be worse 'off boost'.
I would drive, as far as possible, at higher rpms and lighter throttle loads to produce less soot.
Have you thought about a petrol engined car with a very high final drive ratio? They can do very well on long motorway journeys and you don't have any dpf rubbish to worry about.
Diesel smoke is caused by a rich mixture, and always seems to me to be worse 'off boost'.
I would drive, as far as possible, at higher rpms and lighter throttle loads to produce less soot.
Have you thought about a petrol engined car with a very high final drive ratio? They can do very well on long motorway journeys and you don't have any dpf rubbish to worry about.
VeeFource said:
Thing is though I'm a contractor so some months I might be in the city and others I might be doing mega motorway miles.
All i'd like to know is which is the best method when driving in cities as it seems a bit of a mysterious one, not a vehicle appraisal. Besides, I doubt every diesel out there does exclusively motorway miles.
There isn't one diesels are not designed to do stop start city driving. From the cars I see in the garage I work at the diesel variants the ones with high mileage spend far less time in the garage compared to the ones that have low mileage and spend all day around town. All i'd like to know is which is the best method when driving in cities as it seems a bit of a mysterious one, not a vehicle appraisal. Besides, I doubt every diesel out there does exclusively motorway miles.
If your job switches like what you said what about a petrol hybrid will be good in the city and apparently get good fuel consumption on long runs. Cheaper than dealing with troublesome diesels.
VeeFource said:
Thing is though I'm a contractor so some months I might be in the city and others I might be doing mega motorway miles.
All i'd like to know is which is the best method when driving in cities as it seems a bit of a mysterious one, not a vehicle appraisal. Besides, I doubt every diesel out there does exclusively motorway miles.
If you are getting it good and hot on motorways sort of regularly it should be fineAll i'd like to know is which is the best method when driving in cities as it seems a bit of a mysterious one, not a vehicle appraisal. Besides, I doubt every diesel out there does exclusively motorway miles.
VeeFource said:
I hear what you're all saying about an eco petrol, guess I just prefer a torquey diesel over a small droney inline 4 petrol. I know if I start looking at petrols I'll end up going for a V6 something or other which of course defeats the object.
Long gearing. I used to get 40mpg out of my 328i on the motorway quite easily. Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff