B8 A4 3.0 TDi DPF Oddness

[nedge2k]

Bought car about 10mths ago with about 110k on it.

Couple of months ago got flashing glow plug light followed by management light. Took it for a thrash, reset the fault with OBDEleven, all good.

Couple weeks ago it came back and I couldn't clear the fault.

Today I have managed to clear it after a 50mile round trip keeping it above 2500rpm for 90% of the journey.

While trying to clear it, I tried to force a regen - car in park, engine up to temp etc. - failed for "safety reasons"

Had a look at the DPF figures and this is what I have...

Ash: 0L
Soot Measured: 96.54g
Soot Calculated: 96.54g
KM since last regen: 54259501m (54,000km!?)
Fuel since last regen: 139.93L
Time since last regen: 4290990s (1,192hrs?)
Differential pressure: 43hpa
Pressure offset: 29hpa

Not quite sure what to make of those figures. No ash but 100g measured soot? 34k since last regen?

Other then general service history, I've no idea if DPF has ever been replaced or if someone gutted it and tried to code it out. I've got needle sweep so someone was definitely playing at some point.

Car pulls hard, really hard, even when glow plug and mil light on. Would have though it would be dog slow if DPF clogged but this is our first DPF motors so...

Oh, also, I've yet to see the DPF symbol come up in the DIS.

Does this make sense to anyone?

[GreenV8S]

If you have a fault light you should have a fault code, which would guide you to what the ECU thinks is wrong. It seems strange for it to have gone so long without a DPF regen, but if that differential pressure reading is accurate then the DPF isn't blocked. Your suspicion that it's had the DPF removed might explain why it still isn't blocked after all that time.

[stevieturbo]

Another thing to consider, when buying a lot of diesels etc these days, where you cannot 100% verify all its history, is far far too many have had dodgy remaps, and all sorts of code reporting deleted.
So you just never know what you might be dealing with.

[nedge2k]

GreenV8S said:

If you have a fault light you should have a fault code

I did indeed and it was relating to one of the DPF pressure sensors (P245300) but once cleared the first time, didn't return for a couple months. Which makes me wonder if DPF coded out badly rather than faulty?

[nedge2k]

Bah, fault code back today. Guess I'm just gonna have to replace it and see what happens.