Who's had the biggest DPF bill?

[vit4]

Out of interest, will my old man's 2005 Fabia 1.9 have one? His day comprises of a lot of mileage made up entirely of short journeys, so probably a candidate for it to go if it does have one...

[frosted]

Crafty_ said:

I know an Audi technician who will advise you to run away from DPFs.

most of the Audis have a procedure you have to follow when the light comes on to cause a "burn" to purge the DPF. I forget the exact requirement but its something like a 60 minute drive at a certain rev range. He regularly sees cars that don't get a chance to be purged, or worse still that keep putting the light on several times in a short period of time - 2 or 3 times a week in some cases - owners think they are seeing a fault because the purge doesn't work, so the car goes to the dealer. In the end the DPF needs replacing and can be into 4 figures.

A case of the technology just being ready I think.

I wouldn't think there's a big difference between VW and Audi units and its far from 60 minute drive , chinese whispers again.

I was at BMW in Camden Town on friday and the mechanic there said dont buy BMW and showed me all the cars in for repairs , does that mean BMWs are crap ?

Edited by frosted on Monday 22 November 21:01

[MondeoMan1981]

No PDF on my HDi thankfully. Although I get plenty of motorway miles in.

Crank pulley made of finest French cheese has been my worst issue. Stealer wanted £326 to replace, over £100 for the part alone (£55 cost price I believe).

Local place I've used in the past replaced it for just under £120.

[liner33]

We have had our PD170 Octavia for 4+ years and apart from some issues with a pressure sensor (warranty job) the dpf has been fine for the last 65,000miles. Our CR170 Superb which is coming up for 30k and 2 years old has been fine. We dont use supermarket petrol though

Last mot on the Octy the limit was 1500ppm on the emission , the car produced 0ppm , doesnt get better than that.

As for servicing the Octy has been around £300 every 18,500miles* the Superb is free for 3 years


Both cars average 41-44mpg and also produce around 200hp on the dyno.

• Is that really more than a main dealer service on a petrol??

[kentmotorcompany]

I always say a technician who works for a particular brand is the worst person to ask an opinion about that brand.

He will always see the worst of it. For every time he see's "yet another" car in for a DPF fault how does he know there isn't another 100 running perfectly fine with no faults?

Don't get me wrong, he is the best person qualified to fix the fault, but he only experiences a very narrow portion of the market, so it is difficult for him to have an objective view.

Edited by kentmotorcompany on Monday 22 November 21:13

[Jonny671]

We've only done a few DPFs at work. Mostly people who use them for the school run.

The DPF light will come on, and go into fail safe not too long after if the oil gets too high so you need it emptying and regenerating.

[thinfourth2]

A large part of the DPF problem is folk buying diesels for the wrong reason.

Guy at work bought a diesel for his wife to drive 2miles to the shops and back. Had the dreaded DPF death and it cost him over a grand instantly wiping out any savings he made on fuel.

Everyone wants a diesels they are good on fuel but ignore the higher breakdown and purchases costs. It took a lot of convincing not to replace his diesel with another diesel but he finally got it about bought a petrol.

[Mrs Fish]

James here:

I really don't like this new DPF direction. People buy cars for a number of years and o say you can only drive a car in a certain still is crap. You could buy it for long 30mile commutes, great for DPF then move house and just use for shop runs...could kill DPF.

If the DPF breaks no matter how your driving I would happily argue the vehicle is not fit for purpose. Unfortunately the manufacturers are having their hands forced by legislation and I can't imagine would want to fit DPFs if they had the choice as they kill mpg creating quite a restriction in the exhaust.

I have two DPFs same engine one VW one Audi. If they go in warranty their expensive problem if they go outside they will be deleted, no problem and more mpg.

I do think all the tech in new cars will bite us in 5 years as motoring will continue to get more expensive and old cars will be economically scrap.

[thinfourth2]

Mrs Fish said:

James here:

I really don't like this new DPF direction. People buy cars for a number of years and o say you can only drive a car in a certain still is crap. You could buy it for long 30mile commutes, great for DPF then move house and just use for shop runs...could kill DPF.

If the DPF breaks no matter how your driving I would happily argue the vehicle is not fit for purpose. Unfortunately the manufacturers are having their hands forced by legislation and I can't imagine would want to fit DPFs if they had the choice as they kill mpg creating quite a restriction in the exhaust.

I have two DPFs same engine one VW one Audi. If they go in warranty their expensive problem if they go outside they will be deleted, no problem and more mpg.

I do think all the tech in new cars will bite us in 5 years as motoring will continue to get more expensive and old cars will be economically scrap.

Legislators want us to all be green but are forcing older cars towards the scrapyard

Whats green about scrapping something that works?

[Jonny671]

Mrs Fish said:

James here:

I really don't like this new DPF direction. People buy cars for a number of years and o say you can only drive a car in a certain still is crap. You could buy it for long 30mile commutes, great for DPF then move house and just use for shop runs...could kill DPF.

If the DPF breaks no matter how your driving I would happily argue the vehicle is not fit for purpose. Unfortunately the manufacturers are having their hands forced by legislation and I can't imagine would want to fit DPFs if they had the choice as they kill mpg creating quite a restriction in the exhaust.

I have two DPFs same engine one VW one Audi. If they go in warranty their expensive problem if they go outside they will be deleted, no problem and more mpg.

I do think all the tech in new cars will bite us in 5 years as motoring will continue to get more expensive and old cars will be economically scrap.

I think it'll fail the emissions without it, no?

[thinfourth2]

Jonny671 said:

I think it'll fail the emissions without it, no?

Don't think so

[spaximus]

DPF is the work of the devil. My brand new Mazda has a fault where it is constantly trying to regenerate. Mazda have had a lot of trouble with the technology working as have other manufactureres. My car does 200 miles daily so should not be a problem but it is. The reason is that to reach the emissions target they have to be fitted and this is why the diesel car will be replaced again by petrol as they cannot meet the ever lowere emissions that the EU demand.

Local garages are not seeing these too much yet as the main dealers are getting them as the fault codes come up on the dash. These are however being replaced in their hundreds every day.

When I retire I will by a simple petrol engined car, like an old Jag, cheap parts easy fix no electronics to go wrong. The extra petrol I will use will be minimal at the side of the savings on the biblical scale repairs that are heading our way.

[y2blade]

Euro 3 here ... so nothing

[Jonny671]

thinfourth2 said:

Jonny671 said:

I think it'll fail the emissions without it, no?

Don't think so

But surely it's there to get lower emissions, which when you MOT you have to enter the vehicle details which will have the low emissions parameters..

[Fish]

I'm farly certain but a Euro V car with no DPF would breeze an MOT.

[HellDiver]

kentmotorcompany said:

I always say a technician who works for a particular brand is the worst person to ask an opinion about that brand.

He will always see the worst of it. For every time he see's "yet another" car in for a DPF fault how does he know there isn't another 100 running perfectly fine with no faults?

I don't agree. In a previous life, I worked for a local computer repair company. I could tell what motherboards or hard-drives PCs had by the failure mode. I always saw those particular components failing, way way more than any others.

A VW mechanic is going to see lots of DPF fitted cars coming back, and he'll know by experience that the number of cars coming back is high compared to what goes out the door with "SOLD" written on them, and also compared to the return rate of previous models.

[liner33]

Jonny671 said:

thinfourth2 said:

Jonny671 said:

I think it'll fail the emissions without it, no?

Don't think so

But surely it's there to get lower emissions, which when you MOT you have to enter the vehicle details which will have the low emissions parameters..

there is emissions and there is emissions , the mot test doesnt hold the car to the same standard it had at production its a totally difference measurement, i removed the cats on my E class and had no troubles with emissions and i will remove the dpf when the exhaust needs replacing

Not all the exhaust gasses go through the dpf as far as i'm aware

[james_tigerwoods]

Just worry when your injectors go - if it's a VW, that'll be all of your money please...

[Jonny671]

liner33 said:

Jonny671 said:

thinfourth2 said:

Jonny671 said:

I think it'll fail the emissions without it, no?

Don't think so

But surely it's there to get lower emissions, which when you MOT you have to enter the vehicle details which will have the low emissions parameters..

there is emissions and there is emissions , the mot test doesnt hold the car to the same standard it had at production its a totally difference measurement, i removed the cats on my E class and had no troubles with emissions and i will remove the dpf when the exhaust needs replacing

Not all the exhaust gasses go through the dpf as far as i'm aware

Okay, I thought that they were fitted because of the emissions being lowered by Europe and having to use DPFs to get the emissions low enough to be sold in the various markets.. Obviously not though which is good.

[The Wookie]

Jonny671 said:

thinfourth2 said:

Jonny671 said:

I think it'll fail the emissions without it, no?

Don't think so

But surely it's there to get lower emissions, which when you MOT you have to enter the vehicle details which will have the low emissions parameters..

Nope, we established that there's only a smoke measurement test and the requirements for a Diesel haven't changed since 1979.

The DPF is purely for type approval (Euro V specifically), and the car will pass the MOT without it