Who's had the biggest DPF bill?

[Deva Link]

Dog Star said:

Just this morning I noted that Mercedes Hull charge and extra £25 to service a car with a DPF; says it all really

Says they realise it needs Low Ash oil, which is a bit dealer than the ordinary stuff.

It's quite good that they recognise this - the MB forums are littered with threads from people whose Mercedes dealers used the wrong oil in DPF equipped cars.

[Rich_W]

frosted said:

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

Depends on 2 things. How sooted up it is (Normally if it's reached a dealer it's already in "restricted performance" mode. And secondly how thorough you want to be. We use the A3 to do them, and we can see the actual figures with the computer. (It FORCES a regeneration) Personally I always take it down to 0% but if you take it to 8-10% the light will go out. It can take a good 5 mins to start and then between 20-45mins to clear it all out.

biggest issue is the BlueMotion Polos. Sold almost exclusively to companies and used as runabouts. They (seemingly) never get to regenerate themselves. DPF is not bad technology persay, it's just unsuited to the majority of consumers requirements.

Edited by Rich_W on Tuesday 23 November 21:02

[Jonny671]

Rich_W said:

frosted said:

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

Depends on 2 things. How sooted up it is (Normally if it's reached a dealer it's already in "restricted performance" mode. And secondly how thorough you want to be. We use the A3 to do them, and we can see the actual figures with the computer. (It FORCES a regeneration) Personally I always take it down to 0% but if you take it to 8-10% the light will go out. It can take a good 5 mins to start and then between 20-45mins to clear it all out.

Rich, do you use any of that DPF Cleaner Additive the salesmen come round regularly trying to sell?

[Rich_W]

Jonny671 said:

Rich, do you use any of that DPF Cleaner Additive the salesmen come round regularly trying to sell?

No sir. We saw the leaflet which circulated. IIRC it was Forte that made it? But we've never tried it. Be interested to see some real results though.

[phib]

So has my 57 plate 730d got one ? Gets used three days a week for 180 mile commute and 2 days a week either not very much or 500 ish miles

Phib

[Jonny671]

Rich_W said:

Jonny671 said:

Rich, do you use any of that DPF Cleaner Additive the salesmen come round regularly trying to sell?

No sir. We saw the leaflet which circulated. IIRC it was Forte that made it? But we've never tried it. Be interested to see some real results though.

I'm not sure, the chap was in again today trying to sell his stuff. I'm sure he says Tunap make most of the things for other people, but probably sales talk.

I'd also like to see some results too.. He was saying that Fiat and Alfa now use it and the dealers can only use Tunap stuff but again, maybe sales talk.

He says it cleans it and coats it then you go for a drive and it will clean them up to near brand new.

[frosted]

Rich your getting a bit technical for my liking . The car goes in restricted performance a few minutes before the dpf light comes on , I can actually feel when the dpf is about to light up on the board . First time it happened I thought I put bad diesel in it .

I have drove for 3hours in town before I could reach a bit of road where it could regenerate , it was fine and it didn't really take longer than usual to clean itself

[Aero_saab]

The Wookie said:

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

Diesel MOT emissions test is changing next year.
Much lower smoke figure for euro4 cars.

[sparkybean]

What exactly was wrong with the good old naturally aspirated petrol engine?

[The Wookie]

Aero_saab said:

The Wookie said:

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

Diesel MOT emissions test is changing next year.
Much lower smoke figure for euro4 cars.

Correct me if I'm wrong but Euro 4 still doesn't require a DPF

[liner33]

frosted said:

Rich your getting a bit technical for my liking . The car goes in restricted performance a few minutes before the dpf light comes on , I can actually feel when the dpf is about to light up on the board . First time it happened I thought I put bad diesel in it .

I have drove for 3hours in town before I could reach a bit of road where it could regenerate , it was fine and it didn't really take longer than usual to clean itself

Out of interest do you have a specific fuel that you use on a regular basis ?? We never use supermarket fuels always premium diesels and despite lots of short trips i have never seen a dpf light on , I have however felt something happening to the engine from time to time which i presume is the regen process

[pilchardthecat]

sparkybean said:

What exactly was wrong with the good old naturally aspirated petrol engine?

There's naff all wrong with mine.

Although the 25mpg I'm getting from it is just a touch more than half what my previous oil burner managed.... but £/bhp is about the same

[NoelWatson]

coley20 said:

Just shows that diesels manage more mpg but have potentially horrendous, on top of anything petrol

Excluding modern petrols that have similar features that also break on a regular basis.

[frosted]

liner33 said:

frosted said:

Rich your getting a bit technical for my liking . The car goes in restricted performance a few minutes before the dpf light comes on , I can actually feel when the dpf is about to light up on the board . First time it happened I thought I put bad diesel in it .

I have drove for 3hours in town before I could reach a bit of road where it could regenerate , it was fine and it didn't really take longer than usual to clean itself

Out of interest do you have a specific fuel that you use on a regular basis ?? We never use supermarket fuels always premium diesels and despite lots of short trips i have never seen a dpf light on , I have however felt something happening to the engine from time to time which i presume is the regen process

Any fuel goes in , no,shell, yexaco, Murco anything really . Think the average speed is 10mph if that in London . I used to drive it much more aggressively and I could see this having an effect on how often the dpf light comes on . Last time I had the light on was about 2weeks ago

The dpf light itself doesn't scare me at all , what scares me is the 20mpg that I get when it's on lol

[Rich_W]

frosted said:

Rich your getting a bit technical for my liking . The car goes in restricted performance a few minutes before the dpf light comes on , I can actually feel when the dpf is about to light up on the board . First time it happened I thought I put bad diesel in it .

Shouldn't do.

The DPF light comes on at a lowish level of soot. Then after a bit (if not done) the EML will come on. If driver still doesn't do it. The glow plug light comes on and THEN the car goes into st running mode. Something like a Phaeton can regen itself without needing to be driven. But you should feel the extraction pipe (we attach) when it's doing it. It's properly, properly hot. Regeneration, involves the car running much much hotter.

I can only assume, you aren't actually getting all 3 lights on.

[Jonny671]

Rich_W said:

frosted said:

Rich your getting a bit technical for my liking . The car goes in restricted performance a few minutes before the dpf light comes on , I can actually feel when the dpf is about to light up on the board . First time it happened I thought I put bad diesel in it .

Shouldn't do.

The DPF light comes on at a lowish level of soot. Then after a bit (if not done) the EML will come on. If driver still doesn't do it. The glow plug light comes on and THEN the car goes into st running mode. Something like a Phaeton can regen itself without needing to be driven. But you should feel the extraction pipe (we attach) when it's doing it. It's properly, properly hot. Regeneration, involves the car running much much hotter.

I can only assume, you aren't actually getting all 3 lights on.

To do the Audis do you HAVE to drive them? Does your diagnostic computer not do a Auto Re-Gen and do the whole jazz itself? On the Mazdas we just put the extraction pipe on and leave it on the computer for an hour or so and it revs up idles revs and does various stuff to clear it up.

One time it had rained.. And stopped raining, we needed the workshop space so put the car in our yard and put the laptop in the car, by the time the re-gen was finished there was a patch of dryness where the exhaust fumes were so hot it dried the ground.

[Rich_W]

Pass on the Audis. Don't know. Probably later stuff can. ISTR one reason for driving is to get airflow under the car to try and cool the CAT a bit.

[frosted]

[Rich_W]

frosted said:

If you're only getting that one. Then it's not too sooted up. Off the top of my head less than 20%. See if you can all 3 on. Then see if the car actually goes into restricted performance mode. You'll definetly notice the difference.

[Petemate]

Came across this thread while searching to find if the 2008-on Mondeo 2.0 TDCI have DPF with or without eolys fluid. (can anyone clarify?) My 2006 150 bhp Saab 9-3 SPortwagon has a DPF, but no eolys issues. I commute Oxford-LHR 4 days out of every 8, with some small amounts of short distances on days off. I realise that it may have regenerated but never seen any lights on, and never noticed a variation in mpg except when either using aircon or towing (or both!)
Considering possibly a newer Mondy, quite like the look of them, but in my price range couldn't stretch to the latest 163 bhp one, so would have to be the 140. So - which Fords have this bleddy eolys shoite?

ETA - does a 2.2TDCI NEW shape have eolys?
TIA

Edited by Petemate on Saturday 2nd April 20:56