XJ Diesel DPF Issue - Outraged

XJ Diesel DPF Issue - Outraged

Author
Discussion

puss

Original Poster:

75 posts

216 months

Saturday 14th November 2020
quotequote all
Is anyone here aware of a DPF issue specifically relating to the V6 3.0 in the XJ (same engine in XF, F Pace and various Land/Range Rovers of course)?

Mine is a 2016, 25k miles, full history and meticulously driven for the last 10k miles by me in respect of the annoying 'diesel' procedures, ie, relatively few short trips, mostly high speed ones, to allow the DPF regeneration to take place.

I am not a fan of diesels generally but have had many reliable ones as company cars from BMW and Merc. Never had any DPF warning lights ever until now with the Jag (my own)

On a local trip it flashed up the Amber warning to tell me to get on a motorway to clear the DPF, in spite of a few days earlier doing a 400 mile round-trip on motorways. By chance I was near the top of the M3 so jumped on it and dropped a gear or 2. Within 2 minutes the warning went Red so I limped home and got it towed to local Jag dealer in Guildford.

Their diagnostics (which we have to pay for these days - another bugbear) resulted in a comment to me and my Motoreasy warranty co that the DPF and Throttle body needed replacing due to carbon build up. Over £3000 to fix. Of course the warranty doesn't include carbon build up

What a complete waste of time that diagnosis is. Telling me there is carbon build up isn't the cause of the problem it's the outcome.
There has to be a specific fault somewhere in the system to allow this to happen, yet all they can state is a vague description of the current state of the parts without telling me why except to imply it is driving style which cannot justifiably be true given the way I have gone out of my way to avoid this. I use another car for most short trips. Besides, why was I only given 2 minutes of Amber warning before going Red.

The technician is even claiming it is too bad to be possible to clean!! Boll**ks!! Every specialist I have spoken to has said they think it can. One even told me that the same dealership told them they sell a lot of new throttle bodies. This would suggest these are regularly faulty, causing a fueling issue.

Naturally I am telling the dealership this isn't good enough and I expect Jaguar to pay for it (and to tell me the real problem). I have also contacted Jaguar UK myself.

Incidentally, earlier this year they gave it a free early oil change due to oil contamination, which suggests a fueling issue also.

Rant over but has anyone else had a similar experience with this engine? Without doubt this will be my last diesel from the JLR group, possibly from any manufacturer, given the expense it appears so many people incur whilst trying to save money via diesel.

nordboy

1,453 posts

50 months

Saturday 14th November 2020
quotequote all
I never had an issue with mine, but then I didn't have it for a huge amount of time. I am aware that there are some issues.

Hopefully not against the rules in here, but the Jaginfo forum is great, if there's any issues or solutions, then you'll find them there.

puss

Original Poster:

75 posts

216 months

Saturday 14th November 2020
quotequote all
Thanks for that. Immediately found a useful article that will provide good ammo to hit jaguar with. It was stated in that thread that the DPF on this car (and a RRS) is mounted too far down the exhaust for Regens to get enough heat in the DPF to burn off excess soot. Just what I needed, some info to tell them it is a design flaw. My wife is a lawyer so I will be threatening them with a messy and expensive legal action aside from bad mouthing on forums

Simpo Two

85,363 posts

265 months

Saturday 14th November 2020
quotequote all
I only had my XF 3.0D for 9 months but had no problem with the DPF. The 2.7D S-Type I drove for six years and 50,000 miles before that was perfect on the DPF front too, indeed you could see when it was regenerating as the mpg suddenly appeared to double!

It's a shame when companies have a product that works, then change it until it doesn't. Sometimes I think we're going backwards.

PH_77

1,314 posts

93 months

Saturday 14th November 2020
quotequote all
puss said:
Is anyone here aware of a DPF issue specifically relating to the V6 3.0 in the XJ (same engine in XF, F Pace and various Land/Range Rovers of course)?

Mine is a 2016, 25k miles, full history and meticulously driven for the last 10k miles by me in respect of the annoying 'diesel' procedures, ie, relatively few short trips, mostly high speed ones, to allow the DPF regeneration to take place.

I am not a fan of diesels generally but have had many reliable ones as company cars from BMW and Merc. Never had any DPF warning lights ever until now with the Jag (my own)

On a local trip it flashed up the Amber warning to tell me to get on a motorway to clear the DPF, in spite of a few days earlier doing a 400 mile round-trip on motorways. By chance I was near the top of the M3 so jumped on it and dropped a gear or 2. Within 2 minutes the warning went Red so I limped home and got it towed to local Jag dealer in Guildford.

Their diagnostics (which we have to pay for these days - another bugbear) resulted in a comment to me and my Motoreasy warranty co that the DPF and Throttle body needed replacing due to carbon build up. Over £3000 to fix. Of course the warranty doesn't include carbon build up

What a complete waste of time that diagnosis is. Telling me there is carbon build up isn't the cause of the problem it's the outcome.
There has to be a specific fault somewhere in the system to allow this to happen, yet all they can state is a vague description of the current state of the parts without telling me why except to imply it is driving style which cannot justifiably be true given the way I have gone out of my way to avoid this. I use another car for most short trips. Besides, why was I only given 2 minutes of Amber warning before going Red.

The technician is even claiming it is too bad to be possible to clean!! Boll**ks!! Every specialist I have spoken to has said they think it can. One even told me that the same dealership told them they sell a lot of new throttle bodies. This would suggest these are regularly faulty, causing a fueling issue.

Naturally I am telling the dealership this isn't good enough and I expect Jaguar to pay for it (and to tell me the real problem). I have also contacted Jaguar UK myself.

Incidentally, earlier this year they gave it a free early oil change due to oil contamination, which suggests a fueling issue also.

Rant over but has anyone else had a similar experience with this engine? Without doubt this will be my last diesel from the JLR group, possibly from any manufacturer, given the expense it appears so many people incur whilst trying to save money via diesel.
Sorry to hear about your situation. It sounds bloody frustrating. I'd hazard a guess that the first owner, perhaps on a 5K mpa PCP or lease didn't ever really allow sufficient regeneration to take place.

Unfortunately I'm not sure that having a wife who is a lawyer, or the threat of you badmouthing them on forums will come to much as it seems to be such a common problem for JLR diesels but best of luck anyway.

My father told me on occasion that buying a second hand car would often lead to buying someone else's problems.

W201_190e

12,738 posts

213 months

Sunday 15th November 2020
quotequote all
PH_77 said:
Unfortunately I'm not sure that having a wife who is a lawyer, or the threat of you badmouthing them on forums will come to much as it seems to be such a common problem for JLR diesels but best of luck anyway.
It won't, they'll take one look at the age and mileage and that will be that, you may get a contribution if you ask though? Go in with all guns blazing I doubt they'll be interested in helping you. And it makes no odds to the dealer if you take legal action up with the manufacturer, which probably won't go far. Your best bet is to ask for a contribution under goodwill.

essayer

9,058 posts

194 months

Sunday 15th November 2020
quotequote all

mickyh7

2,347 posts

86 months

Sunday 15th November 2020
quotequote all
I'm sure you don't want to hear this, but Knowledge is King when it comes to buying cars.
Do as much research as possible.
I'll bet your Jaguars (known) problem will be on page one of a Google search!
Good luck with your fight.

fatboy b

9,492 posts

216 months

Sunday 15th November 2020
quotequote all
Assuming this is the 3.0 300bhp version? If so, I wouldn’t touch with a barge pole. Well documented design screw up. But Jaguar will never admit it.

puss

Original Poster:

75 posts

216 months

Sunday 15th November 2020
quotequote all
Here's the thing, yes it is the 300bhp, and I do always carry out due diligence but nothing seemed to show up 2 years ago. Even now it doesn't easily come up in searches. So it's not as 'well known' as thought and certainly wasn't 2 years ago.

But even if there was more evidence at the time I can guarantee that whatever car you search for info on regarding reliability or known issues you will find examples of people having a bad experience. It's the nature of the beast. Search for something specific on the internet and somewhere, someone will have something to say. That's partly how 'fake news' works. The search engines and social media have algorithms that target you based on what it is you look for. Worked for Brexit, worked for Trump and so on.

So what I am saying is, nothing of note came up about this car of note to put me off which is is probably due to the relatively small numbers of Jags sold when compared with doing similar searches on BMWs or Mercs, etc, that have sold in significantly larger numbers. So they might seem terrible cars but there are far more of them meaning the odds of failures are greater.

I am am already going down the goodwill route but focusing on the fact that, if I am paying for a diagnosis, guess what, I want a diagnosis. Not some vague report stating carbon build up. I could have told them that was the outcome.

If I can get something more specific about a fault in the throttle body function the warranty company will pay up whereas they won't for a vague description about carbon build-up.

From conversations with numerous DPF cleaning specialists and from reading stuff here and on the JagInfo forum it would appear any one of them can give me a more specific diagnosis than 'carbon build up'.

So I accept I will be lucky to get much out of Jaguar and if it's anything it might still be cheaper to go to an Indy to replace the throttle body which I am concluding is the original faulty part and have the DPF flushed

I am in Weybridge, Surrey, if anyone knows of any good specialists near me. I have used XJ Motors who are good and there are several mobile DPF cleaners but other suggestions very welcome

It's a fabulous car and even my dislike of diesels didn't put me off but I won't buy another diesel.

puss

Original Poster:

75 posts

216 months

Sunday 15th November 2020
quotequote all
One other thing to bear in mind is that the best threat is often that of poor reviews in social media and the internet generally.
I know someone who bought a new Volvo that had major problems. Even though bought new the dealer and manufacturer kept fobbing him off until they realised how much bad publicity he was giving them online. They eventually gave him a full refund.
This is also part of my approach with them. Again, will probably be fruitless, but worth a try

fatboy b

9,492 posts

216 months

Sunday 15th November 2020
quotequote all
puss said:
Here's the thing, yes it is the 300bhp, and I do always carry out due diligence but nothing seemed to show up 2 years ago. Even now it doesn't easily come up in searches. So it's not as 'well known' as thought and certainly wasn't 2 years ago.

But even if there was more evidence at the time I can guarantee that whatever car you search for info on regarding reliability or known issues you will find examples of people having a bad experience. It's the nature of the beast. Search for something specific on the internet and somewhere, someone will have something to say. That's partly how 'fake news' works. The search engines and social media have algorithms that target you based on what it is you look for. Worked for Brexit, worked for Trump and so on.

So what I am saying is, nothing of note came up about this car of note to put me off which is is probably due to the relatively small numbers of Jags sold when compared with doing similar searches on BMWs or Mercs, etc, that have sold in significantly larger numbers. So they might seem terrible cars but there are far more of them meaning the odds of failures are greater.

I am am already going down the goodwill route but focusing on the fact that, if I am paying for a diagnosis, guess what, I want a diagnosis. Not some vague report stating carbon build up. I could have told them that was the outcome.

If I can get something more specific about a fault in the throttle body function the warranty company will pay up whereas they won't for a vague description about carbon build-up.

From conversations with numerous DPF cleaning specialists and from reading stuff here and on the JagInfo forum it would appear any one of them can give me a more specific diagnosis than 'carbon build up'.

So I accept I will be lucky to get much out of Jaguar and if it's anything it might still be cheaper to go to an Indy to replace the throttle body which I am concluding is the original faulty part and have the DPF flushed

I am in Weybridge, Surrey, if anyone knows of any good specialists near me. I have used XJ Motors who are good and there are several mobile DPF cleaners but other suggestions very welcome

It's a fabulous car and even my dislike of diesels didn't put me off but I won't buy another diesel.
There’s a chap on jaginfo that had one. It suffered oil dilution issues. It used to chew through the service intervals 3x faster than it should. Jaguar were useless trying to sort it and blamed his driving style & journeys even though he picked it up from a ‘new oil’ service and drive it 100 miles down the motorway and then back home. The service interval dropped 500 miles for the privilege. Jaguar eventually washed their hands of it once the warranty expired, so he washed his hands of Jaguar.

They are lovely cars, but when dealers don’t know how to fix the inherent design issue, they’re best left alone.

puss

Original Poster:

75 posts

216 months

Sunday 15th November 2020
quotequote all
Yes I read about that one yesterday.
V8 Petrol here I come

fatboy b

9,492 posts

216 months

Sunday 15th November 2020
quotequote all
puss said:
Yes I read about that one yesterday.
V8 Petrol here I come
There you go. biggrin

PH_77

1,314 posts

93 months

Sunday 15th November 2020
quotequote all
puss said:
One other thing to bear in mind is that the best threat is often that of poor reviews in social media and the internet generally.
I know someone who bought a new Volvo that had major problems. Even though bought new the dealer and manufacturer kept fobbing him off until they realised how much bad publicity he was giving them online. They eventually gave him a full refund.
This is also part of my approach with them. Again, will probably be fruitless, but worth a try
It will likely all be fruitless. Check out VW on Twitter for example. There's always angry customers venting, but VW rarely, if ever, acknowledge any of it. I suspect JLR will unfortunately also not give a toss.

Sheepshanks

32,725 posts

119 months

Sunday 15th November 2020
quotequote all
PH_77 said:
puss said:
One other thing to bear in mind is that the best threat is often that of poor reviews in social media and the internet generally.
I know someone who bought a new Volvo that had major problems. Even though bought new the dealer and manufacturer kept fobbing him off until they realised how much bad publicity he was giving them online. They eventually gave him a full refund.
This is also part of my approach with them. Again, will probably be fruitless, but worth a try
It will likely all be fruitless. Check out VW on Twitter for example. There's always angry customers venting, but VW rarely, if ever, acknowledge any of it. I suspect JLR will unfortunately also not give a toss.
I was going to cite VW as well!

This method worked years ago, but now firms just ask you to DM the details, string you along for a bit, then fob you off. So the gory details are hidden.

essayer

9,058 posts

194 months

Sunday 15th November 2020
quotequote all
PH_77 said:
It will likely all be fruitless. Check out VW on Twitter for example. There's always angry customers venting, but VW rarely, if ever, acknowledge any of it. I suspect JLR will unfortunately also not give a toss.
Agree, Twitter was great for this sort of thing at the beginning when companies were desperate not to have bad things about them posted online. Now there’s so many people doing it they just roll with it and fall back into the “Please could you DM us to look into this further..” of course the DM slides off into the same queue as calls, letters etc

puss

Original Poster:

75 posts

216 months

Friday 20th November 2020
quotequote all
Update:
Jaguar have offered a 40% goodwill contribution.
I will probably take the car to my local Indy specialist XJ Motor Services to remove the DPF and I will take it to a specialist cleaning company and get that part done for about £150 as it will still be considerably cheaper than the extortionate amount Jaguar want for a new one even with a 40% deduction.
To be continued...

mickyh7

2,347 posts

86 months

Friday 20th November 2020
quotequote all
Might just be better to get it 'Gutted and mapped out.
You'll have a great car.
No one will be any wiser.
MOT's will be no problem.

W201_190e

12,738 posts

213 months

Friday 20th November 2020
quotequote all
mickyh7 said:
Might just be better to get it 'Gutted and mapped out.
You'll have a great car.
No one will be any wiser.
MOT's will be no problem.
Not necessarily, places I've worked have failed MOT's for it.