64 plate Audi A6 190bhp ..... DPF issue
64 plate Audi A6 190bhp ..... DPF issue
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Discussion

Upatdawn

Original Poster:

2,202 posts

172 months

Monday 26th March 2018
quotequote all

After a couple of "certain to fix" bills from garages which didnt fix, i asked Audi for a price for a new DPF............£1250

they wont tell me the part number

it wont go away after ragging it and cleaner in tank didnt work...


soot is above 10% at sensor so it wont self-regenerate and a forced regen lasted 10 miles

there are DPF's on Fleabay from £150 (new)

any ideas?

GreenV8S

30,999 posts

308 months

Monday 26th March 2018
quotequote all
The DPF is usually designed to last the life of the vehicle. If it's getting blocked, it is probably because of a fault elsewhere on the engine and not because there was anything wrong with the DPF itself. Replacing the DPF without correcting the underlying fault is likely to be a waste of time and money since the replacement is going to suffer exactly the same problem.

cuprabob

18,268 posts

238 months

Monday 26th March 2018
quotequote all
Dealer or Indy should be able to force a regen using VCDS / Diagnostic tool to bring the soot level down so ot can self regen, assuming there are no other faults in the system.

Upatdawn

Original Poster:

2,202 posts

172 months

Monday 26th March 2018
quotequote all
a DPF centre blasted the soot with freezing compressed air (?) and forced a regen.... it does a lot of stop/start work


time to get rid of diesels, i have a E250 but mine does 2 x 57 mile trips a day, true mpg is 44mpg, the audi is down in the mid 30's

C. Grimsley

1,378 posts

219 months

Monday 26th March 2018
quotequote all
Only way to sort that would be to remove and manually clean, I am not offering my services but I run a garage and bought a test bed dpf cleaning machine, the amount of crud that comes out of a blocked dpf is unreal.

Basically we add a cleaning agent to the intake side of the dpf and let it sit for 30 minutes, it then gets blocked up and an ultra high pressure of water and detergent gets forced through the filter, after many attempts the fluid comes out clear, refit it to the car and force a regen, never had one come back up to now.

The test bed is that powerful you strap the filter down, the first one I didn’t and I also got a dpf wash.

There will be a local garage that will offer this service I am sure.

Carl


Upatdawn

Original Poster:

2,202 posts

172 months

Tuesday 27th March 2018
quotequote all
Audi quoted £1250 for a new DPF but only £78 inc vat to fit it, obviously a quick job...

ive told him from now on, only use branded fuel, stick some additive in the tank and see its oil changed every 10k miles


it cost £285 for a blast/clean/forced regen, on its regen loads of crap flew out

Belle427

11,411 posts

257 months

Wednesday 28th March 2018
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Considered getting it removed/remapped?
People will obviously want to stone you to death for doing so but it's not exactly crime of the century!

GreenV8S

30,999 posts

308 months

Wednesday 28th March 2018
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Belle427 said:
Considered getting it removed/remapped?
Removing the DPF would be an automatic MOT failure, though, and driving the car like that would be illegal, wouldn't it?

stevieturbo

17,970 posts

271 months

Wednesday 28th March 2018
quotequote all
GreenV8S said:
Removing the DPF would be an automatic MOT failure, though, and driving the car like that would be illegal, wouldn't it?
As would the countless cars out there driving with their cat removed....and any other number of mechanical defects ( nevermind the millions of defective blind drivers out there that the authorities totally ignore )

GreenV8S

30,999 posts

308 months

Wednesday 28th March 2018
quotequote all
stevieturbo said:
As would the countless cars out there driving with their cat removed
It wouldn't pass a straight MOT like that though, either with a decat or removed DPF.

I understand the MOT updates in 2018 are explicitly aiming to tighten the checks in this area.

Just want to be clear that if the OP is being advised to eliminate the DPF it would be illegal to drive like that and there is a reasonable chance of it being caught at MOT time.

Upatdawn

Original Poster:

2,202 posts

172 months

Thursday 29th March 2018
quotequote all
after 150 miles the light came back on...

i think the cars days are numbered


i did read that some remove the DPF, gut it, weld it back up and defeat the software from looking for it...

but that seems a major faff

Teebs

5,734 posts

239 months

Thursday 29th March 2018
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A colleague with the same car had this issue, it was the sensor rather than the DPF itself.

GreenV8S

30,999 posts

308 months

Thursday 29th March 2018
quotequote all
Upatdawn said:
after 150 miles the light came back on...
If the DPF has blocked then this does not mean the DPF was faulty, it means there is a fault somewhere which is ending up with dirt in the DPF. Replacing it only hides the symptoms, it doesn't fix the underlying problem that caused the DPF to block.

Belle427

11,411 posts

257 months

Friday 30th March 2018
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I can’t comment on the legalities of removal but how does the mot tester prove it’s been gutted if there isn’t any evidence?

Welshbeef

49,633 posts

222 months

Friday 30th March 2018
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GreenV8S said:
The DPF is usually designed to last the life of the vehicle. If it's getting blocked, it is probably because of a fault elsewhere on the engine and not because there was anything wrong with the DPF itself. Replacing the DPF without correcting the underlying fault is likely to be a waste of time and money since the replacement is going to suffer exactly the same problem.
On the abMWs I’ve had they start life with a 150,000 conditioned based lifespan. So lots of short town driving would reduce it whereas lots of long driving on motorways will mean it lasts 150,000 Miles (or more).

They are a service item.


OP how many miles have you done with the car?

silentbrown

10,509 posts

140 months

Friday 30th March 2018
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Belle427 said:
I can’t comment on the legalities of removal but how does the mot tester prove it’s been gutted if there isn’t any evidence?
Your vehicle will get a major fault if the MOT tester:

can see smoke of any colour coming from the exhaust
finds evidence that the DPF has been tampered with

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/mot-changes-20-...

Belle427

11,411 posts

257 months

Friday 30th March 2018
quotequote all
silentbrown said:
Belle427 said:
I can’t comment on the legalities of removal but how does the mot tester prove it’s been gutted if there isn’t any evidence?
Your vehicle will get a major fault if the MOT tester:

can see smoke of any colour coming from the exhaust
finds evidence that the DPF has been tampered with

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/mot-changes-20-...
Thanks for that,very interesting.

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

150 months

Friday 30th March 2018
quotequote all
Upatdawn said:
Audi quoted £1250 for a new DPF but only £78 inc vat to fit it, obviously a quick job...
On the ramp, up in the air, unbolt old, bolt new, down, talk nicely to the computer. Half an hour's labour...

Upatdawn said:
ive told him from now on, only use branded fuel, stick some additive in the tank and see its oil changed every 10k miles
Perhaps more to the point, use the damn thing properly - decent runs regularly, not just pootling the school run, never getting warm.

Upatdawn

Original Poster:

2,202 posts

172 months

Thursday 5th April 2018
quotequote all
TooMany2cvs said:
Perhaps more to the point, use the damn thing properly - decent runs regularly, not just pootling the school run, never getting warm.
Oddly my school runs in my E class are the best for my car...(500 miles a wek)

The A6 is waiting for 1


Edited by Upatdawn on Thursday 5th April 14:55