Concerns over DPF

MM-Seat

MM-Seat

MM-Seat

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Is anyone else concerned about their diesel cars DPF whilst we are no longer undertaking daily motorway trips?

Anyone got any practical solutions to avoid the dreaded failure?
 
So what sort of travel are you still doing with your car?

Daily motorway trips aren't a requirement of DPF-equipped car ownership
 
Armageus said:
So what sort of travel are you still doing with your car?

Daily motorway trips aren't a requirement of DPF-equipped car ownership
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1 or 2 runs to the shop each week and that is it. I didn't suggest that motorway mileage is a requirement of a diesel car ownership. However, that information should indicate that I would never normally have to even think about it.
 
sovietspybob said:
/not helpful

Yeah i made sure we own 2x petrol cars so we don't have to worry about things like that :p
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Made sure that my diesel car is 25+ years old so not a problem either! :p

Back to OP. DPF will not go bad because it is not being used. depending on age/tech you only need one good run per tankful to keep it sweet (And that is worst case, less often will mostly be just fine) A months worth of short runs will not hurt it.
 
MM-Seat said:
Is anyone else concerned about their diesel cars DPF whilst we are no longer undertaking daily motorway trips?
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No, it'll be fine. People buy diesels and do short trips to the shops/school runs and don't have any problems for years so you should be fine for a few weeks. If it isn't fine, take solace in the fact that your DPF was 99% blocked anyway and it was only a matter of time.

MM-Seat said:
Anyone got any practical solutions to avoid the dreaded failure?
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Take the long way round to the supermarket, and floor it a few times to get the exhaust nice and hot?
 
Nope, no issues with mine. It will regen sat idling on the drive if it has to. I made sure what ever car I got had a decent active system and didn't require any strange driving behaviours.
 
It's fine. When you are stranded on the side of the road with a blocked DPF and exploded turbo, you can pat yourself on the back for helping to save the environment :D
 
Wouldn't worry about it too much. Mine normally mostly lives on motorways so like you I would never normally give it a second thought.

I have had 3 weeks of work in London before which meant I was getting the train in every day and my car didn't care about the 6 mile round trip to the train station and back. Obviously the 3 miles each way wasn't enough to get up to temp. I'm not too worried about a trip to the shop every few days. Perhaps if it was every day for weeks on end it'd be a different story but it's just occasional use for a few weeks.
 
if you are geek inclined, and have a 'code' reader + appp, can you typically do a health analysis of your dpf, and see if it nearing/needing a refresh, and even provoke it.

(don't mention the war) running better fuel in the interim might mitigate issue.


.. with the new direct injection petrols, you're not out of the woods, either, albeit it's a low temp burn-off
 
Gaygle said:
No, it'll be fine. People buy diesels and do short trips to the shops/school runs and don't have any problems for years so you should be fine for a few weeks. If it isn't fine, take solace in the fact that your DPF was 99% blocked anyway and it was only a matter of time.



Take the long way round to the supermarket, and floor it a few times to get the exhaust nice and hot?
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Probably not the best advice given flooring a diesel is a sure fire way to pump a load of soot into the exhaust, and a short trip to the supermarket is unlikely to trigger a regen cycle regardless.
 
jpaul said:
(don't mention the war) running better fuel in the interim might mitigate issue.
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Indeedy,

From a purely anecdotal perspective, It is my impression that my old Landcruiser is noticeably less smoky using the BP premium diesel compared to standard diesel or even premium diesel of other brands.

But this is purely anecdotal, and in the OCUK world of "everything must be peer reviewd and scientifically tested before it is considered valid" anecdotal experiences are of no consequence and carry no significance....

No significance at all...:p
 
Short trips to the shop's and just running around town kills the dpf, they need a motorway run to start the the regen phase.
 
We run a fleet of diesel vans at work (and other vehicles) DPF issues have actually been really rare - despite a spread of usage patterns and generally not getting the best treatment. Related to that EGR valve issues have been far more common than DPF ones.
 
bobuk said:
they need a motorway run to start the the regen phase.
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Except they don't - that maybe a criteria for a "forced" regeneration on some of the older DPF equipped vehicles, but most will perform regens at normal driving speeds e.g. 40-60mph.
 
Armageus said:
Except they don't - that maybe a criteria for a "forced" regeneration on some of the older DPF equipped vehicles, but most will perform regens at normal driving speeds e.g. 40-60mph.
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Yeah on mine as long as you drive continuously for 10 minutes above 10 mph without turning the engine off it will carry out a [regular maintenance type] regeneration process - you only need to do a ~45 minute run at 50+ MPH or force a regen if the DPF regen warning light comes on.
 
After clogging mine up after driving in limp mode for ages (where it won’t regenerate) I realised that this is no big deal anyway, dealer software can force a regen when static. Seriously, don’t worry about it....
 
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