Diesel Particulate Filter
- Thread starter fergie128
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yeah because there are no cars on the road running decats with an MOT ??!!
I also do fairly low miles (most trips under 11 miles, but mix of town and motorway) in a DPF equipped diesel which I bought as there are no petrol models available in that make/model. I've not had any DPF issues but I do try to fit in a 20 mile+ motorway/A road journey every couple of weeks and 4.5 months later I've not seen the DPF light once.
So I wouldn't be overly concerned about your change of use yet unless you are already have a mix of driving, otherwise just try to add that odd slightly longer trip once in a while. I know people who basically only drive around town but still get away with a diesel by just doing a motorway drive every couple of months when the light comes on!
One other thought - DPFs do eventually fill up but at 75K+ miles (some figures say much higher) so how many miles have you done?
Just because other people do it is no defence.
It's just an unnecessary piece of crap that does nothing for the end user. A lot of people find that their fuel economy improves with the DPF removed.
Then there's the fact it's considered "wear and tear" and needs replacing at normally a cost of over a thousand pounds when it does give up the ghost.
It's about the same as me dumping a paving slab in your boot and making you drive around with it, only the slab dies every 100-150k at a four figure cost.
You're right, it does nothing for the end user.
However considering the health risks and issues associated with diesel particulates it's a damn good idea for anyone outside of the car.
But, no need to care about others, just as long as you don't have to foot the bill for a new DPF every so often, an expense that should've been considered when you bought the car surely, just like tyres etc.
DPF's are one of the worst inventions ever, they categorically don't work unless you do motorway miles every day.
If you buy a fleet of diesel vans for town runs now you'll spend so much time with a brick on the throttle "defluffing" and usually replacing the DPF after a year, it saves absolutely zero emissions and if anything causes greater emissions through having to rev them hard and replace the failing part. And petrol vans are crap because they have no torque low down so you need a bigger engine, which costs more to run.
Basically if you need to run a fleet of vans nowadays you're totally screwed unless you have them cored (which can't exactly go on the books now can it?).
All the guys I know at dealerships say they have people constantly coming in with DPF issues on their newly purchased town cars.
You can have them cored but to be honest if you're never going to be doing regular high miles just sell it and get a petrol, petrol is better anyway.
If you buy a fleet of diesel vans for town runs now you'll spend so much time with a brick on the throttle "defluffing" and usually replacing the DPF after a year, it saves absolutely zero emissions and if anything causes greater emissions through having to rev them hard and replace the failing part. And petrol vans are crap because they have no torque low down so you need a bigger engine, which costs more to run.
Basically if you need to run a fleet of vans nowadays you're totally screwed unless you have them cored (which can't exactly go on the books now can it?).
All the guys I know at dealerships say they have people constantly coming in with DPF issues on their newly purchased town cars.
You can have them cored but to be honest if you're never going to be doing regular high miles just sell it and get a petrol, petrol is better anyway.
I like the soot that comes out of mine. It's the icing on the cake that their BMW/Audi just got easily overtaken by a Skoda "city car" (Trademark [TW]Fox).
Removing the DPF is more effort than it's worth on the Vauxhalls. It's also one of the better systems in use at the moment.
You would be better going for a run down the motorway and keep the revs at around 2.5k for as long as possible or if this is not an option any VX dealer can force a regen.
If the car is under warranty you should be able to get this done for free.
On the VX 2.0 Diesels the only way to allow the car to re-gen is to either drive it outside the manufactures guidlines or speed. To achieve 2k+ in 6th gear you will be doing approx 75-80mph which is illegal or be in 5th gear running with the change light on which is against the guidelines for the car which is what the warranty is based upon.
You would be better going for a run down the motorway and keep the revs at around 2.5k for as long as possible or if this is not an option any VX dealer can force a regen.
If the car is under warranty you should be able to get this done for free.
On the VX 2.0 Diesels the only way to allow the car to re-gen is to either drive it outside the manufactures guidlines or speed. To achieve 2k+ in 6th gear you will be doing approx 75-80mph which is illegal or be in 5th gear running with the change light on which is against the guidelines for the car which is what the warranty is based upon.
This. I gather some garages now get customers to sign a disclaimer to say they will be doing at least X miles a year, as people take them back thinking the car is broken as they do short journeys. Better awareness from sellers is probably needed.
Had it happen in the Corsa a few weeks ago, about a day after an 8 hour drive back from SW Wales.
We just left the car outside with the engine running as there wasn't enough fuel in it too go for a drive.
EDIT: It's done just under 40,000 miles without coming on once though. It really isn't an issue at all. Light comes on, drop a gear and floor it.
We just left the car outside with the engine running as there wasn't enough fuel in it too go for a drive.
EDIT: It's done just under 40,000 miles without coming on once though. It really isn't an issue at all. Light comes on, drop a gear and floor it.
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mines has been decatted and had the dpf removed and I don't get any black clouds of soot.
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So I went for a drive down the motorway on Wednesday evening, kept about 2.5k revs in 5th gear and the error message cleared after about 5 miles. Did a 40 mile round trip overall and it now seems to be absolutely fine. Actually the car sounds a lot better than it did earlier in the week 
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Mine too. No visible smoke at any time. Not like the Euro3 and earlier where you could see it swirl in the headlights of the car behind on kick down..
With the DPF in place, the inside of the tailpipes were always spotless, but now they do have a thin film of ash which is about like a petrol car from 10 years ago.
Soldato
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So I went for a drive down the motorway on Wednesday evening, kept about 2.5k revs in 5th gear and the error message cleared after about 5 miles. Did a 40 mile round trip overall and it now seems to be absolutely fine. Actually the car sounds a lot better than it did earlier in the week
THIS.
There seems to be a massive amount of hate here for DPF's. I knew I'd have to content with it when buying the jaaaag, but its not like its a hardship to do a motorway cruise every now and then. I'll put up with the "inconvenience" in exchange for the lower tax band and considerably higher MPG than the petrol equivalent.
Common issue on any diesel.
I was told that the car requires a 20 minute journey at a constant speed of 70 to regenerate and clean the dpf.
Small, short journeys will block It up.
If you want to have a dpf removal, and remap it you will see better torque/mpg and don't have to worry about this again.
It will fail an mot if the dpf is removed, but, if the outside cannister is still there with just the insides removed.. who will notice. Mot is visual only check.
I was told that the car requires a 20 minute journey at a constant speed of 70 to regenerate and clean the dpf.
Small, short journeys will block It up.
If you want to have a dpf removal, and remap it you will see better torque/mpg and don't have to worry about this again.
It will fail an mot if the dpf is removed, but, if the outside cannister is still there with just the insides removed.. who will notice. Mot is visual only check.
Apart from when they actually go wrong, I'm not entirely sure why people panic about a DPF regen cycle, the engineers who design these things have actually thought about how they work and peoples driving habits!
I drove a Megane with a DPF for years doing only small journeys mainly, I probably got the regen cycle message once every two months, it would clear on its own after a few miles of driving, you dont even need to be revving it hard as some people seem to think, you just need to be up to temperature and the car even raises its operating temp during the cycle (hence economy drops a bit). It literally never caused me a single problem and meant that I didn't leave clouds of soot everywhere I went...
My current BMW has a DPF too, but in typical BMW fashion they don't even tell you when it's doing a cycle.
Of course if it ever goes wrong (not that its full and simply regenerating itself) then I'll get a message and get ready to bend over... which of course is the actual problem with the DPF technology, they are darned expensive to replace...
TBF part of me thinks manufacturers shouldn't give a message, first time I saw it in my Megane I assumed it was an error as it had a little triangle next to it... finally found it in the manual where it explicitly stated something like "This is for your information only, your car is doing a regeneration cycle of your FAP system, please drive normally, the message will disappear once the process is complete"
I drove a Megane with a DPF for years doing only small journeys mainly, I probably got the regen cycle message once every two months, it would clear on its own after a few miles of driving, you dont even need to be revving it hard as some people seem to think, you just need to be up to temperature and the car even raises its operating temp during the cycle (hence economy drops a bit). It literally never caused me a single problem and meant that I didn't leave clouds of soot everywhere I went...
My current BMW has a DPF too, but in typical BMW fashion they don't even tell you when it's doing a cycle.
Of course if it ever goes wrong (not that its full and simply regenerating itself) then I'll get a message and get ready to bend over... which of course is the actual problem with the DPF technology, they are darned expensive to replace...
TBF part of me thinks manufacturers shouldn't give a message, first time I saw it in my Megane I assumed it was an error as it had a little triangle next to it... finally found it in the manual where it explicitly stated something like "This is for your information only, your car is doing a regeneration cycle of your FAP system, please drive normally, the message will disappear once the process is complete"
The media has made people panic over DPF issues. Just make sure you do a monthly decent run and you will be fine. If the light comes on just go for a spirited drive.
They have been in use for 20 odd years without major problems.
They have been in use for 20 odd years without major problems.