Vauxhall DPF Issues

divuk83

divuk83

divuk83

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A friend has bought a 60 plate Insignia 2.0 CDTi and has had no end of trouble with it. The main issue is the DPF and the car just get's stuck in limp home mode on a weekly basis. It has been to numerous garages who all fix it for about a week then it's knackered again. The advice seems to be to do a 60 mile motorway run on a regular basis to allow the DPF to regenerate however this is far from practical or helpful (commute to work is probably about 6 miles).

Have any other Vauxhall Diesel owners got any advice or solutions?

Thanks in advance.

Dave
 
The main cause of the issue is that he opted for a diesel when doing such low mileage. 12 miles a day is about 2400 miles per annum commuting and diesels dont even start to make sense until 10 times that. Both from a fuel economy perspective (Assume he's doing about 3000 miles a year, this means he's saving 70 quid a year having a diesel) and from a reliability perspective. It doesnt need to be a 60 mile motorway journey but they do need to have decent runs to get up to speed and let the DPF regen

He should sell it and buy a petrol, or look at having the DPF removed and mapped out. Given the potential for other issues and the fact that petrols are cheaper to buy, I'd take the first approach.
 
The fault is unlikely to be with the DPF itself, the engine may have fault that is causing it to generate excess soot that the DPF is then catching. I would check the EGR valve for faults and all the air intake pipe work for leaks. I suspect all the garages are doing is carrying out a forced regen with diagnostic software and returning the car.

My wife ran a CDTI Zafira for several years doing mainly short trips with no DPF issues it needed one drive approx every month lasting 10-15 minutes to complete a successful regen. If your friend can not manage this he should sell the car.
 
Sure its the DPF not the EGR?

Can you get a diagnostic cable (when my parents had their Zafira, I bought a cheap one from ebay but it worked fine) and get the DPF %?

I'm not a mechanic but after connecting the cable, going out in their car and causing limp mode I could see the EGR valve was sometimes not opening correctly, quick clean made it better but ultimately it had to be replaced.
 
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Wrong engine for a 6 mile commute. Simple as.

Very few modern diesels will handle this sort of use without issue. Unfortunately the best long-term solution is to get a car that doesn't need to do a dpf regen - ever.
 
It's a she and when she was looking for this car she was specifically looking for an Insignia and wanted a diesel to replace a Peugeot 2.0 Diesel that was at deaths door. There was no telling her to get anything other than this! It's a big car for 1 person (no kids, no dog) and she is only quite small herself! It does get occasional longer drives, but to have to do one so often is a bit of a chore.

The DPF thing seems to be a common Vauxhall problem, we have a 1.6 Kia Diesel that does the same commute no problem. I just wondered if there was any work round or solution from other Vauxhall owners that might work. Is removing the DPF and getting a remap something anyone has tried? I will mention to EGR to her. She has also mentioned getting rid and getting the 1.8 petrol version.

Thanks

Dave
 
divuk83 said:
She has also mentioned getting rid and getting the 1.8 petrol version.
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Just get her to do this. Simple economics - it's going to cost several hundred pounds to have the DPF removed and the car remapped for it. Selling it privately and buying a petrol one privately would actually give her money back. There's absolutely no benefit to keeping and "fixing" the diesel
 
After 5-6 years, the DPF needs replacing as they are full of incombustible impurities and by-products such as ash and metallic minerals. They are not that expensive these days - about £700 fitted at an exhaust shop.
 
FWIW, Kia, Hyundai, Honda and recent Mazda (skyactive) have a beter reputation for diesels doing short journeys without significant DPF problems.

I would absolutely not choose a diesel for this sort of usage pattern though.
 
iaind said:
Mazda!!? The mazda 2.2 is notorious for DPF issues
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Note Sykyactive. The pre-skyactive 2.0 and 2.2 diesels are among the more catastropically inclined dpf systems and should definitely be avoided.

But yeah - if my commute was 6 miles I can't think of any diesel car I'd rather have than the petrol equivalent.

If not a normal petrol then perhaps hybrid or even electric.
 
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Pretty much the same symptoms my Astra had and I had the DPF replaced under warranty. I have an invoice/Reciept with a total cost of £1245 for the replacement DPF and associated sensors.

A petrol would be better but the Petrol insignias are a bit underpowered. But generally more reliable.
 
I have only ever owned diesel cars and my drive to and from work is only 9 miles granted I do I twice a day ( split shifts) and touch wood I haven't had any problems with my cars, I'm sure I read somewhere that if your using a diesel for a short commute you shouldn't change gear as soon (just over 2000rpm should suffice)
 
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My cdti pre dpf is pretty good tbh, the EGR needs to be kept nice and clean tho.
I thought the dpf was part of the mot now anyways, i mean cant be removed remapped.
 
As already said, take it a good long drive to clear the DPF properly. If you have problems immediately afterwards then its pointing towards a fault that need fixing. If you don't, then its down to buying the wrong car for the trips. Won't cost you anything but time and some fuel.

For various reasons, my wife and I both drive diesels even though we do lots of short trips, but we make sure both cars get a decent run at least monthly.
 
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