DPF- Hope i have the abbreviation correct....

forgotmyname

How long is a piece of string. Depends how efficient the engine is at the revs/temperature its mostly used at.

My ex MIL could do a full regen reversing out of the driveway. Bouncing off the rev limiter doing 0.01mph. And she wondered why her cars eat clutches.

4743hudsonj

Beachview wrote: »

How long does it usually take DPF problems to appear on VAG engines? My aunt recently bought a new Beetle, and its diesel, and the only driving she does is short journeys round town - not ideal

She's got the 2.0TDI 6 speed. She doesn't keep cars very long, maybe 3 years at the most, I'm hoping you're all going to say it takes longer than that to get the DPF problems, but I already know that's probably wrong. Its actually the first diesel she's ever had. Don't know why she didn't stick to petrol.

All i can advise is that she makes sure she buys the correct oil and gets it changed at the correct intervals as the oil is integral to the regeneration of the DPF.

As for how long it take to clog up, not long at all under the worst conditions. However don't fret too much as the dash will illuminate with a glow plug fault or similar (i guess they didn't want to fit a separate light) when the dpf is at around 60% capacity. When she sees this its time to go on an a road cruise. 4th gear at 70 for 15 minutes or until the light goes out. This is known as passive regen.

At 70% the car will take matters into its own hand and forcibly over-rev and over-fuel to increase the DPF temperature. This Active regen isnt great for fuel economy and not the best for the car but is better than a clogged dpf. At around 80-90% mass the dpf requires dealer intervention to be cleaned.

This only applies to VAG tdi engines, other ma manufacturers work in other ways.

Andy18976

I re raise my question, has anyone actually cleaned their own,like you see on u tube ? I am good with a set of spanners and getting it off would not be a problem, i am just trying to work out if it would be a wast of two or three hours of my life or it would save me 600-1000 pounds ! . I am talking about when the dpf actually gets to the dealer service point not its self regeneration

Shaolin_Monkey

Ultrasonic wrote: »

I can't understand why removing a DPF hasn't been made an MOT fail condition. There is no logic to only allowing cars to be sold with them to meet emissions standards but to then not do anything about owners removing them and thereby no longer meeting these standards.

I would be worried about removing a DPF from a car in case their removal was subsequently made illegal.

I realise this is an old thread but for what it's worth, removal of the DPF on a car originally equipped with one will now result in an MOT failure. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-rules-for-mot-to-test-for-diesel-particulate-filter

I understand removal of emissions related equipment was illegal anyway, but they now specifically look for it as part of the MOT.

4743hudsonj

Andy18976 wrote: »

I re raise my question, has anyone actually cleaned their own,like you see on u tube ? I am good with a set of spanners and getting it off would not be a problem, i am just trying to work out if it would be a wast of two or three hours of my life or it would save me 600-1000 pounds ! . I am talking about when the dpf actually gets to the dealer service point not its self regeneration

Yes it would be a waste of time. A not very moral (or legal) alternative would be to smash up the brick filter inside to essentially create and empty box which would still look kosher to police and an MOT tester.

patman99

Not sure how they will tackle the issue of missing EGR valves that have been replaced by a blanking kit by the maindealer due to the EGR being beyond saving and the part being no longer available due to being obsolete.

Retrogamer

4743hudsonj wrote: »

Yes it would be a waste of time. A not very moral (or legal) alternative would be to smash up the brick filter inside to essentially create and empty box which would still look kosher to police and an MOT tester.

It would likely put on the engine management light however which would then need mapped out

patman99 wrote: »

Not sure how they will tackle the issue of missing EGR valves that have been replaced by a blanking kit by the maindealer due to the EGR being beyond saving and the part being no longer available due to being obsolete.

When most EGR valves are blanked, it will cause the engine management light to come on unless it's mapped out. There are people pushing within VOSA so that the engine's ECU and map is checked at the MOT so if any alterations like that are made, it would be a fail.

Andy18976

Not sure why we have moved onto EGR !! We are talking about DPF, a completely different part of the exhaust system . Both will mean you will fail the MOT if removed and noticed . The question is still the same. Has anyone had any experience with actually removing the DPF filter and cleaning it and refitting it !?

patman99

Thing is, there is an issue with just how long after changing a part's design that the manufacturer will support/make the old design.

A friend of mine has a Renault Megane and the EGR failed. Renault informed him that they had changed the design of the part 3 years back and the new part could not be fitted in place of the old part.
There was no stock left of the old part, so as a result, they are shipping blanking kits to be fitted by their maindealers for a fixed price which included the cost of reprogramming the ECU.

Now, let's take this to the lack of a new DPF due to a change of design and all old stock used-up. The MOT tester would have no legal grounds to fail the vehicle due to a missing DPF as the part is obsolete and cannot be replaced.

Paradigm

To go completely off on a tangent....

These DPF thingies trap soot & when required burn it off during regeneration.

Given it's scientific fact that you can't destroy matter, merely alter it, what comes out of the exhaust during the regen process?

If, like I think, the DPF only stores pollutants to then emit them to the atmosphere in another form.... what's the point?