Brand new Vauxhall Corsa - help! DPF!

BeenThroughItAll

darkmatter101 wrote: »

I remember reading somewhere online that sludge build can happen if you continually do short journeys like 1 mile a day on TDI engines, even the pre 2008 non- DFP engines. Regardless of whether you change your oil every year using fully synthetic?

But I think even if you do 1 mile/day for 5 days then do a long motorway journey for at least an hour during the weekend it should clear up the sludge?

I remember reading somewhere that the earth was flat, but that doesn't make it true.

There's no sense in using any vehicle for trips of a mile a day as I said above, and any vehicle, diesel or petrol, DPF equipped or not, can suffer from problems. 'Sludging' certainly used to be a big problem, and can still be on certain cars (like Saabs, for instance) where there are particular design considerations which render them liable to it, but with modern oils and fuels, it is a rarity.


Yes, EGR valves can become clogged and manifolds can be susceptible to carbon build-up, but that can happen with a petrol engined vehicle as well.

Strider590

darkmatter101 wrote: »

But I think even if you do 1 mile/day for 5 days then do a long motorway journey for at least an hour during the weekend it should clear up the sludge?

No

The principle is similar to petrol engines, the contamination of the oil is caused by the excess fuel and any moisture in the air, condensing on the cold metal inside the combustion chamber, when turned off still relatively cold, this then runs down past the piston rings and gets into the oil (much worse at higher compression ratios). Petrol dilutes oil, diesel creates a sludge. A once a week long run is not going to change that or remove the contaminants from the oil.

Short journeys also create carbon build up and carbon build up in a diesel will also cause other problems, namely "dieseling", where the carbon deposits form hot spots which can ignite fuel prematurely OR even keep the engine running when the ignition is turned off.

With diesels you also have the issues caused by summer and winter fuel, where summer fuel turns into a treacle like substance at winter temperatures and then blocks filters, injectors and fuel lines..... So if you did low mileage and still had summer diesel in the tank come winter, then things could/would get nasty.

topdaddy_2

Strider590 wrote: »

Why are people banging on about this Corsa being a small car?
.

Cos its small and a car.

darkmatter101

Strider590 wrote: »

No

The principle is similar to petrol engines, the contamination of the oil is caused by the excess fuel and any moisture in the air, condensing on the cold metal inside the combustion chamber, when turned off still relatively cold, this then runs down past the piston rings and gets into the oil (much worse at higher compression ratios). Petrol dilutes oil, diesel creates a sludge. A once a week long run is not going to change that or remove the contaminants from the oil.

Short journeys also create carbon build up and carbon build up in a diesel will also cause other problems, namely "dieseling", where the carbon deposits form hot spots which can ignite fuel prematurely OR even keep the engine running when the ignition is turned off.

With diesels you also have the issues caused by summer and winter fuel, where summer fuel turns into a treacle like substance at winter temperatures and then blocks filters, injectors and fuel lines..... So if you did low mileage and still had summer diesel in the tank come winter, then things could/would get nasty.

Thanks for that. I am getting slightly worried now as I'm in the process of acquiring a relatives '07 Audi A3 2.0 tdi with very high mileage. Perhaps using Millers Power ecomax addictive may help a little along with 6 month oil changes?

BeenThroughItAll

darkmatter101 wrote: »

Thanks for that. I am getting slightly worried now as I'm in the process of acquiring a relatives '07 Audi A3 2.0 tdi with very high mileage. Perhaps using Millers Power ecomax addictive may help a little along with 6 month oil changes?

Eh?


Why would all of this speculation in any way affect a high mileage vehicle? If it's been used properly, it should be fine, although I wouldn't have one of the 2.0TDIs if you paid me.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

Eh?


Why would all of this speculation in any way affect a high mileage vehicle? If it's been used properly, it should be fine, although I wouldn't have one of the 2.0TDIs if you paid me.

That's the engine with the failing balancers isn't it?

BeenThroughItAll

IanMSpencer wrote: »

That's the engine with the failing balancers isn't it?

Yep, where they're fitted.


Where they're not, there's injector failures, EGR issues, fuel pump seal failures and other issues.


Give me an old 1.9TDI PD any day.

darkmatter101

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

Eh?


Why would all of this speculation in any way affect a high mileage vehicle? If it's been used properly, it should be fine, although I wouldn't have one of the 2.0TDIs if you paid me.

This particular '07 reg 2.0 TDI has nearly 190k miles on the clock and still running strong. Had full service history and nothing ever has gone wrong (asides replaceable items like brakes, clutch etc, timing belt etc). The oil was changed every 20k miles (every year) using long life but I think that's okay as from what I've read the long life can go either 2 years or 20k between changes.

JustinR1979

Old 1.9 was a cracker, shame about the 2.0tdi.
Still, when it doesn't exist, the repair costs should be minimal.

BeenThroughItAll

JustinR1979 wrote: »

Old 1.9 was a cracker, shame about the 2.0tdi.
Still, when it doesn't exist, the repair costs should be minimal.

LMFTO. I was thinking similar.

Mind you, a shonky old 200K A3 sounds much more believable as a runabout than a 15 grand Lexus.

But the big question - is it allowed to overtake?