Advice needed

Denise.Adkins

My son brought an Astra cdti 1.6 diesel in December 2018 from a large well known car trader. In March of this year it ended up in the garage as the DPF valve was blocked and the filter 89% blocked. He paid £400 to have the valve replaced and the car ran fine. He was told he needed to run it at 3000 revs every now and then to "burn of the soot " that collects and blocks the valve. He has been doing this but yesterday the car did the same and is now back in the garage.

As my son brought the car on finance with no extended warranty my question is , can he return it to the trader and ask for a replacement/refund ?

He has spoke to the trader in March and was told they couldn't help with repairs as no warranty in place. With this second breakdown in less than 4 months where do we stand? He paid nearly £10,000 for the car and now has no car and no money !
Help!!!

a.turner

Was the fault present at the time of sale or is your sons driving mot suitable for a modern diesel?

Denise.Adkins

No fault present when he brought the car and no its not his driving.

AdrianC

Denise.Adkins wrote: »

My son brought an Astra cdti 1.6 diesel in December 2018 from a large well known car trader. In March of this year it ended up in the garage as the DPF valve was blocked and the filter 89% blocked.

So he'd been driving it four months by that stage.

He was told he needed to run it at 3000 revs every now and then to "burn of the soot " that collects and blocks the valve.

Not quite that simple... See below.

He has been doing this but yesterday the car did the same and is now back in the garage

He's now been driving it seven months.

As my son brought the car on finance with no extended warranty my question is , can he return it to the trader and ask for a replacement/refund ?

No.

If he can prove there was an inherent problem present at the time of purchase, and not one to be reasonably expected of a car of that age/type/use etc, then he may have grounds for them fixing it. Within six months, the balance of proof would have been reversed - the garage would have to prove it wasn't present at the time of purchase. Easily done, given he'd been driving it for four months before any symptoms.

But since somebody else has already worked on that same part of the vehicle, and it's a perfectly normal situation for a DPF-equipped diesel in low/light use, then not a hope in hell.

So - when I said "not that simple"... DPFs need heat in the exhaust in order to start the regeneration process and burn the collected particulates off. A lot of heat. Just a few revs for a bit is not sufficient in itself. A long run at speed is required periodically, ideally regularly. You say it's not his driving - but how do you know? How many miles has he done in that seven months, and what sort of journeys?

Perhaps the DPF fitted is indeed faulty, and perhaps it was at the time of purchase. But by far and away the most common cause is use, or lack thereof. And, seven months and some other mechanic's fingerprints later...? Nope. He's on his own.

a.turner

Denise.Adkins wrote: »

No fault present when he brought the car and no its not his driving.

So he does enough miles and gets the car up to sufficient temperature to regenerate the DPF.

It must be a faulty filter then. Time for a new one.

forgotmyname

Denise.Adkins wrote: »

No fault present when he brought the car and no its not his driving.

Not his driving, maybe or maybe not..

Its more likely the journey type. Everyone would say to me not to have a diesel with a DPF but I tow a caravan and a diesel makes sense for that.

I keep an eye on the DPF values and when it gets close to 90 i take the car for a run where the DPF does its regeneration and drops to about 30. Does your son monitor the DPF values?

Does he do journeys where the car can complete a regeneration?

Sounds like he chose the wrong car or he needs to monitor the DPF values and give it a chance to regenerate when it needs to.

MovingForwards

How many miles a day does he do?

Denise.Adkins

Thanks for all your advice. He uses it daily and travels around 60 miles a day on the motor way and motorway driving at weekends.. As he works unsociable hours he travels when the motor ways are clear so no stop start journeys. So far he has had no warning lights regarding the DPF values. he was told about the regeneration and has been doing this periodically. Still waiting for the garage to let us know what they find.
Thanks

mobileron

Tell him to buy some Forte diesel cleaner and give the car a good blast.
Ensure he drives in the right gear locally.

scaredofdebt

Euro 6 I suspect?


Since when is doing 3,000 revs for any length of time considered "normal" driving?


I suppose it's a 6 speed box, doing 3k revs in 6th would be 90 odd MPH. Is it now considered "normal" to labour the engine in a low gear? I've read a regen can take around 20 minutes or so.



I've always been a fan of diesels but I think with Euro 6 they've ruined it.


I'm having trouble with my Euro 6 diesel and suspect it's DPF related (maybe EGR) and I do 28k a year, 80 miles daily commute, mostly motorways, never had with issue with any previous diesels I've owned, 4 of them.

DoaM

With my Insignia Grand Sport (2017+ model), apparently a regen requires revs of a little over 2k for at least 20 minutes. (According to the RAC guy who came to see my car recently for a suspected DPF issue - it wasn't DPF as it happens). In the Insignia (1.6 diesel) 2k revs equates to 75 mph on the speedo.