How can I tell if my Citroen Picasso 3 is Regenerating please??

Barkin

sevenhills said:

ontheroad1970 said:

It would be useful if manufacturers would put a light on on the dash so that you can drive around little longer if you wish so as not to interrupt a regen leaving the fuel dumped in the oil

There is a light on the dash that will illuminate when the car is regenerating. I am not sure what it is on a Citroen Picasso 3.

Does it even have one?

Not all do, and I'm guessing that if it did then the OP wouldn't need to ask the question in the thread title... 

400ixl

Most cars do not have any light on the dash when a regen is happening, very few do.

Also you do not need to be going at high speeds for a regen to happen, it could regen in city driving once warmed up. So a 20+ minute commute in traffic can be enough to keep it clean. It does not need to be on an open road or at high revs as people often say.

Sort journeys are the killer. If you are not doing regular 20 kmnute drives (every 200-300 miles) then that is something you need to change.

If you are doing journeys that are long enough in duration for a regen to happen but it isn't then you need to get it checked out. Checking for any stored codes is the first step as it could be a failed sensor which is stopping the regen from happening, no matter what distance, time or speed you are doing.

Bigwheels1111

On my 5008 the only way I knew it had done a re gen was as I parked up.
The burning smell, like you have used the brakes to often and the exhaust cooling sound, ting ting popping.
Another sign is a NOx fault code on my car.
After a long 175 mile motorway journey.
I start the return journey and fault light up.
I think it clogs the sensor?, who knows.
A quick scan, clear code and off I go.
Or my car does not like visiting my Dad. 😜

Goudy

Bigwheels1111 said:

Another sign is a NOx fault code on my car.

That's another two potential, modern diesel issues.

When an engine runs lean it produces more Nitrogen Oxides (NOx).
It's a problem for most engines, take you foot off the gas pedal and modern cars will inject no fuel at all into the cylinders.
Older pump timed diesels and carburettor cars used to still suck/pump in a little fuel when you took your foot off the gas.
Not great of Co2 and efficiency but they didn't suffer the NOx problem as much (but truthfully no one was really looking for NOx back then)


We know this lean pumping of air causes massive temperature spikes.
(just hold you thumb over the end of a bicycle pump and give two quick pumps, you'll burn your thumb!)

This in an engine causes NOx to proliferate.

To try and help with this the designers have used a couple of things to help.

Initially they try to stop it pumping only air when you take your foot off the gas pedal and it runs really lean.
They designed a mechanism to replace some of this air with cooled, spent exhaust gas which obviously doesn't have much air in it.
The system is called Exhaust Gas Recirculation, better known as EGR.

Some exhaust gas is trapped and cooled and then a valve opens and sends that cooled gas back into the engine via the intake valves when the engine is lean. 
The system is a little temperamental as the valve has soot passing through it which meets the air intake which has a little oil vapour in it from the crankcase breather system.
After many miles you end up with a caked up EGR valve that won't open/close.

The latest diesels will also treat the exhaust gas to try and neutralise the NOx before it leaves the tail pipe.
A system called Selective Catalytic Reduction or SCR injects a fluid into the another catalyst (post DPF) in the exhaust that reduces any NOx to near zero.
This fluid is aqueous urea but it's better known as Adblue.

There have been some expensive problems with the fluid tank and fluid injection system on some makes and models and some others have catalyst problems.

Again, short tripping a car with these devices tend to impact their life expectancy.
The more soot and NOx it has to deal with, the shorter the time before faults start crop up.
Also, modern diesels are programmed not to run when the SCR system can't work due to no fluid.

Modern petrol engine have EGR's and particulate filters but petrol doesn't produce the same level of soot as diesel.
Most emission equipment on a petrol engine is passive, it just works (unless some steals your catalytic convertor!)
The particulate filter is passive, just works with the heat on the over run

Diesel emissions equipment tends to be active, they need to inject fuel into the DPF to burn the soot (another potential problem if the cycle is interrupted) and inject fluid to treat NOx.

So petrol emission equipment tends to be far more reliable.

Bigwheels1111

Goudy said:

Bigwheels1111 said:

Another sign is a NOx fault code on my car.

That's another two potential, modern diesel issues.

When an engine runs lean it produces more Nitrogen Oxides (NOx).
It's a problem for most engines, take you foot off the gas pedal and modern cars will inject no fuel at all into the cylinders.
Older pump timed diesels and carburettor cars used to still suck/pump in a little fuel when you took your foot off the gas.
Not great of Co2 and efficiency but they didn't suffer the NOx problem as much (but truthfully no one was really looking for NOx back then)


We know this lean pumping of air causes massive temperature spikes.
(just hold you thumb over the end of a bicycle pump and give two quick pumps, you'll burn your thumb!)

This in an engine causes NOx to proliferate.

To try and help with this the designers have used a couple of things to help.

Initially they try to stop it pumping only air when you take your foot off the gas pedal and it runs really lean.
They designed a mechanism to replace some of this air with cooled, spent exhaust gas which obviously doesn't have much air in it.
The system is called Exhaust Gas Recirculation, better known as EGR.

Some exhaust gas is trapped and cooled and then a valve opens and sends that cooled gas back into the engine via the intake valves when the engine is lean. 
The system is a little temperamental as the valve has soot passing through it which meets the air intake which has a little oil vapour in it from the crankcase breather system.
After many miles you end up with a caked up EGR valve that won't open/close.

The latest diesels will also treat the exhaust gas to try and neutralise the NOx before it leaves the tail pipe.
A system called Selective Catalytic Reduction or SCR injects a fluid into the another catalyst (post DPF) in the exhaust that reduces any NOx to near zero.
This fluid is aqueous urea but it's better known as Adblue.

There have been some expensive problems with the fluid tank and fluid injection system on some makes and models and some others have catalyst problems.

Again, short tripping a car with these devices tend to impact their life expectancy.
The more soot and NOx it has to deal with, the shorter the time before faults start crop up.
Also, modern diesels are programmed not to run when the SCR system can't work due to no fluid.

Modern petrol engine have EGR's and particulate filters but petrol doesn't produce the same level of soot as diesel.
Most emission equipment on a petrol engine is passive, it just works (unless some steals your catalytic convertor!)
The particulate filter is passive, just works with the heat on the over run

Diesel emissions equipment tends to be active, they need to inject fuel into the DPF to burn the soot (another potential problem if the cycle is interrupted) and inject fluid to treat NOx.

So petrol emission equipment tends to be far more reliable.

Issues with Adblue yes indeed.
Last August I had my tank replaced. Peugeot 5008 known fault.
Had a mot done with the system faulty it returned a 0.00 reading for emissions.
With the tank working 0.01 and 0.02.
What a joke.

Mildly_Miffed

Bigwheels1111 said:

Issues with Adblue yes indeed.
Last August I had my tank replaced. Peugeot 5008 known fault.
Had a mot done with the system faulty it returned a 0.00 reading for emissions.
With the tank working 0.01 and 0.02.
What a joke.

You're confused between two different things.
AdBlue reduces NOx.
MOT measures smoke opacity.

The difference between 0.00 and 0.01/0.02 is trivial to the point of irrelevance.

The default MOT limit for a post-2014 car is 0.7, for a 2008-2013 car 1.5, and for a pre-2008 car 2.5 or 3.0 depending on if it's turbocharged or not.

Mustbeananswer??

Thanks everyone....I just wanted to check.I bought the car and it must have been standing a while as it was  showing the Particle Light / Engine Light/ Service.I gave it a  garage service and the dpf was cleaned ...and its fine...but the clean was expensive and I dont want to keep investing in cleaning it...I will just give it a regular high gear run out to keep the equilibrim   

Arunmor

I had a Jeep Commander for a few years and without fail the DPF would regenerate during the MOT.  It was 20 minute drive to the MOT station and the car was always left running throughout the MOT process.  The first time I though the car was on fire there was so much smoke.

Bonniepurple

Is it making funny noises, with loads of fancy camera work and becoming something else?  Does this happen when it goes into a box that is small on the outside but massive on the inside?  

Sorry, that’s Doctor Who regeneration.  Cars - absolutely no idea.

Mustbeananswer??

Would a cheap Engine Computer Reader kick a car out of Limp Mode.....If I needed to gett to the Motorway ....so I could force it through a Mobile Regen ??Antone else do this please ??