DPF management.

[prydey]

Just after info regarding the management regime for DPF equipped small/mid SUV's, if anyone can help out with specific info in this regard.

a guy i used to work with had a diesel kuga. i looked in the owners manual and Ford recommend a minimum of 20 minutes continuous driving above 80km/h, at least once a week, to keep the DPF from clogging and allow it to do its 'burn'.

just hoping others can provide specific info from other manufacturers. I assume they would all be the same sort of schedule though. i have heard that some have the ability to do a manual burn.

any help with this would be appreciated.

[baker1]

I work on trucks for a living. From what I've seen, truck, suv, car. They all do thier burns under pretty similar conditions. The are normally low load, constant throttle position. I remember Isuzu used to have pressure differential sensors in the DPF and would do the burn under the right conditions if the pressure differential was great enough or if it had been 300km since the last burn

[simon varley]

Just give it some welly once in a while. Under anything more than medium load the exhaust will be hot enough to self ignite the soot and burn it off naturally. Problems really only arise when the car is constantly used around town under light loads that let the soot build up in the filter. The car is programmed to set up a regeneration cycle under a number of scenarios - time, mileage, back pressure, or when its model shows a certain mass of soot. These can be quite aggressive burns especially if the soot loading is high.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by simon varley

Just give it some welly once in a while. Under anything more than medium load the exhaust will be hot enough to self ignite the soot and burn it off naturally. Problems really only arise when the car is constantly used around town under light loads that let the soot build up in the filter. The car is programmed to set up a regeneration cycle under a number of scenarios - time, mileage, back pressure, or when its model shows a certain mass of soot. These can be quite aggressive burns especially if the soot loading is high.

its not that simple. the bolded bit is what i'm trying to find out more about. specific programs recommended by the manufacturer.

Some may have seen my other thread asking about small/mid suv type cars for my folks. i'm just trying to find out whether they may be able to live with a diesel.

finding out after you bought one is too late. they live semi rural, so not stop/start city driving, but they still only do mainly short trips during the week/weekends. I quoted the ford kuga owners manual in the first post, and i'm not sure they would meet that criteria in their normal driving.

i've come across some info using google that suggests Nissan have a similar recommended procedure, although they say above 60km/h and state 'up to' 30min, meaning the burn off could be completed a lot quicker.

[danzvtil]

they live semi rural, so not stop/start city driving, but they still only do mainly short trips during the week/weekends.

I think that's your answer, unless they were on the road all day doing long hot runs, then a diesel will be a constant worry for them. Petrol only.

[simon varley]

honestly, I used to be the biggest diesel fan ever, but now that they come with a couple of grands worth of chemical factory bolted on the back I wouldn't buy one if I had a choice. Modern direct injection petrol engines give the diesels a run for their money for fuel economy and with a turbo they often outperform too. Until they have to have a particulate filter fitted too (for Eu7) than that's my choice.

[prydey]

so, no owners of small/mid diesels on here that can read their handbook and post up the info??

[commodorenutt]

By chance, it seems the freeway exit I take hits all the sweet spots for DPF burns for numerous manufacturers. I first noticed Territorys blowing a heap of black soot under light load just before the exit, some 5 years back. Now it's everything from Mazdas to Kias & even Land Rovers. Cars and SUVs.

Thinking about it, there's a lot of stop-start traffic further back, in nearly all directions, and they get about 8-10 minutes of constant high-speed (110km/h) light load (fairly flat) running, and then they dump.....

I wouldn't like to live in the houses near that exit. Some afternoons it's as smoky as a bushfire when you get 8-10 cars doing it at once.

[Trump]

Diesel X-Trail here (T32) and there is zero mention of any DPF management techniques in the user manual. The service advisor however has said that once a fortnight, take it out on the highway for at least 30 minutes to burn off any build-up.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by Trump

Diesel X-Trail here (T32) and there is zero mention of any DPF management techniques in the user manual. The service advisor however has said that once a fortnight, take it out on the highway for at least 30 minutes to burn off any build-up.

thanks. x-trail is one of the cars on the radar for my folks. does it have a light come on, on the dash when the DPF requires a burn off? i saw some clips on youtube that i thought was a nissan system. only required a 5-10 min highway run for the light to go out. i think it depends on how clogged the filter is.

at least your service advisor was kind enough to point it out. strange to not have it in the owners manual.

i believe some cars can manually activate a burn but not sure if thats for the owner or the service techs.

[Trump]

Originally Posted by prydey

thanks. x-trail is one of the cars on the radar for my folks. does it have a light come on, on the dash when the DPF requires a burn off? i saw some clips on youtube that i thought was a nissan system. only required a 5-10 min highway run for the light to go out. i think it depends on how clogged the filter is.

at least your service advisor was kind enough to point it out. strange to not have it in the owners manual.

i believe some cars can manually activate a burn but not sure if thats for the owner or the service techs.

There is no provision for a manual burn trigger in the X-Trail. And the DPF light has never come on, I cane the bastard when I drive it and it gets taken to Melbourne about once a week.

[simon varley]

Originally Posted by commodorenutt

By chance, it seems the freeway exit I take hits all the sweet spots for DPF burns for numerous manufacturers. .

that's not dpf burning. that's rubbish transient engine calibration where the fuel is injected before the turbo has run up to provide enough air so it burns too rich and smoky. the whole point of a dpf is that it captures all that soot so it doesn't go down the tailpipe.

the dpf burn is when the soot trapped in the filter is burnt off to leave an ash. that should be a clean burn that doesn't leave any trail from the tailpipe

[IanC]

Originally Posted by simon varley

the dpf burn is when the soot trapped in the filter is burnt off to leave an ash. that should be a clean burn that doesn't leave any trail from the tailpipe

The ash is another big problem. After about 160,000km or so the DPF is full of ash and has to be replaced. This costs big bucks - probably more than the car is worth at that age. This means that diesels with DPF are not going to be worth much on resale in the future. I wouldn't touch any diesel that has a DPF. Nothing but trouble.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Trump

Diesel X-Trail here (T32) and there is zero mention of any DPF management techniques in the user manual. The service advisor however has said that once a fortnight, take it out on the highway for at least 30 minutes to burn off any build-up.

Defeats any fuel savings for someone who only does short trips in a diesel if they need to do a 30 min highway run every 2 weeks. If they don't normally do it.

[Kieron]

Originally Posted by IanC

The ash is another big problem. After about 160,000km or so the DPF is full of ash and has to be replaced. This costs big bucks - probably more than the car is worth at that age. This means that diesels with DPF are not going to be worth much on resale in the future. I wouldn't touch any diesel that has a DPF. Nothing but trouble.

DPF's aren't as much as they once were, older Focus DPF's for instance -
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/FORD-FOC...UAAOSwUS9Z1P~0

There are also DPF 'reconditioning' services.

I've got a Grand Cherokee diesel, it's user manual -
http://www.wk2jeeps.com/manuals/2015...diesel_6th.pdf

Page 30 contains the DPF info. Basically, drive it as normal and if you get the DPF warning message (80% full), take if for a drive at highway speeds for 20 mins.

I've had mine for nearly 3 years now (60,xxxk's), it's driven exactly the same as my petrol cars, bumper to bumper traffic 3-4 days/week, suburban driving and usually a freeway drive one every week or two, probably 25 or so mins. Never had the warning message come up. A friend has a 2014 diesel Golf, slightly more k's, driven like a petrol car and has never had an issue with the DPF.

[ivorya]

I've a Diesel Kuga.

Best car i've owned. My work is 15-20mins away, no issues at all with the DPF.
You know when it is cleaning/burning, when stationary, the instant fuel will rise a bit and you'll hear a clicking noise.

Also, at 7.3L/100km - i'm laughing. There is know way i'd be achieving this in a Petrol Kuga and with the 95RON Petrol being 10-20c higher than the price of Diesel... It's a win-win.

A guy once said to me, always keep your Diesel serviced Well, and it'll go for yrs.. I'm trying

[whitelion65]

Have a look in the Mondeo section of the forums. Some good info in there. Guys with big kms on their original filter, too!
Mine has the knack of starting a burn when she,s backing it into the garage.
It burps, farts and emits lots of fumes ��.
I’ve bought a scan dongle to monitor the burns, but haven’t had a play yet.
I love the diesel, but just bought a petrol Focus, ,cos I do short trips.

[XD 351 Ute]

We have 12 month old Colorados for work, they replaced Hiluxes which had none of the DPF stuff. Our site speed limit is only 20 kms per hour, and so these things require a burn about once a week.
When we first got them, no-one really knew too much about them, and so the alarms were basically ignored.
Myself being mechanically sympathetic (mostly 'cos I hate carrying a heap of tools to do my job) and being a mechanics son, realised that we would be asking for trouble if we just left them go.
As most have written here, the manual basically said to go for an uninterrupted drive above 80 km/h until the alarm clears off the dash.
Needless to say, ours didn't, and after a trip to the local Holden dealer, they had cleared over 400 DPF fault codes..
I managed to convince the boss that if an alarm came up, it was in our best interest to take the utes for a drive to clear them, and avoid an expensive repair bill.

So now, I usually take the ute for a run up the highway until it clears, and we have no more issues.

I would also like to point out that one of the utes suffered a 'run-on' with resulting engine damage (I think it killed a few valves), from a massive over-rev that the vehicle did all by it self. Again, this ute had just been left to allow the DPF fault codes to accumulate...

Hope this helps!

Ed

[GT2]

My wife had an MC Mondeo TDCI for a here Year’s. Mainly short city trips dropping kids off to school and back which is less than a 2km round trip. Sold it after three years and around 40,000km. Never had a DPF problem.
I’ve also been using Amarok utes as company cars for my sales reps. I own 7 and no problems with them either. They get mixed use, some see regular highway use and others don’t. Been using Amaroks for three years now with no DPF issues.

[Ben73]

Originally Posted by GT2

My wife had an MC Mondeo TDCI for a here Year’s. Mainly short city trips dropping kids off to school and back which is less than a 2km round trip. Sold it after three years and around 40,000km. Never had a DPF problem.
I’ve also been using Amarok utes as company cars for my sales reps. I own 7 and no problems with them either. They get mixed use, some see regular highway use and others don’t. Been using Amaroks for three years now with no DPF issues.

What year model are they? Not all Amaroks have DPF.


As for private cars, I have no idea why you would buy a diesel with a DPF in a standard size car if you just drive around town all day everyday. I understand it in large vehicles, but in a little hatchback is it really necessary?

[whitelion65]

Ben,
that's like saying 400rwkw isn't really necessary ;-)

[GT2]

Originally Posted by Ben73

What year model are they? Not all Amaroks have DPF.


As for private cars, I have no idea why you would buy a diesel with a DPF in a standard size car if you just drive around town all day everyday. I understand it in large vehicles, but in a little hatchback is it really necessary?

Getting close to 4 years now. KM’s range between 80-100k.
I have 2 Rangers also that have been trouble free.

[SensationFG8]

Originally Posted by Ben73

As for private cars, I have no idea why you would buy a diesel with a DPF in a standard size car if you just drive around town all day everyday. I understand it in large vehicles, but in a little hatchback is it really necessary?

Because it's part of the Euro V stuff? Can you buy a new diesel without DPF anymore?

Mine has a nice button I can push to do a manual burn