Diesel Particulate Filter - any experiences?

[Bald Monkey]

Hi All,

 

Thinking of getting a new car next week and it has a Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) fitted and I have been reading some horror stories about the hassle they can cause. Does anyone have a car with one of these fitted and have you had any problems.

 

Apparently they need to go through a process called regeneration every now and then by driving at over 30mph for a constant 20 mins or so to heat up the exhaust system to burn of the particles. Sounds like it could be more trouble than it's worth.

 

Any advice welcome

 

Cheers

[RobArb]

Hi there, my cars (zafira) engine warning light came on a few months back, so i took it to the garage where they told me the DPF had gone faulty and would order me a new one, half a day, simple job, less than £150 for parts and labour, cool i said:biggrin:

 

Rings me in the afternoon, can't get the parts till monday, monday comes, gets the part but the filter is fine?? Turns out the pipe/tube that connects the filter had come loose and burnt through on the exhaust, so another day later, new pipe and job costs less than £100:biggrin:

 

Had no probs with mine at all, and not heard any other horror stories of the garage either when i asked them about it, may just be my car though:001_smile:

[gensetsteve]

Diesels have got very electronic and expensive to repair. Built to a price and required to produce large BHP from relatively small cc's . Unless you do mega miles I would buy a petrol. Lower fuel cost, cleaner to fill, cheaper to buy, often cheaper to tax,

[Bald Monkey]

I'll be doing around 70 mile round trip a day commute. That's why I have been thinking of the diesel. It's a skoda fabia 1.6tdi, get about 68mpg and yearly tax only £20 so sounds really cheap to run. I had skoda fabia vrs a while back and never had any major problems (although that didn't have the DPF), also the customer service from skoda is the best in my opinion.

[jamesfwpurdy]

Just a thought, have a look at honest johns site. He writes in t'telegraph and DPFs feature heavily, pros, cons and tips also other reviews about vehicles.

 

James

[Bald Monkey]

Just a thought, have a look at honest johns site. He writes in t'telegraph and DPFs feature heavily, pros, cons and tips also other reviews about vehicles.

 

James

 

Cheers James will do

[Tyz05]

Had a Peugeot 406 in workshop a few months ago with the filter blocked,previous owner was only doing about 5miles a day in it,the regeneration process involved plugging into the car with our diagnostics equipment which then controls the engine speed,revs it flat out for 15mins or so to heat up and clear the filter,you could do the same by using your foot on the accelerator pedal to be honest. It also had a seperate additive which needed to be re filled and the ecu reset,it counted the amount of times the fuel filler cap had been opened to calculate how much additive was left,bit of a daft idea.

[Mark_Skyland]

I would look to buy one without, a lot less hassle and cost.

 

Diesels arent the cheap motoring they used to be, when they go wrong(which they do more often now) the savings in fuel can be well and truly wiped out!

 

I have a Renault Laguna which had a prob with the DPF. I ended up buying a Diagnostic tool for £200 which after a lot of messing about managed to sort it.

 

All the mechanics I have spoken to (and there are quite a few of them by our unit) say to get a decent petrol unless your doing a lot of motorway miles.

 

Just changing a clutch on most diesels now costs loads as they have dual mass flywheels which fall to bits.

[Nature]

I have just bought a new Isuzu D-Max that has a diesel particulate filter which requires regeneration occasionally.

 

On a drive back from the West Country to Essex, it regenerated twice, but I think it depends on traffic conditions and dusty environments.

 

There is nothing to fear about this IMO as the engine senses the build up of particles in the filter (there is a screen display which shows this) and then automatically starts the regeneration process.

 

The regeneration raises the engine temperature so the exhaust can smell a bit hot, but we have not had to drive over 30 mph for a set time. In fact we have turned the engine off during regen and the regen process just starts again where it left off when turned back on.

 

So far there have been no problems at all, and it has not had any impact on our use of the vehicle either, though we've only had it for three weeks so far.

 

The new Isuzu has a five year warranty so I am not too worried about the complexities involved.

 

Hope this helps.

[treesnatcher]

i had problems with the dpf filter on a lexux is220d

Lexus wanted £1800 for new filter 50/50 parts and labour

I said no way i will sort it out myself elsewhere

Then lexus say there is a modification we can do whereby we put a bigger pipe onto the side of the filter for £280.,

That was about 40K ago, thankfully no problems since.