My new diesel smells like burning rubber and/or the fan stays on after engine is turned off

[Smeghead]

But there's no need to wait for it to finish, it perfectly capable of dealing with regens itself.

Yeah I thought the same ..... until the little amber warning light came on.  Now I tend to let it idle for 3 - 5 minutes when it's regenerating.  So far the warning light has stayed off for the last 2000 miles or so.

[Neily03]

Yeah I thought the same ..... until the little amber warning light came on.  Now I tend to let it idle for 3 - 5 minutes when it's regenerating.  So far the warning light has stayed off for the last 2000 miles or so.

 

Never seen the light on mine in 10k miles having interrupted many a regen, was the same in my mkII in 45k miles.

[Smeghead]

Never seen the light on mine in 10k miles having interrupted many a regen, was the same in my mkII in 45k miles.

I only had it once at about 450 miles.  2300 now and been OK since.  It happened as we got on to the channel tunnel train so I had no choice but to switch off the engine.  It cleared again before we got as far as Paris, which I thought was odd as I was told it's a dealer reset.

Edited 27 April, 2014 by Smeghead

[skovirg]

Personally I think every car fitted with a DPF should have a dash indication showing a regen is in process.

 

I have read of a Fiat model having such a light.

 

I agree. Maybe even with a choice to complete a regen yourself at a suitable time. The most annoying time for a regen is after you've just exited a free moving motorway to queue in traffic. This has happened to me twice to my knowledge.

[Smeghead]

I agree. Maybe even with a choice to complete a regen yourself at a suitable time. The most annoying time for a regen is after you've just exited a free moving motorway to queue in traffic. This has happened to me twice to my knowledge.

...or an option to leave it parked, locked and in neutral/park with the engine running until it's complete, then switch itself off - like the turbo boys used to do in the 90s with turbo timers that let the turbo cool down after a blast.

[Neily03]

...or an option to leave it parked, locked and in neutral/park with the engine running until it's complete, then switch itself off - like the turbo boys used to do in the 90s with turbo timers that let the turbo cool down after a blast.

 

Which of course would be illegal.

[Smeghead]

Which of course would be illegal.

 

Spoil sport

[Rob123]

not wanting to get this thread off topic or anything, but as it has been mentioned... why would the above be illegal? Im probbly a little young to know about the turbo timers of the 90's (my age was still in single figures)

[JamesVRSmk3]

It is a Road Traffic Act offence of 'quitting' which is when a person leaves their vehicle's engine running while they are not in it. Fixed penalty.

[fatbelly33]

Thanks for this post. The exact thing happened to me today, we took delivery of our Octavia TDI a few days ago & today if got out of the Car and smelt burning rubber and the Rad Fan was going at a fair old pace. It was concerning but I now feel reassured, this is only my 2nd post but I love this forum already.

[fewie]

I've had this happen 3 times in the 1st 550 miles, is this normal?

[littleade]

I've had this happen 3 times in the 1st 550 miles, is this normal?

in what car asyour avatar says you have a Renault sport clio? Were they in quick succession or spread out over several hundred miles?

[fewie]

Sorry haven't updated since taking delivery of my mk3 vRS tdi.

Each of the regens has been separated by a few hundred miles.

[littleade]

Sorry haven't updated since taking delivery of my mk3 vRS tdi.

Each of the regens has been separated by a few hundred miles.

 

You naughty boy!

 

from what I've leanrned about DPFs sinse I got one the car will complete a passive regen while you drve to burn off the soot it collects. Then when either the soot builds up to a pre determined level or you reach 600 miles since the last active regen it will start another active regen. It then heats the DPF up to burn off the soot. If you interupt it part way through the cycle by turning the engine off the fans then come on to cool the now hotter than usual exhaust/DPF down. If you turn the engine back on it won't go back into regen mode straight away (increased idle speed) and you then have to wait for it to decide it's going to do another.

 

Doing one every few hundered miles is I would say a little unusual unless you're doing mostly stop start short journeys, which will build the soot up quicker so might be worth getting it checked out, though some do seem to initially do quite a few regens from new but then settle down as the engine clocks up soem miles. If you know anyone with VCDS getting them to scan it to see if there are any fault codes or at least contact your dealer and inform them what's going on in case you have something like a faulty sensor. This document is worth a read if you've not seen it before. Page 57 on deals in depth with the DPF.

 

http://www.natef.org/NATEF/media/NATEFMedia/VW%20Files/2-0-TDI-SSP.pdf

[fewie]

Thanks, I completed the first regen by taking the long way home, could tell it was happening from

The smell. The next two have been interrupted. I do a real mixture of journeys, some short (less than 5 miles) but the car has had at least 3 x 50 mile plus journeys in its first 600 miles

[littleade]

I've seen a few posts about frequent regens on the mk3 when they are new, so yours will hopefully settle down. I use only branded diesel and add millars ecoboost to every tankful on my mk2 tdi vRS- off ebay its under a tenner for 500ml. It's now done 8k and the last time I noticed a regen was last year. It's obviouly done some since, but I'm convinced the millars helps as it increases the creatin level so you get slightly more power so less diesel used which must mean less soot. Some will question this I guess but you pays your money.....

[tigermad]

Had my first regen today after about 200 miles in my week old car. Is that normal? My daily runs are mainly national speed limit along with a bit of town driving. About 40 miles per day

[Neily03]

Had my first regen today after about 200 miles in my week old car. Is that normal? My daily runs are mainly national speed limit along with a bit of town driving. About 40 miles per day

 

Yep, mine did 3 or 4 in the first 1k miles.

[swoakes]

Just logged on today to check this issue out as it had been bugging me for a while.

 

Relieved to find that its not a fault

[JPH0091]

I would agree this is normal; I wouldn't say it is not a fault, though. It does not look to me like as an inspired design. I would agree to call it a not so nice workaround

But I'd agree I have preconceptions on diesel engines.

[swoakes]

Personally I think every car fitted with a DPF should have a dash indication showing a regen is in process.

 

I have read of a Fiat model having such a light.

Reading my manual (page 24) it suggests (but not totally clear) that a light does come on when regen is in progress...mine has never illuminated and it has regenerated as I have experienced the fan on and burning smell on many occasions.

[Dempsek]

The light comes on to tell you to drive as per the manual and create a passive (active) regen. Ignore the light and you could be looking for a new DPF.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited 22 November, 2014 by Dempsek

[littleade]

Reading my manual (page 24) it suggests (but not totally clear) that a light does come on when regen is in progress...mine has never illuminated and it has regenerated as I have experienced the fan on and burning smell on many occasions.

There are 4 regen phases: passive when the dpf regenerates itself without any assistance, active when the soot reaches a certain level or approx 600 miles has been done. It's during this phase that you get increased tickover, the hot smell and the fans running flat out after engine switch off if you interupt it. Both these phases have no lights on the dash. Next phase if it doesn't manage to get the active regen done is the driver assisted one when you get the dpf light on the dash. If you don't manage to complete this phase the next is when you get the dpf and glow plug lights illuminated, it goes into limp mode and you have to get the dealer or someone with vcds to do a forced regen. You're experiencing the 2nd phase which is normal and will happen as above and quite often you won't even notice it. Nothing to worry about at all. Try the link in post #39 page 60 on deals with the dpf

[Gyuri]

thanks so much for this thread - I did not know either what this was, happened once so far around 200kms, car has 500kms and it didn't do it again (yet)

cheers

[iDENTITi]

I keep having regens from first start and a cold engine. While sat in traffic or at slow speeds too.

This isn't right is it?