Last sunday my VRS desiel decied to go into limp mode with the DPF light on and the glow plus light flashing. have to get the car recovered as i was told its unsafe to drive.

On monday the car was taken to Simpsons skoda in preston which they said it just needs a regen and all with be fine.

Picked the car up on the tuesday and off i went, now ive done over 700miles since tuesday which has been on country lanes and motorways, until yesterday which i just drove to my girlfriends and back again about 20miles round trip. i noticed the car playing up again the revs stayed stuck at 1000rpm and the car was very jerky and felt lumpy to drive.

Now i know if i keep driving it the DPF light with come on and go into limp mode again.

The dealer has said its had the upgraded sensor on the car and theres nothing else for him to change.

The dealer also said i should'nt be doing any short trips in the car.

I getting fed up with the car now and this aint the first time ive had these issuses.

Can anyone help me as im thinking about getting rid of the thing which i dont want to do. :'(

So far my DPF has behaved itself. If (when?!) it does start going wrong then I intend to have it removed and the ECU mapped to suit. DPF isnt just a Skoda issue so I wont let it spoil an otherwise good car.

hi,try havin a word with shark performace,iv heard they are pretty good,they might know what it is,google them and the number will come up.................after the trouble iv had with main dealers,i wouldnt go anywere near them again!!!!!!! good luck.....

Shaun vrs - Dont panic I have just had the same problem on my Fiat 500 Diesel. Within the last 2 weeks & its been fixed

DPF light comes on, then after approx 40 miles , went off, the display then did check engine message, no limp mode although the service dept did ask. - Dealer did a manual regen, then gave the car back.

Same again, approx 500 miles later, dealer did manual regen, but on return of the car , it went into a regen on / off loop, no engine mgmt light this time.

Dealer had my car for 3 days last week & here is what they did to fix it.

Replaced the EGR valve & MAF sensor, reset DPF cycle timer, then then put another 50 miles on the car to check that it has broken the regen cycle, I have put another 75 on top of that & its fixed.

One thing my hand book says & mechanic confirmed, that driving with DPF light on over s short period of time doesnt do any damage, it just reduces the mpg you will get, altho experience whilst running with the regen on / off cycle disproved that advice.

Ask the dealers to get Skoda tech involved, my local fiat dealer got their tech services involved as soon as i reported this issue.

Hope it helps

So far my DPF has behaved itself. If (when?!) it does start going wrong then I intend to have it removed and the ECU mapped to suit. DPF isnt just a Skoda issue so I wont let it spoil an otherwise good car.

Im not sure about this logic in this thinking , but i'm sure someone will correct me

Isnt the dfp put onto these cars so they will meet euro emissions ? so at MOT time, the tester will have a table of allowed emissions range for this car& without the filter isnt there a big risk that it will become an MOT failure ?

lfc958- thanks i think i will get a Skoda tech involed, hopefully they will solve the problem for me. i have noticed my MPG never been that good as i only get 39mpg out of the car.

if nothing comes from skoda i will have to speak to shark performance see what information i can get.

I have recently ordered a skoda petrol as I have had it with my Vauxhall Derv and its DPF issues.

The deealers comment about short journeys is rubbish, as long as your not doing just short journeys you should be fine. I am not sure if the Skoda tells you when the DPF is doing a re-gen, the vauxhalls don't and this is part of the problem. Even on a motorway run, get off the power at the wrong time and the regen cycle would log as not complete and your oil level would increase due to it been diluted with diesel......

My vauxhall has had several oil changes between services since I have owned it to compensate for the diesel been mixed in the oil.

Andy

Im not sure about this logic in this thinking , but i'm sure someone will correct me

Isnt the dfp put onto these cars so they will meet euro emissions ? so at MOT time, the tester will have a table of allowed emissions range for this car& without the filter isnt there a big risk that it will become an MOT failure ?

Hi,

Fortunately there is no such table. The MOT diesel emissions limits only differentiate between prior & post Aug 1979 diesels, and turbo and non-turbo diesels. Even the latest Euro 5 diesels only have to pass the same MOT emissions test that a 31 year old Peugeot 504 could pass !

Im not sure about this logic in this thinking , but i'm sure someone will correct me

Isnt the dfp put onto these cars so they will meet euro emissions ? so at MOT time, the tester will have a table of allowed emissions range for this car& without the filter isnt there a big risk that it will become an MOT failure ?

Nope, as posted above it will pass the MOT with no problems at all. Which is why I wont let the daft DPF issues spoil an otherwise good car.

The deealers comment about short journeys is rubbish, as long as your not doing just short journeys you should be fine. I am not sure if the Skoda tells you when the DPF is doing a re-gen, the vauxhalls don't and this is part of the problem. Even on a motorway run, get off the power at the wrong time and the regen cycle would log as not complete and your oil level would increase due to it been diluted with diesel......

I don't believe the Skodas tell you when they are running a regen or at least my older one doesn't which seems daft as it would be useful to know.

John

These DPF's are menace. It would appear that the dealers are telling you that if you have a diesel, you must take a bus on that short trip to town!! Or if you need to pick the missus up from work then this too can't be done in a diesel without encountering problems. Better safe than sorry, giver her a tenner for a taxi home..........

another win for petrol heads i feel...............

hmmm.....reading threads like this makes a decision to buy a diesel very difficult for me.

My 2008 2.0TDi DPF Scout is used by the wife for her 11 minute commute to work and back which is stop start all the way.

Its been doing this for over 12 months, 5 days a week.

Once a month I take it to work, my commute been a 75 mile A and B road run at 70mph.

No issues to date...

Hope this helps a bit...

I've got a CR diesel with DPF on about 2k plus miles now.

Mostly used around town (sub 5 mile trips) but used for longer runs at the weekend (anywhere between 20 mile and 500 mile round trips).

Not had a single issue so far (touch wood), and I'm definitely using it in a way that should cause DPF issues.

Not even had the light asking me to do a regen yet...

Seems the CR is a lot better than the PD at dealing with this.

Steve

Do you all check your oil level? It would be interesting to know if the short run units have a high oil level due to diesel contamination.

Andy

I've only covered a few thousand miles which may not be enough to provoke DPF issues although so far no problems, I've been concerned about the DPF as my schedule is particularly bad for it. When on shift for five days I need to drive home and back to see to the dog at lunchtime which is just one mile trip each way, the car doesn't get driven at all otherwise during those five days. I do make sure it get a decent run before and after the block of shifts which I'm hoping is enough to avoid DPF issues, not had any DPF lights at all either.

John

Edited 29 August, 201015 yr by JohnMcL7

Do you all check your oil level? It would be interesting to know if the short run units have a high oil level due to diesel contamination.

Andy

yeah i check the oil every week the car doesnt use any, since owning the car and done over 12k i have toped it up once.

1 thing that makes me think about these DPF problems with my car is that the pervious owner only did 2.5k a year in the car.

i think ill have to see what the outcome will be when i take it back to skoda.

Hi,

Fortunately there is no such table. The MOT diesel emissions limits only differentiate between prior & post Aug 1979 diesels, and turbo and non-turbo diesels. Even the latest Euro 5 diesels only have to pass the same MOT emissions test that a 31 year old Peugeot 504 could pass !

Can anyone answer this question then please - Why do manufacturers quote emissions levels?

I would have thought that there would be a higher & lower limit from their quotes for MOT pass / fail or whatever the equivalent is in other european countries

.

If they are only doing this for local tax reasons & european ruling then if everyone took the DPF's off their cars at purchase this would make a complete nonsense of the rules & figures. & potentially make the cars up to £1000 cheaper.

I wasn't asking if your oil level dropped by the way, I was asking if it raised!

Andy

I have had my 170 pd well over a year and do a mixture of short and long journeys,when the rev needle sits on the 1000 rpm mark it means that the car is attempting to do a regen,sometimes this works and if you drive long enough you will notice the rev needle drop back below 1000rpm back to normal/idle without the dpf light ever coming on..Other times if it can't clear then the dpf light will come on warning you,just take the car for a blast usually it will clear after about 10 mins of continuous driving..If i ever do get a major dpf problem i will have it removed,but up to now it's been ok...

Can anyone answer this question then please - Why do manufacturers quote emissions levels?

I would have thought that there would be a higher & lower limit from their quotes for MOT pass / fail or whatever the equivalent is in other european countries

.

If they are only doing this for local tax reasons & european ruling then if everyone took the DPF's off their cars at purchase this would make a complete nonsense of the rules & figures. & potentially make the cars up to £1000 cheaper.

The MOT for diesels is the smoke meter test, the test has been the same for years and didnt change when DPF technology was introduced.

Quoted emission levels are for regulatory/taxation/euro rules purposes.

I cant see how it makes cars cheaper though? You need the DPF fitted from manufacture in order for the car to get type approval and be allowed to be sold/registered.

when the rev needle sits on the 1000 rpm mark it means that the car is attempting to do a regen,sometimes this works and if you drive long enough you will notice the rev needle drop back below 1000rpm back to normal/idle without the dpf light ever coming on..

That's all good and well if your car spends lots of time idling.

How do you tell if the car is trying to re-gen when you’re on the move?

A light on the dash would help so that you know to keep on the power until its finished doing its thing!

That's all good and well if your car spends lots of time idling.

How do you tell if the car is trying to re-gen when you’re on the move?

A light on the dash would help so that you know to keep on the power until its finished doing its thing!

The car don't have to sit idling for a long time,you could be stationary waiting at traffic lights etc,and the rev needle could suddenly rev to 1000 rpm if it does then you know it's trying to do a regen,generally if you are driving on a journey motorway/expressway the regen won't show up often as the exhaust is at hot enough temperature to burn off any particules.It's only when you do a lot of short journeys or stop start driving the dpf will show up more,as the exhaust is not getting to a hot enough temperature for long enough to burn of excess particules,and then the particules start to build up over time and that's when the dpf will light up....

The MOT for diesels is the smoke meter test, the test has been the same for years and didnt change when DPF technology was introduced.

Quoted emission levels are for regulatory/taxation/euro rules purposes.

I cant see how it makes cars cheaper though? You need the DPF fitted from manufacture in order for the car to get type approval and be allowed to be sold/registered.

Cheers Keith, the DPF is only there for regs / tax/ euro rules then the reality is we could all remove this £1000 extra ( which is where i was coming from about it being cheaper if it wasnt fitted) But unfortunately euro rules wont let manufacturers sell cars without them.

DPF is the reason I'm not driving a diesel now. Went from a PD TDI to a petrol as I knew my journey to work would not be enough - in the middle of winter it struggled to get warm by the time I got home with my diesel. My mileage probably doesn't warrant it either at circa 10k pa, so in the end it was an easy decision to make. And just got back from 2400 miles in two weeks in Germany, including some high speed Autobahn and the Ring, and it averaged comfortably over 36 with the air con on all the time. I'm happy.