I think your answer is a rather simplistic , are you saying if you purchase a PD diesel if you drive it in your prescribed manner none of the multitude of posters with problems with regard to DPF filters would not have occurred ,and no one would have had them removed ? Surly the point is if you purchase a modern diesel car you should be able to drive it how you damn well like, with out worrying if the DPF is getting sooted up. I have held a Licence for Forty years and have driven every thing from a scooter in my mod days to coaches and have never had to adopt a driving style to prevent a bloody filter blocking up, and driving at a certain speed praying the light will go off , to avoid having taking it to a stealer and possibility getting a huge bill to replace it.

I absolutely agree with this. I purchased my 2.0PD Scout from an inner-city dealer, and no mention was made of driving style or DPF management. The car was a demonstrator, but with only about 100 miles on the clock.

Anyway, I had a 100% clogged DPF after 6 weeks - I suspect they took pity on me as I'd been in 3 days earlier when the DPF light first came on. If killing a $4000 filter after 6 weeks is a possibility, then surely it's up to the manufacturer and dealer to raise the issue in flashing lights!!!!!!

I now know that as soon as the DPF light comes on I need to take it for a run. Usually keeping it mostly above 2500rpm for around 10-15 minutes is sufficient.

Edited 30 March, 201115 yr by Inego

I think your answer is a rather simplistic , are you saying if you purchase a PD diesel if you drive it in your prescribed manner none of the multitude of posters with problems with regard to DPF filters would not have occurred ,and no one would have had them removed ? Surly the point is if you purchase a modern diesel car you should be able to drive it how you damn well like, with out worrying if the DPF is getting sooted up. I have held a Licence for Forty years and have driven every thing from a scooter in my mod days to coaches and have never had to adopt a driving style to prevent a bloody filter blocking up, and driving at a certain speed praying the light will go off , to avoid having taking it to a stealer and possibility getting a huge bill to replace it.

No - what I'm saying is that I believe a lot of issues with DPF's could be down to driving style as much as to the technology.

DPF's have been foisted upon the manufacturers by the EU to meet emmissions regs much as catalysts were many years ago. They are relatively new technology and hence will suffer teething problems, again as catalysts did, until all manufacturers have the technology developed sufficiently, based on real life data, to prevent them and allow you to 'drive it how you damn well like'. It is the same in all similar types of technological development.

Notwithstanding the above the number of issues raised is small in comparison to the number of vehicles sold with DPF's fitted and, where problems have occurred, many have been traced not to the DPF but to faulty sensors, albeit the latter associated with the emmissions control system.

As I said - I have a car fitted with a DPF and have experienced no issues in the sort of driving that many attribute to being the cause of problems. I therefore stand by my comments. :yes:

Nope

Had a big row with Skoda when we had issues with the Superb Mk 1

The bottom line its a filter, by that very nature a service item & not covered at all under the warranty, if they fail at low mileage Skoda do look sympathetically on you but thats about it, they are expected to fail at higher mileage

Warranties are granted in addition to statutory rights - even if something is not covered by a warranty, the supplier may still be liable for costs, repair, or a full/partial refund. Generally, things must be of reasonable quality and last a reasonable period of time (durable). How long it should last is a matter of debate, unless there's a published service life for it. E.g. if you have paint blistering after 3.5 years and Skoda say "it's not our problem - it's out of warranty", unless it were caused by a stone chip or similar, you would have a case against them.

Warranties are granted in addition to statutory rights - even if something is not covered by a warranty, the supplier may still be liable for costs, repair, or a full/partial refund. Generally, things must be of reasonable quality and last a reasonable period of time (durable). How long it should last is a matter of debate, unless there's a published service life for it. E.g. if you have paint blistering after 3.5 years and Skoda say "it's not our problem - it's out of warranty", unless it were caused by a stone chip or similar, you would have a case against them.

Thats the point I was making earlier about seeking help from insurance legal cover. I know for a fact that what you say is completely correct in the world of consumer goods.E.g you buy a £1000 LCD TV and it comes with a 1 year warranty. After 3 years the TV goes POP. The retailer where you purchased it will try to fob you off by saying you should have bought an extended warranty, but if you persue this throught your home insurance legal cover (again, if you have it), you will get it repaired or a new one. A mate of mine went down this exact route and not only got a new TV, but belive it or not, compensation from the retailer for playing silly bu****s. In that case he argued, successfully that a TV of that value should last at least 5 years, and he won. Point is to be realistic and not expect things to last forever.

The situation with DPF's is rediculous. People are not advised of their "shortcommings" at the point of purchase, but then expected to drive a perticular way, doing special re-gen runs and no short trips. I would have thought this completely undermines the car as being fit for purpose. In the 22 years I have been driving and the 40+ cars I have owned, this is my first diesel and the first car I have found out after purchase that requires special treatment.

The car industry though, always seems to receive special treatment legaly, even though it's the second biggest purchase most of us make. Go figure ??

And relax .........

issues seems to the the DPF on PD engines, the CR is much better in this respect, I do 5-6 miles to work and back each day and longer runs at the weekend, never had a warning light or any noticeable regen cycle. Mins's is the 2.0 CR but I bet the 1.6 is the same. I believe the filter on the CR is closer to the engine so gets hotter and easier to burn the soot off.

I think it has a lot to do with the fact the PD engine design was never designed to have a DPF installed. It's a 'feature' that's been designed in retrospectively. And one of the reasons I didn't buy a vRS PD170 last time round....

The CR is better in this respect because the engine has been designed with DPF function in mind. Plus VAG have had R&D time to refine and tweak.

Just my tuppence worth on the subject.

Warranties are granted in addition to statutory rights - even if something is not covered by a warranty, the supplier may still be liable for costs, repair, or a full/partial refund. Generally, things must be of reasonable quality and last a reasonable period of time (durable). How long it should last is a matter of debate, unless there's a published service life for it. E.g. if you have paint blistering after 3.5 years and Skoda say "it's not our problem - it's out of warranty", unless it were caused by a stone chip or similar, you would have a case against them.

I think you will be on a hiding to nothing. I reached the point where my only option was to sue the dealer, in law your contract is with him & not with Skoda. Skoda would have funded his legal bills & probably provided council as they did when sued for the hickups in the early fabia VRS, leaving me with a substantial bill to fight them. Its written in the manual how to drive the car & you get warning lights before failure so Skoda have a reosnably strong case. As for how long it should last Im guessing somewhere it states dependant on useage, a bit like variable servicing which can differ by many thousands of miles. On the Superb one person told me unoficially around 80,000 miles before needing replacement

I feel with the lack of reports of problems on the CR engine against the numbers on PD's the technology is getting better or they havent been out long enough to show the issues.

Personally I would rather have a DPF I can remove than a very complex injection system, if the same as the Audi system which I have no doubt it is them some of those are getting huge bills appearing with age.

No - what I'm saying is that I believe a lot of issues with DPF's could be down to driving style as much as to the technology.

DPF's have been foisted upon the manufacturers by the EU to meet emmissions regs much as catalysts were many years ago. They are relatively new technology and hence will suffer teething problems, again as catalysts did, until all manufacturers have the technology developed sufficiently, based on real life data, to prevent them and allow you to 'drive it how you damn well like'. It is the same in all similar types of technological development.

Notwithstanding the above the number of issues raised is small in comparison to the number of vehicles sold with DPF's fitted and, where problems have occurred, many have been traced not to the DPF but to faulty sensors, albeit the latter associated with the emmissions control system.

As I said - I have a car fitted with a DPF and have experienced no issues in the sort of driving that many attribute to being the cause of problems. I therefore stand by my comments. :yes:

Interesting reply could you contact Vag and offer to write, for a fee of course, a thesis on the correct way to drive a VAG/ PD engine with out no regen problems in regard to urban use. I am not mocking you ,if you claim in urban use your driving technique does not cause any regen / sooting problem , this would be fantastic for the hoards of VAG owners of PD engines who seem to have DPF problems.

Edited 31 March, 201115 yr by mellyboy

As I said - I have a car fitted with a DPF and have experienced no issues in the sort of driving that many attribute to being the cause of problems. I therefore stand by my comments. :yes:

Our Superb did 80,000 miles & we only had DPF issues twice, once in the Alps where lights were coming on once or twice a day for a week & I managed to find a nice sweeping road to "do as the book says" then later whilst decending Mount Ventoux in provence we had a quick set of lights followed by limp mode, unsuprisingly on a 22 Kilometer descent of a mountain containing numerous hairpins theres no way to drive the car as instructed to achieve a regen. It then took a week for a Skoda French dealer to get the car fixed. He fitted a new DPF but in hindsight I dont think he attempted a forced regen, he had never sold any & there was a lot of head scratching when we dropped it off. Credit where credits due to Skoda UK, they stumped up for a renter (pug 306, piece of *******) & paid an extra night in a hotel whilst waiting for the car.

My lasting memory was on a short straight down Ventoux when the car wouldnt do more than the high 40's being passed by a cyclist

Theres nothing in the Superb 1 manual about driving at altitude causing issues & there was nothing telling you what to do if you cant find a clear road to cruise the car. Even after that Skoda refused to admit the car wasnt fit for purpose & that they didnt need to advise me of the DPF before I bought it, being one of the very early Mk1 Superbs with a DPF there were no horrior stories of the net otherwise I would have avoided it. The next year we went back to the Alps, I drove the car to the resort, parked it for the week & then to descend the mountain I left before dawn to have a clear road & had the car on tickover to give me brakes & powersteering until the roads started to straighten out , thats how much my faith in it had been removed.

Edited 1 April, 201115 yr by Stuart_J

Bring the car to another dealer, the VRS PD DPF engines are well known of faulty exhaust pressure sensors.

If the sensor is faulty, you can get the symptoms you had.

And if a car is in limp mode, it will not regenerate itself. Can be done with the VAG tester or VCDS.

But first let them check the sensor.

Normally it cant be that the filter is clogged without notice. If the sensor is faulty, it will also give a wrong soot level.

issues seems to the the DPF on PD engines, the CR is much better in this respect, I do 5-6 miles to work and back each day and longer runs at the weekend, never had a warning light or any noticeable regen cycle. Mins's is the 2.0 CR but I bet the 1.6 is the same. I believe the filter on the CR is closer to the engine so gets hotter and easier to burn the soot off.

My DPF went on the fritz at 15K and started rattling about! Thankfully replaced under warranty along with a leaking throttle body. A week later one of the boost pipes blew off!