How do I know if my car is doing a regeneration, and will it affect anything, what is a forced regeneration is this done by an external party. CR170VRS 58 plate 40,000 miles ish

Most times you won't be able to tell as you will need to be doing over 2,000RPM and 60KMH for a successful regen which hides the effects.

Symptoms include:

Increased RPM at tick-over (if you stop the car mid-regen)

Lumpy tick-over (the altered fuel management to feed the DPF regen affects the tick-over)

Increased fuel consumption (the DPF uses fuel to reach the high temepratures required to burn off the soot)

Harder to drive the car smoothly (the higher engine RPM changes the clutch biting point etc.)

Engine fans running (to cool down the exhasut system after an interupted or successful regen)

Burning smell (the DPF / exhaust getting hot)

If the DPF gets too full (ignoring the DPF light / faulty sensor / DPF reaches the end of its life) there comes a point where the car can't clear it by itself. This is when a forced regen is required and is carried out by a main dealer using their diagnostics system.

Edited 27 August, 201213 yr by silver1011

Very informative Silver1011 thank you Sir

Can the bite point of the clutch really be affected or is it just that the different throttle response means you have to engage the clutch differently?

That would have been a better way of wording it.

The point I was trying to make is the increased RPM means the relationship between the clutch and accelerator change so all of a sudden you find it harder to drive the car as smoothly as before.

This is an interesting read.

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/242612-dpf-regen-info-based-on-20-cr-engine/

Makes sense. I wasn't trying to trip you up' its just my mechanical understanding is limited.

I remember kangarooing away in my first driving lesson as I imagined the clutch to be "castelated" and have to be engaged quickly to avoid rounding off those "tips". You got me thinking there was maybe some cenntrifugal thing going on which meant that with a higher RPM the bite point would be felt sooner.