living with dpf

[mr mojo]

Just after a bit of advice with regards to running a diesel vrs,, when I bought the car I was commuting 55 miles a day but little did I know the company I worked for was being bought out, and with that came sweeping changes, including changing my shifts where I was working lates and nights only instead of just days.

 

I now find myself with a new job with only a 4 mile commute, I try to take the car for a good blast up the M6 at least once every 2 weeks.

 

My question is, will I end up with dpf problems as a result of the short journeys im doing and is there anyway I can avoid it, I need help as soon as possible, as the better half is trying to get me trade it in for a Suzuki Vitari or Vauxhall Mokka!!!!!!!!!!!

[littleade]

In short No.

It may do regens more frequently because of the shorter trips but as long as you don't have repeat regen interuptions when it does try to do an active regen you'll be fine. I do a lot of short journeys in mine but still hardly ever notice it doing a regen which it does approx every 600 miles or earlier if the soot in the dpf reaches a certain level.

[AllanDJ]

I was wondering about the same issue myself as my commute to work is only about ten minutes and sometimes when I stop the fan will be roaring as it tries to do a regeneration and this can continue over the next few days as well every time I stop the car!

Edited 6 June, 2015 by AllanDJ

[Auric Goldfinger]

My work comute is 2 miles each way and have no problems with the DPF. I Go for a blast on my days off and normaly drive around town in second or third to keep the revs up a bit

[cortina63]

I have no dpf issues, it does them when it needs to and iv never had any warning light up, it does do em more often when iv just been pottering about, as for runing it in, I just drive it like I stole it

[Neily03]

Living with a DPF is no different to living without one, infact it's no different to living with a petrol engined car.  You don't even need to think about it.

[toni8b]

I was wondering about the same issue myself as my commute to work is only about ten minutes and sometimes when I stop the fan will be roaring as it tries to do a regeneration and this can continue over the next few days as well every time I stop the car!

Happens to me occasionally, its ugly listening to the regen fan few times in the same day. What can you do, its not like I am going to take a long drive just the do the regen... I guess when the car gets some bigger mileage under the bonnet, future owners will have to clear the dpf sooner than later.

Edited 6 June, 2015 by toni8b

[Pumatron]

Oh my, a VRS to a vitara or mokka. I wouldn't care if it was a problem with short journeys, I think I'd rather walk than vitara or mokka it!! Nooooooooo

[littleade]

Happens to me occasionally, its ugly listening to the regen fan few times in the same day. What can you do, its not like I am going to take a long drive just the do the regen... I guess when the car gets some bigger mileage under the bonnet, future owners will have to clear the dpf sooner than later.

It doesn't normally take that long to complete the active regen. The problem is when you stop if you switch off and get the fans its too late. If you're not already aware the standard sign is when your stationary the tickover goes up to around 1000 rpm, the fuel consumption increases and you can sometimes smell the hot dpf too. If I get the increased tickover when I get home I just go for a drive and everytime I am stationary I check to see if tickover has gone back to normal.I appreciate not everyone can do this and sometimes its inconvenient but its a good excuse to go and have a blast for a few miles LOL. If you do get the fans you can stop them by starting the car then switching it off again on the mk2 not sure about the mk3 although it does do it to cool the hot dpf down so you need to take that into consideration if you decide to do it.

[butchvrs]

Take it for a blast along the M6 every week!

 

Do you really want to be driving around in something named after a 1980's games console (Suzuki Atari) or a cup of coffee, Mokka? that's as bad as calling a model of car an Adam!

 

Next it'll be a Ford Brian or a Bentley Rupert GT 

[mr mojo]

Well I've just popped into a skoda dealer this morning on the off chance of there being a 2nd hand petrol vrs in stock but there wasn't, the salesman I was dealing with mentioned a new one on interest free credit on a pcp deal over 3.5 years and that is with a good deal of discount and with the same px as Suzuki and Vauxhall where offering, so just got to talk the better half around (wish me luck).

[BigLee]

and with a 4 mile commute I`d buy a bike as well to do it on, you won`t even get the coolant up to temp never mind the oil!

[Dr_Pepper]

50 weeks of the year mine gets short trips only, so I interrupt the regen thing quite frequently. The light did come on once, and went off again as soon as I next did a 15 min trip. Certainly it doesn't appear that pointless 'blasts' on the M6 are in any way necessary let alone weekly. Even if you are going to go blasting, might as well pick somewhere nice to drive surely!

[toni8b]

I just wanted to comment that I am familiar with these regen symptoms and I cant really be checking this and it happened again today 2 times... Obviously if you drive a TDI you should be making 2 500km trips a month otherwise this is going to be happening... I am sorry but I cant be going for a pointless drives especially when I do errands or go to work... should have bought a petrol...

[Neily03]

I just wanted to comment that I am familiar with these regen symptoms and I cant really be checking this and it happened again today 2 times... Obviously if you drive a TDI you should be making 2 500km trips a month otherwise this is going to be happening... I am sorry but I cant be going for a pointless drives especially when I do errands or go to work... should have bought a petrol...

You don't need to do any pointless drives. The TDI can and should be driven like a petrol. People taking them for drives for regen purposes are just wasting time and money.

My commute is 5 miles each way, did 40k in my mkII VRS diesel without seeing the regen light once and I've done 30k in my mkIII again without any problems and without doing anything different then I would do driving a petrol.

[toni8b]

But do you get interrupted regens when you park the car?

[Redboy]

If you only commute 2-4 miles each way, is there a real saving from a petrol? My petrol takes about 8 miles to warm the oil.

[voxmagna]

We've been running a VW EOS for a few years and just got a Yeti 2.0TDi. which wifey is now driving.  I monitor the DPF 'fullness' with VCDS diagnostics.

 

The advice to my wife who is now driving the diesel Yeti is the same. Drive with the tacho always over 2k and shift up at 2.5k. The reason is turbos cut in at around 2k when most engine heat is generated which helps to keep the dpf clean. Around town up to 50 mph she will never get above 4th gear, so only drives a car with 4 gears! But once the turbo is wound up you have the 'bite' to accelerate or overtake quickly.

 

Now all this flies in the face of Skoda's gear shift indicator on the MFD, but then they aren't paying for a replacement DPF! Also when driving at around 70 mph (and not much more) we tolerate a bit more engine noise and keep the shift in 5th. Watch and compare the fuel consumption display too over several miles and the cruise set, You will see better consumption using 5th instead of shifting up to 6th.

 

The myth of diesel engines being low rpm high torque engines is broken once you start turbo charging because the aspiration (air inlet) is choked off by the turbo, until it spins up to speed. I'm more comfortable with the DPF now having changed driving habits, but if I get a problem I know what I will do to fix it! I think I will stick some black tape over Skodas shift indicator on the MFD!

Edited 6 June, 2015 by voxmagna

[Neily03]

But do you get interrupted regens when you park the car?

Occasionally yes but I don't think twice about it, the car is capable of dealing with regens itself without any help from the driver.

[Mence]

I'm probably in a similar position to the OP.

Purchased Bismark expecting to do 70 miles a day, at least 4 days a week.

Work changes meant that I'm now doing 70 miles on one day only and a handful of miles a day on the remainder. It's been pretty much like that for most of the cars life, bar about 6 weeks.

I use it at weekends of course but the miles are still low for an 'oiler'

17 months and 14k miles later, I have had no hint at all of any DPF issue.