Ordered new Octavia vRS diesel but wondering about DPF issues

[davitc]

Car is going to be my first diesel although have driven quite a few diesel Merc's, BMW and Audi hire cars.

 

My normal 5 daily commute is going to be at least 18miles/45 mins, this depending on what route I will take will be a mixture of 50% Motorway the rest A road. About every 6 weeks there will be a journey of min 100 miles again mostly Motorway but with fast A roads. Total a year is going to be approx 12K+

 

Pottering around will be a minimum as the whole reason for me getting the car is for work and going away in. Anything local (within a couple of miles) I am more than happy to walk as I have been doing for the last 5 years, plus local traffic can be a nightmare anyway.

 

About every 6 weeks there will be a journey of min 100 miles again mostly Motorway but with fast A roads.

 

Is the whole DPF clearing thing down to heat of the DPF or keeping a Min of 2000 RPM on the rev counter for at least 15mins.

 

Just wondering whether should cancel order and change for Petrol.

Edited 8 January, 2016 by davitc

[mk3vrs]

You should be fine, all you need to do if get the DPF hot to burn the crud off it. Your 45 min trip to work should be enough as you have a good amount on motorway.

[gullyg]

That sounds quite similar to my runs, if not a bit better

5days a week : 15 miles each way (50%country roads, 50% snarled up dual carriageway)

2 days a week, potteringn about with the occasional long run.

With the above driving I've never had a dpf warning or even what I would class as excessive regens and average 42mpg.

But as soon as SWMBO takes the car for more than a day or two, 5miles each way to work on country roads we get constant regens and about 25ish mpg.

I think you'll be fine although if you can afford it there's a lot to be said for buying the petrol over the diesel, real exhaust pipes for a start.

[Auric Goldfinger]

You should be fine, all you need to do if get the DPF hot to burn the crud off it. Your 45 min trip to work should be enough as you have a good amount on motorway.

 

My TDi VRs quite often does a regen after a Motorway run. The reason being that when driving in 6th gear at 70/80 MPH the revs are quite low and the draft under the car and through the engine bay keeps everything relatively cool. I find the best thing to do is for the last 3 or 4 miles from home I drive in 3rd or 4th to get everything nice and hot then let the car cool down abit before I turn off the Engine, works for me.

 

Ps  " Other Driving Styles are available "

Edited 8 January, 2016 by Auric Goldfinger

[davitc]

Thanks for replies. My boss has a 2010 VW CC which I'm sure has DPF and his journey is a lot less than mine and all built up/stop start. I don't think he has ever had DPF warning light on.

 

From what I've seen on other forums may be using Branded diesel or Branded diesel premium grades may help with reducing DPF clogging.

[Auric Goldfinger]

Thanks for replies. My boss has a 2010 VW CC which I'm sure has DPF and his journey is a lot less than mine and all built up/stop start. I don't think he has ever had DPF warning light on.

 

From what I've seen on other forums may be using Branded diesel or Branded diesel premium grades may help with reducing DPF clogging.

 

Mine only runs on Shell Premium Deisel, ( Other Fuels are Available ). I think the newer CR Engines do more small regens quite often to keep everything nice and clean. Quality fuel helps  ( I think dso anyway )

 

Just to add, my journey to work is 2 miles in each direction and I've never had any problems.  I tend to drive around town in second and third to keep everything nice and hot

Edited 8 January, 2016 by Auric Goldfinger

[davitc]

My TDi VRs quite often does a regen after a Motorway run. The reason being that when driving in 6th gear at 70/80 MPH the revs are quite low and the draft under the car and through the engine bay keeps everything relatively cool. I find the best thing to do is for the last 3 or 4 miles from home I drive in 3rd or 4th to get everything nice and hot then let the car cool down abit before I turn off the Engine, works for me.

 

Ps  " Other Driving Styles are available "

If I find I get to finish of journey and engine idle is high with a suspect Re-Gen taking would just sitting parked at idle let it finish re-gen properley??

[davitc]

Mine only runs on Shell Premium Deisel, ( Other Fuels are Available ). I think the newer CR Engines do more small regens quite often to keep everything nice and clean. Quality fuel helps  ( I think dso anyway )

 

Just to add, my journey to work is 2 miles in each direction and I've never had any problems.  I tend to drive around town in second and third to keep everything nice and hot

 I'd be happy to pay the little extra for premium diesel for the mileage I do if it will help. Personally I've used premium stuff in my old slightly tuned Vauxhall SRi and Volvo V40 T4, always felt it run better compared to our local Tesco stuff.

[Auric Goldfinger]

If I find I get to finish of journey and engine idle is high with a suspect Re-Gen taking would just sitting parked at idle let it finish re-gen properley??

 

Don't think it will finish sat at Idle, I leave mine and if it requires more it will start again on your next trip.  Many times I've left mine and it did completed the regen. If you've time take it around the block keeping the revs over 2.5 RPM. when you pull up at a junction you'll see if the revs have gone back to normal 

Edited 8 January, 2016 by Auric Goldfinger

[sjrainsford]

It will be fine.  Mine gets driven without any care and attention toward it as it is a company car, the system is designed such that there is no user input.  Let it do what it wants.  

You will find on the odd occasion that you pull up at the end of the journey and the fans are running due to it doing a regen, just turn the engine off and lock and leave as you normally would.

You really don't need to worry, they're only bad for people that do very short regular commutes.  Realistically those sort of people would see no benefit in driving a diesel anyway.

[davitc]

Don't think it will finish sat at Idle, I leave mine and if it requires more it will start again on your next trip.  Many times I've left mine and it did completed the regen. If you've time take it around the block keeping the revs over 2.5 RPM. when you pull up at a junction you'll see if the revs have gone back to normal 

 

Won't be a problem at home because I am only about 5mins from M1 but at work even the nearest A road doesn't last for 5mins before traffic stops for lights 

[meb90]

Davitc:

 

Your commute is slightly longer than mine, I do 15 miles on clear A roads. You won't have a problem with your driving, I haven't had a warning light come on in nearly 30,000 miles of driving.

 

Regarding diesel, I use Shell normal diesel, not Nitro+.

 

The car won't complete a regen if left idling, the engine/exhaust doesn't stay warm enough. I've interrupted many regens when I get home, the car just picks up the regen again when it is ready. You don't need to worry about it.

 

Hope that helps

[davitc]

Thanks for all your Input's so far.

Edited 8 January, 2016 by davitc

[carrock]

Most people who have DPF issues have had the cars chipped which then chucks out more soot than the regen than cope with

 

I had this problem on my old VRS and ended up having the DPF removed and mapped out

 

Standard car with DPF its unlikely you will ever have an issue

[Gabbo]

With your commute you should be fine.

My wife drives 15min/20km each way for her commute with the vRS & there's never been any problems with the DPF.

I take it for a longer run when my wife has holidays from work but thats probably not as often as your longer trips.

 

No need to do anything special, just drive it as normal.

If the idle is high or the fan is running when you stop, this is also normal & there's no need to do anything special or drive any further.

The ECU was take care everything next time you drive the car.

 

I guess the company car tax banding influences your choice for a diesel?

At that kind of mileage the running costs of a petrol vRS are probably not significantly more & I guess its a bit more fun.

[pipsyp]

Wont be a problem at all....the DPF system on the latest VAG diesels is v robust and v little consideration needs to be taken towards how the car is used.

Perhaps the only time you might experience an issue is if you drive the car all the time never allowing it to warm up or ever complete a regen which in most peoples cases would be very hard to achieve.

I do a fair amount of miles granted but I am on my 7th DPF equipped car and (touch wood) ive never had a problem with any of them.....one was the notorious 1.9 TDI PD Mk5 Golf Bluemotion....but drove that for 27k miles without ever seeing the DPF light.

TBF those that normally experience issues are those with PD injected VAG cars...where DPF technology was bolted on and never really 100% compatible with the injection technology or experience a fault with the DPF system itself (pressure sensors more often than not) which is just bad luck and relatively cheap to fix.

DPFs are essentially a wear and tear component though with a 100k mile estimate service life....so they will eventually fail but not normally until the car has done alot of miles....usually well into 100k.

[Sheldon.Cooper]

For the past 2.5 years I've done 6 miles each way, 50% country roads, 50% urban.  Sometimes in Winter engine isn't at full temperature when I pull into works car park.  No DPF issues whatsoever.  

 

Interupted the cleaning cycle a few times (fans remain running when engine stopped).

 

You'll be fine.

[davitc]

Thanks to all for the inputs, with ideas how you use your cars normally. I guess I was getting paranoid.

 

TBH I have had good looks on Interweb and there really isn't much issues with the later models as people have said.

 

Do the Skoda vRS and Gold GTD have the same sort of engine layout where the DPF is close to the engine to help it get warm??

[bigiainw]

I'm on my 4th DPF equipped diesel. I have a 25 mile commute am and pm on mixed A roads and motorway. I have never noticed my cars doing a regen as the car tends to be hot enough to simply burn off the carbon without. It will be interesting to see if that changes when my Scout arrives in March.

[pipsyp]

Thanks to all for the inputs, with ideas how you use your cars normally. I guess I was getting paranoid.

TBH I have had good looks on Interweb and there really isn't much issues with the later models as people have said.

Do the Skoda vRS and Gold GTD have the same sort of engine layout where the DPF is close to the engine to help it get warm??

Yes Davitc they do. Identical mechanically. I have a Mk3 Octavia 150 TDI and a GTD...pop the bonnets they could be the same car :-)

[BA Baracus]

One example doesn't make a case but my Blackline CR diesel is three years old, only done 13,000 miles and never had any DPF issues.

 

And in all the years I have been a Briskoda member I have never seen a DPF problem thread - not on the CR engines at least.

 

Enjoy.

 

Always and only ever used Tesco fuel. *not an advert*

Edited 8 January, 2016 by BA Baracus

[Guadette]

I've just had a DPF replaced under warranty. The cause was a faulty turbo which was also replaced under warranty. The frightening thing for me was that the car did 300 miles from when the initial fault light came on which was the coil symbol. We don't know how long the turbo was faulty before the light came on. Either way it didn't take long before the DPF was so clogged that it was unable to be regenerated. My feeling is that if the engine is running 100% then you'll be fine. If for any reason it isn't it doesn't take long for a DPF to be ruined.

[KarlO3V5]

I had no end of problems with a previous car so DPF issues were high on my list when I was looking for another diesel.

 

I found a couple of link that might be helpful - one of which is for the Octavia

 

http://www.hypermiler.co.uk/dpf-diesel-particulate-filter/skoda-octavia-iii-2013-diesel-particulate-filter-dpf-owners-manual-regeneration-faq

 

http://www.hypermiler.co.uk/technical/the-diesel-particulate-filter-dpf-faq

[dstev2000]

The earlier PD140 engines with DPFs were iffy because the filter was relatively far away from the engine. This meant the exhaust gases were much cooler than a regeneration would require. An additive was used to improve the situation, but it was a flawed concept as the PD unit injector was never designed with DPFs in mind.

 

'Post injection' is critical to a DPF regen. and the mechanical nature of unit injectors made it tricky. 

VW CR engines have the DPF/OxCAT assembly literally bolted to the turbo outlet for maximum heat retention to ensure the most efficient regeneration. 

 

Common rail injectors don't rely on the camshaft position and can therefore be much more flexible when it comes to adding fuel later in the combustion cycle (post injection). 

 

I've done over 160,000 combined miles in DPF equipped Superbs and never had a single issue. DPF technology is maturing rapidly and reliability is very good these days. 

SWMBO - on the other hand - does short school runs every day so a diesel vRS was out of the question. Had to opt for the 220 petrol - what a shame......

 

It's already been mentioned here but it's worth remembering the DPF has a finite lifespan. When it regenerates, a small amount of ash is left over from the incineration of the soot particles, and gradually builds up inside the filter. The car's ECU calculates this ash quantity over time and knows roughly when it needs to be replaced. It's usually well over 100k. 

 

VCDS can read the calculated ash quantity, as worked out by the ECU. I am guessing it will throw up an error lamp when the ash saturation is at design limits......

 

DPF cleaning is becoming more and more commonplace and is much cheaper than a replacement. 

[KarlO3V5]

The earlier PD140 engines with DPFs were iffy because the filter was relatively far away from the engine. This meant the exhaust gases were much cooler than a regeneration would require. An additive was used to improve the situation, but it was a flawed concept as the PD unit injector was never designed with DPFs in mind.

 

'Post injection' is critical to a DPF regen. and the mechanical nature of unit injectors made it tricky. 

VW CR engines have the DPF/OxCAT assembly literally bolted to the turbo outlet for maximum heat retention to ensure the most efficient regeneration. 

 

Common rail injectors don't rely on the camshaft position and can therefore be much more flexible when it comes to adding fuel later in the combustion cycle (post injection). 

 

I've done over 160,000 combined miles in DPF equipped Superbs and never had a single issue. DPF technology is maturing rapidly and reliability is very good these days. 

SWMBO - on the other hand - does short school runs every day so a diesel vRS was out of the question. Had to opt for the 220 petrol - what a shame......

 

It's already been mentioned here but it's worth remembering the DPF has a finite lifespan. When it regenerates, a small amount of ash is left over from the incineration of the soot particles, and gradually builds up inside the filter. The car's ECU calculates this ash quantity over time and knows roughly when it needs to be replaced. It's usually well over 100k. 

 

VCDS can read the calculated ash quantity, as worked out by the ECU. I am guessing it will throw up an error lamp when the ash saturation is at design limits......

 

DPF cleaning is becoming more and more commonplace and is much cheaper than a replacement. 

 

What's the score when it comes to tuning boxes / mapping. Its my understanding that the tuning is going to produce more soot which could shorten the life of the DPF. Has anyone seen any issues so far with this?

 

I'm tempted with a DTUK tuning box but don't want to end up doing any damage to it and I.m concerned that the lack of a proper tuned "map" will cause issues going forward. Does that sound about right?