Is this DPF regen and should it occur every few days??

[REH17]

Hi all.

 

have been reading the forums lately and decided to show the smoke that comes out the back of the Scout.... I am lead to believe it is DPF regen as the revs are higher and smoke comes out the back...

 

Bit of history:

 

Car was 3 years old at purchase in 2014, covered 100,000 miles. mainly motorway

 

I have had it since and now mileage is 132,000 , and had the car remapped in January after Skoda did "the update" and it ran like a bag of spanners....

 

Now produces in the region of 180hp, mpg is 40 ish, (dash claims 50mpg over a tank but do the maths and its between 39 and 41)

 

only really notices the smoking for a few months and thought nothing of it, putting it down to poor fuel (Morrisons) but having ran it on Sainsburys since I got it, decided it was nothing to worry about.- now using shell V power and it runs better, faster and smoother.

 

I had noticed before it used to run at a higher rpm sometimes and the fans would stay on a long time after turning engine off (have since read that this may be because it was regening and I stopped mid way)

 

 

 

Ok so the smoking, used to happen weekly, and now every few days, maybe every day.

 

Got a free DPF app and it said last night 10grams of soot, started smoking on the way to work today, and finished on the way home tonight (see video)

 

It does get worse and more smokey than that...

 

Now my question is:

 

Is it normal for it to regen as often as it does- 30 odd miles between, if the DPF is on its last legs would it do this, I have had no fault codes, no warning lights, nothing, just  sometimes increased fuel consumption (39-41 mpg per tank) circa 420 miles to the light.

 

I do a mix of road types and driving styles / speeds

 

So, sorry for the rant, but its annoying me now..

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[silver1011]

That's not looking good.

 

The smoke is blue (burnt oil) not black (diesel soot) or white (steam or unburnt fuel). As a DPF is fitted no diesel smoke should ever escape out the exhaust.

 

The car is burning engine oil.

 

This could be a number of things, but the increased frequency of the DPF regens (high RPM and engine fans) would suggest the DPF is having to work hard.

 

The increased regens alone might suggest a dying DPF (at 132,000 miles you are in potential dead DPF territory), the engine map will be putting more stress through the engine and its peripherals which may contribute to a premature DPF death.

 

My guess would be worn turbo seals, engine oil is seeping into the DPF which is slowly killing it. The DPF performs a regen in an attempt to clear itself and burns off the oil which you see in the rear view mirror.

 

Get this looked at sooner rather than later. Keep an eye on your oil level.

 

Edited 7 August, 2017 by silver1011

[REH17]

Hi thanks for the reply

 

I initially thought this, but sometimes its is just white and grey smoke....

 

oil level was fine when I last dropped it... underneath the car was completely dry no signs of oil anywhere..

 

My mate suggested emptying the intercooler? I did this on my 2004 VRS a few years back, but unsure if this is worth the hassle on this one... Turbo seals have also been suggested..

 

The smoke only happens when in 3rd or 4th gear and you put the accelerator on, 1st and 2nd gear it doesn't really have an affect?

 

Rob

[silver1011]

Unfortunately it could be a multitude of different issues.

 

I suffered a DPF failure on my MkII vRS, it also exhibited white smoke in its final days but only during a DPF regen and on lift-off.

 

Hopefully the smoke you see is being burnt from within the exhaust and not during the combustion process.

 

I'd be getting it booked in for a check.

[REH17]

yeah I will be looking for a specialist near me... only been to the dealer once and they destroyed confidence I had in them..

 

will keep the thread posted with vids etc incase others are experiencing similar issues,

 

 

[Kris82]

My car was smoking the same as that when eventually it started going into limp mode. 

Turned out to be actuator not holding boost, leading to over fueling giving out smoke that colour as the dpf is trapping most of it. 

Blow through the actuator to see if holds pressure. (Obviously use proper pressure gauge if you got one).

hope it's not your turbo seals.

[REH17]

On 09/08/2017 at 08:23, Kris82 said:

My car was smoking the same as that when eventually it started going into limp mode. 

Turned out to be actuator not holding boost, leading to over fueling giving out smoke that colour as the dpf is trapping most of it. 

Blow through the actuator to see if holds pressure. (Obviously use proper pressure gauge if you got one).

hope it's not your turbo seals.

Is this something I can easily do myself at home? I havent got a workshop manual for the car.... Im hoping its not the seals too... It just screams money :( 

[Kris82]

2 hours ago, REH17 said:

Is this something I can easily do myself at home? I havent got a workshop manual for the car.... Im hoping its not the seals too... It just screams money :( 

There wasn't enough room for me to attempt mine. Removing bolts holding actuator on is easy enough but there's no room to undo actuator nuts as it's down between back of engine and turbo.

New actuator £125-£135 and I paid £60 to have it fitted. 

 

You need to check if actuator is leaking first. A simple hard blow through pipe is all that's needed.

[paddypaws]

I've been following a facebook VW 'fix' thread which has reported that many remaps don't remove the VW emissions fix, but some do. The remap has to be a modification of the original software on the car. If your re-mapper copied the 'fixed' software from the car then modified it and put it back on then your problems very likely could be due to the extra usage of the EGR/DPF that the fix causes (due to the extra soot produced). A rework of the 'fixed' software doesn't necessarily reverse this behaviour if those things are not touched. I would find out from your re-mapper where the base software came from. The VW thread has had many reports of cars doing frequent DPF regens every couple of hundred miles, sometimes with the car going into limp mode. Skoda are not getting their emissions 'fix' on my Scout.

Edited 12 August, 2017 by paddypaws

[REH17]

On 12/08/2017 at 11:34, paddypaws said:

I've been following a facebook VW 'fix' thread which has reported that many remaps don't remove the VW emissions fix, but some do. The remap has to be a modification of the original software on the car. If your re-mapper copied the 'fixed' software from the car then modified it and put it back on then your problems very likely could be due to the extra usage of the EGR/DPF that the fix causes (due to the extra soot produced). A rework of the 'fixed' software doesn't necessarily reverse this behaviour if those things are not touched. I would find out from your re-mapper where the base software came from. The VW thread has had many reports of cars doing frequent DPF regens every couple of hundred miles, sometimes with the car going into limp mode. Skoda are not getting their emissions 'fix' on my Scout.

Hi. Great piece of information there.. and will be worth a call to the people who did mine...

 

I would strongly advise against any updates.. I wish I hadnt had mine done now...

 

That being said the car ran so much better post remapp... but now seems a bit strangled.. possibly due to a clogged dpf or egr system...

 

 

[seccles81]

I had mine done in July, and I also had an Engine Carbon Clean a couple of days previous to it as well.  I have just got back from a 1700+ mile trip to Scotland from Ipswich, of which about a 1000 miles were towing a 4x3 trailer... As soon as I started doing town runs whilst away the car started doing the dpf regen, it is still doing it now. It wasn't this bad before the 'fix' and I am wondering whether to have it remapped to try and solve the problem. It runs really lumpy just before the regen starts. I primarily use standard Shell diesel but did use some standard BP while away as that was the best I could find. I have a 2011 1.6tdi.

[Octy0GG]

Regarding frequency of regens, I had a nearly new (Under 10,000 miles)  Octavia 3  2.0 TDI Euro 6, so admittedly the later engine. 

Active regens were approx every 100 miles. (Should add no city or motorway driving, country roads only)

 

Despite some concerns about reliability of SCR systems I am inclined to doubt that it is possible to achieve economy, low emissions, reliability and performance without using SCR.

 

 

Edited 15 August, 2017 by Octy0GG
added : (Should add no city or motorway driving, country roads only)

[REH17]

I wouldn't remap the fixed software... read above someone commented that it may lead to problems..

 

Best thing to do is have it put back the way it was.

 

I have the fix on my 2.0 cr tdi scout and currently get 39-41 mpg... on premium diesel. I drive a mix of roads and durations...

 

Its fast but I am beginning to think it was a mistake having the update done... I will more than likely put it back pre fix ( there are people who can do this) and lets me fair whos going to know... the thing cheats emmision tests anyway fix or no fix haha. 

 

I am also considering dpf and egr delete options... opinions welcome from anyone who has had this done..

 

Regards. 

[T2000]

I've done some remapping on older ECU's and the way I see it is if the ECU can be accessed via bench flash then you should have 100% access, it is down to the remapper to revert what was done, it shouldn't be a problem for a pro remapper as you have access to all parameters, I won't have the fix done full stop as I think it's an instakiller to EGR, DPF and all associated fuelling as they give you a 24 month agreement on 11 items involved, that says to me they know that some issues will arise in a short amount of time and you can't revert that, don't have it done and get it mapped now and DPF and EGR delete and forget about it, tree huggers can cry all they want but VAG already ****ed them off with the cheat and they are trying to backtrack and please all.

 

Another way of looking at it is if you have the fix done you no longer have any recourse for the class action law suit that they have already paid out to the USA, we shouldn't be shafted because we come under the EU umbrella, stand your ground run your car as is until the law suit gets paid, it'll still run as before and you may get a payout which will pay for a remap, DPF and EGR delete anyway, let the greens cry, it's not like you did the cheat is it?

 

If this mass UK class action lawsuit continues beyond Brexit which it could do then the EU will not have a leg to stand on as the UK can invoke similar terms to the US, hold your ground and ride it out is what I say and drive your car as you wish, you bought it that way, if your conscience gets to you then have the fix.

 

Oh and on the point of doing a remap with DPf and EGR intact will cause excess smoke and problems as the DPF and EGR can't cope with the extra fuelling of a remap, the old PD without them could be disabled by disconnecting the EGR pre 2003 and they had no DPF, that's why they never suffered, you shouldn't remap a DPF car as it will clog up and regen more than usual, get rid if you remap, it's as simple as that.

Edited 16 August, 2017 by T2000

[REH17]

Hi.

 

Good information outlined there... 

 

So best thing to do is revert ro standard and leave egr dpf intact... or if I remove them a map could be re installed.

 

I am more than likely going to revert it to standard as for me the car performed as I wanted before any of this all kicked off.

 

 

[EDS89]

Got egr and dpf delete + remap

 

bought the car in 2013 75k km on IT Golf mk6, 2.0 TDi remapped Might be 200 BHP with DSG 6 gears.

 

now the car has got 240k km. no problem at all. The car is running smooth. Only be aware to change every 15k km or every year. and dsg box every 60k km.

 

use less fuel only at 0,45l pr 10km on motorway.

[REH17]

had a scan done on the car, came back with glow plug 2 open circuit, so I changed all 4. car runs alot smoother but still regens often and as bad as before, however might be burning off WD40 I sprayed down there to ease the removal of the plugs

 

will keep the post updated with more findings if anyone is interested

 

Rob

 

 

[REH17]

Just to update everyone, I had the car put back to factory standard PRE VW EA189 FIX. Also had the engine carbon cleaned too.  Car now runs as it should ( missing the power from the previous power map) but  it hasn't smoked and regened un necessarily .

 

I can pass details on of the company who did a most excellent job.

 

There was no fault found with the DPF, or anything else, so I suspect the car was overfuelling and causing a malfunction somewhere in the map coding and the DPF regen cycles.

 

 

Edit:... forget thay last bit.. car smoked and regenned on the way to work... I plan to replace the egr valve and dpf pressure sensor as the cost is minimal in the grand scheme of things... and then see what happens.

 

 

Edited 11 September, 2017 by REH17