Irregular DPF Passive Regen - 2010 1.6 TDI Fabia

[ttalps2000]

Hi

 

I am new to this forum and after a bit of help and what other people are finding.

 

My 2010 1.6 tdi 75hp fabia is passive re-gening very irregularly. Sometimes its every 500 miles and other times its every 60 miles!

 

Last time the DPF was read, it had 0.5g of soot in it. The pressure sensor was knackered and this was replaced a year ago anyway.

 

I do a 25 miles commute to work each way 5 days a week and this is 90% motorway driving, so it gets nice and hot etc every day.

 

Is the irregular re-gening a common issue on these? Been through the forum and seems different people get different issues! Non-supermarket fuel seems to help with calming it all down. usually use Sainsburys as its near by etc.

 

Thank you in advance.

[Bertie90]

how do you know it's doing a regen? are you monitoring it through the app?

 

Have you had the emission update done?

[Ootohere]

Welcome.

 

Diesel delivered to Super Market Filling stations will not be the issue, more than 1/2 the diesel cars in the UK will get Super Market Diesel.

 

So was the 'Emissions Fix' carried out and have you got the New Engine Management that VW / Skoda says causes no ill affects and the proof of others shows that it can and does.

[ttalps2000]

usual symptoms of the passive regen are high idle, lumpy running, fans running and burning smell coming from the DPF.

 

The emissions fix has not been carried out and so is all as per when it left the factory.

 

What app can i get to see what it is doing?

[ttalps2000]

only other thing to note is that i am running it on variable service and it has another 2800 miles to go before the next service is due, which has been about 15000 miles in total. Not sure this is going to make a difference though tbh!

[Ootohere]

How many miles has the car done, and how many miles a year do you do?

Have you had the car from new?

Edited 25 September, 2018 by Offski

[ttalps2000]

it has done 92k miles. Doing around 14k miles a year.

 

No not had the car from new, but have service history with it and was serviced on fixed intervals previously, but mainly every 12 months rather than 10k miles as the previous owners did not do much milage in it!

[m8t]

46 minutes ago, ttalps2000 said:

usual symptoms of the passive regen are high idle, lumpy running, fans running and burning smell coming from the DPF.

 

The emissions fix has not been carried out and so is all as per when it left the factory.

 

What app can i get to see what it is doing?

I think what you are describing is an active regen when your ECU raises tick over and injects an fuel on exhaust stroke to heat up the DPF.

 

A passive regen is when the ECU does nothing extra but the soot in the DPF is burnt off due to high engine load.

 

 

Edited 25 September, 2018 by m8t

[ttalps2000]

other thing to add, my motorway commute each day. In the morning it is quite stop and start and usually end up around 40-50mph most of the time. In the evenings i am at 70-75mph most of the way, before the last part which is in traffic on city roads for a few miles.

[mrgf]

With the age and mileage considered, the DPF could be near the end of its useful life! I have read they can wear out in a few years/low miles or last ages with quite high miles. Perhaps due to quality, driving style, size, etc. I was told the Fabia's have a fairly small one. (Ooh-err, Mrs)!

[ttalps2000]

are there any cleaners out there that work well i can put in the fuel etc?

[spartacus68]

Forte diesel conditioner is about the only thing I'd add. Garages use it on older diesels to reduce emissions prior to MOT. You can add to fuel tank, or for maximum effect, remove fuel filter, drain diesel from it, then add Forte. Connect up and drive the car hard in second and third gears. It'll smoke like a Russian Battleship on a frosty morning, but it soon clears. Renew the fuel filter afterwards, top up with fresh diesel, reconnect fuel lines and turn over. Will help the injectors too.

 

Only word of caution is that you know your timing belt isn't due any time soon as you're putting a degree of stress on the engine.

[ttalps2000]

i have added some Wynns DPF cleaner into a tank of Shell Vpower Diesel. Will see what it does! Also got some Wynns injector cleaner to put through after too.

[Bertie90]

I got the VAGDPF app and with a Bluetooth dongle plugged in the OBD2 port it feeds data to the app telling you what the DPF it's doing. 

[ttalps2000]

Will see if things calm down with the cleaner going through and if not will steal the kids phone's and connect it up and see what its up to!

[ttalps2000]

Just an update on this - It is doing 200-250 miles between re-gens. I have put a tank of Vpower diesel through it with Wynns DPF cleaner and seems to have made no difference!

 

The regens do seem to be much shorter since putting the cleaner through but thats the only difference!

[Ootohere]

That will be that then, early Euro 5 TDI's 8 years & 92,000 miles on.  They are not magic, and had defeat devices as part of the engine management.

What some of miles do you get from a tankfull of diesel , say brimmed until brimmed again, then how many miles was that had how many litres needed?

Edited 11 October, 2018 by Offski

[ttalps2000]

so what you are saying is the DPF has had it?

 

usually get 600 miles from a tank, not sure on the litres

[Ootohere]

Not saying it has had it but it has done quite well and is still doing it's job but might need replacing at some point, like if it starts really wasting diesel doing regens.

[langers2k]

How much oil ash is there in the DPF, that'll tell you if it's dead or not...

[ttalps2000]

dont know at the moment, need to get my mate to plug it in and find out

[Bertie90]

my car does about the same amount of regens to be honest,i stopped bothering after a while

[eccleshill]

Mine has not had the emissions "fix" is 5yrs and 53k miles old.  I have had it from new and use mainly supermarket fuel with a tank or three of BP Ultimate a couple of times per year and never use injector or DPF cleaners.  It does an active regeneration every 200-350 miles - the frequency has nothing to do with fuel type and everything to do with the type of driving.  If you are on a motorway run it is very easy to miss the signs and that could explain the odd occasion when you reckon it is 500 miles between regenerations.

Main thing is that you should only see the warning light as a function check when you turn on the ignition.  The time for concern is when you are seeing it regularly.  Until then just stop worrying about it :-)  From what you have said your driving pattern is perfect diesel/DPF territory.

[globalste]

On 25/09/2018 at 20:01, ttalps2000 said:

usual symptoms of the passive regen are high idle, lumpy running, fans running and burning smell coming from the DPF.

 

The emissions fix has not been carried out and so is all as per when it left the factory.

 

What app can i get to see what it is doing?

Thats an active regeneration you are talking about.  Passive is when the car reaches temperature from day to day driving, active is when you trigger 24g of soot, or usually around 300-360miles.

 

The Fabia 1.6CR doesn't really perform passive regenerations, it doesn't get hot enough.

 

If you wanted to try something different then try Archoil 6400dmax into a tank of fuel every 5000miles and then 6900 every second tank of fuel, use code EA189 on www.powerenhancer.co.uk to get 20% off, this is as recommended by the EA189 emissions reversal group.  As others have said, VAGDPF on Android is brilliant at monitoring the vehicle, infact, it saved me recently when a temperature sensor gremlin prevented mine from doing an active regeneration and going beyond 100% and well on its way to the DPF light coming on at 30g soot, if I had only had the DPF light come on then I would have been stranded because I wouldn't have had enough miles left on the DPF to get home and to the dealership, or worse, I may have thought I could clear the DPF light by driving hard and fast and making the problem worse as a regen was never going to happen.

 

The DPF can carry a total of 70g of soot before it kicks the bucket, this translates to around 150k miles.

 

You can get specialists to clean out the DPF and reset it to extend the life, if this is a route you want to take then as you are in Southampton I would highly recommend you contact Liam at Rapid Remaps, tell him Steve sent you, he is very very knowledgeable and will come to your house or place of work to do any diagnosis.

Edited 16 October, 2018 by globalste

[langers2k]

25 minutes ago, globalste said:

The DPF can carry a total of 70g of soot before it kicks the bucket, this translates to around 150k miles.

 

The limit for soot is about 45g before the DPF isn't able to regen and it needs replacing or cleaning.

 

I think you actually mean oil ash which cannot be burnt off by the car. The limit will vary by engine but 70g or 175ml has been suggested for various EA189 CR engines.

 

The total mileage will depend on the engine condition and the type of driving it's doing. My CR140 has done 152k miles and looking at it's current oil ash level the DPF should last over 240k miles.