How to know when my 2.0tdi is regenerating dpf?

[andreasw]

How can you tell whether it's regening? Do you notice it with consumption? I haven't driven the car all that much so I know what's normal and not. Also, how is the system built? Injector in the dpf?

[VRSmarty]

If you're driving the car you won't feel it doing a regen. If you come to a standstill and it's doing one the idle speed will be slightly higher, just under 1K revs and you might notice a burning smell, well not quite, just a hot metal smell if you know what I mean? And a lot of the time the fan will be running, even if you turn the engine off during the regen the fan will keep running.

 

If I pull into my drive or stop anywhere and it's doing one I'll take it for a hard run if I can to help get a bit of heat into the DPF to help burn the soot off. It's a great excuse to go for a bit of a hoon!

 

No extra injector, the ecu just adds a bit more fuel to get the exhaust gas temperature (EGT) up a bit. 

Edited 20 October, 2018 by VRSmarty

[andreasw]

1 hour ago, VRSmarty said:

If you're driving the car you won't feel it doing a regen. If you come to a standstill and it's doing one the idle speed will be slightly higher, just under 1K revs and you might notice a burning smell, well not quite, just a hot metal smell if you know what I mean? And a lot of the time the fan will be running, even if you turn the engine off during the regen the fan will keep running.

 

If I pull into my drive or stop anywhere and it's doing one I'll take it for a hard run if I can to help get a bit of heat into the DPF to help burn the soot off. It's a great excuse to go for a bit of a hoon!

 

No extra injector, the ecu just adds a bit more fuel to get the exhaust gas temperature (EGT) up a bit. 

Okay, how much does the consumption go up? I only got 39mpg last refill, think it's a little high? Trying to rule out constant regenerating.

[VRSmarty]

7 hours ago, andreasw said:

Okay, how much does the consumption go up? I only got 39mpg last refill, think it's a little high? Trying to rule out constant regenerating.

Mines(vrs cr170) rarely goes below 47mpg that's a mix of 3 quarters motorway and the rest short journeys. And I drive it fairly hard.

 

If it was constantly regenerating I'd expect to see a warning light on the dash and possibly limp mode if the dpf was clogged. But I'm no mechanic. Might be worth getting it scanned for a fault code, maybe a pressure sensor failure in the dpf