It occurred to me the other day ,reading all the bad press in motoring magazines ,and listening to radio adverts to by specialists to sort out diesel particulate filter problems, that I can, t remember seeing many threads from 1.6tdi owners regarding DPF problems.

Do these engines throw up DPF problems? Or is it a case that once owners know what they are about problems don't arise.

My own car is the 1.9 without a DPF.

 

The more common issues are with the earlier PD engines. DPFs were fitted to late model 1.9 engines and 2.0. I would avoid these like the plague on the second hand market. The common rail engine was better suited to a DPF and work very well. They are as forgiving as you can get for people that do short-ish journeys but they do have a limit.

 

The most common problems are down to a sensor or other issues causing the DPF to not regenerate. The faults can normally be rectified easily by somebody that's knows what they are doing. The main thing is to get problems sorted as fast as possible once you get any warning lights as failure to act on them can result in a totally blocked DPF that required replacement. 

When I was considering buying my Roomster with the 1.6TDi I had worries about the DPF.  I asked a work colleague who had a 20k mile old 1.6TDi Yeti if they had any problems with their DPF.  The answer?  "What's a DPF?".  Sums it up perfectly.  I have done 55k+ miles and I don't really know it's there unless I look for it.

Pretty much like my alternator - it churns away charging my battery but I never give it a thought.

As SuperbTWM says, early problems were caused by DPFs being bolted as an afterthought onto old engine designs.  Where engines were designed to have a DPF from day 1 problems are much rarer and are usually sensor related.  I had a sensor failure at about 5k miles old.  

 

BUT!!!

 

If you do mainly short 1-2 mile round town school runs and supermarket trips your experience with a DPF diesel could be very different.  I do 20 mile trips (including dual carriageway and motorway) at least weekly and 50+ mile journeys at least monthly.  The colleague with the 1.6TDi Yeti was commuting around 15 miles in free flowing traffic. My DPF regenerates every 250-350 miles and it needs the engine up to temperature and to be driven for 5-10 miles to complete the process.

Thanks for your replies.

I knew the 1.9 tdi is capable of 200k plus, as illustrated in taxi use. And if anyone had asked me as to what engine to go for I would have said the 1.9,but didn, t know the later ones had DPFs fitted!

Could have really come unstuck there!

I imagine when regeneration is due a light comes on , and In my case if I had a 1.6 doing mainly short trips ,I would have to give it a blast along a nearby motorway when regeneration was called for. So unless a long run was due it might be considered a waste of fuel.

59 minutes ago, bobspark said:

 

I imagine when regeneration is due a light comes on , and In my case if I had a 1.6 doing mainly short trips ,I would have to give it a blast along a nearby motorway when regeneration was called for. So unless a long run was due it might be considered a waste of fuel.

 

No there is no light for a regen. The only time you will get a warning light is if the DPF gets to a certain level of soot, which basically means you havn't given it chance to regen or there is a problem. After this you will get more error lights and possibly limp mode as well, this is when you are nearly at the critical level where it cannot be regenerated.

 

The best thing to do is drive the car and not think about it. It will look after itself.

1 hour ago, bobspark said:

 

I imagine when regeneration is due a light comes on , 

In 55k miles I have never seen the warning light.  Regeneration just goes on quietly in the background  but as you get to know your car you pick up little signs that it is happening: tickover rises to 1000rpm, the engine note changes slightly, when idling the exhaust has an faint odour akin to the smell of burning aviation fuel you get around airports, you can feel the heat coming off the exhaust at the rear of the car and pick up a faint smell of hot rubber, the oil temperature (if you have maxi-dot) rises very quickly from a norm of mid 80's or low 90's to high 90's low 100's centigrade.

 

If the warning light comes on then that is a sign that the system has been trying and failing to complete a regeneration and you need to give it a good 40mph plus run for 10 miles or so.

 

I may be wrong here, but I don't think that any 1.9TDi on Roomster, Fabia or Octavia ever got a DPF.  For certain my mate's 1.9TDi Octavia (59 plate) doesn't have one and his is one of the very last before they switched that model to the 1.6 TDi.