VAG DPF - what does a Red DPF and Egg Timer mean?

[Toby7243]

Hi,

 

As the title suggests, looking to find out what the red DPF and Egg Timer mean?

 

Had a DPF light come on the other week on my way to work (although it was off again by the time I got to the office) so I bought the VAG DPF app.

 

Warning light on the dash hasn't reappeared since but on the app I'm getting a red DPF icon and egg timer. Any ideas?

 

Car is a 1.6 diesel Octy Greenline III 

 

Cheers 

 

[J.R.]

I have never seen the app so have no experience but that photo says to me that your car is 58 minutes into a regen and has only burnt 47% of the soot and there are 11g remaining.

 

A DPF warning light coming on, an hour to complete half a regen (2 hours plus for a full one?) less than 6 hours since the last regen sounds pretty terrible, do you only do short journeys?

[Toby7243]

5 minutes ago, J.R. said:

I have never seen the app so have no experience but that photo says to me that your car is 58 minutes into a regen and has only burnt 47% of the soot and there are 11g remaining.

 

A DPF warning light coming on, an hour to complete half a regen (2 hours plus for a full one?) less than 6 hours since the last regen sounds pretty terrible, do you only do short journeys?

Reading the manual online for the app seems to suggest the 47% bar means how full the DPF is. 

 

My journey to work is about 10 miles each way. Mornings tend to be heavy traffic but I'm usually able to drive with a slightly heavier right foot on the way home...

 

The day the DPF light came on I took it down an A Road at 70mph in 4th gear (keeping revs at over 3k rpm) and then checked the app again... It didn't force a regen.

 

Light hasn't come back on the dash since, I'm just curious what the egg timer and DPF in red means. Nothing in the app's manual. 

[Toby7243]

I'll add I've been doing the same journey for the last year or so without any issues. I also do take the car on 50-75 mile round trips a couple of weekends a month.

[BogdanB]

It means that you have interrupted a regen ( probably by turning off the engine ), and that it is still scheduled in the ECU since it's not marked as completed.

 

The DPF isn't regenerating now. You can tell that by the temperature.

Edited 8 December, 2021 by BogdanB

[cheezemonkhai]

14 hours ago, Toby7243 said:

Reading the manual online for the app seems to suggest the 47% bar means how full the DPF is. 

 

My journey to work is about 10 miles each way. Mornings tend to be heavy traffic but I'm usually able to drive with a slightly heavier right foot on the way home...

 

The day the DPF light came on I took it down an A Road at 70mph in 4th gear (keeping revs at over 3k rpm) and then checked the app again... It didn't force a regen.

 

If you read the manual, the regen takes place at lower than 3000rpm (between 1800 and 2250 RPM IIRC).

Perhaps take it for a 30 minute drive on an evening, on a quiet motorway up a couple of junctions and back.

 

The forced regen you need to be careful of, because I believe you need to set fans and other things to make sure there is sufficient cooling on a static car.

 

[J.R.]

1 hour ago, BogdanB said:

It means that you have interrupted a regen ( probably by turning off the engine ), and that it is still scheduled in the ECU since it's not marked as completed.

 

The DPF isn't regenerating now. You can tell that by the temperature.

I thought that also with the pre DPF sensor temperature, what was concerning was the 58 minute regen duration, what is your interpretation of that?

[BogdanB]

44 minutes ago, J.R. said:

I thought that also with the pre DPF sensor temperature, what was concerning was the 58 minute regen duration, what is your interpretation of that?

Probably because the regen was flagged as started, and wasn't completed, the timer goes on. 

 

As long as the DPF isn't full, I wouldn't worry. There will be a warning on the dash once the regen duration gets to 90min.

Edited 8 December, 2021 by BogdanB

[varaderoguy]

You can do a forced re-gen - via VCDS or ODBEleven Pro.  As previously mentioned, it isn't a panacea of fault resolution.  You may have to have the DPF manually cleaned out if push comes to shove.  Heat is what you need to fix this; short journeys kill DPF's. 

[BogdanB]

I'm pretty sure the situation isn't dire at all. It will just need an uninterrupted regen the next time it starts one. I would advise to keep the vag DPF on until you get a complete regen. 

[Toby7243]

Regen completed and the DPF and Egg Timer have disappeared. I think we're good.

 

Thanks for the help guys.

[MeteorOcty]

Is it me or is that dpf in insanely good condition (31.4g Oil Ash Residue) for 98000 miles?

[Toby7243]

7 minutes ago, MeteorOcty said:

Is it me or is that dpf in insanely good condition (31.4g Oil Ash Residue) for 98000 miles?

Honestly have no idea. I think this was a company car before I bought it so I think that they are mainly motorway miles. I hope you're right though 😁

[BogdanB]

It's a 1.6 engine though. 

They should last more. 

Edited 10 December, 2021 by BogdanB