Stuart_J,

How many miles has your car done and what kind of driving do you normally do? I usually do a 15 mile motorway commute to work and 15 mile homeward journey every day. Is it on short journeys that the filter gets clogged up all to easily?

Regards

SJ

If you bought over the web (via broker) or phone I think you'll still covered by the Distance Selling Regulations which legally enables the seller to reject the goods within a specified cooling off period. Again all needs to be checked out but I believe this is 7 days from delivery (not order). So if you had any 2nd thoughts you might want to look into this. I'm no lawyer so check it out on web. Note no reason for rejecting the goods is needed. Check with Trading Standards etc..

My 2.5 arrives Nov 18th but from all the posts I'm still assuming this is not affected.

Re the problem itself. Have the people affected tried publicity? You could contact Daily Telegraph Honest John column and highlight issue. Used them once when Daewoo messed parents around with their car. Within days

My 2.5 arrives Nov 18th but from all the posts I'm still assuming this is not affected.

AFAIK It is just the 2.0 140 TDi thats affected. Your 2.5 lump will be OK.

Stuart_J,

How many miles has your car done and what kind of driving do you normally do? I usually do a 15 mile motorway commute to work and 15 mile homeward journey every day. Is it on short journeys that the filter gets clogged up all to easily?

Regards

SJ

From what Im working out & to put it simlisticly its all to do with lack of heat in the exhaust that causes the problem, ours had done 10000 miles without a problem then when the driving conditions changed in a week we had 3 lots of warning lights before the car finally went into limp mode from which the only fix is a trip to the dealer, in our case a week without the car.

I found out last week that another car has failed local to us so on that basis with the others Im finding out its not an isolated problem.

SUK appear not to wish to discuss it further. My case is currently with one of the trade bodies funded by the manufacturesr so not a lot of hope there, then I guess its go legal with the dealer, shame really as its not his fault the designs poor, its probably not Skodas either as from what Im discovering they have inherited a VW Lemon.

Very interesting discussions developing on the DPF issues. Just for everyones info I have had one now for 4 months covering 20000 miles in that time as a Taxi. I've had the "Particle Filter" warning shown twice in that time and both times its sorted itself out. Whilst I sympathise with Stuart and his problems and share the worries of impending doom I also have faith in my dealer. If this issue continues to cause problems Skoda will have to do some modifications to make things good they cannot afford the bad publicity. It'll be like the past coil pack failures, the gearboxes on A4 Octavias and Fabias the flywheels on new style (A5) Octavias that are currently failing ask any Taxi driver with a Skoda. If Skoda have to fix them under warranty for two years someone will come along with a fix. The're no worse than any other manufacturer they all have problems I'm confident that they are one of the better ones though and that they do take pride in their product. Hopefully they just need a little time to come up with something and someone like me to put some miles in with the engines.

Very interesting discussions developing on the DPF issues. Just for everyones info I have had one now for 4 months covering 20000 miles in that time as a Taxi. I've had the "Particle Filter" warning shown twice in that time and both times its sorted itself out. Whilst I sympathise with Stuart and his problems and share the worries of impending doom I also have faith in my dealer. If this issue continues to cause problems Skoda will have to do some modifications to make things good they cannot afford the bad publicity. It'll be like the past coil pack failures, the gearboxes on A4 Octavias and Fabias the flywheels on new style (A5) Octavias that are currently failing ask any Taxi driver with a Skoda. If Skoda have to fix them under warranty for two years someone will come along with a fix. The're no worse than any other manufacturer they all have problems I'm confident that they are one of the better ones though and that they do take pride in their product. Hopefully they just need a little time to come up with something and someone like me to put some miles in with the engines.

We have 3 Skodas, to date I have been very impressed with the cars until this fault occured. Skoda told me a few weeks ago that they had no intention of researching a fix for these cars & will simply continue fixing them when they fail during the warranty. Compared with other problems they have had there are relativly few Superbs around & with the redesign & re tooling costs being fairly high Im not hopeful that this view will change. You might not be aware but if the light comes on & the Filter regenerates if it is heavily blocked whilst all seems OK the Filter might have been damaged. I will PM you some more info on that. Skodas official line is to state that there are no known problems with the car. as Ive stated previously I am dreading the Winter in the mountains, it failed in the Summer, what will it do when its sub zero ??

I think this problem may kill the Superb. The 4 cyl diesel is really the only practical option for this car, given its resale value. As soon as the trade get a sniff of this problem with the Cat IV engines, the residuals will drop to almost nothing.

Given that VW won't want to do any further work on the B5 platform and that Skoda can't, I think euthanasia is on the cards - pity.

rotodiesel.

The only option is to publicise the issue as heavily as possible - write to Which, to the AA, to the BBC, to Autocar. Get the issue out there and force a public response from Skoda. In particular it's important, I think, to demonstrate that the problem is not an isolated one, but a generic design fault with the car.

Car manufacturers these days are much more likely to shy away from bad publicity and it may have an effect.

I take the point that if the retooling costs are high, then they may not fix the problem, but that has to be balanced against the continued warranty costs and the loss of sales due to bad publicity.

Cheers,

Rob

It would appear that my previous devil may care attitude towards this problem may have come back and bit me in the ****.... On monday night my car failed and went into limp mode cos of the DPF it would not clear and I had to visit the dealer on Tuesday morning. To cut a long story short they had it in the workshop for about an hour and a half and all was well when they wheeled it out. They told me that for some reason it was reluctant to go through the filter cleaning procedure and only did it for them after connecting the car up to the computer and trying it. I have no way of confirming what they did but having had the fault light come on three times previously I am sure as the weather gets colder it might not be my last visit to have it fixed..... watch this space.....correct me if I'm wrong but I'm sure if you visit 3 times with the same fault they have to start making a serious effort to come up with a fix and not just a joey up to get rid of you.. thats certainly the approach I take anyway.

Sad to hear it but not suprised, I too am concerned that as temperatures drop the problem will occur more often. Its worrying that at the time unlike us you had more knowledge of the fault yet the regeneration process in the manual failed to save you

Its my understanding that providing the filters not more than 95% saturated the dealers can plug the car into their electronics whilst driving the car & through some means of electrical trickery force the car to regenerate the filter.

Skodas documentation says that if the filter is heavily clogged it might be damaged even if it regenerates so how do you know the filters not damaged. The filters are also classed as a consumable so if it fails completely its not replaced under the warranty, you pay.:eek: :eek:

You seem to have a reosnable dealer, might be worth asking a few more questions.

Even though Im scared to find out Im just wondering what these things cost. I have been told that they are replaced at the 80,000 service. If this is true its conveniently out of the warranty & probably out of the first ownership, that sounds like a decision driven by marketing pressures.

Also ask your dealer to make a point of telling Skoda about the problem occuring & keep a record of telling them. I will PM you as to why

Brian, sorry to here you have a similar problem to Stuart :(

As to the cost of the units, they aren't cheap.

I can't understand why Skoda wish this swept under the carpet, this will come back to bite their ar5e and could do a lot of damage to their image.

Perhaps a bodge as a suggestion, but I'll drop it into the melting pot anyway - basically by reading through these posts you need more heat further down the exhaust and/or more heat retained to keep temps up within the exhaust system.

One option might be to use exhaust heat wrap. This will do just that. Side-effects are that it will smell for a bit whilst that stuff settles, but that's short term. However it means the exhaust gas remains at a higher temperature, perhaps it will help the situation. The stuff isn't all that cheap and I haven't had time to fit it to mine yet, but it may be worth suggesting? It's got to be cheaper than the filter replacement option.

Perhaps a bodge as a suggestion, but I'll drop it into the melting pot anyway - basically by reading through these posts you need more heat further down the exhaust and/or more heat retained to keep temps up within the exhaust system.

One option might be to use exhaust heat wrap. This will do just that. Side-effects are that it will smell for a bit whilst that stuff settles, but that's short term. However it means the exhaust gas remains at a higher temperature, perhaps it will help the situation. The stuff isn't all that cheap and I haven't had time to fit it to mine yet, but it may be worth suggesting? It's got to be cheaper than the filter replacement option.

That to me sounds like a good idea. When you do yours, please can you add some pics etc, as I may do something like this purely as a safe guard, prevention being better than cure etc.

Since I have been reading these posts I am expecting mine to play up, especially with winter approaching!

I'd be reluctant to use heat wrap as a dealer/SUK could void your warranty as the part which has failed is directly affected by the wrap.

Given the filter cant be that clever and is probably just a wire gauze that is charged to clear it and has a given resistance when clean, wouldnt it be simple enough to knock it out and connect a resistor/length of wire to the connector ? :confused:

I'd be reluctant to use heat wrap as a dealer/SUK could void your warranty as the part which has failed is directly affected by the wrap.

Given the filter cant be that clever and is probably just a wire gauze that is charged to clear it and has a given resistance when clean, wouldnt it be simple enough to knock it out and connect a resistor/length of wire to the connector ? :confused:

Im of the view that if more insulation will aliviate the problem then its something that SUK could fit. The owner should not have to spend money trying to overcome an aparent design fault whilst at the same time possibly voiding his warranty

The filter is somewhat complex as I understand and a combined sensor is employed which reads pressure before & after the filter & then the cars "brain" varies diesel amounts & additive amounts to generate sufficent heat in the filter when regeneration is needed so its not simply a case of adding a resistor.

I have been led to believe its easy to recalibrate using the dealers 5051 tool once you have removed the filter but nobody will say what it should be recallibrated to. It will take a lot of research I guess to find the correct reading as you never know at what level the filter is clean & therefore not requesting additive or Diesel. If anyone knows a man who can let me know. Its something the dealers can do so if its a dealer then PM me DONT POST THEIR DETAILS, Im guessing someone in Milton Keynes is reading this .

Good point Goochie regarding warranty, definitely run it past the dealer first

FYI I got my stuff via Agriemach - look for T11002 and T13002 in case you decide to proceed

As for pics, will do my best, my car will be on a ramp on the 25th so I may ask if I am allowed to fit this stuff & take some snaps at the time

PS Andy Ellis posted some stuff about this, IIRC the thread is called "Cool Runnings!" minus quotes in the Maintenance & Performance forum.

Hi.

This is my first post in this forum. I have a Superb 2.0 DPF and got a real scare when i read this thread. Therefore i called a friend of mine who is a Skoda tech, he told me that the first Superbs here in Sweden was delivered with 16v engines but they were all recalled and replaced with 8v engines due to problems with the particlefilters. I have now driven my Superb (8v) 25000 km without any problems whatsoever and the last 1000km with a pluginbox from KCR that gives me 170 bhp/385 mn and it works like a dream it also lovered my fuelconsumption from 6.5lit/100km to 5.5lit/100 km. If anyone are interested in these boxes go to http://www.kcr.se If you decide to call tehm ask for a guy named Niklas who is their chief programmer and knows just about everything there is to know about VAG:s dieselengines. He did also confirm the story regarding 16v vs 8v engines that my friend told me.

/Tobbe

Hi.

This is my first in this forum. I have a Superb 2.0 DPF and got a real scare when i read this thread. Therefore i called a friend of mine who is a Skoda tech, he told me that the first Superbs here in Sweden was delivered with 16v engines but they were all recalled and replaced with 8v engines due to problems with the particlefilters. I have now driven my Superb (8v) 25000 km without any problems whatsoever and the last 1000km with a pluginbox from KCR that gives me 170 bhp/385 mn and it works like a dream it also lovered my fuelconsumption from 6.5lit/100km to 5.5lit/100 km. If anyone are interested in these boxes go to http://www.kcr.se If you decide to call tehm ask for a guy named Niklas who is their chief programmer and knows just about everything there is to know about VAG:s dieselengines. He did also confirm the story regarding 16v vs 8v engines that my friend told me.

/Tobbe

I have PM'd you

Well to update the SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders) have investigated the problem with the car & discussed my concerns with Skoda, they appear to take what Skoda say at face value & here is an extract of their response

"Skoda advised that the breakdown you experienced in France is not a regular occurrence on this type of vehicle and they are not aware of any known issues with this part. Skoda has further advised that they cannot guarantee the life expectancy of any part including the exhaust on your vehicle"

One dealer has replaced 2 cars with one owner as is stated on another thread on this forum, other dealers are having breakdowns & Skoda have also taken one car back from a dealer to investigate the problem although that I gather prooved inconclusive

I have another document that Skoda send to the dealers which describes the situation that will lead to a breakdown

Yet they can write to the SMMT stating that they are not aware of any problems with the vehicle, I feel a bit of factual bending has been used to fob off the SMMT.

So where does that leave me, a previously loyal Skoda customer becoming more & more disolusioned with the attitude of Skoda UK & slowly heading towards my last option which is to sue the dealer for something thats not his fault.

Several potential Superb purchasers have managed to track down my details & discussed their fortthcoming purchases with me & I believe 2 are no longer buying Skodas. Its hard to have to rubbish what is basically a great car ruined by one design defect & SUK's aparent disinterest in resolving the problem.

If anyone else wants to discuss it PM or mail me & I will give you a contact number

Stuart

The SMMT is to the motor trade as the GMC is to medicine; each is there to protect the interests of the providers, not the customers. I wish you the best of luck with this problem - the subject header is about right. It's about time VAG developed the habit of treating the customer properly when they make a ****-up. BMW have learnt this lesson and have a hugely profitable product and a loyal customer base as a result.

rotodiesel.

You can add my name to those who won't have another Superb (at least with a 140 lump, if I had another Superb).

Was thinking about one in a years time ....but not now

The more I read these threads, the more I expect mine to suddenly fail. I am bricking it!

A lot depends on how you drive it as well, certainly worth taking it out for a nice blat on the motorway every once in a while I reckon

A lot depends on how you drive it as well, certainly worth taking it out for a nice blat on the motorway every once in a while I reckon

Under average driving the car is fine, the problem occurs when you are in a situation where the car has been driven gently for a while, you get a warning but you then have to fairly imediately find clear road & drive at a speed of at least 38 mph (60 Kp/h) for approx 10 mins to regenerate the filter. Finding a clear road in towns is often hard & the problem will probably have occured because you are stuck in traffic anyway, most also have a 30 mph limit.

Weve now gone about 7000 miles since the last failure but in January we are returning to the French mountains where it last failed . This time I will park the car when we get there & not use it until we leave. It will put restrictions on our holiday but I just dont want to risk being stranded again. It appears that something to do with bimbling around mountains creates the same problem already known to Skoda. The car always had problems on longish descents using the Engine for brakes, Im guessing insufficent heat was being generated to enable the filter to burn off the soot.

Its just a sad reflection on Skoda that they have acknowledged that the car has shall we say limitations but choose to just hope the problem will go away.