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      07-20-2015, 04:32 PM   #1
ianfp
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DPF Advice Needed

This is aimed at diesel owners and I am looking for some advice please.

My car has only done 14000 miles of mainly stop-start journeys. What I don't know is whether I should be trying to get the DPF regenerated. I spoke with the dealer and they said that every year or so, I should take the car on a minimum 1/2 hour drive at a constant 70 mph. This will apparently get the DPF to regenerate. I live at least 2 hours away from a motorway and then I could not guarantee being able to do a constant 70 due to it being very busy.

Could I not just drive A roads at higher engine revs to get the DPF up to temperature? I do have some reasonable A roads not too many miles away!

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks All!
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      07-20-2015, 04:34 PM   #2
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How do you know that it has regenerated?
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      07-20-2015, 04:52 PM   #3
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Without diagnostic equipment, I have read that when the DPF begins regeneration, the exhaust tone changes and performance will be reduced during the process. It all sounds a bit vague to me.
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      07-21-2015, 03:13 AM   #4
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14000 miles! If your car's regeneration process had never happened, then the light would have been on by now and your dpf would be blocked, and the car would not start.

Read the following:

http://www.dpfissues.co.uk/

My last 4 cars in the past 8 years have had dpfs fitted and I have never heard the engine note change with the injection of more fuel to burn off the soot.

This link is worth reading. Note. Not all will apply to your vehicle.

http://www.advancedmotorcare.co.uk/v.../dpf-servicing
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Last edited by Peter_R; 07-21-2015 at 03:56 AM..
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      07-21-2015, 11:40 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter_R View Post
14000 miles! If your car's regeneration process had never happened, then the light would have been on by now and your dpf would be blocked, and the car would not start.

Read the following:

http://www.dpfissues.co.uk/

My last 4 cars in the past 8 years have had dpfs fitted and I have never heard the engine note change with the injection of more fuel to burn off the soot.

This link is worth reading. Note. Not all will apply to your vehicle.

http://www.advancedmotorcare.co.uk/v.../dpf-servicing
I was assuming that the regeneration process is not iterative and that it will trigger depending on sensor readings. I have not seen a warning light, so presumably everything is OK.

Do you know if the dealer can get a reading from the system to establish if or when a regeneration process has occurred?

Thanks for the links!
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      07-21-2015, 01:46 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ianfp View Post
I was assuming that the regeneration process is not iterative and that it will trigger depending on sensor readings. I have not seen a warning light, so presumably everything is OK.

Do you know if the dealer can get a reading from the system to establish if or when a regeneration process has occurred?

Thanks for the links!
I cannot give you an answer about it being repetitive, but I have seen it stated that it happens about every 300 to 500 miles, but this is on far older cars. As stated above, I have never experienced it, but naturally it has happened and the sensor has ensured that it has regenerated at the correct time and presumably properly, because I have had no light on ever.

I do not know if the dealer can see if it has regenerated or not. I have never asked my BMW Tech friend. The only help I can offer is when I sold my remapped 2007 e91 325d after 5 years (2012) to an independant dealer, a guy came along to purchase it, and said if it passed a health check he would purchase it. The independant dealer took it to the local BMW garage who carried out the health check (not sure whether this was reading the codes or the exhaust gas analyzer up the tailpipe) and they said the car needed to be brought normal engine temperature on a longish run to clear out the dpf. This was duly done and all was fine.

One has to remember that the later cars have better fuel scheduling, higher fuel pressures and run far more efficiently (diesels are more efficient on part throttle than other engines) with the later standard diesel fuel (less ash and sulphur) and produce less soot.

In my opinion, because you have not experienced any problems (because your engine is running efficiently), your car has regenerated properly when driving on normal A roads locally and I would let things be. I would not be in a hurry to jump into and be taking it down the motorway for an Italian Tune Up. Just remember it is my view based on experience running two earlier engines (120d and 325d) and two later cars, an F31 320d Sport and a F25 X3 xDrive30d M Sport.
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      07-21-2015, 02:32 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter_R View Post
I cannot give you an answer about it being repetitive, but I have seen it stated that it happens about every 300 to 500 miles, but this is on far older cars.....
When I questioned my local indie about the DPF on my old car (E83 X3 3.0d 2008) he gave exactly the same reply, it regens every 300-500 miles. It does have a peculiar smell, but didn't sound any different to me.

As I had no idea how my current car had been driven when I picked it up(23k miles) I haven't been too gentle with it. I've also run through a full set of the Forte cleaners - turbo, DPF and diesel treatment. I don't care if it's a placebo but it certainly feels smoother
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      07-23-2015, 04:42 AM   #8
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We notice the smell sometimes - first time we thought the brakes had "stuck" - it smells like burning. - but otherwise nothing...
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