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Main dealers

wallace

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My car developed a couple of warning lights, namely heater plugs and engine management. This indicates a dpf problem. I took it to the dealers to find out the problem. Whilst there they do an inspection which gets sent to your phone with the option of authorising and paying for the work upfront. Their suggestion was to replace the front discs and pads at a cost of £600 because the pads were down to 60% and the discs were lipped, also a cable had some rust which would cost £250, there was something else equally silly for £300. Thats before we get to the problem I went in for. They confirmed it was the dpf and it needs replacing, but that item is on back order. The car has only done 36k miles and a dpf should last 100k at least. Anyone tried having one cleaned?
I feel sorry for todays generation who would blindly accept a garages suggestions to have work done that wasn't needed.
 
Ah the usual scams.

Check online. On at least some cars the DPF can be cleared by running the car up to a hot engine and then running at high speed / or at least high revs for circa 15-20 mins. Audis for example.

This may need doing a couple of times.

We had the dpf on a V8 Audi Q7 cleaned successfully by one of the Audi independent service garages. Was not expensive. Audi main dealer wanted to replace it. Hot running fix worked for a year.
 
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When I moved down to Devon for work, some 17 year ago, my main dealer was charging £100 ph, and getting things wrong. I sought out a reputable back street garage in the city, and they were just over half that hourly rate and honest and up front. Since moving to this town, I've sought out another local family garage and they are brilliant, too. I had no hesitation in advising younger colleagues and family to avoid main dealers.
 
Wallace I have had similar problems with my VW T5, on my model when the dpf filter needs cleaning it cuts everything off. The first time this happened as I was entering a tunnel in the fast lane of a 4 lane motorway in morning rush hour in Madrid. It was fun for my wife and kids.
I had the dpf filter cleaned by the main dealer, can’t say that it worked as I now have a different problem….van is dead, glow plugs and engine management warning lights blinking. This time it’s not the dpf but something very tricky to diagnose…….. now been 3 weeks and they have no answers.

Apparently if your car is fitted with a dpf it’s not advisable to do short journeys.
 
Do the cleaners that you add to the fuel have any effect?
I ve no idea if they are snake oil but for a tenner it’s worth trying.
 
I tried driving it like it was stolen a few times but it didnt fix it. It did a forced regen but still no better.
Pardon me if this is a silly question, but how do you know it is no better? It is not impossible that the fix worked but the warning light(s) will stay on until reset. Either get an OBD scanner that can clear the codes, or get an independent garage to do it. Then drive the car and see if they re-appear.
 
Pardon me if this is a silly question, but how do you know it is no better? It is not impossible that the fix worked but the warning light(s) will stay on until reset. Either get an OBD scanner that can clear the codes, or get an independent garage to do it. Then drive the car and see if they re-appear.
That’s a valid point if the vehicle is still running. In my case when the dpf filter thinks it is clogged the vehicle is completely immobilised. Is this the same with your vehicle Wallace?
 
I had a problem with the dpf on my ford smax (although it has done nearly 200,000 miles so not very surprising). It turned out to be the fuel vapouriser which sprays fuel into the exhaust to heat up the dpf as part of the regen. I diagnosed it with a cheapo OBD reader and was able to replace the vapouriser myself which was good (the car is too old to spend serious money on).

In the course of researching what to do, I saw quite a few you tube videos showing mobile dpf cleaning services They seemed to work.

Good luck with it.
 
Ian , I know very little about mechanics but my vehicle uses add blue and has a DPF filter….. so in my case I don’t think it helps.
Also it’s impossible to run my vehicle without add blue, the storage tank has a sensor that immobilises the engine when the level is low.
 
Pardon me if this is a silly question, but how do you know it is no better? It is not impossible that the fix worked but the warning light(s) will stay on until reset. Either get an OBD scanner that can clear the codes, or get an independent garage to do it. Then drive the car and see if they re-appear.
Never thought of that :unsure: early on it would run weirdly, the injector light would come on then I'd switch off and on and it would reset. It still drives but in a semi limp mode. Power is reduced, presumably to protect the engine from back pressure because of blocked exhaust.
 
I think the DPF captures soot and Adblue reacts with Nitrogen Oxide gas to turn it into Nitrogen and water so presumably not?
My local family garage told me only last week when they replaced the EGR valve (£ouch) that the DPF removes the particulates, the clue is in the name, and the Adblue works to reduce the nitrous oxide. I'm not sure which way round that happens. The EGR also works to reduce the nitrous oxide by placing some exhaust gas back in the cylinders to be refired.
 
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