Possible reasons why my van might have stopped doing DPF regens?

[dss123]

Hey all...

So my DPF is now critically full (soot close to 60g, oil ash 85g).

The glow plug light is flashing and the engine management light is on. Significant loss of power.

I can't force a regen... I think the DPF is now too full and I guess the flashing glow plug light is preventing the regen happening.

But my question is......


What might have stopped the regen happening in the first place and allowed the soot to get so high?

I've only recently bought the van (T6 2.0L - 2019). Used quality fuel and only really done long trips. But I have no idea how the van was used before me.

I was aware that the regens were initially happening (smell, fans on at the end of trips etc)..... but now they aren't happening.


One other fault I did detect was a fuel temp sensor... where the cable was pretty much worn through. Now fixed.

I wonder if this fault could have stopped the regen from initiating when required? And now the soot has been allowed to escalate to terminal levels!


Or is my DPF now just at the end of it's service life? 115,000 miles on the clock.

Cheers

Duncan

 

[Dav-Tec]

It's stopped doing regens as it's to full. I can get round this and force it still

 

[Dellmassive]

What engine?

Could be burning oil quicker than the Regen can clear?

You losing oil?

 

[dss123]

What engine?

Could be burning oil quicker than the Regen can clear?

You losing oil?

I guess that's possible? Though I'm not aware of it getting through oil.

Engine is CXHA/2019 R4 2.0L TDI

I'm having the DPF looked at (cleaned?) under warranty... but I don't just want a temporary fix. I'd like to get to the bottom of why the regens stopped happening or weren't doing their job!

I'm also a little worried about possible further damage that may have happened as a result of the blocked DPF.

 

[dss123]

It's stopped doing regens as it's to full. I can get round this and force it still

I tried a forced regen with Carista and it gave me a warning that the DPF was too full, so warned me that forcing a regen had risks. It still allowed me to start the regen.... but nothing seemed to happen, even though all requirements were met. 1/4 Fuel in tank, speed, rpm etc. And Carista still tells me the last regen was over 300 miles ago.

 

[Dav-Tec]

Yeah it'll attempt in but the ECU won't run it I have a way to override this though

 

[dss123]

Yeah it'll attempt in but the ECU won't run it I have a way to override this though

Thanks mate.... I'll see where I get to when I take it back the dealer (still under warranty). I'm guessing they also have the kit to force a regen.

If not, I think they said they could take the DPF off and get it physically cleaned.

 

[Drive Wayne]

Thanks mate.... I'll see where I get to when I take it back the dealer (still under warranty). I'm guessing they also have the kit to force a regen.

If not, I think they said they could take the DPF off and get it physically cleaned.

How did you get on @dss123 ? Fortunately I have no issues, but my first port of call would be our Chris @Dav-Tec .

 

[dss123]

How did you get on @dss123 ? Fortunately I have no issues, but my first port of call would be our Chris @Dav-Tec .

All sorted by the dealer under warranty thanks mate.

Dicky fuel temp sensor ment regens weren’t happening. Then DPF got full and I couldn’t force a regen.

So, dealer forced regen and sorted fuel temp sensor… been fine ever since

But I’m thinking of heading to Dav Tec for a tune up!

 

[Drive Wayne]

All sorted by the dealer under warranty thanks mate.

Dicky fuel temp sensor ment regens weren’t happening. Then DPF got full and I couldn’t force a regen.

So, dealer forced regen and sorted fuel temp sensor… been fine ever since

But I’m thinking of heading to Dav Tec for a tune up!

He's the man! Glad you're sorted!

 

[Burner]

It’s strange listening to the problems with dpf on the 2.0 engine. I have a 2013 amorok it’s got 175000 miles, I’ve never seen a regen!, I give the thing a good blast every day high revs, and it stood in traffic aswel, short journeys long distance, ! I have the 6.1 , but can’t ride that as hard with the pop top, as it’s to load over 70, but I do wonder if you have to drive these things hard to stop any problems!?

 

[DaveD]

It’s strange listening to the problems with dpf on the 2.0 engine. I have a 2013 amorok it’s got 175000 miles, I’ve never seen a regen!, I give the thing a good blast every day high revs, and it stood in traffic aswel, short journeys long distance, ! I have the 6.1 , but can’t ride that as hard with the pop top, as it’s to load over 70, but I do wonder if you have to drive these things hard to stop any problems!?

Ah but your Amorok is Euro 5.
My van is Euro 5 too, different kettle of fish to these Euro 6 T6's.
I've never even given a thought to regen's, no need to with a Euro 5, it does it all passively if you drive it as intended.

 

[Burner]

So they have basically killed a bullet proof engine then?!

No wonder VW are in trouble!

 

[DaveD]

So they have basically killed a bullet proof engine then?!

No wonder VW are in trouble!

To be fair, it's not just VW, I think every manufacturer had to go down the AdBlue and active regeneration route to meet Euro 6 emissions and most suffer with incomplete regenerations and other issues.

 

[Burner]

So do all engines have these problems now then?, I didn’t know that

 

[Sasquatch]

Aye, it's virtually impossible to meet diesel NOx limits without adblue exhaust after treatments. On the plus side they are fery effective and NOx emissions from such diesels beat most petrol engines.

To be fair to VW the dry DPF system on the transporter is pretty reliably compared to wet systems that use a catalyst such as EOYLS etc that PSA and Ford used. I think the only company that managed to make a relatively trouble free system was Volvo for their 5 pot diesels, but they had space to use a huge DPF which could tolerate a lot of abuse with short journeys, etc.

As awkward as they are I'm all for them. I don't want to breathe that shite. Many years ago I unsuccessfully gave CPR to a neighbours 13 yesr old daughter who died of a massive asthma attack that the coroner ruled was brought about by unlawfully high levels of air pollution. As you can imagine, that memory lives with me forever and as troublesome as these PITA systems can be they are there for a reason.