Smokey Subaru Diesel Boxer Engine

connel42

I apologies for the long intro and I hope somebody can offer advice as I am at my wits end.
I bought a 2010 Subaru legacy Outback Diesel with about 160kms on the clock.
The car has a full Subaru Dealer service record and I was buying from a Subaru Dealer with a one year warranty. This gave me peace of mind and help me to justify the price.
The car is a joy to drive however after about a month the DPF light came on and the garage regenerated it.
Then it came on again after 2 weeks and again the re-genn’d it.
Then it came on again after 2/3 weeks so I pushed for a solution.
The garage had the car for about 3 weeks and eventually stripped the DPF and cleaned it with a solution and it seemed to clear the problem.
However after about a month it went again – so back into the cycle of re-gen every 2/3 weeks.
At this stage I was getting annoyed as I had been waiting in the reception about 10 times so far.
My insurance company informed me that I had reached my transfer limit to other cars – I had that many loan cars from the garage.
In between all this I was getting the car serviced as required by them.

The final straw came when I only managed to get ½ mile from the garage and the DPF light came on again!
When I got to the 200k service time they took it in for a week and stripped the DPF again.
That was about a month ago and so far appears to have sorted the problem – However it is now very smokey on start up!
Not every time but usually after a long run and it doesn’t seem to matter whether the engine is cold or hot.
When I say smokey I mean so bad that people have come up to me and suggested the engine has had it!
I have the car 10 months now and I do a fair mileage – 30 – 40km per year.
I am told the boxer diesel engine is the best around and the car is great to drive.

I am just worried about what will happen when the warranty runs out and I could be left high and dry.
Does anybody have any suggestions as to what I should look for with the garage or experience with these engines?

I cant fault the garage as they have worked hard to solve the problem but I do wonder if they have enough experience with this engine.

Bigus

Sounds like dpf has possibly been removed and ecu bypassed on the last visit,

overly smokey engine was probably, the cause of the diesel particulate filter been clogged up so regularly when it was still fitted.

Smokey engine could be injectors , pump , piston rings, general wear or washed diesel.

Interslice

Bigus wrote: »

Sounds like dpf has possibly been removed and ecu bypassed on the last visit,

overly smokey engine was probably, the cause of the diesel particulate filter been clogged up so regularly when it was still fitted.

Smokey engine could be injectors , pump , piston rings, general wear or washed diesel.

Was thinking the same. A second garages opinion would be worth a go. As you said yourself OP "I am just worried about what will happen when the warranty runs out and I could be left high and dry". They could be aware of the underlying issue, but it could be a pricey one so they are trying to avoid diagnosing it until the warranty has expired.

connel42

Thanks for your opinions

I am assured they have not removed or by passed the DPF as this would fail the NCT

They are going to consult with Subaru to see if there is any upgrade for this problem.

A second opinion is s good idea - can you recommend a good specialist around Leinster?

jca

Does it have any other symptoms? Burning oil, difficult starting, excessive fuel consumption etc

JJJJNR

There will be very few if any Subaru boxer diesel specialists in Ireland, your best bet is to try the UK, and start on the Subaru forums, it could be any number of things.

jca

I don't think you need the services of a specialist yet. If it isn't anything obvious like a blocked air filter, overfilled with oil etc I'd ask the garage can they check the valve timing especially if the belt was recently changed. There used to be a guy down around Duncormick in south wexford who's a whizz with Subaru's, Phil Kirwan is his name. I don't know if he's still doing them.

armstrongracer

Have you tried the obvious thing by doing a full DPF regen yourself. Forced ones aren't really that good, the dpf overheats because there isn't enough airflow around it and the garage generally stops it early because everyone is being gassed. A good long motorway blast 20-30 mins with the revs 2.5-3k should force a full regen.

I remember reading a post on Subaru diesels (I was thinking of getting one) and it mentioned DPF issues. The later ones have what is known as a dilution counter in the ecu. Basically if the oil has been changed and the counter isn't reset it messes up the internal calculations of the ECU and it starts flashing up dpf lights. I think on the euro4 engines this has to be done by the dealer with his box & cable, on euro5 engines (and yours may be one) it can be done by the owner, think there are instructions in the owners manual. This is the set of instructions I got from that post for dilution reset. Good luck.

start engine
depress & hold brake peddle
turn rear demister on
turn parker/clearance light on
turn rear demister off
turn lights off
turn rear demister on (again)
turn parkers on (again)
turn rear demister off
turn lights off
release brake

the glow plug light should blink for 5 seconds to confirm reset has been successful

note - the above steps need to be done pretty quickly. i think you have a max of 4 seconds between each of the above steps.. If it fails, let engine idle for 30 seconds, turn off for 15 seconds and retry..