Mk4 Mondeo 2.0tdci - frequent DPF regeneration

demanufactured

Hi all,
2008 mk4 Mondeo 2.0tdci.

I notice lately it is doing a lot of DPF regens, almost daily, sometimes twice a day.
My daily drive is a 100 mile round trip 99% motorway - Athlone to Galway and back.
I notice it nearing the end of each trip as i'm stopped at lights, the idle speed is raised to 850rpm and the rad fan is going full blast.
if I rev in neutral i'll get a strong puff of black smoke while its happening, obviously because of the diesel injection at exhaust stroke to heat up the exhaust/DPF.

I noticed about 2 weeks ago my oil level had risen above the max line a fair bit , so drained a litre out to bring it back, so looks like i'm getting diesel being dumped into the sump as a result of the frequent regeneration's, oil had only been changed a month prior.

No EML, and no fault codes when scanned, so DPF shouldn't be getting blocked, i knew they have a shelf life, car now has 180,000 miles on the clock.
Im wondering why its doing it so often, as i wouldn't have thought it needed to given the driving style.
I changed the oil 2 weeks ago as wasn't happy to have diluted oil , and it was OK for a few days , but has started doing it again this week , nearly every 50 miles or so its happening.
I haven't checked the oil level but it will probably be the same again and needing some drained.

Anyone had this with a 2.0tdci?
Had 2 years trouble free with this car and love it, so hoping its not something i'm going to end up blowing her up or something.

I have never really been a fan of removing DPF's but i'm thinking about it given the current situation.
Any help/advice much appreciated. :mad:

pred racer

DPF is probably 3/4 clogged. there are differential pressure sensors on these so when it detects its say 70% (just made up that number) full it does the regen, if those sensors now say its 68% clogged after that well then its going to do the regen again later.
Those pressure sensors are prone to failure, get a forced regen done on it and the garage should be able to scan it to see if it worked.

you can also get the DPF removed and cleaned.

demanufactured

Hi, back again,
I changed the oil and filter 3 weeks ago and all was OK until this week , it started doing regen's every 50 miles or so.
Checked the oil level this morning and it has risen again...dammit.
Oil service warning has come on too - meaning the oil has become contaminated and needs to be changed again.

Who would you all recommend I look to for a DPF cleaning service (or a delete)?
I'm based in Athlone - Travel to Galway daily for work.

demanufactured

Spoke to a mechanic friend and he thinks I could have a bad injector possibly , and recommends to get a leak test done on the injectors.

Miike

I could be wrong but when diesel gets into your oil is that not setting your self up for "diesel runaway"? Did you just drain some excess "oil" off and then go back to driving it?

demanufactured

Miike wrote: »

I could be wrong but when diesel gets into your oil is that not setting your self up for "diesel runaway"? Did you just drain some excess "oil" off and then go back to driving it?

Indeed it is,
I drained some oil out the last time and the did an oil change the next day.

I was suspicious that the wrong oil was supplied previously as I don't think it was for diesel DPF engines. (no longer have the container but I'm nearly sure it was not the correct specification when i thought back on it)
It was changed on the 1st August and then again on the 1st September th with the correct oil.

Miike

demanufactured wrote: »

Indeed it is,
I drained some oil out the last time and the did an oil change the next day.

I was suspicious that the wrong oil was supplied previously as I don't think it was for diesel DPF engines. (no longer have the container but I'm nearly sure it was not the correct specification when i thought back on it)
It was changed on the 1st August and then again on the 1st September th with the correct oil.

So do you think we can conclude that the more frequent regen's are from wrong spec oil as oil not rated DPFs will clog a DPF in no time at all. I've been victim of this and needed a new dpf

Strange that (?maybe) an injector would start leaking around the same time though. I'm not a fan of coincidences!

grogi

Miike wrote: »

So do you think we can conclude that the more frequent regen's are from wrong spec oil as oil not rated DPFs will clog a DPF in no time at all. I've been victim of this and needed a new dpf

It would need to burn the oil very fast... I don't think that over two months it burned more than 100ml of oil - and that is not enough to clog the DPF.

Strange that (?maybe) an injector would start leaking around the same time though. I'm not a fan of coincidences!

Leaking injector will indeed generate a lot of soot, which is captured by the DPF. Check the injectors for leaking, it is an easy and cheap test.

demanufactured

grogi wrote: »

It would need to burn the oil very fast... I don't think that over two months it burned more than 100ml of oil - and that is not enough to clog the DPF.



Leaking injector will indeed generate a lot of soot, which is captured by the DPF. Check the injectors for leaking, it is an easy and cheap test.

Im going to get this done myself.

demanufactured

Another regeneration on the drive home today.
Then engine malfunction warning popped up.

No engine management light, no codes when scanned...

Oil level is about 6mm over the max line

demanufactured

Hi all,
An update.
The regeneration became less frequent over the last number of weeks.
I noticed a knocking or ticking sound repeating itself after killing the engine over the last week.
The sound was coming from the egr valve.. Also had a p1135 obd code.
I took the valve off and inspected it..very sooty and manky.. . It's not closing correctly.. Tried to clean it and reinstall drove half an hour after clearing fault codes... Code came back.. So looks like sticking egr is the cause.
Will be ordering a new valve on payday.

demanufactured

New EGR fitted yesterday.
All good, no codes, although seems slightly down on power below 2000rpm.

New problem, the new EGR gasket is not sealing correctly between the exhaust manifold and the EGR valve body, so its blowing some exhaust gases into the engine bay, which gets sucked into the cabin if using the outside air....pox.

Need to remove the valve tomorrow, if the gasket looks OK and still wont seal , exhaust paste is going on.

demanufactured

So looks like I made a schoolboy error and damaged the gasket when it was going on, tried a bit of exhaust paste but it hasn't worked , where would one get a manifold / EGR gasket, seems to be difficult to find online.

vectra

A Lot of Mondeo owners in the UK believe in using additives to the diesel to help keep the dpf clean.
Might be an option for you?

demanufactured

vectra wrote: »

A Lot of Mondeo owners in the UK believe in using additives to the diesel to help keep the dpf clean.
Might be an option for you?

Once I have the EGR gasket sealed correctly i'll run a treatment through it.

vectra

demanufactured wrote: »

Once I have the EGR gasket sealed correctly i'll run a treatment through it.

Some are rated better than others.
I will try find out which is the preferred one they use.

demanufactured

I'll probably use half a bottle of diptane for a couple of tanks of fuel

vectra

I asked the question for you and got this reply.

Hope it is of assistance to you.

The mk4 has two rubber pipes from either side of the dpf to a differential pressure sensor on the bulkhead. These pipes go brittle and break causing the sensor to think the dpf is full and constantly tries to regen. The regens dump fuel in the oil causing the oil level to rise.
Replace the rubber pipes to fix the issue.

demanufactured

vectra wrote: »

I asked the question for you and got this reply.

Hope it is of assistance to you.

Thanks for the info.

demanufactured

Having trouble finding replacement gaskets for the egr, anyone know where I could get them?

demanufactured

Uodate:
Egr delete done this week.
No more problems.