Regeneration of DPF on every drive

ando

Hi,

My wife has a 2013 Passat 2.0 TDI DSG. She's been saying to me that the engine fans are on full blast whenever she's driving around. When she's pulling up to the house the fans are still going even though the temperature gauge is not high. She has to switch off and on the engine to make the fans stop. This happened to me twice yesterday evening. I left the fans run and they stopped after a few mins themselves. Its happened again this morning to her. Revs at idle 1k rpm

I've done a bit of reading and all things point to regeneration of DPF.. but this
is happening every day and pretty much every drive now. Any ideas?

Toyotafanboi

The gauge on the dash is for coolant temperature but the fan runs on to blow cold air around the DPF.

It depends on the driving you are doing really. If it's doing a lot of shorter trips it's likely that the car is still trying to do a successful regen and may need a longer drive to get it done.

The frequency of regens can temporarily increase if the car has had a battery/ ECU reset recently. Has it had an emissions update? This also increases the frequency of regens.

Either way, if there's no lights on the dash or loss of power it's normal behaviour and I wouldn't worry.

B-D-P--

Go for a long spin somewhere this weekend, Be good for the car, Dont be afraid to give it a bit of a rev. Dont go limiting your car off this but a little rev will help clear the dpf if its getting a little clogged.

ando

We only bought the car a few weeks ago and its at 110km mileage now, we moved up from a 2005 diesel so DPF's are new to us.

I had it out for a 40km journey on Wednesday evening non stop at motorway speeds (car is an automatic so revs were about 2000 throughout) and its been to a trip to Wexford - Kildare. I thought this would have cleared out the soot from the DFP? Maybe I take it out for a higher rev run this evening once I figure out how to run the auto DSG gearbox in a higher rev

frozenfrozen

also 40km is nothing for a diesel

Stoolbend

Get it plugged in somewhere. The dpf pressure sensors are prone to failure and i know when mine failed it never put on a light.

bazz26

110k km on a 5 year old diesel car is very low mileage. It's very possible that the previous owner really didn't drive it properly in that time and now there is a lot of soot built up in the DPF. I'd give it a good Italian tune up on the motorway first to see if that helps. Failing that as suggested get a diagnostic scan done to see if any DPF sensor fault codes are on the car's ECU.

bear1

Definetely sounds like the dpf, give it a serious drive and if you want to keep it within the limits then keep it in 4th and don't be afraid of it.
40km.. is nothing.
Curious, the aircon isn't switched on by an chance is it?

Dr_Kolossus

Check your coolant levels. Had similar issue on a petrol though. I had coolant leak

The high horse brigade

Drive the sh1t out of it every so often was what my mechanic told me when I bought a modern diesel.

Stoolbend

You dont have to drive the sh1t out of them as such. Just stay out of the top gears to keep the revs up a bit a couple of times a week.

Toyotafanboi

Stoolbend wrote: »

You dont have to drive the sh1t out of them as such. Just stay out of the top gears to keep the revs up a bit a couple of times a week.

You don't even have to do that. The car is designed to regenerate unbeknownced to you. All you have to do is drive it.

Silent Running

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

You don't even have to do that. The car is designed to regenerate unbeknownced to you. All you have to do is drive it.

This is what I have a problem with. If the car is doing a regen, the driver should be made aware. It's best to let the regen complete and if the light - or whatever - comes on as you're near home, it would be good to go around the block to let it complete before you turn the engine off.

I know I've pulled in to the driveway, turned the engine off and got out to the burning smell of a regen. If I'd known it was underway, I'd have driven until it completed. It only takes a few minutes under the right conditions.

pete4130

Get a cheap wifi/bluetooth OBD2 dongle to plug in and get the Torque Pro app on your phone. You can see your temps, pressures etc in real time through the app. Depending on the dongle or your ability to program in commands (PIDs) you can program it to do manual burns whenever you want and keep an eye on how blocked the DPF is.

My Toyota Fortuner here in Australia has the 2.8 Engine thats in the Landcruiser Prado & Hilux and its a common problem for the DPF's here in Australia. Some cars have had 2 or 3 replaced under warranty. Guys are using cheap dongles and the app to keep an eye on their DPF and do manual burns when needed.

Toyotafanboi

Silent Running wrote: »

This is what I have a problem with. If the car is doing a regen, the driver should be made aware. It's best to let the regen complete and if the light - or whatever - comes on as you're near home, it would be good to go around the block to let it complete before you turn the engine off.

I know I've pulled in to the driveway, turned the engine off and got out to the burning smell of a regen. If I'd known it was underway, I'd have driven until it completed. It only takes a few minutes under the right conditions.

Yeah but if the car is being used under the right conditions one unsuccessful regen won't be anything near critical or any kind of problem at all. The DPF doesn't wait until it's at 99% full to begin a regeneration, it'll regen at every opportunity keeping itself as empty as possible.

It's only when the car misses numerous regens from exclusive short/ town journeys that it starts to become an issue. Any diesel owner doing good mileage shouldn't have to worry about cutting a regen short.