Failed DPF regeneration- Toyota Auris

dobby896

I have a 2011 Toyota Auris, 1.4 Diesel engine

Since the new year, I have had issues with too much engine oil, I've had a diagnostic run on it, had the oil drained, the oil filter replaced and refilled again to the correct level.

However, at the weekend, after a considerable amount of motorway driving, the oil warning light came up again. I had a diagnostic run on it again today and the same issue has shown up. The mechanic told me that the DPF is failing to regenerate, causing diesel to leak into the oil (therefore increasing the oil level)

The oil has been drained again and the mechanic told me to wait a month and if any issues arise again, we will have to get the DPF professionally cleaned (a pricey job).

However, I can potentially avoid this by driving the car to ensure the DPF regenerates. My question is, how can I drive the car 'properly' to ensure the DPF regenerates, is it simply a case of high revs in a lower gear? The car does short journeys during the week (to and from work etc) but longer journeys on the weekend.

Cheers!

punisher5112

The low km journeys are the problem.

It needs to be getting up to correct temperature more and longer runs to do this.

ltdslipdiff

Has this work been done by your local mechanic or a Toyota garage?
There were some recalls on the 1.4 D4D in around this year. Its worth ringing your local dealer with the reg to see if there are any recalls outstanding relating to turbo/intercooler/dpf.

colm_mcm

20 minutes on the motorway should do it. You don’t really need to rev the hell out of it.

Are there any engine codes or other factors that might cause it to not regenerate?

dobby896

ltdslipdiff wrote: »

Has this work been done by your local mechanic or a Toyota garage?
There were some recalls on the 1.4 D4D in around this year. Its worth ringing your local dealer with the reg to see if there are any recalls outstanding relating to turbo/intercooler/dpf.

My local mechanic. Nope, no recalls on it, I had it in with the Toyota dealer in October as it was part of the airbag recall but no recalls since. I'll double check tonight. Thank you

dobby896

colm_mcm wrote: »

20 minutes on the motorway should do it. You don’t really need to rev the hell out of it.

Are there any engine codes or other factors that might cause it to not regenerate?

Would it have to be 20 minutes daily or every other day? What gear would you recommend?

Nope, no other codes, just that the engine oil was too high.
I had significant issues with it on New Years Day when it started losing acceleration power on the M50 (that was absolutely terrifying) and the check engine light came on, so I put it in the garage immediately.

It was strange as I racked up a good few hundred KMs of motorway driving over Christmas, maybe as I was staying in 6th gear, the revs were relatively low.

quietsailor

I'm talking generally here - not specific to your car - but there are usually a few "rules or settings" in the engine's brain that you have to reach before it will start a DPF. Generally they are Engine temperature, revs and speed (Km/h)

Engine temperature - the coolant needle has to reach wherever it normally sits on the guage
Minimum revs - rule of thumb would be to have the engine over 2500 rpm*
Speed - the car is travelling more than 80Km/h -- that way the car assumes you are out in the countryside and does not regenerate within an urban area

If it hasn't regenerated in a while you might need a long regen so it would need a longer journey. Regarding the diesel in the oil -- this is a bad thing to have happen. The diesel is thinner than the oil and has much less lubricating properties than the oil so your engine's bearings aren't getting as much lubrication as they would from oil only. Check your dipstick regulary to catch increases in the oil level and change the oil as fast as you can after an increase. It's not automatic that your bearings will be damaged but it is a risk

*= for someone who knows more about regens - what happens if the revs drop below 2500rpm? Would that cause the regen to fail and have to re-start?

dobby896

quietsailor wrote: »

I'm talking generally here - not specific to your car - but there are usually a few "rules or settings" in the engine's brain that you have to reach before it will start a DPF. Generally they are Engine temperature, revs and speed (Km/h)

Engine temperature - the coolant needle has to reach wherever it normally sits on the guage
Minimum revs - rule of thumb would be to have the engine over 2500 rpm*
Speed - the car is travelling more than 80Km/h -- that way the car assumes you are out in the countryside and does not regenerate within an urban area

Thanks for this and your advice. I will run it on the motorway more regularly midweek (max speed I would drive at during the week is 50-60kmh which isn't sufficient). Tempted to sell it and buy a petrol engine if this continues to be an issue.

punisher5112

How much do you do at the weekend?

Could well be a good idea to move to petrol and usually less to go wrong.

My driving would be ideal for your car but funny thing is my megane isn't fitted with a dpf and even at 2011.

If you could get a few more longer runs in to help clear it out that would be great.

dobby896

punisher5112 wrote: »

How much do you do at the weekend?

Could well be a good idea to move to petrol and usually less to go wrong.

My driving would be ideal for your car but funny thing is my megane isn't fitted with a dpf and even at 2011.

If you could get a few more longer runs in to help clear it out that would be great.

It would depend on the weekend, but easily 100-150km, sometimes far more (I often drive it cross country to get home from Dublin some weekends)

Wish it didn't have the DPF either haha! I've found the exact same model with a petrol engine for around €5,000 so may give that a further look into.

I've a good bit of motorway driving to do this weekend so I will ensure to follow all the advice given to me here and by the mechanic.

dsmythy

I've a diesel I shouldn't really have the last 4 or 5 months. I go out once a week on a weekend morning for a quiet motorway. 4th gear, 110km/h, near 3k revs from that. No more than half an hour usually. No issues with DPF.

If it is well clogged and that's the only issue your run this coming weekend is your chance to clear it presuming you get a quiet road. Might be something else going on though.

punisher5112

What fuel station do you use?

Wonder would it be worth a shot using the premium diesel???

knifey_spoonie

The correct procedure for this is to do 2 forced DPF regenerations, oil change & software update (if needed) . In about 50% of cases this will fix the issue. This should cost €200-€250

If it reoccurs you have 2 options remove the DPF and have it cleaned, or replace the DPF with a new one. You save about €300 by cleaning the DPF but if you plan on keeping the car, a replacement is by far a better solution. About €550 to get it cleaned and €850 for a new DPF

dobby896

dsmythy wrote: »

I've a diesel I shouldn't really have the last 4 or 5 months. I go out once a week on a weekend morning for a quiet motorway. 4th gear, 110km/h, near 3k revs from that. No more than half an hour usually. No issues with DPF.

If it is well clogged and that's the only issue your run this coming weekend is your chance to clear it presuming you get a quiet road. Might be something else going on though.

The mechanic did a forced regeneration on it yesterday and I took it out on the M50 last night and remained in 4th gear at 100km/h, so it was between 2900-3k revs, had it out for around 40 minutes so hopefully that should do it.

dobby896

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punisher5112 wrote: »

What fuel station do you use?

Wonder would it be worth a shot using the premium diesel???

Circle K normally and they have a premium diesel but I've avoided it like the plague, I'm a very nervous car owner so I'm always apprehensive about doing anything to it/putting anything in it which it hasn't had before. However, the premium diesel could be a good call.

dobby896

knifey_spoonie wrote: »

The correct procedure for this is to do 2 forced DPF regenerations, oil change & software update (if needed) . In about 50% of cases this will fix the issue. This should cost €200-€250

If it reoccurs you have 2 options remove the DPF and have it cleaned, or replace the DPF with a new one. You save about €300 by cleaning the DPF but if you plan on keeping the car, a replacement is by far a better solution. About €550 to get it cleaned and €850 for a new DPF

The mechanic did the above around 3 weeks ago but the issue arose again (however, I will put that down to the driving style and not giving the car enough revs).

He did the forced regeneration again yesterday and I'm making a concerted effort to give the car more revs on the motorway, so with these two combined, Ill wait and see if the issue arises again. The mechanic said that even with a clean, it may only last 6 months before it starts having issues again. Therefore, I'm thinking the best option may be just to trade it in for a petrol engine.

I'd love to just have the DPF removed but with new EU regulations coming in this year, it won't pass the NCT anymore with the DPF removed.

Dravokivich

You don't need to run a diesel at high revs. I take my car out for a long motorway journey every few weeks. All you need to do is get it up to temp and keep going. Just drive it normally.

But if there's issues with your DPF now, go to a mechanic who'll look at it for you, instead of waiting for you to come back to them with a bigger problem.

dobby896

Dravokivich wrote: »

You don't need to run a diesel at high revs. I take my car out for a long motorway journey every few weeks. All you need to do is get it up to temp and keep going. Just drive it normally.

But if there's issues with your DPF now, go to a mechanic who'll look at it for you, instead of waiting for you to come back to them with a bigger problem.

I've brought it to him twice within 3 weeks now, I think I may just have to get it professionally cleaned.

I just can't understand how I did 100s and 100s of km driving between Christmas and New Year (I was on the motorway several times as well as on 100 km/h national roads) and the issue only arose after all of this. Leads me to believe there is something more than simply my driving style at issue.

Dravokivich

Well, don't just think about recent driving too. From what I've read up on it, if there's too much build up on the DPF, it won't regen. So getting it cleaned up might be something to go for alright.

It's just a pain that the manufacturers don't give us a clear indicator to see the status of the DPF, and clear instructions on what we could do to maintain it and prevent the thing getting clogged.

dsmythy

Dravokivich wrote: »

Well, don't just think about recent driving too. From what I've read up on it, if there's too much build up on the DPF, it won't regen. So getting it cleaned up might be something to go for alright.

It's just a pain that the manufacturers don't give us a clear indicator to see the status of the DPF, and clear instructions on what we could do to maintain it and prevent the thing getting clogged.

I drive a 2011 like the OP. I presumed because they were among the first to be forced to have one was the reason some kind of indicator of health/build up wasn't developed or thought of. Do new cars now still have the same issue?

dobby896

Dravokivich wrote: »

Well, don't just think about recent driving too. From what I've read up on it, if there's too much build up on the DPF, it won't regen. So getting it cleaned up might be something to go for alright.

It's just a pain that the manufacturers don't give us a clear indicator to see the status of the DPF, and clear instructions on what we could do to maintain it and prevent the thing getting clogged.

Yeah its a total pain, I only bought the car in September so just conscious of it costing me far too much money. €850 for a new DPF is so expensive, necessary, but expensive.

dobby896

dsmythy wrote: »

I drive a 2011 like the OP. I presumed because they were among the first to be forced to have one was the reason some kind of indicator of health/build up wasn't developed or thought of. Do new cars now still have the same issue?

My Mum has had an Audi since 2015 and has never once had a DPF related issue and she would be doing similar enough driving to myself.

From reading other forums (including Toyota forums), it seems that most DPF related issues are confined to 2010-2013 models

Dravokivich

dsmythy wrote: »

I drive a 2011 like the OP. I presumed because they were among the first to be forced to have one was the reason some kind of indicator of health/build up wasn't developed or thought of. Do new cars now still have the same issue?

I've only ever seen warning lights to indicate it's blocked.

zilog_jones

There was a service bulletin EG-0017T-0411 regarding this engine and oil dilution back some time around 2013 - I think you should check with Toyota to see if this was done as sometimes these things get missed, especially if it was a UK import.

It could also just be a matter that the DPF has reached the end of its useful life due to age and usage. They seem to vary in terms of durability, not sure what Toyota's are like.

dsmythy wrote: »

I drive a 2011 like the OP. I presumed because they were among the first to be forced to have one was the reason some kind of indicator of health/build up wasn't developed or thought of. Do new cars now still have the same issue?

It's one of those things they think a driver doesn't need to know about, because the system should work on its own automatically. Unfortunately, that doesn't always happen...

There should be a few ways of telling when an active regen is happening although it may be subtle, e.g. fuel consumption going up and idle speed increasing. If you see this, it's probably best to keep driving for at least 10 minutes or so at speeds over 60 km/h (what Toyota GB claim is sufficient).

dobby896

zilog_jones wrote: »

There was a service bulletin EG-0017T-0411 regarding this engine and oil dilution back some time around 2013 - I think you should check with Toyota to see if this was done as sometimes these things get missed, especially if it was a UK import.

It could also just be a matter that the DPF has reached the end of its useful life due to age and usage.

There should be a few ways of telling when an active regen is happening although it may be subtle, e.g. fuel consumption going up and idle speed increasing. If you see this, it's probably best to keep driving for at least 10 minutes or so at speeds over 60 km/h (what Toyota GB claim is sufficient).

That's really useful advice. The car was imported from the UK so Im going to find my VIN and contact Toyota asap. Thank you for indicating the signs that a regen is happening, I definitely noticed those factors last night when driving.

Thanks again!

barneygumble99

Where is the exact oil level on the dipstick of the car now, on level ground, cooled down?

dobby896

barneygumble99 wrote: »

Where is the exact oil level on the dipstick of the car now, on level ground, cooled down?

Right between the min and max lines

barneygumble99

dobby896 wrote: »

Right between the min and max lines

The auris won’t regenerate if it has too much oil and I mean even if it’s just below max , it won’t. If it’s mid way it should regenerate by itself.

dobby896

barneygumble99 wrote: »

The auris won’t regenerate if it has too much oil and I mean even if it’s just below max , it won’t. If it’s mid way it should regenerate by itself.

Thank you for letting me know, I'll dip the oil regularly, beyond afraid of wrecking the engine

The only reason why the oil level was increasing was because diesel was being chucked into it because the regen was failing