DPF removal

I Love Makeup

Hi All, last week my engine light & yellow coil symbol came on the dash. I took it to local garage (they've serviced my car twice b4). They told me it was DPF filter and that theyd sort it out. €400.
When I came back they said "All Done- DPF is gone" I said why did u take it out and they said was only option bar spending a few grand. I know feck all about cars so I asked does it do any harm to the car and will I have issues selling car on at end of year. Nope No prob was their response. Now I notice theres a cloud of smoke when I reverse and a horrible smell. Also Googled DPF removal to discover it's illegal!!!!
What do I do now??? I feel absolutely sick as I planned on doing a trade in in a few months.

biko

A car with a DPF filter removed cannot legally drive on public roads in Ireland
Diesel vehicle owners may be unaware that removing the DPF filter is against the law, and their car will not pass the NCT emission test

Diesel vehicle owners thus lose out twice; having the DPF filter removed makes them guilty of an offence which may result in penalties, plus they have already paid for this unnecessary service.
Meanwhile, the removed DPF is usually sold on as it contains precious metals such as platinum.
https://www.irishtimes.com/advertising-feature/a-car-with-a-dpf-filter-removed-cannot-legally-drive-on-public-roads-in-ireland-1.4119079


Is it illegal to remove a DPF?
Yes. Under S.I. No. 190 of 1963 of Road Traffic Construction, Equipment and Use Regulations 1963 (as amended), it is an offence to use a vehicle that has been modified in such a way that it emits any harmful content that may cause damage to person or property or endanger the safety or health of any other user of the public place.
Removal of a DPF will almost invariably contravene these requirements making the vehicle illegal for road use thus potentially resulting in penalties. The enforcement of road traffic legislation is a matter for An Garda Síochána
https://www.rsa.ie/Documents/VS_Information_Notes/Vehicle_Parts/FAQs%20on%20Diesel%20Particulate%20Filters%20(DPFs).pdf

zg3409

Its not ideal, but very common on older cars. Theoretically it can fail NCT but typically they hide that its been removed.

The alternative as they say is probably 700 euro part + 300 labour.

They typically fail (become full and clogged with ash) around 160,000km to 200,000km and 3 options are to replace with new or remove.

Removed is typically better for car in terms of fuel economy and engine life, but worse for pedestrians who breath in diesel particles.

I would not lose sleep, and not tell new owner

I Love Makeup

Hi Biko, This is what I've discovered myself this morning. I'm asking for advice as to what I should do next?

I Love Makeup

zg3409 wrote: »

Its not ideal, but very common on older cars. Theoretically it can fail NCT but typically they hide that its been removed.

The alternative as they say is probably 700 euro part + 300 labour.

They typically fail (become full and clogged with ash) around 160,000km to 200,000km and 3 options are to replace with new or remove.

Removed is typically better for car in terms of fuel economy and engine life, but worse for pedestrians who breath in diesel particles.

I would not lose sleep, and not tell new owner

But surely a garage will know when I take in for trade in??

Cuddlesworth

I Love Makeup wrote: »

But surely a garage will know when I take in for trade in??

Depends on the age of the car when you trade it in. If its high mileage or over 10 years, its going to a scrap yard.

unkel

biko wrote: »

Diesel vehicle owners may be unaware that removing the DPF filter is against the law

And of course it might give a few more people cancer. Most people in Ireland don't seem that bothered about this.

biko

As long as companies keep selling DPF removal services and omit that they are doing something illegal they will make money and regular people will get screwed over.

For you OP, I suppose you can go back to the mechanic and tell them it's illegal to remove the DPF and see how it goes.
Or take the advice of some posters here and try to pawn it off on a dealer.

But know that those who decide to sell a car with a particulate filter removed are obliged to inform the buyer about such a modification.
Indeed, the new car owner has the right to claim compensation if it is found that the DPF has been removed.

The garage have put you in an awful spot with their negligence and you could try for compensation from them.
Best of luck.

Toyotafanboi

I find the places who's first port of call is to remove the DPF are generally places that either havn't got the equipment or talent to diagnose and repair a DPF. I could count on one hand the amount of times i've seen a DPF unit that was defective and required replacement. The DPF itself is a effectively static item and generally it's a controlling sensor or some other external factor causing a fault to present at the DPF.

The lads who jump straight to removing them usually couldn't diagnose a puncture. Most DPF systems these days are generally reliable and they are hardly new, unknown tech anymore.

All that being said OP, you will probably be grand once the rest of your car is fit and healthy you will still pass NCT's under the current test standards which are showing no signs of changing in the near future despite what the fearmongers are saying, reliabilityshould be unaffected too.

The only downside is your car is now spewing much more harmful emissions than it was before. On the one hand this is a huge problem ethically, on the other, it's probably not much worse that a similar Euro4 non DPF car anyway. The problem is i suppose if we all took that attituted we would be in bother.

Tl;dr lousey repair but will be grand once your morals dont mind.

User1998

OP your car is now going to run smoother and be more powerful and more reliable. You will never have another DPF issue again and your car will not fail the NCT over it. You can spend money trying to clean DPF’s and they just get clogged up again months later. And you will have no problem trading the car in or selling. Having the DPF removed is a bonus to a lot of people. €400 was a good price I’d be delighted if I was you

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime

To be honest I'd agree with the previous posters about lads just pulling them out because they don't know how to investigate the issue correctly.

I've only ever had 1 car give me trouble with the DPF and it was the 1.9TiD Saab 9-3 vector sport. Called around and a few places were happy to pull it out for a few hundred euros etc. But I wasn't happy with that because there's a reason it's throwing a wobbler and I'd like the reason fixed.

Found a place that dealt with DPFs specifically and they successfully diagnosed a small faulty sensor which I can't remember the name of. But it was a simple fix, no stripping parts etc, just out with an old sensor and in with the new and was a very cheap repair and never gave trouble afterwards.

In regards to your car, depending on how the removed it, if it was done badly with the box clearly missing and bad welds etc around it, then it can very easily fail the NCT. Something to be careful of. They could've hid it very well though and could still pass.

I'd ask though, how bad is the smoke you're describing ? What car is it ,year etc. Could there be a further issue with it ?

User1998

User1998 wrote: »

OP your car is now going to run smoother and be more powerful and more reliable. You will never have another DPF issue again and your car will not fail the NCT over it. You can spend money trying to clean DPF’s and they just get clogged up again months later. And you will have no problem trading the car in or selling. Having the DPF removed is a bonus to a lot of people. €400 was a good price I’d be delighted if I was you

Count yourself lucky that you're not a carer for a chronic asthmatic.

User1998

I think some people forget that pre 08 diesels have no DPF

Driving an 07 with no DPF, okay

Driving an 09 with no DPF, very bad

And what about all the cars that get posted in the Bangernomics thread, why don’t those posters get dogs abuse? Promoting cars that cause cancer

Toyotafanboi

The higher polluting cars that already existed, already existed and are diminishing as time goes by. It goes against the nature of progress to be downgrading newer, cleaner cars, particularly when it is often un-necessary.

It is what it is too. At the moment there are still so many, what matter is one more, unfortunately.

User1998

I was in this situation before

DPF was blocked, first step was a forced regen.

Car needed to have no faults and a fresh service if it stood any chance of regenerating.

Cost of that was around €250. Didn’t work

So we sent the DPF away to be cleaned. I think that was around €300. Didn’t work

So already €550 down and nothing to show for it

Got the DPF removed and remapped the car from 105bhp to 140bhp. €400 and haven’t had any issues since. Passed two NCT’s as well

Alternative would have been a new DPF for around €2000 which probably would have been blocked again by now.

When it comes to your hard earned cash I think it’s reasonable enough to have the DPF removed. Yes there are associated health risks with it but there wasn’t a chance in hell I was paying €2000 plus all the costs of attempting to save the DPF in the first place

Maybe some sort of government grant on DPF replacements would solve the issue but thats for another day

kippy

These things will be gone the way of the dodo in the next decade anyway.
I can see why people would remove them in fairness.

NomadicGray

I know the DPF has been removed in mine and Ive passed 2 NCTs without issue