"Diesel filter overloaded" MK4 Mondeo

BlakeS94

Driving on a motorway this evening, turned off at a flyover and when I went to put power down the car had a little stutter and "diesel filter overloaded" message displayed on the dash. No "engine malfunction" light and car didn't go into limp home mode/reduced power mode. The message has since disappeared and there's no check engine light on the dash. Car is driving fine again since it happened.

It's a 2010 pre face-lift Ford Mondeo MK4 2.0Tdci. Unsure if it has the DPF vaporizer. Other than that it gets plenty of long journeys and the occasional high rev blast on the motorway as I am conscious of DPF misery. Is this the beginning of the end of the DPF?, or does it need a few bottles of DPF cleaner and a good run on the motorway.

Only thing I can think of that could potentially harm DPF is the last time I got oil from parts store I was given an ACEA A5/B5 spec, I know this oil isn't for DPFs but it had Ford spec all over it. I'll probably change it for a C2/C3 as that's what's used in Peugeot/Citroën cars that designed the engine in the Mondeo.

Is this something of immediate concern or should I leave it off and do something if the message pops up again?

Car has 127k miles.

MakersMark

Sounds like fuel filter to me, not a DPF issue.

BlakeS94

Diesel filter overloaded message on Fords is got to do with the DPF, nothing got to do with the fuel filter

zg3409

I used forscan software on a laptop with a 10 euro odb dongle with a usb cable attached to diagnose a dpf issue on a Mazda 1.6 which had a "ford"/volvo engine. I could check the temperatures and pressure differential and how often regeneration ran and see how much ash and spot in dpf. 127k miles is getting up there for any dpf. As they get full of ash which cannot be removed they regenerate far more often after say 80 miles, and so oil changes are needed more often and oil levels can rise on some cars.

You get a dough idea from.this link

https://forscan.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=247

The least info you should try get is how many miles between normal regenerations and compare that to a newer/ normal car. You may be able to do that with a phone app and a Bluetooth odb dongle. If you can get temperature before or after dpf you can see regenerations happen. When you stop the car do you regularly hear the fans keep running for a few minutes?

BlakeS94

Thanks for the reply

I've since changed the oil back to a DPF friendly Peugeot/Citroën C2 oil and been keeping a close eye on level and if there's any smell of diesel from it, I did end up changing the two pressure hoses from the sensor to DPF, one of them was soft as foam and broke off in my hand, new ones installed, also removed the sensor and blew it out with compressed air. Haven't had the warning message on the dash since.

I've ordered an ELM327 and will register for Forscan so that I can view the DPF in more detail, maybe do a forced regen and reset the learned values for the DPF pressure sensor.

I don't think the car has attempted an active regeneration, I'm aware of the signs like deeper engine tone, increased idle, higher fuel consumption etc. I've left it run on idle for a few minutes extra when I arrive home and it hasn't tried to regenerate and the cooling fans don't run after I'm parked up.

I'll have to have a closer look when I get Forscan set up, is there a specific log for how often the DPF regens or can it tell you when the last regen was? or can you just tell by the difference in exhaust temp?

BlakeS94

Seems okay ? Besides 2 failed regens, 850km average regen distance, 302km since last successful completed regen, and dpf sensor kpa at 0.9 when idling

BlakeS94

For anyone that's interested, I cleared the DTCs with forscan, did a static regen, all went well it completed fully and a successful regen message popped up afterwards, reset the dpf learned values along with the pressure sensor values, codes didn't come back so hopefully all is well

zg3409

Only catching up now. Personally I would not do a forced regeneration unless stuck. It's hard on the engine and oil should be changed afterwards. If dpf is really blocked or faulty it might blow engine due to back pressure. It's mostly intended for those who do tiny trips or after a dpf pressure sensor repair to quickly clean dpf for garage use.

Resetting the learned values might not be advisable either depending on what it does and what is wrong. If you are telling the car you now have a completely new dpf and start to learn the normal values it may operate totally away from what it should do with a say 50% gone dpf.

You will also potentially hide any issue or error code for many miles before the management computer finishes the relearning process and detects something now wrong. It can take 450+km for the car to warn the issue is not fixed. It needs to go through a complete filling of dpf, regeneration while driving removing soot down to an empty dpf, only then will you and the car know if all is ok

Normally I ran forscan on a laptop in passanger seat hooked in and watched differential pressure and exhaust temperatures. Exhaust should get to 400+ for a while and then go back to normal. The distances between these should be as high as possible, if not more regular oil changes needed.

I have also used a phone app with Bluetooth dongle on vag cars called vagdpf but no good on a ford. I gave a very simple graphic showing what was going on.

850km between regens seems a bit off, I would have thought 600 or less was normal. Some cars have a "something wrong let's regen every X km." and that mode might luck in if say it thinks the differential pressure sensor or hoses are broken. It's a bit if a failsafe to ensure some regeneration happens. A quick Google says 500km is normal, so I would guess 800km is unusual particularly for an Old car. It may have learned wrong values and may autocorrect or the dpf may become blocked.

Personally I would keep a close eye on it over the next 400/800km in case something is wrong.

You could run an app like torque and try get it to display exhaust temperature as a quick way to see what's going on while driving. Either way lots of oil changes and don't drive too hard.

BlakeS94

Thanks for the advice, just had an oil change so I thought the regen wouldn't affect oil quality too much, I can't seem to pull up soot values on FORScan but can pull up plenty of DPF and pressure sensor live data.

I'll be changing the oil again in about 6000 miles.

My plan is to have a look at FORScan at the next fill up and check when the last complete regen happened.

When I replaced the pressure hoses, one of them fell apart in my hand, I've read that depending on which hose is gone, the DPF will regen either too frequently or too infrequent. I though anywhere from 500km to 800km was normal for regen to occur

The regen carried on without fault and no issues so far, driven about 250km since.

I'll take note of your word of warning and keep a close eye on everything

zg3409

The differential pressure sensor measures the difference in pressure between entry of dpf and exit of dpf. If it's very full the pressure difference will be high and car will think it's full. If it's low the car thinks it's empty and does not regenerate. If it's really low the car guessed one of the hoses is broken or the sensor is broken. It will sometimes turn on an engine light, or turn on mo light but set a fault code. Sometimes the hoses crazy due to heat and age. The entry hose can also break due to high back pressure of blocked dpf where engine pressure blows it off. If car thinks sensor is faulty it might go into safety mode and perform regen at fixed times or Kms. It might need to be reset but it the might assume dpf is totally unblocked and new. From what I remember forscan does give some relevant warnings.

I just had bad experiences in the past with dpf and diagnosed and fixed a pressure sensor recently on a vag car.

BlakeS94

I know what you mean, I only got FORScan yesterday so I could only read the pressure sensor Kpa now which seems to be working perfectly, around 1.0 at idle.

I've yet to read the values while driving.

If I remember correctly, it was the top DPF hose that broke to pieces when removing, bottom one was fine. I think the top hose goes to DPF exit on the sensor.

I'll have to wait and see I suppose, I'll be keeping the tank over 1/4 full at all times from now on to rule out anything else that may prevent a regen

BlakeS94

Would you happen to know which setting monitors exhaust temp? I see there CATTEMP11 and 12, also EGT11 and 12

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119404918#Comment_119404918

I don't but based on the temperatures it should be relatively easy to guess. Normally before dpf is higher than after dpf. Closest to engine is highest.

BlakeS94

Been a good two weeks and driven about 1100km. No warning messages and car driving well. I've yet to check forscan but I'll confirm dpf regen with that, seems to be sorted I guess I caught it in time.

BlakeS94

I think I'm good, looked at the dpf readings all seems well. Gonna leave it at that, no issues since.