Fluence - engine failure hazard

NewClareman · 19-02-2019 3:52pm #1

Hi guys, want to pick your brains, if I might.

I have a 2011 Renault Fluence 1.5 DCI 110. Came home from a 300km round trip, last Sunday. About 3km from home I got a stop “engine failure hazard” alert. I checked the fluid levels and all normal, plus no sign of overheating. I drove home and engine sounded fine.

My local garage looked at it and the fault code was for high pressure, somewhere in the exhaust/turbo region (I’m no mechanic.) Anyway, he suspects it’s the DPF filter as I’ve done a lot of city driving, recently. Even the long run was on low revs - below 120kmh, in sixth gear.

So, on his advice, I took it on a 30km run, keeping the engine on high revs (4500). It ran fine and the warning light has not returned. Is there anything else I should be aware of, or be doing?

I’ve had the car from new, and it’s never been horsed. Having said that I did run it on 60% petrol, for about 16 km, when it was new. In case that might be giving a problem, now.

Thanks in advance, for any suggestions.

Toyotafanboi · 19-02-2019 4:12pm

to be fair and without trying to scaremonger, I think you still have a fault somewhere.

If you've had the car for 8 years, you'd have blocked the DPF long before now, if your driving style was to blame.

In most regular cases a DPF only needs consistent rpm to regenerate, not necessarily high rpm. Driving it 30kms at 4500rpm has likely done SFA to fix anything, all it has done is drive the ring out of the car.

It was either a glitch of some sort or you may have a problem but i'd bet the house that driving the **** out of the car wont have had any impact on things.

Dravokivich · 19-02-2019 4:12pm

It's not about high revs. You need to do a long drive at high speed. If you are in lower gears, to push the revs, you won't get the DPF regen.

colm_mcm · 19-02-2019 7:44pm

It might be beyond regen. There are specialists who can clean the DPF if that’s the fault.

NewClareman · 19-02-2019 8:48pm

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

to be fair and without trying to scaremonger, I think you still have a fault somewhere.

If you've had the car for 8 years, you'd have blocked the DPF long before now, if your driving style was to blame.

In most regular cases a DPF only needs consistent rpm to regenerate, not necessarily high rpm. Driving it 30kms at 4500rpm has likely done SFA to fix anything, all it has done is drive the ring out of the car.

It was either a glitch of some sort or you may have a problem but i'd bet the house that driving the **** out of the car wont have had any impact on things.

I suspect you are correct, that’s why I posted here.

Having said that, my driving pattern has changed greatly. Until a few months ago I’d have regular long runs. However, all of my driving over the past few weeks has all been low speed city driving. The only exception was the long run on Sunday.

Anyway, they did say that if it happened again to drop it in ASAP, as they’d have to investigate it fully.

greasepalm · 19-02-2019 9:01pm

Were any fault codes noted?

NewClareman · 20-02-2019 9:04am

greasepalm wrote: »

Were any fault codes noted?

Yeah, they captured the fault codes. They were something related to high pressure in the exhaust system. That’s what made them suspect the DPF. Anyway, they did say that if I had any further issue that they’d need a full investigation. I’ll drop it in tomorrow as I’m not happy leaving it like this.

corkgsxr · 20-02-2019 9:08am

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

to be fair and without trying to scaremonger, I think you still have a fault somewhere.

If you've had the car for 8 years, you'd have blocked the DPF long before now, if your driving style was to blame.

In most regular cases a DPF only needs consistent rpm to regenerate, not necessarily high rpm. Driving it 30kms at 4500rpm has likely done SFA to fix anything, all it has done is drive the ring out of the car.

It was either a glitch of some sort or you may have a problem but i'd bet the house that driving the **** out of the car wont have had any impact on things.

That's not right. For example motorway speeds in 6th on a primastar will not bring it hot enough to Regen or burn off.

I had regular 2 hour motorway and mine still blocked up after 4 years.

It was then I was told 6th kept it too cold too low revs

Toyotafanboi · 20-02-2019 10:54am

corkgsxr wrote: »

That's not right. For example motorway speeds in 6th on a primastar will not bring it hot enough to Regen or burn off.

I had regular 2 hour motorway and mine still blocked up after 4 years.

It was then I was told 6th kept it too cold too low revs

Nissan hardly designed a van that wasn't capable of regenerating during normal driving conditions. To me that just sounds like another iteration of "drive the ring out of the car to get it to regen", which isn't necessary in a healthy vehicle.

A natural regeneration is designed to required no additional driver input bar regular usage of the car, if it needed the drivers input manufacturers may as well put a "regenerate now" button on the dashboard.

corkgsxr · 20-02-2019 5:24pm

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

Nissan hardly designed a van that wasn't capable of regenerating during normal driving conditions. To me that just sounds like another iteration of "drive the ring out of the car to get it to regen", which isn't necessary in a healthy vehicle.

A natural regeneration is designed to required no additional driver input bar regular usage of the car, if it needed the drivers input manufacturers may as well put a "regenerate now" button on the dashboard.

I'v owned it since new. Serviced at 3/4 the recommended distance on the button. Mix of urban and motorways cork to Dublin maybe twice a month.

Blocked in 4 years. So I gutted and mapped it

ltdslipdiff · 20-02-2019 10:46pm

From memory there were a batch of faulty boost pressure sensors on these, worth a call to your local garage. The message is a little dramatic on the dash display in fairness!!

FR85 · 20-02-2019 11:11pm

Regardless of speed or gears once a certain soot content is reached in a DPF it will attempt to do an active regen. Yes a good spirited run will help but don't think you need to mince it to get it to happen. I've had them doing regens in traffic and obd readers, high idling, "purring bassy" notes from the exhaust and cooling fans racing have confirmed this.
The most important thing to do when you feel or sense these conditions happening is to not turn off the engine as if you do you are stopping the process and blocking things up even more.

One thing that bugs the **** out of me is why didn't car designers put in a regen light? A simple amber light on the dash that would come on when an active regen was starting and then a flashing green one when it was done?!

NewClareman · 21-02-2019 12:56am

ltdslipdiff wrote: »

From memory there were a batch of faulty boost pressure sensors on these, worth a call to your local garage. The message is a little dramatic on the dash display in fairness!!

Hi, are you talking about the Fluence??

NewClareman · 14-03-2019 10:25pm

Just an update to say I’ve done 1500km with no reappearance of the warning. I threw in a can of DPF cleaner, as the garage suggested. I’ve got various views on these, but most agreed it could do no harm. On my current fill I threw in injector cleaner, so, hoping for the best...

greasepalm · 14-03-2019 11:57pm

I would have thought the dpf cleaner would also clean injectors and egrs as most cans out there list what they do,no harm in doing a can every 6 months .

Blueshoe · 16-03-2019 1:37am

corkgsxr wrote: »

I'v owned it since new. Serviced at 3/4 the recommended distance on the button. Mix of urban and motorways cork to Dublin maybe twice a month.

Blocked in 4 years. So I gutted and mapped it

Poor fuel or not correct oil

Fluence - engine failure hazard

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