The dreaded DPF on diesel cars from 2008 and have they improved?

[DIYedboy]

A diesel car fitted with a DPF is, in the main a liability if you aren't driving down the motorway at least once a week so the thing gets heated up enough to burn out the clagged up deposits within the DPF.

I have read that manufacturer's have learned from how badly the original DPF's performed and that the second generation ones are much better................is this true? because as a low mileage user I think it's wise to avoid buying a diesel car.

 

[Brigade77]

They are using emmisions controls to suppress any & all progress with increased mpg.

What YOU want is a vehicle that does 100+mpg.

What THEY want is a vehicle that pays £xx.xx per mpg of taxable revenue.

Wake up will ya.

 

[Burnerman]

Only my opinion but if you are doing a low mileage, your next car has to have a petrol engine......the later DPF's are better than the early ones, and this is helped by the addition of Eloys fluid and Adblue.
Its short runs that kills the DPF - if you can start up and then do a run of 10 miles or more then all will be well....if you do stop starts where the engine doesn't get hot then expect problems right from the start. In addition, the EGR cokes up big time, and I'm thoroughly ****ed off sorting them!
John

 

[ironsidebod]

You could technically refer to three generations of DPF. From a VAG group point of view, first gen not so good, motorway isn't actually required provided you can get a steady run over 30MPH whilst the engine is up to temp. These are active regen only. 2nd Gen moved the DPF to get more natural heat from the engine/exhaust gases. These are able to passive regen and active regen. Third generation has addition of Adblue as above and a (hopefully) simpler less error prone EGR setup.

In short, if all you do is pootle a mile into town and never get the car up to temperature a DPF will cost you a lot. If you drive a run everyday where the car has time to get up to temperature (even in winter) and have time to regen when it needs to, no problem.

 

[garyo]

Or think about blanking off the egr system if it will work with your make without throwing errors. That's the source of a lot of the DPF workload.

 

[DIYedboy]

I have a Peugeot 406 hdi estate, which for the money (£1200) is probably one of the greatest cars on the planet, I've had the EGR blanked off and life is good. BUT that beautiful vehicle that never goes wrong and gives me 42mpg round town won't last forever and currently buying a diesel with a DPF is basically a gamble.............get another 20mpg but expect to pay £1500+ in a few years having the DPF fixed!...................unless you clever lads can say 'the original DPF's were useless, but the latest ones are perfect and are trouble free even on short journeys'

 

[Burnerman]

Sadly, the modern DPF's are just as prone to faults as the earlier ones....the only thing I gather, from asking around, is that the modern filters can regenerate better (whatever that means) but I've no idea how long that would last.
Either way, short run diesels are often displaying the management or pollution fault lights and a fast hot run puts it out again......even short run petrols aren't immune to this.
My own diesels (3) have a minimum run of 15 miles before stopping, 99% of the time - and I've never had any issues - mind you, they are cleared at a maximum of 4 years.
John

 

[DaveHerns]

I did 60+k miles in a Peugeot 406, 90k miles in a 2006 Citroen C5 and 20k miles in a Peugeot 508 and have never had any DPF problems . For the last 5 years I've been retired and seldom do more than a 10 mile run. Good old 2.0Hdi Peugeot Citroen engines.

 

[Belle427]

Certain manufacturers seem to be plagued with faults but others are ok. We have some vag cars in the family and touch wood they have been very good over the last few years.
I tried to find the egr valve one day on our 2.0 2010 Audi A3 a year ago to clean it and gave up when i saw the complexity of the egr/dpf system!
We went back to a petrol model a month ago as we dont do the mileage to justify diesel, i do prefer the way a modern diesel performs but i dont regret it as its one less worry.
I do still have a 2005 pd 130 engined passat that is just before the introduction of the dpf and this is also a great engine.

 

[Burnerman]

I have to admit the frogs are the leaders in diesels, when it comes to performance anyway.....I like the PD lump too, smoky though it tends to be.
John
Yeti 2.0 150bhp with Adblue
Nissan Note 1.5 dci by Renault
Citroen Berlingo DW8 1.9 (Just about to replace the rear axle on this one.....sounds like a Jews harp when I bump into the drive )

 

[DIYedboy]

I believe the Peugeot engine is fitted into Volvo's and possibly Mercedes, I wonder how many makes use the Pug engine?

 

[Burnerman]

They crop up everywhere.....Minis, Fiats, Fords...its the DV6 1600 that really needs lubrication care.
John

 

[DIYedboy]

Jeez, a Peugeot diesel is in the mini diesel, wouldn't it be great to find out how many manufacturer's use the pug diesels?

 

[Burnerman]

When I put some pads into a 13 plate Freelander recently, I'm sure there was a Renault lump hiding in there when I changed the brake fluid.....I didn't look too closely but the oil filler cap and engine mounting was identical. No idea what size the engine is in those, either.
A builder I know has a Fiat van - with a Pug engine sitting in there.
John

 

[londoner1]

Don't know why people worry about dpf, just get rid of it.

My local garage gets rid of the filter and reprog the ecu, they do loads and they all pass their MOT's, cost is between £450 to £650, last sat he says they crammed in 4 BMW's, even showed me the sooted up filter then all you need to worry about is the turbo, DMF/clutch, injectors, fuel pump and the egr.