blocked diesel particulate filter

[pussbus]

Has anyone on here heard of this problem on new diesel cars. I have a 2009 ford fiesta turbo diesel with 70000 ks on it and ford are trying to charge me $2000 to fit a new dpf and reckon it's not covered under warranty. Sorry if this has been covered else where on this site

[rustyvit]

I don't know anything about them but by coincidence I was just talking to a friend in the trade and he was telling me about the importance of the correct oils for modern diesels because incorrect oils can result or contribute to blocked particulate filters.

[ISUZUROVER]

The DPF should be able to regenerate. Which regeneration method does the fiesta filter use? It is possible though that the filter is blocked with ash. What is the pressure drop across the filter?

[pussbus]

my mechanic has used the proper low ash oil the whole life of the car. I can not tell you what the pressure drop over the filter is. I am going to make sure that it is not a faulty sensor first as the car was running perfect prior to the engine light coming on. You would think that if the filter was blocked that car would run like a bag of crap.The car has now gone into limp mode. Apparently Ford dealership tryed to regenerate but this failed.

[sierrajim]

On a late model Chev/GMC we can command a manual regeneration with the Genuine Scan Tool. I'm sure if you went to a Ford dealer they would be able to do the same.

[pussbus]

Sierra jim. I have taken it to Ford and they have done the manual regeneration but this failed. I am starting to think that the sensor is faulty as just prior to the engine light coming on I was pulling full power and cruising on 120 kph.

[tweak'e]

certainly check sensors first. they do go like crap when they clog up.
also most common cause of them clogging is not driving them hard enough ie to much coasting around town.
its not just low ash oil, its the additives they have in the oil. you have to use engine oil that is DPF friendly. using any oil that doesn't say its meant for DPF will stuff the DPF.

if it does turn out to be a failed DPF then look at a DPF delete pipe, ie chop the DPF out and fit a pipe in instead. the ford fans probably have a fix for it

[ISUZUROVER]

You could possibly remove it (or have Ford remove it) and regenerate it manually in a furnace/oven somewhere. Not rocket science, you just need to get it to 600oC and keep it there until the soot is burnt off. Of course if it is blocked with ash or silica then that won't help.

tweak-e - what you propose would be illegal and most probably void the warranty the car is still covered by.

[tweak'e]

sorry i forgot its illegal over that side of the ditch.

[nayto]

First of all, I have no idea how the dpf works on the fiesta, but...... on the isuzus ive played with they have 2 butterfly valves, one either side of the filter. These valves open/close to restrict flow of gas to keep temps in the required range whilst doing a burn. If its anything similar to this i'd be checking the valves and the sensors like you said, there should be one either side of the filter to read restriction, which is what will tell the ecu to go into limp home mode.
More than likely its a valve or sensor that has a fault, which will not let the ecu conduct a burn while the fault is there. If one of the valves is partially closed when it shouldnt be, it wouldnt let the truck do a burn.
Obviously after that fault is fixed you will then need the Diagnostic tool to force a burn, which will delete the fault and bring it back to full power.
Not sure if this will help at all

[pussbus]

Thanks all for your views on this subject. After many phone calls and bitching apparently Ford is going to come to the party and replace\ fix this problem for free. It will still be interesting to see whether it will happen again and what the actual problem was. Just to clarify the proper Ford recommended oil has been used the entire life of the vehicle.

[nayto]

Good to hear, and they should! Post up what the problem ends up being.

[pussbus]

Yeah shall do.

[sierrajim]

Do you do a lot of city driving or even leaving the car running at idle often?

[ISUZUROVER]

As an aside, diesels witrh DPFs must run scary EGTs during regeneration (the ones that inject extra fuel to raise EGTs anyway). You need ~600oC to regenerate the DPF. Assuming the usual ~200oC drop across the turbo, that means at least 800oC in the exhaust manifold. Bearing in mind the DPF needs 20-30 mins for regeneration.

[Josh n Kat]

it really shits me that dealerships have double standards when it comes to warranty jobs if you don't get the car serviced at the dealership for the whole life of the car.

I've got no doubt it should have been a warranty item from the very start but they get all shitty when you get a service done outside their expensive workshops!

[ISUZUROVER]

it really shits me that dealerships have double standards when it comes to warranty jobs if you don't get the car serviced at the dealership for the whole life of the car.

I've got no doubt it should have been a warranty item from the very start but they get all shitty when you get a service done outside their expensive workshops!

Not sure about this. All the other filters on the car are service items. Though admittedly the DPF is more like the catalytic converter than the (other) filters in construction. If a cat needs replacing in the first 3 years is it a warranty or service item???

[SCANAS]

it really shits me that dealerships have double standards when it comes to warranty jobs if you don't get the car serviced at the dealership for the whole life of the car.

I've got no doubt it should have been a warranty item from the very start but they get all shitty when you get a service done outside their expensive workshops!

It's not the dealer it's the M A N U F A C T U R E R as it is covered by MANUFACTURERS WARRANTY the dealer has no say in the matter. Dealers are more than happy to fit/fix/supply anything the MANUFACTURER insists they do.

[Josh n Kat]

Well i'm guessing they have a service life as such but if something has a "self cleaning" process then it should last alot longer then the item in question.

I remember my tafe teacher told me that charcol canisters have a service life.........never seen anyone replace one as part of a scheduled service

[ajsr]

I'm fairly certain that for a car to be sold in the US , the manufacturer must warrant a cat converter effective for 100,000 miles .
Dpf is probably similar

[Dzltec]

Did they not offer to do a forced regeneration? I think this should be done before replacement. Dpf blocking can be caused by not having had it run its full regeneration in the course of its normal operation.


Andy

[01lux]

When your mechanic has changed the oil does he carry out a data reset for the engine oil?
it is very common for them to block up if this hasent been done.
Also you can pull the dpf off and wash it out with high pressure water,just make sure the sensors are removed, then carry out a dpf regen.

I know at mazda when we do a regen the exhaust gets so hot it can melt the paint on the workshop floor !

[KiwiBacon]

As an aside, diesels witrh DPFs must run scary EGTs during regeneration (the ones that inject extra fuel to raise EGTs anyway). You need ~600oC to regenerate the DPF. Assuming the usual ~200oC drop across the turbo, that means at least 800oC in the exhaust manifold. Bearing in mind the DPF needs 20-30 mins for regeneration.

I found an audi document which stated the turbo had to contend with EGT's up to 820C. That'll do it.
I've hit 900 on my Isuzu a few times by accident.

[pussbus]

01lux that is an interesting point about a data reset. I have no idea whether he has been doing these. Another factor we thought of is that I hit a roo 3 months ago and the under tray(big piece of plastic) broke of as well as minor damage to front bumper. With the under tray gone it is possible that the exhaust near the turbo is getting too much cool air around it and it is not staying hot enough to keep the dpf clean.

[Grantw]

I had similar issues with a peugeot t/d I had 2 years ago. Dealer was helpful the first time, but the following 4 times were not. They always kept telling me that it was "bad diesel" and that the dealer cannot control fuel quality. I changed to using premium diesel, and no longer had the fault. I traded the car not long after at their sister dealership as premium diesel was simply too hard to find.

[V.W.Dave]

The PDF clogging up is caused by stop go traffic. For every 10 hours a Common rail with PDF is running a minimum of 1/2 hour must be highway non stop to clear it self out. once a DPF is over 60% blocked it is hard for it to clear it self. once it is over 75% it normally will not clear it self after 90% it will not.
Its got nothing to do with quality of the fuel. Warranty does not cover a driver not driving a car the way it was designed to be driven. Blaim the sales men not the service department for not telling you.

[pussbus]

Vw dave This car spends 99% of its life on the Highway doing 110 kph. That is why I could not believe it was clogged up. If I lived in a city I could understand.

[pussbus]

Well I got the car back 2 weeks ago and they reckon a new dpf did the job. I have since put 3000ks on it and it seems to be going as good as before. The fuel economy has stayed the same as just prior to the blocking which seems strange as i would presume it should have gotten a touch better. Ford did end up paying for the whole job to be done which was nice of them.

[nayto]

Good to hear they payed for it. We fitted a new filter to a Isuzu truck at work recently $2600 it was. The old filter was melted inside

[rowenb]

Right now my oldies are having the same problem with their VW tiguan. The filter light comes on and the glow plug light flashes. The car is running like shit with no power and i was only driving it yesterday and gave it a few revs while driving it with no problems at all. The manual says to drive between 1500 2500 revs to regenerate it but will it be enough?