Diesel DPFs and EGRs

[Rob Gaskin]

My daughter has a diesel 2.2 Mazda 6 2009. We thought these were good cars (her husband has had two but they are new company cars).

Anyway she has had the dreaded DPF light on for a while and when I was servicing it the other day I noticed a strange 'x' marking way up the dipstick. Her oil was low actually not high as it happened. Anyway after looking on the internet there are massive problems with these DPFs and the Mazda 6 is no exception. It seems that if the DPF gets 'dirty' the car overfuels to burn off the dirt and this leads to fuel bypassing the pistons and filling the sump!! When the level gets to the x mark change the oil! The mark is very high up the dipstick so the oil would be VERY diluted by then.

Anyway the reason for this Thread is to see if anyone has experience that could help me and also has anybody used anything like this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Valvoline...le_Oils_Lubricants_Fluids&hash=item4d15e13d7c

I now suspect that the EGR is dirty/faulty.

Her daily commute includes lots of motorway driving so this dirt problem is unexpected.

I am amazed at how many 'known faults' major car manufacturers expect us to cope with.

 

[jonbills]

I don't know the Mazda Rob, but DPF problems are common on BMW diesels. On them, problems arise when the car can't do a DPF regeneration run. The DPF regen run has fuel directly injected to the DPF I believe rather than adding extra fuel at the injectors.
One of the common reasons for not being able to do a regen is because of faults on glow plugs and/or EGR.
I think a popular answer is to physically remove the DPF, delete the DPF from the software and make sure you have full undertrays at MOT time.

 

[Rob Gaskin]

I don't know the Mazda Rob, but DPF problems are common on BMW diesels. On them, problems arise when the car can't do a DPF regeneration run. The DPF regen run has fuel directly injected to the DPF I believe rather than adding extra fuel at the injectors.
One of the common reasons for not being able to do a regen is because of faults on glow plugs and/or EGR.
I think a popular answer is to physically remove the DPF, delete the DPF from the software and make sure you have full undertrays at MOT time.

Jon you have just reinforced what a local diesel guy told me yesterday (incl. the BMW bit) nightmare - thanks.

 

[Onlyady]

Have you tried to drive for 15 miles at high rpm i.e motorway speed in 4th this would usually get the car to re-generate ( you have to be constant any drop will stop the re-gen) if not you can do a forced re-gen via a scanner. The cleaners only work if the dpf is less than 90% saturation (usual re-gen I believe is 75% on most cars). In all honesty I would get dpf and the egr removed and have it re mapped get better everything and no need to worry about it.

 

[toopy]

There was a good article in CarMechanics Magazine a few months back about DPF's
if you can get a back issue!

The legislation regarding DPF's was changed recently, and they are now included in the MOT.

This from an article i found online

"In October 2013 Robert Goodwill, roads minister, announced that garages and testing stations will be required check for a DPF as part of the MoT test from February 2014. The vehicle will automatically fail test if the filter had been fitted as standard but is no longer present."

 

[jonbills]

Unless you have under trays preventing the MOT tester from seeing if the DPF is present or not....

 

[Rob Gaskin]

There was a good article in CarMechanics Magazine a few months back about DPF's
if you can get a back issue!..........

Yes thanks Toopy I did buy that at the time (still have it) specifically to educate myself about them. It was an eye-opener how complex things have become.

The car manufacturers appear not to care about the owners plight once the car is out of it's warranty.

Are commercial vehicles fitted with DPFs ?

 

[tel240z]

Rob this bloody cat and dpf is a minefield i'm not convinced that its a very green thing at all and yes HGVs have them when it all first took off some few years ago in the London LEZ zone lots of transport companys had to spend 3 to 4 k on there vehicles exhaust systems to keep them compliant now here we are moving on from euro 3 to 4 and now 5 with 6 on its way, anything with euro 5 on the cab door will have a wet system that needs a chemical called add blue injected into the dpf from a separate tank.

Just recently I took 2 old cats from cars to my local recycler and there was a 40' tipping lorry that had 60,000 used cats on it ready to be recycled got me thinking how much energy to make them in the first place then the same again to transport them and strip them down besides half of them were probably nicked anyway.

Another problem is that they do get stolen very often replacement on a Mercedes sprinter 07 onwards is £2500 and these late Toyota / Mitsubishi 4x4s £5k with the sensors

Rob have you heard of all the problems on the islands south of the country lots of rich people wit very nice audis jags and mercs but the speed limits 30mph, then theres the estate agent with the nice jag going from house to house never sees a motorway with more lights on the dash than a xmas tree, dealers answer is you need to take it on a motorway for 50 miles at 70 mph

best thing is to do buy a nice 59 chevy pick up bolt a nice v6 diesel in it no tax or mot and classic insurance

Ohh and no DPF to worry about

 

[status]

Add blue is basically pigs wee Tel,you can elaborate on that as dont drive trucks anymore and if anyone has a saab diesel then to regen it you have to do 80mph for 20 mins

 

[AliK]

.... and if anyone has a saab diesel then to regen it you have to do 80mph for 20 mins

Erm, I trust that's not a manufacturer's recommendation!? To keep your vehicle working as intended you have to regularly break the law for 20 mins!!



Ali K

 

[status]

It's a fact from a saab specialist but then why do you have a car that does more than the speed limit to come out with a statement like that,i have only broke the speed limit once and that was going down hill on my mountain bike .

 

[Rob Gaskin]

Rob this bloody cat and dpf is a minefield i'm not convinced that its a very green thing at all ............

Rob have you heard of all the problems on the islands south of the country lots of rich people wit very nice audis jags and mercs but the speed limits 30mph, then theres the estate agent with the nice jag going from house to house never sees a motorway with more lights on the dash than a xmas tree, dealers answer is you need to take it on a motorway for 50 miles at 70 mph

best thing is to do buy a nice 59 chevy pick up bolt a nice v6 diesel in it no tax or mot and classic insurance

Ohh and no DPF to worry about

Good points Terry. One site I looked at was suggesting that many diesel cars are being miss-sold to just the type of user you mentioned. It's put me off modern second-hand diesels. I admit modern cars are 'clean' - even just starting my standard 240Z in my garage makes me aware of the gases we used to put up with However the low emission systems need to be reliable and not expect folks to do unnecessary journeys or change the oil frequently.

Terry I wonder how long we will be able to use our old cars? Need to vote UKIP I think.

So to go back to my original thread has anybody successfully used fuel additives to clean the DPF or EGR?

 

[AliK]

Nuts hu!?

I do think I may get quite a few holiday snaps courtesy of the carabinieri from my Italy holiday last weekend, but I never imagined a main dealer's advice would be to exceed the speed limit to keep your car running.

On many of the Audi / VAG forums there are so many cases of people who've had expensive DPF failures and the justification by the main dealer is that their cars aren't designed for London driving!!!

This DPF thing is quite a good idea in principle but so poorly executed.



Ali K

 

[tel240z]

Rob I don't think them spray cleaner additive things work its a hands on strip down egr cleaning that's needed its usually a 1/4 of an inch thick, same goes for turbo cleaning, the attached video actually works I have done it several times with success

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFDMd8eVVXo

 

[Rob Gaskin]

..........So to go back to my original thread has anybody successfully used fuel additives to clean the DPF or EGR?

I was thinking more like this but it's £75!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201078883794?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

I quess they're more effective to as preventive measure rather than a cure?

 

[jonbills]

if the DPF is blocked or the ECU is not regening, then fuel additives aren't going to do any good.

the EGR should be easy to clean - just take the valve and manifold off and clean them with oven cleaner.

 

[Rob Gaskin]

if the DPF is blocked or the ECU is not regening, then fuel additives aren't going to do any good.

the EGR should be easy to clean - just take the valve and manifold off and clean them with oven cleaner.

I don't think the DPF is BLOCKED because it runs really well and like I said her commute includes about 80 miles of M1 every day! Plus many more miles on Yorkshire minor roads. That's the frustration with these things.

 

[jonbills]

Ok, read your original post again. I don't think fuel additives will put the dpf warning light out - you'll need to get the codes read and fix whatever it's complaining about


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[status]

Ali it was a saab specialist mate,not a main dealer,Oven cleaner,now thats a new one on me

 

[Rob Gaskin]

Ok I'll post an update later but does anybody know a good Mazda specialist in the Midlands or South Yorkshire that could do a cam-chain change on a 2.2 '09 Mazda 6. Mazda dealers are wanting £850-£1000.

It's a job that is too big for me.