Technical Is my diesel overfueling

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Technical Is my diesel overfueling

not when the same problem and solution keep repeating

I hear what you are saying and I totally agree in respect of petrol engined vehicles but didn't assume that the same necessarily held true for diesels. The addition of the DPF clouds the issue even more as I have heard conflicting advice from well informed sources.

One school of thought suggests that cruising at a steady speed of 60-70mph for a few miles should regenerate the DPF and others (yourself included) are advocates of using higher revs in all the gears as the best method of increasing the exhaust gas temperature to achieve the same end.

Perhaps a combination of both might work, changing gears at higher revs around town and maintaining a steady, relatively high cruising speed on open roads might be a good compromise.
 
I hear what you are saying and I totally agree in respect of petrol engined vehicles but didn't assume that the same necessarily held true for diesels. The addition of the DPF clouds the issue even more as I have heard conflicting advice from well informed sources.

One school of thought suggests that cruising at a steady speed of 60-70mph for a few miles should regenerate the DPF and others (yourself included) are advocates of using higher revs in all the gears as the best method of increasing the exhaust gas temperature to achieve the same end.

Perhaps a combination of both might work, changing gears at higher revs around town and maintaining a steady, relatively high cruising speed on open roads might be a good compromise.

all you have to do is just drive it normally changing up when you feel you should not watching for x revs, and not driving it as if the throttle pedal is an egg - it's counter-productive as you have found, and potentially damaging not to mention worse for the environment

the whole catalyic convertor/dpf thing is a technical solution to a problem that doesn't exist - driven by misguided legislation

the technical reality is that such devices lead to higher mpg, more maintenance and themselves use polluting materials in their manufacture and create issues for recycling

another example of misguided technology is 'energy saving' lightbulbs
the reality is that as a percentage of the energy use in the home lighting is only 3%
to really save money you should improve control of your heating and hot water which account for 60% and 24 % of home energy consumption

anyway glad your 500 is working well again(y)
 
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I was always told to tell people the best way to self regen was 20 minutes at 70mph in 4th gear. The main aspect being high revs over the full throttle.

This is the type of info that I was looking for, albeit from an obviously informed secondary source.

I guess unless anybody involved in the development/testing of the Fiat DPF (and it isn't only Fiats that suffer with this problem) is able to offer more insight then it will be down to techs in the dealerships to pass on this knowledge as it gets accumulated.

We know the "manager" can determine the percentage of blockage before and after a forced regeneration but is there any way that the diagnostic programme can be run with the "manager" attached to see how differing driving styles affect the filter system?
 
This is the type of info that I was looking for, albeit from an obviously informed secondary source.

I guess unless anybody involved in the development/testing of the Fiat DPF (and it isn't only Fiats that suffer with this problem) is able to offer more insight then it will be down to techs in the dealerships to pass on this knowledge as it gets accumulated.

We know the "manager" can determine the percentage of blockage before and after a forced regeneration but is there any way that the diagnostic programme can be run with the "manager" attached to see how differing driving styles affect the filter system?

when the system was developed it will have been run at different loads and speed on the test bed to simulate different driving conditions and the software set to regenerate accordingly

clearly actual conditions will vary and may require improvements to the software that controlls the frequencey of a triggered regeneration

i think you are worrying too much mate - the system will operate in the background without you noticing it if you just drive the car as it was intended to be driven

in the words of Rhianna - Shut up and drive!(y)
 
Rob, my main concern was that despite having had numerous ECU triggered regenerations (which necessitated the oil and filter needing changing at 3500 miles) the DPF was still 80% blocked.
 
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Rob, my main concern was that despite having had numerous ECU triggered regenerations (which necessitated the oil and filter needing changing at 3500 miles) the DPF was still 80% blocked.

i would have thought the dpf needs flow through it as well as heat caused by the regen cycle

floor it, full throttle and max boost will blast out the clag:devil:(y)
 
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I`m glad you got your problem sorted(y) ,most of my travelling is a comute of around 34-36 miles to work and back say 5 days a week.
Anything else could be a couple of miles here and there to friends and family.
I tend to drive on mainly A roads ,to work to its usually 60mph there and 65-70 mph back that seems to clear the dpf quite well and still return around 62-65mpg , so that the 20-40 miles i do around town is quickly burnt off to work and back.
Because your travel is like you say in city driving mostly its not getting hot enough to re-gen at the right revs,so a nice blast out is just what it needs i-2 times per week up and down a few A roads and more time to enjoy your car i suppose lol.:)
 
Thanks Ricardo, knowing the type of travel others do will enable me too plan my strategy for maintaining the DPF. I have already started to do a 10 mile trip at 70mph per week purely to try and alleviate this problem, which obviously flies in the face of using the car for necessary journeys only. (n)

There was also an update to do with fueling carried out at the same time so fingers crossed.
 
I hope it sorts your problem out! and i see what you mean about necessary journeys though as we are supposed to be saving money!!!:mad:
On a brighter note i travelled from Redcar where i live and travelled to Brigg nr scunthorpe and back around 252 miles and the cost £16.04 shocking isn`t it.:D:D
 
Rob, my main concern was that despite having had numerous ECU triggered regenerations (which necessitated the oil and filter needing changing at 3500 miles) the DPF was still 80% blocked.

Don't automatically assume that 100% = DPF fully blocked. A figure of around 75% after a Forced regen (by the Dealer) is officially 'ok', and I've seen figures over 110% in the past on cars that have then been forced regen'd with no problems. ;)

Natural regens should apparently occur every 1000km, with the frequency increasing to around 300km with heavy town usage.
 
Starting to think I should have charged the dealer for doing a Regen on the 1.3 multijet courtesy car I got last time my car was in! Although 38mpg avg on a diesel probably means I over did it....

I'm with Rob italian tune up FTW...also its more fun, the advice on driving economically i've known for a while, an engine is at its most efficient on full throttle at peak power rpms so accelerate smartly up to your cars peak power then change until you reach cruising speed then cruise, accelerating on b***er all throttle uses more fuel and by the look of it is no good for your DPF.
 
Hi Grimwau, a word of advise, if you keep getting these dpf problems, insist they replace the damn thing before thev car is 2 years old OTHERWISE you end up with this bill :
https://www.fiatforum.com/doblo/182180-doblo-particulate-filter.html
if you end up paying to replace the dpf yourself, it will probably cost £1200 !
so lets get this straight Fi*t sell a little town car i.e. a 500, which is not suitable for town use, as the dpf clogs up, and also causes having to pay for an oil service at 3500 miles ! nice one fi*t, thank god I got rid of that piece of doblo sh*t BEFORE I had to pay for the damn dpf.
By the way this dpf issue is not just affecting fi*ts but all european cars due to the new environmental issues.
How can it be good for the environment to say "give your car a good blast" every week, if they sell a town car, such as a 500 or panda, then it should be designed for town driving, buy a panda mj next time, they dont have a damn dpf on !
 
Hi Grimwau, a word of advise, if you keep getting these dpf problems, insist they replace the damn thing before thev car is 2 years old OTHERWISE you end up with this bill :
https://www.fiatforum.com/doblo/182180-doblo-particulate-filter.html
if you end up paying to replace the dpf yourself, it will probably cost £1200 !
so lets get this straight Fi*t sell a little town car i.e. a 500, which is not suitable for town use, as the dpf clogs up, and also causes having to pay for an oil service at 3500 miles ! nice one fi*t, thank god I got rid of that piece of doblo sh*t BEFORE I had to pay for the damn dpf.
By the way this dpf issue is not just affecting fi*ts but all european cars due to the new environmental issues.
How can it be good for the environment to say "give your car a good blast" every week, if they sell a town car, such as a 500 or panda, then it should be designed for town driving, buy a panda mj next time, they dont have a damn dpf on !

Sure as hell don't need to lick you to taste the bitter.
 
why describe the 500 as a 'town car' it isn't just for driving into town you know - it can handle long and fast journies just the same as any car(y)




Hi Grimwau, a word of advise, if you keep getting these dpf problems, insist they replace the damn thing before thev car is 2 years old OTHERWISE you end up with this bill :
https://www.fiatforum.com/doblo/182180-doblo-particulate-filter.html
if you end up paying to replace the dpf yourself, it will probably cost £1200 !
so lets get this straight Fi*t sell a little town car i.e. a 500, which is not suitable for town use, as the dpf clogs up, and also causes having to pay for an oil service at 3500 miles ! nice one fi*t, thank god I got rid of that piece of doblo sh*t BEFORE I had to pay for the damn dpf.
By the way this dpf issue is not just affecting fi*ts but all european cars due to the new environmental issues.
How can it be good for the environment to say "give your car a good blast" every week, if they sell a town car, such as a 500 or panda, then it should be designed for town driving, buy a panda mj next time, they dont have a damn dpf on !
 
Well, just had the warning light and message to say that the DPF was blocked (read the handbook). Well I didn't need to RTFM as I know it off by heart. I was really hoping that I wouldn't get this message again, especially after only 1000 miles after having a forced regen done at the dealership.:cry:

Anyhow, a 10 mile trip at a steady 80mph eventually put the light out but whether that has cleared it fully or if just enough to extinguish the light I don't know. Short of having the examiner hooked up whilst driving I am in the dark as to what percentage of blockage is remaining so only time will tell if this will re-occur sooner or later. :mad:

Luckily, I'm off to France at the weekend and once off the ferry will be able to drive for a few hundred miles at 130KPH so it will think that it is it's birthday. (y)

I am now seriously considering selling it before it is two years old if the info about it not being covered under warranty after that is correct. I did contact Fiat to ask this question but they only told me to ask my dealer. :confused:

When I get back from holiday it is booked in for it's first annual service so I will ask the DET to check the %age of blockage to try and get some idea of how effective a decent run is in clearing the filter.
 
Sorry to hear that.

Fiat have recently released detailed info to Dealers via Service News regarding the operation of the DPF and EFI warning lamps and what % blockage they relate to- if I remember rightly, as long as the EFI lamp isn't on also, a short run should allow the DPF to naturally regen. It also mentions the recommended speed to drive at on a regular basis if the vehicle is driven around town/on short journeys where it doesn't reach full operating temperature (from memory it's around 60km/h for approx 10mins).

Obviously we Dealer's can't post the full information (believe me it's very long for a start :cry:) due to copyright, but I'll try to disclose the basics when I get a chance.

(y)
 
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