D4nny8oy said:

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

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Danny, many thanks for the info you have provided all through this post (and many others), it is really appreciated. :worship:

Anything that will help myself and other diesel owners to understand the best ways to minimize the problem eg. is it better to drive a a steady speed for a few miles or is it better to accelerate through the rev range? These are things that only techs who drive with the examiner connected will be privy to and I value that first hand knowlege above all else.

Please post whatever you can as long as you are not breaking any rules or regulations.

I just hope this is not one of those "If I tell you I will have to kill you" situations.

grimwau said:

Danny, many thanks for the info you have provided all through this post (and many others), it is really appreciated. :worship:

Anything that will help myself and other diesel owners to understand the best ways to minimize the problem eg. is it better to drive a a steady speed for a few miles or is it better to accelerate through the rev range? These are things that only techs who drive with the examiner connected will be privy to and I value that first hand knowlege above all else.

Please post whatever you can as long as you are not breaking any rules or regulations.

I just hope this is not one of those "If I tell you I will have to kill you" situations.

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When mines regenerating I try and keep the revs above 3K untill i notice that its done. Around town this can be a problem but on the open road i just use the wrong gear.
TBH i havent had any problems with my DPF and I drive mostly in town with occasional long journies. It may be your driving style thats doesnt suit the car esp if your following the Eco to the letter.
I am not sure how our consumer rights are affected by following the ecodrive program and knackering our cars up doing it !! esp if both contradict each other.

Jake_in_notts said:

When mines regenerating I try and keep the revs above 3K untill i notice that its done. Around town this can be a problem but on the open road i just use the wrong gear.
TBH i havent had any problems with my DPF and I drive mostly in town with occasional long journies. It may be your driving style thats doesnt suit the car esp if your following the Eco to the letter.
I am not sure how our consumer rights are affected by following the ecodrive program and knackering our cars up doing it !! esp if both contradict each other.

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Jake, I ditched the ECOdrive within a couple of weeks and I don't think it is driving style as the wife uses it most of the time and she doesn't know how to drive efficiently, even on the motorway at 70mph you have to remind her about using 5th gear. I also do a 10 mile run once a week (at night) at a sustained 70-80mph just to try and resolve this occurring so I don't think that this can be the sole reason.

Maybe I should try using different fuel (presently using Sainsbury's low sulphur diesel) and see how that goes.

I will be interested in getting the DET to ask examiner to find out the state of the DPF when I get back from France and I am hoping that it will show a low percentage after such a good run.

That said, I will base my driving regime on any suggestions that D4nny8oy feels might be beneficial to regeneration efficiency.

grimwau said:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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That sucks, only thing I can really reccomend is trying V-Power diesel. I used to use it in the 406 and it really was good. As it's a gas to liquid fuel and there are far less particulates in it that should mean less particulates to clog up the DPF?

I think dpf's are more trouble than they're worth.

grimwau said:

Maybe I should try using different fuel (presently using Sainsbury's low sulphur diesel) and see how that goes.

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I was reading your mind

Do try the V-Power diesel though, IMHO it really is a fantastic fuel.

sounds like the car is faulty, the problem is how to diagnose it to a point where you can be confident that the dealer or Fiat will take you serious enough to try and do something.

Continually getting a blockaged PDF will help but if they force a regeneration and it works correctly then its too easy to blame you for fowling it excessivley due to the way you drive. Maybe there is a way to prove your driving is ok (ecodata etc) rather than just giving your word but that a tricky one to prove - ps keep a log of your mileage and fill ups with reciepts for "good fuel" you may need them later good luck

306maxi said:

I think dpf's are more trouble than they're worth.

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AMEN to that!

grimwau said:

AMEN to that!

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Well you live and learn I guess. I personally don't feel a diesel suits a small car and DPF's reduce the fuel economy of diesels a lot as well.

The following is lifted from more than one Service Bulletin available to Dealers on the subject of DPF, but it's clear from some posts that some staff are not fully aware of these and/or are not passing relevant infomation onto customers. There's much more data than this but a lot of it is not necessary for a general understanding of the system and what to expect during it's operation.

Regeneration will usually occur every 800-1000km but may be as regular as 400km under certain conditions. During regeneration you may notice a higher than usual idle speed, operation of the cooling fan, slight increase in smoke emissions, and high exhaust temps- these are not to be interpreted as 'faults'.

The lifespan of the DPF is typically 250,000km though this can be reduced by driving style/oil consumption/engine faults etc.

Operation of the DPF lamp does not indicate faulty operation of the vehicle. The lamp comes on to indicate to the driver that the DPF requires time to regenerate and that the engine should continue to be run during this time, after which the lamp will go out. The ideal conditions for natural regeneration are a speed higher than 60km/h at about 1800rpm and will take approx. 10mins, although the chances of maintaining this will obviously depend on road conditions- as long as the engine continues to run, the DPF will perform its cycle. Interrupting the procedure by switching the engine off will cause the DPF lamp to remain on.

Regeneration can be carried out with the vehicle stationary although the amount of fuel needed to keep the exhaust temps high means that regeneration will be stopped after 3.5 minutes to prevent excessive oil dilution.

If the EFI ECU is interrupted it will attempt regeneration upto 6 times before it decides the only course of action is a forced regen by the Dealer and to indicate this it illuminates the EFI (MIL) lamp.

When this occurs the Dealer will need to check various parameters are within range (including checking cam profiles, injector shims, thermostat opening, oil level etc) then perform a forced regeneration- if the filter clears ok, then the vehicle is returned to the customer. If however the blockage is unable to be cleared to a satisfactory level despite all other components operating within spec, and Fiat Technical agree, then it will be necessary to replace the DPF.

Hope this helps.

What do you think about my idea of using Shell V-Power diesel?

If Shell are to be believed the particulate emmisions are signifanctly lower. I had a lot less diesel crud on the back of my 406 when I was running V-Power diesel for sure.
http://www.shell.com/home/content/s...gtl/benefits_of_gtl/gtlbenefit_0112_1630.html

306maxi said:

What do you think about my idea of using Shell V-Power diesel?

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I'm interested in the answer to this as well. My dad is looking to buy a new fiesta tdci and I'm assuming it has a DPF too.

Venters said:

I'm interested in the answer to this as well. My dad is looking to buy a new fiesta tdci and I'm assuming it has a DPF too.

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A friend has the 1.6 which is a Peugeot engine and has never mentioned any problems with the DPF though he does mainly motorway miles so if he had problems I'd be surprised.

DPF's are only way to reduce emissions especially with euro 5 on the way...Fiat have some tricks up their sleeve for the future DPF's of course

incidentally there is no dpf light, not on mine anyway

I had the "particulate trap clogged" warning light come on and followed previous instructions and drove for 10 mins or so at 70mph in top gear and it went out OK.

I have just returned from holiday and the car has had 1000 miles of fast, continuous driving including two 100+ km stretches that were able to be driven at 130kmh for the entire length so hopefully that should have given the filter a good clean.

Does anyone know if the filter will clean itself just using the hot exhaust gases or does it always need fuel injected to get it hot enough?

grimwau said:

I had the "particulate trap clogged" warning light come on and followed previous instructions and drove for 10 mins or so at 70mph in top gear and it went out OK.

I have just returned from holiday and the car has had 1000 miles of fast, continuous driving including two 100+ km stretches that were able to be driven at 130kmh for the entire length so hopefully that should have given the filter a good clean.

Does anyone know if the filter will clean itself just using the hot exhaust gases or does it always need fuel injected to get it hot enough?

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Definitely time to take it back in I say!

grimwau said:

I had the "particulate trap clogged" warning light come on and followed previous instructions and drove for 10 mins or so at 70mph in top gear and it went out OK.

I have just returned from holiday and the car has had 1000 miles of fast, continuous driving including two 100+ km stretches that were able to be driven at 130kmh for the entire length so hopefully that should have given the filter a good clean.

Does anyone know if the filter will clean itself just using the hot exhaust gases or does it always need fuel injected to get it hot enough?

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Well that never worked! Arrived back on Sunday night, did 10 miles before car went in for it's first service on Wednesday (that's another story that will be told on the existing first service thread) and it then was driven home and put in the garage for the night.
It was OK on Thursday but on Friday the particulate filter clogged light came on again so it needed a 10 mile 60+mph run to turn it off.

grimwau said:

Well that never worked! Arrived back on Sunday night, did 10 miles before car went in for it's first service on Wednesday (that's another story that will be told on the existing first service thread) and it then was driven home and put in the garage for the night.
It was OK on Thursday but on Friday the particulate filter clogged light came on again so it needed a 10 mile 60+mph run to turn it off.

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I'd be calling Fiat CS up on a daily basis pestering them to replace the DPF at the very least. There is certainly something wrong with your car.

306maxi said:

I'd be calling Fiat CS up on a daily basis pestering them to replace the DPF at the very least. There is certainly something wrong with your car.

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But replacing the DPF alone won't cure the fault if there is an underlying issue with one of the many items that affect it's operation.

Grimwau- Your Dealer needs to carry out the various checks to ensure the system is operating ok (25+ parameters to monitor, plus another number of checks on injectors/glowplugs/breathers/inlet pipes, etc).

If you can, make a note of the distance you're driving and the conditions to help the DET/Fiat Technical to build-up a picture of what is occuring and to narrow-down the causes.

D4nny8oy said:

But replacing the DPF alone won't cure the fault if there is an underlying issue with one of the many items that affect it's operation.

Grimwau- Your Dealer needs to carry out the various checks to ensure the system is operating ok (25+ parameters to monitor, plus another number of checks on injectors/glowplugs/breathers/inlet pipes, etc).

If you can, make a note of the distance you're driving and the conditions to help the DET/Fiat Technical to build-up a picture of what is occuring and to narrow-down the causes.

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I agree, but surely numerous regenerations will have had a negative impact upon the DPF?