Technical DPF clogged, regen failed maybe?

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Technical DPF clogged, regen failed maybe?

120 multipla. Problem started with engine runaway, stalled at 530p revs. AA man suspected turbo oil seal but repairing garage said just oil overfill although 6 months since oil change.

Drove back from hols and engine was making horrible whistling diagnosed as turbo shaft. Turbo replaced and car now on and off very smoky in the cabin not just from exhaust. Leak found in flexi section of exhaust.

Theory now is dpf is blocked but not showing any error because pressure leak in exhaust before dpf was filling sensor into not seeing excessive back pressure, meanwhile when dpf regent was triggered diesel was ending up in the sump resulting in overfilling and then turbo failure due to oil quality being destroyed (annoyingly I did suggest to recovery garage that an oil change would be sensible but they said draining off excess was sufficient as they thought overfilloingh was the problem and this was before I had had a chance to google the issue). Broken flexi pipe now replaced and suddenly there are now error codes, I will ecuscan later today but my guess is blocked ECU.

Now the question, I can not diy this, should I pay a dpf refurb company 300 to do this or get a new part which seems to be 220 to 370, no idea what paying more gets you. Thanks
 
120 multipla. Problem started with engine runaway, stalled at 530p revs. AA man suspected turbo oil seal but repairing garage said just oil overfill although 6 months since oil change.

Broken flexi pipe now replaced and suddenly there are now error codes, I will ecuscan later today but my guess is blocked ECU.

Now the question, I can not diy this, should I pay a dpf refurb company 300 to do this or get a new part which seems to be 220 to 370, no idea what paying more gets you. Thanks


Hi,:)
the over-full oil is due to the ECU -set-up pumping EXTRA fuel in for regen's ..that are not happening.. bringing the level up slowly :bang:

see what codes you get and post again. (y)

TECH section may get more informed responses, ;)

charlie - Oxford
 
The Croma has a service mileage to reset, and oil condition to reset.
Very few garages know this, and not many are able to do it.
If the oil condition counter is not reset it will not regen when the condition counter reaches 22000 miles.

Keith
 
I don't know if the multipla is the same preventing the regen but I admit I haven't always bothered to turn off the oil degrade light after each oil change as I thought it was just a service reminder...doh
 
So this is what ecuscan says - note only started getting error codes since the exhaust flexi section replaced, still regularly getting burning smell and clouds of smoke all round car not just out the back....

Fault codes
p0401 egr device (2)
Exhaust Gas Recirculation Flow Insufficient Detected
The reason for this fault is that ECU has received very low signal from the sensor. The fault is not detected now, but it is stored in memory. Clear fault codes, and observe for future appearance of the same fault. Dashboard warning light was activated for this fault.

P2085 Ex. Gas Temp Sensor Circuit intermitt. B1S2
The reason for this fault is that ECU has received very high signal from the sensor. The fault is present now. Take appropriate action to fix this sensor fault. Dashboard warning light was activated for this fault.

Engine is off and cold, sensor reading is 996C!

This sounds like there is a problem with the sensor since they changed the bit of exhaust pipe the sensor is either in or close to.

Now for the dpf info:
16km since last regen
Particle filter obstruction: 107% - normal clogging?
Average distance for last 5 regens: 30km!
Av time: 341s
Av temp: 564C

More thoughts, the problem smoking only started after I had the turbo changed, the oil changed and I reset the oil indicator which had been flashing for the last 8 months.v Does this suggest that this is the first regen attempts in 8 months? But if this is the case why would the diesel have got in the oil to cause the runaway...perhaps only the low temp regen is stopped by the oil degredation flag and the high temp motorway one still happens?

So what now? I guess the dpf is very blocked and possibly also full of oil from the engine runaway hence the smoke everywhere on the frequent regen attempts.

I am guessing that we are well beyond any attempt to solve the dpf issues by a high speed high revs regen, a forced regen or any dpf cleaner additive and need to go for either the dpf refurbishment or replacement.

Does anyone have any experience of either of these? In the mean time is there any way of turning off dpf regen? I wish I could set the oil degredation indicator back on....

Thanks for all the thoughts so far.
 
@m1chaels
holland here.
i had exactly the same problems as you describe, however with only 3 kms after a regen...!
i had it solved as follows: the particle filtre was cleaned by a firm who specialised itself to do this cleaning.
there comment: we've seen many fiat filters, but yours is the champion....
since the egr-valve had become too dirty by all the exhaustgasses that where lead to the motor as the filter did not work anymore, the egr had to be renewed as well.
since then: i'm a very happy croma-owner again!
 
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Well the way Euro 6 is going and the way the UK and possibly other countries are kicking back against diesel engines then I'm strongly thinking of reverting to petrol engines. I know I'll loose some caravan towing grunt but I've towed my caravan with a Tempra 1.8ie, Tipo 1.6ie, Punto HGT, Stilo 2.4 (Abarth) and currently my Croma 150.

All of the above vehicles have not disappointed me when I balance their performance and my expectations. With the current 1.4 turbo engines this is where I'll probably end up going next. Petrol / spark plugs is also more in my comfort domain when things go wrong. No swirl valves, no DPF, no potential pollution charges, no more expensive fuel....etc .....etc
 
Petrol / spark plugs is also more in my comfort domain when things go wrong. No swirl valves, no DPF, no potential pollution charges, no more expensive fuel....etc .....etc

some modern petrol engines like the 1.4 grande starjet do have flaps

DSCF3780.JPG


DSCF3781.JPG
 
some modern petrol engines like the 1.4 grande starjet do have flaps

Oh sigh :( ....... why oh why :bang:

Well I guess a sliding vane is better than four twiddly flaps and petrol engines don't eat their own oil laden soot.

Please don't tell me the Multiair also has swirl valves/vanes.
 
People some how thing the modern petrol engine is the saviour of internal combustion engines.My backside.
Please inform my wife of this as her 500 abarth is now into its 5th week of being of the road due to an engine fault.Its in a fiat main agent too.
I truely would love to see a 1.4 turbo attempting to tow a van.Ford reckon their 1.25 turbo is up to it.aha ha ha.
 
No engine is perfect and yes some develop odd fault. Just because it is in a main dealer doesn't mean they know what they are doing.

As for a 1.4 Turbo towing 1000kg slim line (2m wide) aero van then I don't see why there should be an issue because on paper the low end torque and power of this engine is way better than a Tip0 1.6ie (K reg) single point injection petrol engine which served me well.

Of course, maybe the Fiat 1.4 Turbo engine (multiair or not) is just a *rap engine and all new FPT engines are just the pits when compare to the old venerable single and twin cam engines that lacked all this variable timing etc. etc. stuff.
 
Totally agree,they dont know what their doing at all.Came back tonight got a mile down the road and fault reappears.
But getting back to topic this is our 3rd new 500,previous 2 were 1.2 petrols, absolutely gutless and also poor on ecomomy.Now the 3rd car which is an Abarth in my opinion is also gutless up to the point were the turbocharger comes in.
I accept most of this is down to the mapping of the engine and fiat are one of the worse ive seen,very conservative on power outputs probably for warranty reasons.
Like i said for towing in my opinon they would be hopeless,the delievery is totally incorrect and wether its 1000lbs or not think of the drag factor.
Very interesting report on watchdog this week regarding the latest 1.2 petrol 500.
 
On the towing front , anyone who has ever towed a caravan knows there is no substitute for HP and decent kerbweight.
The modern day trend is to lower the CC of the diesel engine ( ie Kia Sportage 1.7 ECO ) to probably lower the car tax payable and to save the planet:bang: . This has resulted in the caravan makers finding more and more ways to reduce the weight of the vans to accomodate the lack of pulling power of the available towcars:(.
I can only see that this will result in more accidents as the lighter the van the more effect the incorrect loading and weight distribution has on stability. The towing of anything bigger than a trailer-tent with any "small engined" car fills me with dread:cool:.
 
Thankfully I two an Eriba Triton 430GT. Higher weight than traditional "wobbly box" construction due to it's all tubular steel body contruction clad in aluminium BUT is very aero dynamic with fall less drag than other caravans.

I've commented before on the lack of towing vehicles in the current vehicle range. Even more annoying is that there is no way you can personally find out how good or bad a car at towing is before you purchase one is because no manufacturer to my knowledge makes test vehicles fitted with tow bars available to the dealer chain for customers to try. I'd be happy to drive 100+ mile round trip to a dealer to hitch up to their demonstrator and take the proposed combination for a reasonably long test drive. Sadly this is not possible.

Instead one has to rely on other sources (like Tow Car of The Year) reports and these tend to be shootouts with variable and mixed personal testers opinions thrown in for good measure so you still never really know.

Aha! I'll buy one of these http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/FiatAgri_G210.jpg/1024px-FiatAgri_G210.jpg
 
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