So, after 2 months of reliability my 162k croma seems to have given up. It was running fine yesterday, started this morning and struggled to get to 60mph on my 43 mile trip to work. Coming back I was struggling to get to 40mph. Fiat ECU scan shows dpf fault but clogging is on around 75% with 900km ish between regens. Egr is blocked off so obviously egr fault showing too. Took it round the block a while ago and its as though the exhaust is blocked, there is some smoke when under load but going uphill I'm at 2000 rpm and 10 mph. I've tried disconnecting the maf but it seems to make no difference.The car previous to this did seem a little down on power but nothing like this. It's undriveable now which is a shame as it was running so well I was looking forward to hitting 200k. For some reason fes (free) won't let me do a dpf regen either, it says operation failed. Any ideas?

Could have a go at cleaning the MAP sensor which is next to the EGR . Will probably come out of the manifold looking like a liquorice lolly just give it a gentle clean so you can see the coloured bit inside the plastic cage. Its an easy 10 min job and may just pay off

I cleaned the map sensor to no avail. I might try and unbolt the exhaust over the weekend as I think it may be blocked somehow

It might be worth having a look (no spanners involved) at the exhaust flexi. It's the braided bit just under/behind the engine. If this splits (and they do) then the route out through the hole is the easiest route, as there's a lot of resistance through the DPF. This means that when it does its regen, the hot gas/fuel/whatever mix doesn't do its business in the DPF. I only noticed mine was split as I happened to be reversing while it was doing a regen, and there were clouds coming out of the front right wheelarch. It might have been leaking for ages until I happened to notice.

If it's split then the braiding will be black - very black, more than dirty. If you can get someone to rev it while looking under with daylight or a torch behind then you might see it in action.

I don't know how intelligent the clogging figure is - it may detect back-pressure, but this would be affected by a leak in the flexi anyway. It may even be a simple counter based on runtime or miles since the last regen.

I used to have a printer where you could put an empty cartridge in, tell the printer it was new, then the printer would merrily print nothing while telling you there was still 80% of the ink remaining.

Cheers, I'll check the flexi but it doesn't seem to be blowing?
It's really strange though, it's like the car from being perfectly ok with no apparent issues to undriveable overnight. I don't think I could get up the incline to get off it the drive now :banghead:

Would the blocked EGR valve make it go into "limp home" mode after a while?

Have checked your swirl flap linkage is still on ?

When I was trying to change my thermostat I noticed a small hose on the top of the engine that's a little bit perished. Don't know what it does exactly but the car was pulling as though it was tied to a bollard below 3000 revs and then needed a gear change at 3500 revs.

I put some black insulating tape around it as a temporary measure and all seems to be well again, although I will need to try and find out what it does and get a replacement.

Might be worth having a look, just in case you've got a similar problem.

When was your engine oil changed? How about diesel filter? Air filter?
Is your turbo working/boosting?

Also check that both mileage resets, oil change and oil condition have been done. Very few service places know about the oil condition, which stops any regen after 22000 miles.

Just thought I'd update to say thank you for the replies. I've not had a chance to look at it yet. I don't think its a fuel/air filter issue though, there seems to be back pressure in the exhaust. I'll hopefully get to it this weekend but I might just end up selling it off as it is. Cheap croma anyone?

If you have exhaust backpressure, then your DPF is clogged. You need to dismantle it and give it a good clean or take it to some service area to clean it.

It does seem to be down to the dpf. I tried to remove it today but even after a liberal soaking of wd40 a few days ago I have manage to round one of the nuts

I decided to take the sensor out (closest to engine) and the car seems to rev better with it removed. I'm going to drive it to a friend of mine with a ramp tomorrow and get him to remove the dpf for me.

So now I'm debating cleaning it (was thinking caustic soda and jetwash after) or knocking it out completely or even just ordering a new one (seem £200 ish on Ebay)

I'd like it gone really. Can I just knock it through and then buy some software and remap it myself? Thanks guys :thumbup:

I knocked the innards out of mine and got it professionally remapped. Don't do the dpf unless you can get it remapped at the same time. Blank the egr while you are at it.

It's definitely a dpf issue. Its removed now and revs easily. Now to find the best way forward to knock it out and remap to remove. Thanks everyone for the input. I'll update when it's done and back on the road. Suggestions welcome

I used Celtic Tuning for the remap. They are Cornwall based but have agents Nationwide and they have done several Cromas and 159s/Breras. Angel Tuning are a favourite with the Italian car fraternity. I did speak to them but they don't come far enough south for me.

P.S. when I gutted my DPF the ecu still showed it as blocked until the remap.

I had a loss of power a few years ago and in my case it was during the DPF burning. When the regeneration takes place the engine is put under load by loading the alternator. This is done by turning on the glow plugs. In my case I found that the connection on the glow plug relay was loose and the engine was going into "get you home" mode. I had checked the glow plugs and found them ok. I suggest you have a look at this system.

Wow, two whole months of reliability. Some people have all the luck.

Dpf internals now removed and dpf/egr deleted and remapped by NV Motorsport
I'm going to run it low on diesel tomorrow (added forte dpf additive which I have no need for now) and refill. I'll update when I've given it a good run and an oil change over the weekend but so far so good with no more check engine lamp!