Technical Fiat bravo 1.6 Eco multijet - Regen

[Sieboo22]

Hi
I have had my bravo for 4 months now and have been having problems with regen issues. It has been in the garage but nothing was found apart from a faulty EGR valve which got replaced. My question is does anyone know how often as in roughly how many miles between regens? I read on the AA website it was anywhere from 300 to 500 miles but I cannot find anymore info. Can anyone help please

 

[austenw90]

Hi
I have had my bravo for 4 months now and have been having problems with regen issues. It has been in the garage but nothing was found apart from a faulty EGR valve which got replaced. My question is does anyone know how often as in roughly how many miles between regens? I read on the AA website it was anywhere from 300 to 500 miles but I cannot find anymore info. Can anyone help please

Duration between regenerations as I understand is completely dependant upon the driving you do e.g. Distance, speed, urban, motorway etc.

A very helpful chap s130 has plugged my 2.0 Multijet in to his computer a few times and has shown me all of the data that is recorded. It records the total number of regenerations over the life of the car. Mine said somewhere between 200-250 if I recall ( I can't remember exactly) over 39,000ish miles. It also states the distance since last regeneration. I find my car will run a regeneration cycle about once a week sometimes once every 5/6 days dependant on weekly mileage. It is noticeable as the revs run everso slightly higher (noticeable at idle) and the fan runs at what sounds like full power. I do anywhere upwards of 250 miles per week, usually between 250 - 300 so this should give an indication. This is primarily driving at 60mph + however before this year I was doing far less miles, too few to warrant having a diesel really therefore regens occurred at lower mileage intervals.

You don't really say what issues you are having since the replacement of the EGR valve? What kind of mileage and driving are you doing?

 

[Sieboo22]

Many thanks for your reply. I honestly believe I was told incorrect info from a mechanic who told me it should be every 2000 miles. I have never had a diesal car so I was new to all this stuff . My car was every now and again struggling , no power and the mileage range shoots right down and I can here the fan. I took it to the garage but because there is no error light etc they couldn't find anything apart from the faulty valve. My car is still doing the regens but if it is normal to do it anywhere from 300 to 500 then I'm happy. I can go 3 weeks without one as I don't do that much mileage. I feel though that I have wasted the garages time and effort if my car is just doing what it should do. Hope all that makes sense

 

[austenw90]

Many thanks for your reply. I honestly believe I was told incorrect info from a mechanic who told me it should be every 2000 miles. I have never had a diesal car so I was new to all this stuff . My car was every now and again struggling , no power and the mileage range shoots right down and I can here the fan. I took it to the garage but because there is no error light etc they couldn't find anything apart from the faulty valve. My car is still doing the regens but if it is normal to do it anywhere from 300 to 500 then I'm happy. I can go 3 weeks without one as I don't do that much mileage. I feel though that I have wasted the garages time and effort if my car is just doing what it should do. Hope all that makes sense

It sound as though they have misinformed you a bit there so it's no surprise you were under the impression something wasn't right. The DPF warning light should light up on the dash if the filter were to become too blocked, which means it needs to be driven preferably at a decent speed until the light goes out. It is all in the handbook. This is my understanding anyway. I'm sure others can confirm.

Another important point is to try and limit use where the car doesn't get up to temperature and then some which will depend on the air temperature at the time of year. This is important for all cars but especially diesels and even more so those with a DPF!

 

[Sieboo22]

Yes I think your right was told incorrect info hence why I thought my car was playing up. I have no warning lights nothing at all so all must be good.. Thanks again for your info you have helped me so much I feel a lot better now thanks again

 

[s130]

2000 miles for a regen is way of base unless you drive 2000 miles per day.

I don't have specific data to hand but every couple of 200 miles (possibly 400 to 500) is probably about normal. As for normal then don't even ask. It all depends on your driving usage/cycle and a load of other stuff. If you do short runs where the engine only just reaches proper running temps then it is possible that regens will be happening every 50 miles or so or even less.

All I can honestly say is "expect anything and everything" when it comes to DPF filter regens, contamination, recovery etc. The whole footprint will be down to drive cycle and driving style and driving load (eg 5 persons per day or caravan/trailer/load hauling).

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

What sort of journeys are you doing and what sort of issues are you having?

My Bravo (1.6 120) when I last checked with FES was regening every 177km (110 miles) and lasting 556 seconds a regen on average (this was over the 5 previous regens) when I was playing about with software, and this is fairly normal with me doing a 50mile round trip to work daily.

 

[rossocorsa]

What sort of journeys are you doing and what sort of issues are you having?

My Bravo (1.6 120) when I last checked with FES was regening every 177km (110 miles) and lasting 556 seconds a regen on average (this was over the 5 previous regens) when I was playing about with software, and this is fairly normal with me doing a 50mile round trip to work daily.

That seems quite short. Our 2.0 multijet currently regens about every 350 miles, or was it km? I forget! Anyway similar duration around 500 sec and temp over 600, car does about 30 miles per day occasionally more. Yours seems very frequent had the car done a lot of miles and hence a lot of ash in the dpf? Ours only has 16k on the clock

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

That seems quite short. Our 2.0 multijet currently regens about every 350 miles, or was it km? I forget! Anyway similar duration around 500 sec and temp over 600, car does about 30 miles per day occasionally more. Yours seems very frequent had the car done a lot of miles and hence a lot of ash in the dpf? Ours only has 16k on the clock

How do you know it's every 350 miles, that from when you're aware of it doing it and the mileage you record on the trip in between or from reading the ECU like me?

Mine isn't to short tbh, I suspect your car is doing it a lot more frequently but you're not picking up on it. I rarely realise mine is regening unless I have it in instantaneous MPG readout or stop and the cooling fan is on high speed, mainly because the car doesn't perform any differently. The car has 78k on the clock, but this wouldn't make a difference to regens as far as I'm aware, a regen should remove soot to a preset level, regardless of the mileage. A DPF should (if the system doesn't become faulty) last the life of the vehicle, so your theory of it going fewer miles between regens as mileage increases doesn't really work.

EDIT: reread your post, and you've mentioned temps, so I assume you're reading the ECU, rather than working out mileage manually.

 

[rossocorsa]

How do you know it's every 350 miles, that from when you're aware of it doing it and the mileage you record on the trip in between or from reading the ECU like me?

Mine isn't to short tbh, I suspect your car is doing it a lot more frequently but you're not picking up on it. I rarely realise mine is regening unless I have it in instantaneous MPG readout or stop and the cooling fan is on high speed, mainly because the car doesn't perform any differently. The car has 78k on the clock, but this wouldn't make a difference to regens as far as I'm aware, a regen should remove soot to a preset level, regardless of the mileage. A DPF should (if the system doesn't become faulty) last the life of the vehicle, so your theory of it going fewer miles between regens as mileage increases doesn't really work.

EDIT: reread your post, and you've mentioned temps, so I assume you're reading the ECU, rather than working out mileage manually.

yes multiecuscan I think your more frequent regens will be due to your much higher mileage, a certain amount of ash is left by each regen and the build up of this will increase the frequency of regens due to less free space in the dpf

 

[Jazzist]

Out of interest what area of the country are you in?

 

[Sieboo22]

Update in my fiat bravo and the whole regen issue. Today due to town driving my car attempted a regen but got interrupted due to me stopping but my car just felt terrible afterwards I decided to bypass the dealership where I got my car from and thought if I logged my issue with fiat then hopefully if more people do it then fiat might actually do something about it. They are investigating and I have a case number so I am hoping to finally get it sorted. I have read up and been informed that either a fix is due via a update or I have read that it is legal and acceptable to have the dpf removed and remapped. Has anyone else called fiat head office up and logged this issue?? I'm thinking the more people that call the better????

 

[Sieboo22]

The attempts at regen have gone from around 350 miles down to 150.. Which I now feel are to close together, hence why I have called fiat .

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

The attempts at regen have gone from around 350 miles down to 150.. Which I now feel are to close together, hence why I have called fiat .

150 isn't too close together depending upon your mileage, and it's not technically legal to remove a DFP, I'm sure it was on here recently someone posted the link to advise why this is

 

[Sieboo22]

I usually do about 20 miles a day not a lot really... Some town and some motorway driving but I'm not on the motorway long before I have to come off. I think I'm just unsure what's right and what wrong with the frequency of regens but I'm guessing there isn't a right or wrong which just makes it worse ... Re the removal I read so many differance stories some say yes go for it some say its illegal?? Who knows

 

[rossocorsa]

I usually do about 20 miles a day not a lot really... Some town and some motorway driving but I'm not on the motorway long before I have to come off. I think I'm just unsure what's right and what wrong with the frequency of regens but I'm guessing there isn't a right or wrong which just makes it worse ... Re the removal I read so many differance stories some say yes go for it some say its illegal?? Who knows

I think the problem with dpf removal is that at present you will probably get away with it but if mot regulations etc are updated you could end up with a problem later. I would also be slightly wary of the required ECU remap as the long term effect is down to the skill of the programmer. Have to say that whilst I am in no way an environmentalist I also would be reluctant to remove an item that greatly reduces the nasty black stuff from the exhaust but may start to think differently if my dpf starts playing up.