DPF Regen

Tony Dyson

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ah ! i will check that story on my 651. anyone know, can that be initiated from car controls ? or is that another "laptop " issue and like Tony i would just like to see it done , tho i sure dont trust that a clean test of dpf means its not going to give any problems or frankly that doing a regen will not mean an issue does not materialize 5 min after .kind of like a lot of timing change issues seem to crop up 5 min AFTER changing the oil and filter ?

The Service, DPF Menu I was referring to in my earlier post for a Maanual DPF regeneration while driving, is on the icarsoft menu system so it's a two man job really initiated from the scanner.
 

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ok so its prob a star job then .will look ,beginning to think i should just wire the damn laptop into the car !! prob need it to change a bulb on next generation.
 

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I too, have never knowingly experienced a regen and after reading all the DPF horror stories on the site, decided to look into it further. This morning I found with my icarsoft MB2 Scanner the following information;

View attachment 50354
View attachment 50355
View attachment 50357

Firstly, this level of information has to be available to everyone with an up-to-Date scanner which IMHO should be the first essential part of anyone's DIY toolkit for any vehicle manufactured in the last 20 Yrs or so.

The DPF PD of 0.01 bar doesn't have me worried as is almost insignificant, my Air Filter has a PD of 0.1 bar and is indicated as 4% blocked.
Fill Level of DPF however is a concern.
Soot and Ash levels of 2g and 0g actually make sense as soot is by nature a sparse and lightweight product.
'Total distance at last correction of ash content' Now this one has me a little confused, I took this initially as the last Regen and the mileage indicated is the same as my odometer which says it has never regenerated but why is the terminology referring to Ash and not a Regeneration?

There is a function to initiate a Regeneration while driving, in the Service, DPF Menu which I think I will do when it's next convenient to see if I can at least reduce that 45% Fill Level.

Interesting reading, never found that in my icarsoft mb2, will have a good look around next time I plug it in.
 

Tony Dyson

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ok so its prob a star job then .will look ,beginning to think i should just wire the damn laptop into the car !! prob need it to change a bulb on next generation.

Yes, that is the reason why I said the job was for two people, one to drive and one to operate the scanner, I wonder how much MB sell he Data to the 3rd party aftermarket Scanner Manufacturers? :)
 

Tony Dyson

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Interesting reading, never found that in my icarsoft mb2, will have a good look around next time I plug it in.
It's in fragmented locations;

Diagnostics->Front SAM
Diagnostics->ECU
Service->DPF for the regeneration.

One thing I have come to realise is the number of software updates from icarsoft are regular, around 1 a Month and are significant.
 

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It's in fragmented locations;

Diagnostics->Front SAM
Diagnostics->ECU
Service->DPF for the regeneration.

One thing I have come to realise is the number of software updates from icarsoft are regular, around 1 a Month and are significant.

Thanks for that.
 

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Thanks for that.

Interesting, downloaded the latest software update tool, plugged the iCarsoft into my PC via USB, entered the serial number only to be told that the serial number was not recognised!

Found the original update tool I had downloaded when I bought the device, put the SSD card into my PC and everything worked OK.
 

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You cannot force regen a Merc without STAR and checking/updating the engine control unit software. Im not aware of any scanner on the market that can do it other than STAR.
 

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You cannot force regen a Merc without STAR and checking/updating the engine control unit software. Im not aware of any scanner on the market that can do it other than STAR.

Hello Steve, you are probably right, after further reading the manual, it is suggesting a Regeneration could only be initiated on a Blocked DPF Warning, and not forced at will which makes a lot of sense to me. I stated in an earlier post that I would attempt a Regeneration when next convenient in an attempt to mitigate a reported fill level of 45% but have been thinking since that if I have no warning so why would I intervene, I would appreciate your thoughts? below is an extract from the icarsoft MB2 manual FYIP.

upload_2019-5-28_11-32-16.png
 

Steve@Avantgarde

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Hello Steve, you are probably right, after further reading the manual, it is suggesting a Regeneration could only be initiated on a Blocked DPF Warning, and not forced at will which makes a lot of sense to me. I stated in an earlier post that I would attempt a Regeneration when next convenient in an attempt to mitigate a reported fill level of 45% but have been thinking since that if I have no warning so why would I intervene, I would appreciate your thoughts? below is an extract from the icarsoft MB2 manual FYIP.

View attachment 50385

You talk good sense. The car will regen when it wants/needs to, providing there is nothing stopping it doing so.

As regards icarsoft, its a system I'm not familiar with, but i know my snap on equipment we have to use on all other makes has a sporadic DPF regen function, on MB's it won't work. STAR which i know like the back of my hand, always has the same prerequisite, which is to check and update the software before carrying out a manual regen, and then you drive the vehicle with STAR connected whilst it goes through its burn cycle.
 

Tony Dyson

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You talk good sense. The car will regen when it wants/needs to, providing there is nothing stopping it doing so.

As regards icarsoft, its a system I'm not familiar with, but i know my snap on equipment we have to use on all other makes has a sporadic DPF regen function, on MB's it won't work. STAR which i know like the back of my hand, always has the same prerequisite, which is to check and update the software before carrying out a manual regen, and then you drive the vehicle with STAR connected whilst it goes through its burn cycle.
Thank you for that, it was during one of my 'Less Senior Moments' :confused: I'll wait and see when it thinks it's full!
 

ajlsl600

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so that means benz have us by the nuxx regards a forced regen then ? as i presume one must be online to get the update that we did,nt know we needed.. frankly my limited experience of updates (microsoft) has been that what was often working without incident is after an update often working with many incidents ! as a result i have a preference for avoiding anything to do with an update unless actually having an existing issue that seems software related .
 

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Theoretically, when your car decides it needs to regenerate and burn off the soot in the DPF it will do, in the background, providing all operating parameters are met, if a DPF Full or Soot Accumulation warning comes up, something has clearly gone wrong so it is understandable that the STAR procedure will be for a software update first in an effort to correct the problem, then the regen can continue, but if you wish, at the point of a DPF error message indication, a Regen can be manually initiated, without the software update, with the icarsoft MB2.
 

Steve@Avantgarde

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so that means benz have us by the nuxx regards a forced regen then ? as i presume one must be online to get the update that we did,nt know we needed.. frankly my limited experience of updates (microsoft) has been that what was often working without incident is after an update often working with many incidents ! as a result i have a preference for avoiding anything to do with an update unless actually having an existing issue that seems software related .

No, MB haven't got you by the nuts at all. There is a safety measure that protects your DPF from burning out through unwanted, over activated or wrongly activated regeneration of the emissions control system. Before the invention and fitting of ad-blue, DPF's have to burn somewhere between 400-600'c to clean. If you have someone who doesnt know what they are doing constantly manually regenerating a DPF, you will damage it. Same too if the DPF is full, say because of another sensors failure and the control ECU constantly tries to regen even when there is a fault there.

MB's have a system where the DPF will always regen, but it won't do if certain parameters from other sensors of the control electronics don't meet the target criteria. So rather than pushing on regardless, causing other potential issues, it will stop the regen process. This will then generate a limp mode where the fault can be identified and fixed.

A manual regen doesnt always mean it needs a software upgrade. STAR takes you through a guided process where it will state that the software needs to be checked first. If you don't carry out that procedure, it won't take you into the forced regen function. To my knowledge, there is no way to circumnavigate that procedure or a back door way into that function. Once you are in that part of the ECU to carry out a forced regen, STAR needs to be connected to it on a 20 mile or so journey to make sure the process completes properly.

It just means theres another element that a DIYer on the drive way can't do or an all makes workshop won't be able to do through limited knowledge or equipment. But thats why people like me exist!
 

ajlsl600

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thanks for the explanation, i think my point may remain , my star will look at the software and if it aint happy it will want an update ? and if thats not forthcoming the process cannot be continued . this update is an online story right ? and i guess the check of the same is an online story ?
 
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thanks for the explanation, i think my point may remain , my star will look at the software and if it aint happy it will want an update ? and if thats not forthcoming the process cannot be continued . this update is an online story right ? and i guess the check of the same is an online story ?
I'm no very little about a cars ECU and what the update does, but you cannot really compare this update to that of the multitude of windows updates!
 

Steve@Avantgarde

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thanks for the explanation, i think my point may remain , my star will look at the software and if it aint happy it will want an update ? and if thats not forthcoming the process cannot be continued . this update is an online story right ? and i guess the check of the same is an online story ?

Correct to a point. But you should also have no need to manually regenerate a DPF unless you have fixed a fault with it, which is usually combined with updating the software too. So its a moot point.
 

Tony Dyson

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I too, have never knowingly experienced a regen and after reading all the DPF horror stories on the site, decided to look into it further. This morning I found with my icarsoft MB2 Scanner the following information;

View attachment 50354
View attachment 50355
View attachment 50357

Firstly, this level of information has to be available to everyone with an up-to-Date scanner which IMHO should be the first essential part of anyone's DIY toolkit for any vehicle manufactured in the last 20 Yrs or so.

The DPF PD of 0.01 bar doesn't have me worried as is almost insignificant, my Air Filter has a PD of 0.1 bar and is indicated as 4% blocked.
Fill Level of DPF however is a concern.
Soot and Ash levels of 2g and 0g actually make sense as soot is by nature a sparse and lightweight product.
'Total distance at last correction of ash content' Now this one has me a little confused, I took this initially as the last Regen and the mileage indicated is the same as my odometer which says it has never regenerated but why is the terminology referring to Ash and not a Regeneration?

There is a function to initiate a Regeneration while driving, in the Service, DPF Menu which I think I will do when it's next convenient to see if I can at least reduce that 45% Fill Level.

So for those of you who are interested, I decided not to attempt to interfere and initiate a regen, there were no error codes therefore there wasn't a problem to resolve.

Today, I plugged in the scanner again and found the soot level had increased from 45% on May 26th to 88% so that’s only 17 days or 415 Mls so as I had some mileage to cover today decided to record live data from the ECM DPF feed while driving, the soot level increased from 88 to 100% in around 2 Hours then after around 10-15 Mins started reducing fast and back down to 1% in around 30 Mins, unfortunately I believe the data file I created was too big to save so I lost all the component temperature fluctuations to confirm a regen had taken place, there were no noticeable temperature fluctuations in the cluster information, in fact no noticeable changes whatsoever other than the soot content reading gradually and uniformly reducing over time.

The Data file I have included was taken around 30 Mins after I returned and finding I lost the driving data file so the temperatures indicated are somewhat cooler that at the actual time of the regen however the overall result is that Soot and Ash levels of 0% and a fill level starting off again at 2% is good so I’m happy that everything appears to be working to design specifications.

I am however not entirely happy with the speed the DPF filled up, time will tell if this is going to be the norm and regular occurrence, I don’t do short journeys, there is a possibility that the cheap ASDA Diesel I’ve been using is the culprit, I filled up before the journey today with Shell’s premium product, I think I’ll stick with that for the time being while monitoring performance.
 

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ajlsl600

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nice info that. i might investigate with my star and see if i can determine the same as you .i have made a deliberate policy of not using the ml for short journeys .a class gets that job. we are off on a lengthy motorway run next week i will sit the "star" on lovelies lap and see what happens,she WILL be thrilled .
 

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So for those of you who are interested, I decided not to attempt to interfere and initiate a regen, there were no error codes therefore there wasn't a problem to resolve.

Today, I plugged in the scanner again and found the soot level had increased from 45% on May 26th to 88% so that’s only 17 days or 415 Mls so as I had some mileage to cover today decided to record live data from the ECM DPF feed while driving, the soot level increased from 88 to 100% in around 2 Hours then after around 10-15 Mins started reducing fast and back down to 1% in around 30 Mins, unfortunately I believe the data file I created was too big to save so I lost all the component temperature fluctuations to confirm a regen had taken place, there were no noticeable temperature fluctuations in the cluster information, in fact no noticeable changes whatsoever other than the soot content reading gradually and uniformly reducing over time.

The Data file I have included was taken around 30 Mins after I returned and finding I lost the driving data file so the temperatures indicated are somewhat cooler that at the actual time of the regen however the overall result is that Soot and Ash levels of 0% and a fill level starting off again at 2% is good so I’m happy that everything appears to be working to design specifications.

I am however not entirely happy with the speed the DPF filled up, time will tell if this is going to be the norm and regular occurrence, I don’t do short journeys, there is a possibility that the cheap ASDA Diesel I’ve been using is the culprit, I filled up before the journey today with Shell’s premium product, I think I’ll stick with that for the time being while monitoring performance.
I use cheap diesel all the time , I just add cetane to each tank which increases burn temperature . I don't have a dpf though .
 


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