DPF Regen

ajlsl600

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any experience on chemical cleaning of dpf, at the moment i am not keen on adding any kind of detergent type cleaner as i think it could easily aggravate a blockage and or any sensors. right now i have no need for this ,and if system works never will ,just trying to think ahead and have a plan.
 

Tony Dyson

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My Owner's Manual advises not to add any 3rd party additives and to use Premium Fuels that already contain flow improvers, detergents etc., so for the time being I'm going to run with their advice and see how fast my DPF fills this time around, I have absolutely no idea what long or short term effects adding other products to the fuel may have, bearing in mind the complicated fuel delivery system i.e. a two compartment fuel tank with a complicated fuel equalisation and transfer system, a HP Fuel Pump delivering up to 2,000 Bar, a fuel filter that contains an electric heating element, more instrumentation sensors and actuators than you could ever possibly shake a stick at! and the final delivery of atomised fuel through the injectors, Frankly speaking, I am scared of the potential damage I could do to any one of these components by adding anything to the fuel other than advised by the Manufacturers.
 

Mr Filipov

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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

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.

The mileage covered for the DPF to fill seems about right to me I’m afraid.

The E350 CDI I had previously used to do regens every 250-300 miles without a fail.
 

Tony Dyson

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The mileage covered for the DPF to fill seems about right to me I’m afraid.
The E350 CDI I had previously used to do regens every 250-300 miles without a fail.

I don't know if that cycle rate is within design parameters or not? At that rate in my last job my car would have been regenerating 2-3 times a week so if that's an acceptable rate for the design lifetime of the car then all's well and I need not be overly concerned about the regeneration process, I should be grateful MB have developed a self cleaning process that works successfully in the background and I don't have to replace physical filters periodically, a post script often following DPF statements by MB is 'Regeneration occurs unnoticed by the customer.' Long may that continue! although it is still something I think we should all know a little more about.
 

Tony Dyson

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any experience on chemical cleaning of dpf, at the moment i am not keen on adding any kind of detergent type cleaner as i think it could easily aggravate a blockage and or any sensors. right now i have no need for this ,and if system works never will ,just trying to think ahead and have a plan.
I hadn't heard of DPF Chemical Cleaning but found this site on my travels today that offer the service as an option if a forced regen cannot be started on a blocked DPF so it exists and as it does I'm sure there will be other practitioners!

http://www.mbservicesyorkshire.co.uk/services/dpf-solutions/
 
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I drove an Insignia with a DPF for 4 years as a company car, in that time I mainly did local short runs, and in that time never had a PDF issue. Maybe the MB engine kicks out more soot?
 

ajlsl600

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cheers . looked at that . think secret is plan a decent journey now and then even a 40 mile trip to a motorway service stn for a burger could represent a saving if yr mainly a short distance character, if so sell ye diesel buy a petrol.
 

malcolm E53 AMG

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I think you’ll find the Mercedes DPF system very good very few complaints on here about EML problems due to the DPF being saturated with soot. I don’t think it would be a good idea to run a car with a DPF system continually for short journeys but the system will accommodate this the key to that is when a regen starts run the car till it finishes, most people who know engines sense when the regen starts a change in the exhaust note due to extra fuel being injected into the exhaust and a higher tickover. Very little is said about passive regeneration ie soot in the DPF that is burnt off naturally at A road and Motorway speeds ie, if that’s all the kind of motoring the car was subjected to it would hardly ever undergo a forced regeneration by the ECU

VAG seem to have endless problems with clogged DPFs presumably due to a combination of the system either not engineered as well or smaller engines with a lot of town use
 
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I think you’ll find the Mercedes DPF system very good very few complaints on here about EML problems due to the DPF being saturated with soot. I don’t think it would be a good idea to run a car with a DPF system continually for short journeys but the system will accommodate this the key to that is when a regen starts run the car till it finishes, most people who know engines sense when the regen starts a change in the exhaust note due to extra fuel being injected into the exhaust and a higher tickover. Very little is said about passive regeneration ie soot in the DPF that is burnt off naturally at A road and Motorway speeds ie, if that’s all the kind of motoring the car was subjected to it would hardly ever undergo a forced regeneration by the ECU

VAG seem to have endless problems with clogged DPFs presumably due to a combination of the system either not engineered as well or smaller engines with a lot of town use
My brother in law run a diesel VW, and they have had the DPF light come on a few times in the last year, this is because the car is used mainly for local trips i.e taking kids to school and some local shopping.
 

malcolm E53 AMG

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My brother in law run a diesel VW, and they have had the DPF light come on a few times in the last year, this is because the car is used mainly for local trips i.e taking kids to school and some local shopping.

Yes a friend of mine running an Audi A1 has similar problems the main of his journeys are around 5 miles, the key is how long it takes for the engine to warm up the OM642 in particular warms up very quickly for a diesel
 

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Yes a friend of mine running an Audi A1 has similar problems the main of his journeys are around 5 miles, the key is how long it takes for the engine to warm up the OM642 in particular warms up very quickly for a diesel

Test drove an Audi A6 BiTDI once and the light came on during the drive. Went out after 15 mins. It lights up to warn you that it’s doing a regen and for you to keep driving.
 

Mr Filipov

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I don't know if that cycle rate is within design parameters or not? At that rate in my last job my car would have been regenerating 2-3 times a week so if that's an acceptable rate for the design lifetime of the car then all's well and I need not be overly concerned about the regeneration process, I should be grateful MB have developed a self cleaning process that works successfully in the background and I don't have to replace physical filters periodically, a post script often following DPF statements by MB is 'Regeneration occurs unnoticed by the customer.' Long may that continue! although it is still something I think we should all know a little more about.

Oh it was very much noticeable on my E350. Now that I have the 530d GT I can hands down say I can never tell when it is doing a regen. To the point where I have never felt it do one in 18k miles, but I am sure it would happened a few times.
 
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Test drove an Audi A6 BiTDI once and the light came on during the drive. Went out after 15 mins. It lights up to warn you that it’s doing a regen and for you to keep driving.
I wonder who will really carry on driving until it stops, I've quiet often turned up at home while the car is still doing a regen. If I had no idea what the DPF was I would be ignorant to the process.
 

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Oh it was very much noticeable on my E350. Now that I have the 530d GT I can hands down say I can never tell when it is doing a regen. To the point where I have never felt it do one in 18k miles, but I am sure it would happened a few times.
Maybe you won't notice the regen , because of the noise from the low profile BMW tyres buddy :shock::rolleyes:
 

Tony Dyson

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I wonder who will really carry on driving until it stops, I've quiet often turned up at home while the car is still doing a regen. If I had no idea what the DPF was I would be ignorant to the process.

Well according to MB;

"Note
If DPF regeneration is interrupted as a result of
short-distance trips, the process is spread out
over several driving cycles. Until the specified
regeneration temperature is reached several
heating-up phases are required.
Regeneration occurs unnoticed by the customer."

This was taken from the OM651 System Description AJ found recently.
 
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Well according to MB;

"Note
If DPF regeneration is interrupted as a result of
short-distance trips, the process is spread out
over several driving cycles. Until the specified
regeneration temperature is reached several
heating-up phases are required.
Regeneration occurs unnoticed by the customer."

This was taken from the OM651 System Description AJ found recently.
Right OK, thanks for that.
 

Mr Filipov

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Maybe you won't notice the regen , because of the noise from the low profile BMW tyres buddy :shock::rolleyes:

Hahaha. Not as low profile as you might imagine :p 245/45/19 on the front and 275/40/19 on the rear.
 

ajlsl600

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Well according to MB;

"Note
If DPF regeneration is interrupted as a result of
short-distance trips, the process is spread out
over several driving cycles. Until the specified
regeneration temperature is reached several
heating-up phases are required.
Regeneration occurs unnoticed by the customer."

This was taken from the OM651 System Description AJ found recently.


read that too. frankly given all the damn warnings on the dash that benz do give us, i would really like a regen in process indicator.
 

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