Frequent DPF Regen

Pablo

Active Member
May 27, 2016
33
0
Antrim
Bizarre, imho i'd remove the DPF and have it mapped out! DPF is the death of diesels. get rid of the filter and the job is a good one



Diesel emissions are the death of diesels and potentially people in busy cities breathing them in. DPF is just a poor stab at a solution.


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184FRJohn

Active Member
May 14, 2016
12
0
Somerset, GB
Bizarre, imho i'd remove the DPF and have it mapped out! DPF is the death of diesels. get rid of the filter and the job is a good one

I did consider this but didn't want to invalidate the warranty - figured it would be better to sell this one and buy an older Leon or similar to then tweak and re-map within budget
 

CharlesTheTog

Active Member
Jan 28, 2015
99
0
I did consider this but didn't want to invalidate the warranty - figured it would be better to sell this one and buy an older Leon or similar to then tweak and re-map within budget

If you are going to remap a different car etc you'll invalidate the warranty on that so you may aswel do it on the car you have. Honestly a dpf delete transforms the car
 

hilly81

Active Member
Apr 28, 2014
265
43
Little Sutton
If you are going to remap a different car etc you'll invalidate the warranty on that so you may aswel do it on the car you have. Honestly a dpf delete transforms the car

Until it fails it's MOT. And let's not worry about the extra particulates it will be churning out. They only cause lung disease and stuff. Nothing worth worrying about.
 

Dt-spd

Active Member
Sep 1, 2015
246
0
Rugby
Hi everyone,

Just a quick update on where I've got to with this issue.
To cut a long story short, they can't find any faults with the car and say it's down to my driving (short trips and trips where the system doesn't maintain high temp) and there is only 12g of soot in the DPF.
I'm annoyed at Seat for not really being of any assistance (their customer service provided 0 value added) and not stipulating on these cars that they are not suitable for frequent short journeys even if you do go on a long journey every weekend.

As a result, i'm selling the car and moving on to petrol - Seat have offered me a petrol version for an extra £5 a month - pondering wether to go for it or not or sell privately first - so if you drive long journeys let me know if you want a white 184 FR in pristine condition at trade in price!

Cheers for all the help,

John

Shame you are getting rid of it. It doesn't sound like there is anything wrong with the car as it is doing regens at the expected frequency. Frequent short journeys are not the issue they used to be as modern DPF structures and engine calibrations mean regen will complete successfully even at low engine speeds . If your drive cycle was an issue you would see warnings via the dashboard and I don't believe you have had any.

Seat have sold you a good car that is working as it should so why be annoyed with them ?
 

184FRJohn

Active Member
May 14, 2016
12
0
Somerset, GB
Shame you are getting rid of it. It doesn't sound like there is anything wrong with the car as it is doing regens at the expected frequency. Frequent short journeys are not the issue they used to be as modern DPF structures and engine calibrations mean regen will complete successfully even at low engine speeds . If your drive cycle was an issue you would see warnings via the dashboard and I don't believe you have had any.

Seat have sold you a good car that is working as it should so why be annoyed with them ?

The point is that the Regen cycles don't complete, and there's not much I can do about where I live and work so the car isn't suitable...
 

Dt-spd

Active Member
Sep 1, 2015
246
0
Rugby
If it can't complete then you would be getting warnings on the dash. If the regen is interrupted by turning off the engine then it will start again when you next drive. There is a huge amount of software in the EMS that controls the whole process.

Anyway, shame you are getting rid but if you are not happy then it's time to move on.
 

andrewpain

Active Member
Jul 5, 2014
1,852
3
Meppershall Beds.
I agree that it's anti-social to remove the DPF, if what we're now hearing about particulate poisoning is true.
And, to be fair, it's been said before that there are are lies, damned lies, and government statistics.
Mine does a regen every few weeks, and I don't always drive in 6th, as 70-odd in 5th is around 2100 rpm, and 60 in 4th about the same, so I'm trying to get the exhaust hot enough for long enough to start and complete a regen in one drive.
But 2 years in, with 24500 miles I've yet to see a warning light....and it's a great engine.
 

MattW35

Active Member
Aug 9, 2007
156
0
Cambs
The point is that the Regen cycles don't complete, and there's not much I can do about where I live and work so the car isn't suitable...

You say they don't complete, but I'm confused a) how you know it's not completing (especially bearing in mind Seat have told you there isn't excess soot built up) and b) even if they aren't, what issue it's causing you.
 

dids

Active Member
Apr 5, 2015
209
1
Stockport
I do a lot of short tips in the week and in a year the DPF waring light has come on once.The one time it came on i went on the motorway and drove at 2,200 revs for just over 10 mins and the light went out,im not sure why ours is coming all the time if you are giving it a clean at weekend. There is a video on Utube that VW has made that explains all about cleaning the DPF i hope that helps.
 
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184FRJohn

Active Member
May 14, 2016
12
0
Somerset, GB
Seat have advised that consequent regens immediately after the others (e.g. Following day) are because it failed to complete on the last drive.
The main issue is what happens when it was doing a Regen- Other than lumpy drive and mpg going down it would occasionally loose all power for a second whilst driving - had a couple of times where this was in less than ideal conditions so thought it was a fault but this is normal as part of Regen process according to Seat.

Anyway the car is gone now - I would say it's a fantastic car other than issues I've had and would recommend to anyone doing serious miles. I've tried the 1.4TSI and really impressed so likely to go for that or something similar next.

If My commute was longer i would have kept it as likely would not have been an issue based on what the guys are saying on here. seat advised that in the long term 4 miles short runs resulting in very frequent regens would have eventually caused issues later down the line even with long runs every week. Am in a position with finance etc where I am better off getting out to look for a petrol alternative rather than risk eventually facing bills related to dpf.

If anyone has any suggestions for a petrol alternative other than Leon 1.4 TSI that would be great (unfortunately Cupra ideas were quickly dismissed by the long haired commander).

Cheers
 

Happy Days

Cupra 280/ FR 184 Nice.
Apr 13, 2016
65
5
Somerset
I a little late on this thread but I had a MK7 golf 150bhp diesel and that used to regen all the time. My same drive home and parked in my garage and smelt of burning/ran very hot but this happened for 2 years and the car was fine. We have a Seat now 184 and that also does the same, very normal behavior.

PS, I drive a Cupra which I have had for a couple of months, awesome drive.
 

SeanD

Active Member
Mar 12, 2020
10
2
An interesting post. I'm on my second Leon FR184 diesel, both vehicles covered over 85,000 miles. Typical long distance driving, when I was national sales. Never had a problem with either car regarding re gens, used to get the occasional fan on for 10 minutes when I pulled up the drive. As someone said in one of the replies to the post, you buy a diesel for the milage. In my case, well over 30k a year.
 

andycupra

status subject to change
i used to work with DPFs..
firstly, they collect particulates and burn them off once certain temperatures are achieved.
However, passive regen, (which is particulates are burn off during normal driving), will reduce active regens but shouldnt mean it wont ever do an active regen. the temperatures in an active regen are far higher, (think 3x) as high during an active regen.
In my experience, VAG cars do indeed tend to have smaller filters, which would lead to more regular, but shorter regens.
In complete regens are the failure of DPF systems, as some have said the car will often start a regen at the worst possible time, 2 miles from your destination etc. Sadly for many a 10 mile drive is a typical drive, the car will take time to warm and reach active regen temps and doing all this and completing a regen in 10 miles is simply not doable for most cars.
I am surprised they did not factor in a design whereby the car would display a symbol stating regen is due, but which you could 'pause' or 'delay' so may times before its forced. But then this was seen as something most would not understand or like in a car as it would lead to poor customer experience.

As for particulates.. diesels are larger than petrols, but lets be clear, petrol cars have particulates also. they are however smaller. historically particulate output was based on weight, which diesels are worse, but a new factor is being brought in where particle count goes towards this calculation. This means some petrol cars not have particle filters, and this may become wider reaching.
It does seem to be quite a agricultural approach though and in my opinion we should have been looking at cleaner fuels rather than dealing with less clean fuels out on the road.
 
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