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DPF debate

64K views 30 replies 18 participants last post by  Ahto42 
#1 ·
Like many other contributors on this and other sites I have concerns re: the DPF and the regeneration issue. My wife uses my 2 litre 150bhp diesel mostly and does mainly short hops during the week and it probably rarely gets warmed up properly. It is only at weekends that I have the opportunity to give it a decent run. It seems really odd that in these days of supposed greener motoring I have bought a eco 4x4 ! and yet I have to 'waste' fuel in order to stop the DPF clogging. At what sort of interval and for how long do I need to give it a 'thrash' up the motorway to avoid this problem developing and how will I know if the regeneration has taken place? Any advice will be gratefully received.

Cheers

Paul
 
#2 ·
Hello Paul,
my 57 plate t31 has now covered 31k. The DPF warning light has come on approx 6 times. The light illuminates to indicate that 5 failed regenerations have occured. You have no way of knowing when the regeneration starts, but if it hasn't finished when you switch off the engine, a failed regeneration is logged in the ecu. My dealer has since reprogrammed the ecu so it now takes 10 failed attempts before the light illuminates.

Back to your original question, my dealer recomends that at least once a week you drive at 2500 to 3000 rpm for 30 miles. I normally do 60mph in 4th gear. You may notice a smell from your engine when you stop, various ideas have been put forward for this, but it would appear that it is the dpf filter cleaning it's self. The smell is usually like burnt rubber.

Dont forget after a long high rpm run to let your turbo spool down for 2 minutes. If you go on the Honest John web site you can some good info and advice.

note for other members. T31 XT to be face lifted this summer according to this weeks Auto express. Dealer said its true but he was not sure what the changes would be, but guessed that the connect radio etc would be one of them.
 
#3 ·
Hi Pac,

Thanks for the info and I will take the advice. I too have had the 'burning rubber' smell and wondered what it was. I haven't had any problem yet with the DPF but the car has only done 900 miles to date, I was merely concerned with the sheer volume of posts on this and other sites regarding the DPF and limp home mode. Mine is due for its first years service in July would you consider it worth asking the dealer to reprogramme teh ecu as yours has been done? Did the dealer charge for this adjustment or was it done under warranty? Even though nothing has happened as yet I have lost some confidence in the car and am 'waiting' for the first event. I wish I had known about this potential problem before I purchased it.

Thanks again

Paul
 
#4 ·
Paul,
The dealer did not charge for the re programme. I have read a number of posts re the DPF issue and I agree it's not an ideal situation, but all the cars that i've ever had have benefitted from a good run on the motorway. My 2 1/2 years with my XT have not been fault free but on the whole its the best car that I have ever had.

Enjoy your new car and dont worry as my dealer said to me 'were here to help and that what a warranty is for'.

keep us posted.

Paul
 
#5 ·
gents, my pennies worth here, i have been in the motor trade for 25 yrs, two yrs ago i bought a new 2.0 173 bhp diesel xtrail for her as a bit of a thankyou with the idea i could give her something i would not have to put a spanner to for at least three years, within 3 weeks of owning it, the dpf light came on, dearler suggested it the drivers fault, so i instructed my wife to give it a good run a t least once a week or make it work a little harder in the lower gears around town as bizzarrly they don t like town use as the dearler said, since then it has come on with more frequencey than i care to recall, sometimes the dpf light is very closely followed by the mil light, this is in my opinion the worst dpf(regen) system i have ever come across in my years in the trade. i have had starting trouble,hesitating and this dpf system, today its going back again for the dpf/mil light. i have told them that in my opinion there is something just not right and i do not want the car back untill something is done about it, if i had the benifit of hindsight i would have spent my 27k on something else. complete ****e.
 
#7 ·
I complained to my dealer that to do 50mph where we go on holiday (Isle of Mull) is dangerous, he told me the speed is not so important but a constant 3000+ rpm, in say a lower gear. Its a pain, but google "DPF problems " and you will find similar problems with most makes. If it wasn't the fact that I tow a caravan I would go back to petrol.
revhead is probably correct, in my previous car it was foot hard down that created most black smoke out of the exhaust which is what the DPF collects.
 
#8 ·
Just back from an identical holiday on the IO Mull and no DPF problems. I think because I kept the revs above 2500 where ever posible, generally by being in one gear lower than I would normally have been in. MPG did not seem to suffer. In fact by doing this since last year I have had no DPF light in 12k miles.
 
#9 ·
I think the dpf light on problem is only a problem on the early 2008 models.

Consider this, my 2009 FEB model 171bhp has just sailed through its test.

Has only covered 18.6K miles, mainly short trips locally, or towing.

And i have never seen a DPF light up.

In fact i recently checked it to make sure it worked.

Note however, that i do very little city driving, just town.
 
#10 ·
Just sold my 2007 T31 and treated myself to a 2012 Tekna 150. I had the old car for 4 years and the DPF warning light came on only once - and was quickly cleared. I assume, therefore, that my driving suited the car.
Now, with only 420 miles on the clock of the new car, the DPF light is on and motorway/dual carriageway thrashes will not extinguish it. Bizzarely, the light actually came on while I was doing 70+ on a motorway!
So, it's back to the dealers tomorrow. I used to wonder why so many people on this forum had DPF troubles when I had none - now I dread to think that I may be joining them.
 
#11 ·
Hi Kelpi,

At least I managed nearly 2k before the engine management light came on on my auto Tekna!!
On the way in to the dealers, see if the cruise control works - this was the forerunner of my light coming on.

My dealer just reset the alarm - he said it was a "past" alarm so they didn't know what it was - I wonder if that statement was because I'd dropped the car off at 09.00 and at 4 pm when I phoned up to see if it was ready - they realised they hadn't looked at it?

All the best
Michael (who wishes he still had his petrol auto (52 plate))
 
#12 ·
Hello Michael

After more than 2 hours waiting at the dealers I was told the same as you - a past fault. It doesn't really help when they can't give you a reason. Paranoid now - waiting for that damned light to come on again!

I'm hoping that this is just a minor teething problem as this latest T31 is a big improvement over the old one. It is noticeably quieter and the gearbox actually changes into 6th automatically before the 70mph limit is reached.

Good luck with yours - things can only get better, as they say.
 
#14 ·
Driving up the M5 yesterday at 70 (ish) with cruise control on suddenly noticed cruise control green light flashing and power dropping off. Fortunately it was a fairly level stretch of road but still had to drop down two gears to 4th. Managed to maintain 55-60 with the revs showing at just under 3000. Pulled off at next junction some 5-6 miles on but had no power as I pulled off the roundabout at the end of the slip road. Decided to try and find a Nissan dealer but when I turned the engine off and restarted all was fine. No problems for the remaining 150 miles of my journey. Even running on cruise control.

I assume it was a DPF problem although there was no specific warning light. Been out this morning and no re-occurence. Was I correct in my assumption?
 
#15 ·
edgcumbe said:
Driving up the M5 yesterday at 70 (ish) with cruise control on suddenly noticed cruise control green light flashing and power dropping off. Fortunately it was a fairly level stretch of road but still had to drop down two gears to 4th. Managed to maintain 55-60 with the revs showing at just under 3000. Pulled off at next junction some 5-6 miles on but had no power as I pulled off the roundabout at the end of the slip road. Decided to try and find a Nissan dealer but when I turned the engine off and restarted all was fine. No problems for the remaining 150 miles of my journey. Even running on cruise control.

I assume it was a DPF problem although there was no specific warning light. Been out this morning and no re-occurence. Was I correct in my assumption?
I have had 4 DPF light incedents, and in no case did it affect the performance. It dosn't sound like the DPF.
 
#16 ·
edgcumbe said:
Driving up the M5 yesterday at 70 (ish) with cruise control on suddenly noticed cruise control green light flashing and power dropping off. Fortunately it was a fairly level stretch of road but still had to drop down two gears to 4th. Managed to maintain 55-60 with the revs showing at just under 3000. Pulled off at next junction some 5-6 miles on but had no power as I pulled off the roundabout at the end of the slip road. Decided to try and find a Nissan dealer but when I turned the engine off and restarted all was fine. No problems for the remaining 150 miles of my journey. Even running on cruise control.

I assume it was a DPF problem although there was no specific warning light. Been out this morning and no re-occurence. Was I correct in my assumption?
Could just have been a CPU problem.

Loss of power, switch off and restart and all is fine..........

It has heppened once to me in my X-Trail, but it happened two or three times in my old Audi.

No idea what causes it, but switching off and a re-start seems to cure it and it doesn't happen again.......
 
#18 ·
Just a quick update on problems in February with loss of power.................I've done a couple of thousand miles since then with a variety of journeys under all sorts of conditions and not had any issues since then (touch wood).

The only thing I'm doing differently is that I've stopped using Morisson's fuel. Coincidence?

There has always been a lot of talk about 'inferior' supermarket fuel. I've had cars in the past that I've run 100% on supermarket fuel without a problem so I can't really express a view. I also had a Sierra Ghia that would not run smoothly on Esso.

So is there a definitive answer? Is there a significant difference?
 
#19 ·
edgcumbe said:
Just a quick update on problems in February with loss of power.................I've done a couple of thousand miles since then with a variety of journeys under all sorts of conditions and not had any issues since then (touch wood).

The only thing I'm doing differently is that I've stopped using Morisson's fuel. Coincidence?

There has always been a lot of talk about 'inferior' supermarket fuel. I've had cars in the past that I've run 100% on supermarket fuel without a problem so I can't really express a view. I also had a Sierra Ghia that would not run smoothly on Esso.

So is there a definitive answer? Is there a significant difference?
Interesting - there have been quite a few posts on this forum that say the best fuel for the X-Trail is Shell or BP.

I use Shell wherever possible - but I collect the Air Miles (Avios now). :thumbs:
 
#24 ·
As I have said before, I avoid short journies like the plague but still get the dreaded light every 6k miles or so. Not really a problem, but I am always afraid its going to happen in a city area or somewhere else that I can not do 50mph.
 
#25 ·
chrisuk said:
As I have said before, I avoid short journies like the plague but still get the dreaded light every 6k miles or so. Not really a problem, but I am always afraid its going to happen in a city area or somewhere else that I can not do 50mph.
But there are these additives, that you can add to the fuel every now and again, that lower the burning temperature of the deposits for those people who use it like this.

It was mentioned in Auto Express recently.
 
#26 ·
daveyboy said:
Although I have not had any problems with mine, a mate swears by this,
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JLM-Diesel-Pa ... _550wt_922
And as used it for a couple of years
How often do you need to add this? - if it is every time you fill up, it's pricey to say the least

The original advert linked to above says every 10,000km but a 'live' advert on the bay says every 60l of fuel :confused:
 
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