On Sunday we had a family party to go to at 3.30. No major problem, except we spent Saturday night at a different party over 200 miles away. So there was a bit of stress, running around, getting organised, needing to leave by 11 really and finally setting off at 11.30. Google maps on Samsung Note 2 informed me it would take us 4 hours and 3 minutes to get home, I was confident I could trim that down without speeding.
I don’t speed. I drive efficiently, I use cruise control, minimise acceleration and deceleration by planning ahead. It’s very rare the revs go above 2000. I get excellent fuel efficiency. What I didn’t know was I was storing up a whole different kind of problem. I’d never heard of a DPF or what can go wrong with it.
All that was about to change.
The first hint I had that something was wrong was as I pulled onto a roundabout while exiting the M1. Nothing happened when I put my foot down – I shifted through gears and got moving again, deciding I must have somehow slipped into the wrong gear. Then about an hour later, cruising (literally in cruise control) down a dual carriageway, my speed started to drop off and putting my foot down made no difference.
As you can imagine, with three children in the car this was more than a bit scary. I knew I was near a big services and thought my best bet was to try to get there, and I’d got dp on speakerphone describing the problem to him. Then suddenly it all got much worse as a load of warning lights lit up, one saying DPF, another with what looked like skid warning on it and a third that made me think of the check engine light. We were yards from a layby. I hit the hazards and headed for it.
One level of insurance cover we’ve kept up over the years is breakdown cover. The RAC have never let me down yet. They quote a two hour time to reach me, and turn up in 25 minutes. The chap was cheerful and comforting but in the end unable to fix the car and he was concerned that if the DPF broke it would pump diesel into the oil system and that would be the end of our engine. So having nursed us to the services, he arranged for us to be recovered.
Now, since all this, I’ve looked into the DPF. It’s a filter meant to keep soot or if the air. An excellent idea. It should regenerate on motorway runs, but only if you get the revs up, in our car over 3000. To achieve that needed 3rd gear and 55 miles an hour and it didn’t work. Maybe I didn’t run it for long enough, but the mix of lights that came on didn’t give me much confidence that we only had one problem. The whole thing makes me incredibly cross though. I drive safely and economically, without sudden acceleration or deceleration, meaning I never rev the engine. I understood that to be good for the car and the environment. It’s not good for the DPF though, and it may cost us £1000 to have it replaced. Which means my driving style isn’t economical at all.
How does that make any sense? And how come I’ve never heard of this before?
Don’t tell me I should have read the manual. Nobody reads car manuals. But do me a favour. If you’ve got a diesel, educate yourself on DPFs. You’ll thank me for it.
The only person I know who does 55mph in 3rd is the mother in law, and that’s because she doesn’t EVER use her gears properly (pulling on to a roundabout in 5th!) Seems a major design flaw that an important part of the engine requires that kind of dodgy driving.
I agree. I’m hopping mad about it actually.
We had similar issues on a 306 sw with the cool glass roof.
Was a tiny tank containing a chemical do do with diesel filters. The chemical cost 12 pounds, but as it was deep inside moving parts it was quoted as over a grand in labour. We sold it to a car dealer fast. They didn’t check the engine lights…
We used to live in the next town so partner would drive on motorway each day. When we moved here the car just drove badly and gave up. Expensive lesson that, we really liked that car until then.
🙁 It certainly is an expensive lesson so far. I’m not happy about it at all.
We considered a diesel but since two thirds of our journeys are short hops in 3rd gear we’d end up having to give the car periodic sprints up the M11 for this very reason. For the extra we’d pay for a diesel car it was highly debatable whether we’d recoup the money in fuel economy.
That aside, I am a total car dunce. I can barely remember whether the button to unlock the petrol cap is.
See, while we do do a lot of those little hops, every month or so I do a long motorway/ dual carriageway journey. But I never get the revs up above 3000 consistently – I didn’t know I needed to. And I think we can safely say having to replace this has written off any fuel economy we might have benefited from over the last four years :/
Thanks for raising the issue. I just read your post aloud to my husband, since we have a diesel and I drive just as you describe. Apparently he knew about DPF, though, and chose a car that doesn’t have one. Phew!
Incidentally, I didn’t realise Tigerboy and Rebekah share a birthday!
We only knew about it when our warning light came on but fortunately only that light and doing the drive burned it all off. I had left a panicky message for M and he texted back to say what I needed to do.
He had to google it I think as I had the manual in the car but he found the answer faster than I’d managed in the manual. And he was more reassuring!
Light didn’t come on until well after car was staggering and came on with lots of other lights too, so I’m now wondering if something else wrong along with it.
All newer diesel engines have these filters now to meet the EU standards and they all have to be replaced at around 75,000 miles. In a previous car this meant a £750 service at that interval.
Definitely not something that is publicised much and a nasty surprise for people who think a diesel is the economic choice. My go to place for car advice is Honest John and his advice is unless you do more than 15,000 a year a diesel is unlikely to be the cheapest choice long term.
P.S. have also experienced one failing like you did in a previous car. Pulled out a junction and just had no power with cars bearing down on me from behind. Scary stuff.
I need to tell the story to my hubby and give him a nasty suprise. Hes been going on and on about diesel cars. Thanks for sharing:))
I had the loss of power on a vehicle (diesel) but it eventually turned out to be a split in an air hose. It didnt get noticed by the garage for many visits and they said electronic fault and they’d reset everything which I took to mean “you are a stupid woman and we don’t believe there is anything wrong with this car”. I don’t hate cars – but do hate car garages. It turned out to be a very small split and they’d missed it but sometimes it would open so too much air. I think that was the only problem – memory hazy.
That’s interesting Michelle, especially as one of the other lights that came on was related to air flow apparently. Hm.
Will ask m if he can remember more details.
Oh gosh I think we have the same problem, We brought a diesel in Nov last year and after a month or so of driving I had a warning come up saying Unblock diesel filter. The garage told me I need get the revs up and to do 70 in 3 rd gear. I drive exactly as you described thinking I am saving on fuel cost, when really I am just causing more problems. Seems so silly.
Sounds exactly that. I’d check the manual, 70 in 3rd sounds a bit excessive! I was told 3000 revs would do it, but I guess it’ll depend on the engine. Sounds like you inherited the problem though, wonder if that’s why the previous owner sold it? (Am guessing it’s not new! )