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-   -   Diesel Particulate Filter - Wish List (https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=79024)

Rascal Aug 24th, 2009 13:23

Diesel Particulate Filter - Wish List
 
I have recently purchased a 2008 V70 SE 2.4D Geartronic and have been looking at threads relating to regeneration of the DPF.

It appears that most owners are unhappy with their DPF and the way in which Volvo have been economical with information regarding the ongoing maintenance problems, that can arise.

Wouldn't the following options have been nice if they had been included in the Driver Information System....
1. An indictaion of the DPF status - eg. 25% Full or 50% Full etc.
This could replace the useless Average Speed option and perhaps allow you to plan some 'regeneration compatible' journeys.

2. A user selectable option, to manually 'Request DPF Regeneration'
This would allow you to request a 'forced' regeneration, if it was known that a long journey was about to be made.
Regeneration would only be carried out if the Engine Management System agreed that the DPF would benefit from a regeneration, during the journey.
If this option was never used, then 'normal' DPF regeneration would be triggered on an as-needed basis.

I think that Volvo owe us a more flexible solution regarding this DPF maintenance and the above would surely be achievable via a software upgrade.
I am sure that in the long term it would be in Volvo's interest to address these DPF shortcomings and lift the image of their diesel engines.

Robbijay Aug 24th, 2009 13:29

but if you could regenerate it manually, think of all the money they'd lose doing it for you!

tt82 Aug 24th, 2009 13:47

i thought all that was needed to clear a dpf is a good motorway blast every now and again.????

surely if you do this once a fortnight, problrm solved.

Robbijay Aug 24th, 2009 13:50

Thats true, but a 20 min blast in mid revs down the motorway in 6th is about 90 and I don't think the policeman is likely to let you off because you we're doing some 'car maintenance'

Rascal Aug 25th, 2009 10:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by tt82 (Post 550920)
i thought all that was needed to clear a dpf is a good motorway blast every now and again.????

surely if you do this once a fortnight, problrm solved.

Are you saying that the DPF is cleared every time I give the car a good long blast!
I think the old MPG would suffer quite dramatically (which it isn't).

Surely, there must be some upper parameters within the Engine Management System which trigger an auto regeneration and I assume that if these are not met, then even a blast down the motorway would not necessarily achieve regeneration.

Robbijay Aug 25th, 2009 11:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rascal (Post 551354)
Are you saying that the DPF is cleared every time I give the car a good long blast!
I think the old MPG would suffer quite dramatically (which it isn't).

Surely, there must be some upper parameters within the Engine Management System which trigger an auto regeneration and I assume that if these are not met, then even a blast down the motorway would not necessarily achieve regeneration.

If I remember rightly it tries to do a regeneration every 500ish miles (it says in the manual). but it'll only do it when the engine is warm, and will screw up if you turn the engine off while its doing one. It should really have a way to manually induce it or at least till you it's doing one.

This is what it says in the manual:
Diesel particle filter (certain models)
Certain diesel cars are equipped with a particle filter which results in additionally effective emission control. When the engine reaches its normal operating temperature (the engine is warm) a so-called "regeneration" of the filter takes place automatically, which means that the particles collected in the filter are burned away and the filter is emptied. Regeneration takes between 10 and
15 minutes. During this time fuel consumption may increase slightly.

Winter driving
If the car is frequently driven short distances in cold weather then the engine does not reach normal operating temperature. This means that regeneration of the diesel particle filter does not take place and the filter is not emptied. When the filter has become approx. 80% full of particles then a yellow warning triangle in the dashboard display is shown along with the warning text
SOOT FILTER FULL SEE MANUAL. Regeneration should be carried out regularly if the car is frequently driven short distances in cold weather in order to avoid impaired function of the filter.
• Start regeneration of the filter by driving the car until the engine reaches normal operating temperature, preferably on a main road or motorway. The car should then be driven for approximately 20 minutes more.

• To clear the warning text when regeneration is complete, switch off the ignition, remove the key, wait for at least three minutes and switch the ignition on again.

• Use the parking heater (option) in cold weather so that the engine reaches normal operating temperature more quickly.

tt82 Aug 25th, 2009 11:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by tt82 (Post 550920)
i thought all that was needed to clear a dpf is a good motorway blast every now and again.????

surely if you do this once a fortnight, problrm solved.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rascal (Post 551354)
Are you saying that the DPF is cleared every time I give the car a good long blast!
I think the old MPG would suffer quite dramatically (which it isn't).

Surely, there must be some upper parameters within the Engine Management System which trigger an auto regeneration and I assume that if these are not met, then even a blast down the motorway would not necessarily achieve regeneration.

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice...e-filters.html

Going for a 15-20 min blast on the motorway, with hard acceleration on the slip roads every now and again is surely a lot better than a £1000 repair bill. Besides its another excuse to go out for a drive in the car.
Lets say with diesel at £1 a litre, 4.5 litres in a gallon and an average mpg of 45, how far would £1000 get you?

£1000 = 1000 litres
1000 litres = 222.2 gallons
222.2 gallons * 45 mpg = 9999 miles
9999miles / 50miles = 200 50mile trips
1 50mile trip a fortnight = 26 50mile trips a year
200 trips / 26 50mile trips a year = enough trips for 7.7 years

dont know about you, but i think id be going for a blast once every other weekend.

I do agree with you though that an indicator to show when a regeneration is needed, or when active regeneration is taking place so that you do not switch of the engine mid cycle, would be of a benefit to most drivers

John_C Aug 25th, 2009 13:14

It does sound like a really good idea.

I bet the reason they didn't do it was an awful lot of people are stupid ;) Can you imagine.... "My car told me it was doing something and to continue driving so I did, I only wanted to go to Birmingham but ended up in Scotland" ;)

volvomum Jan 13th, 2010 18:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rascal (Post 550902)
I have recently purchased a 2008 V70 SE 2.4D Geartronic and have been looking at threads relating to regeneration of the DPF.

It appears that most owners are unhappy with their DPF and the way in which Volvo have been economical with information regarding the ongoing maintenance problems, that can arise.

Wouldn't the following options have been nice if they had been included in the Driver Information System....
1. An indictaion of the DPF status - eg. 25% Full or 50% Full etc.
This could replace the useless Average Speed option and perhaps allow you to plan some 'regeneration compatible' journeys.

2. A user selectable option, to manually 'Request DPF Regeneration'
This would allow you to request a 'forced' regeneration, if it was known that a long journey was about to be made.
Regeneration would only be carried out if the Engine Management System agreed that the DPF would benefit from a regeneration, during the journey.
If this option was never used, then 'normal' DPF regeneration would be triggered on an as-needed basis.

I think that Volvo owe us a more flexible solution regarding this DPF maintenance and the above would surely be achievable via a software upgrade.
I am sure that in the long term it would be in Volvo's interest to address these DPF shortcomings and lift the image of their diesel engines.

I have just joined the volvoform because of a soot filter problem because we are, quite frankly, at our wits end. We bought our Volvo v70 for local driving (3 kids) and had the extra seats fitted in the back for ferrying extra children round too. We were very explicit about why we wanted the car and also bought 3 volvo car seats from the dealer. After 4 weeks we got soot filter full message and could not do a regeneration as we did not address the problem straight away as we did not realise the significance. The car was under warranty and the garage did a regeneration and the Particle filter was replaced. We did not understand the significance the impact of our "local driving" on the DPF system as we were not told that this car was not suitable for local driving.

Since then the soot filter full sign comes on and sometimes we are able to regenerate it (we have to drop everything and drive down the A3 for 20 minutes) but other times we cannot regenerate it ourselves and this is particularly true when the weather is cold. Now the car is no longer under warranty if we cannot regenerate the filter we have to pay £150 a time for the garage to do it. I have lost count how many times the car has been in the garage or how much diesel I have burnt up driving along A roads to try and regenerate the filter. On one particular occasion the power had gone and I was crawling along the A3 dual carriage way at 30mph with my three kids in the car!

The car simply rules our lives. I feel I cannot drive it locally any more as I just know every two weeks the soot filter full sign will come up. What is evident from joining this forum and reading the posts that this is a problem for many people and I feel let down by Volvo if they sold us this car knowing that it could not function on just local driving. Any advice on what to do? We simply cannot afford a new car and no-one will touch this car when they see its service history!! I am thinking of writing the Sunday times/BBC watchdog and will be contacting Which Legal team as I feel Volvo know about this issue and are fobbing people off and in the meantime their customers are left with cars they cannot run or afford to run. Your comments will be helpful!!!

Ben Hur Jan 14th, 2010 13:26

vovlomum, If you are going to complain to those that you mentioned I recommend that you have as much information as possible and from your well written post I see the following is missing:

You bought the V70 from a dealer, is this a Volvo dealer or a used car dealer?
What was the millage on the V70 when you bought it?
How many miles did the V70 cover when you first had the problem with the DPF 4 weeks later?
How many miles does the V70 cover between each DPF problem?
What fuel are you using? (name of supermarket or brand and product name)

I ask the last because I think, sorry I can't prove it!, so that's why I say I think that if you use a fuel like Shell V-Power Diesel you would have less DPF problems. My thinking is based on the following emissions information:

Regular Diesel BS EN 950 maximum parameters
Carbon Residue 0.3% mass, Ash 0.01% mass, Particulate Matter 24mg/Kg

Shell V-Power Diesel maximum parameters
Carbon Residue <0.1% mass, Ash <0.001% mass, Particulate Matter 2mg/Kg

Based on these figures the Shell V-Power Diesel gives significantly less Particulate Matter and it may turn out that using cheap diesel could be partly to blame for this problem.


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