DPF and smoke issues
 

Hi all, not been a volvo owner long but already have an issue. Seems to be a common problem on the same model in varying forms, but when browsing there isn't the same issue I can see.

The car is a '57 V70 2.4 D5, 160k.

I'm getting the soot filter full message. It has been in to a garage to have a regen and within 100 or so miles it has come back on. However I believe this is a side effect of a bigger issue, as after about 1 minute of over run and in town (during hot idle I think) im getting a lot of blue smoke from the exhaust, not when idling but when pulling off. Doesn't have to be hard acceleration either, just normal pull off creates a big plume. This doesn't happen when cold only very hot and i think this is what could be blocking the dpf.

Has anyone got any ideas on this? Car otherwise runs great, pulls well doesn't have appeared to have lost any oil (only done around 1000 miles so far though) and is getting decent mpgs.

Any thoughts/experiences would be greatly appreciated!

Remove the silencer from the car and drill out the DPF as much as you can using a very long drill bit, then get the ECU remapped to delete it. Then go from there.

Hi

And that will stop the engine burning oil !!!!

Very helpful!!!

Iain

Bypassing the DPF like that will mean you'll fail the MoT, which was revised in May specifically to catch vehicles being used illegally.

So the cause of the blue smoke is likely to be the dpf itself and not something internally with the engine?

Unfortunately the dpf has to stay to both keep the car legal and pass future mot's. I do hope theres a way to resolve this without removing it!

That is the best advise yet ! . Makes my MoT fail rates rocket & costs car owner a fortune to put right . Oh & removing the silencer is pointless as it is the DPF you need to get at , just downstream of th turbo

Seeing as you are getting the soot message , the filter is clogged & requires a regen . You have had one done , BUT did you drive like you stole it afterwards on a motorway ? . A regen requires heat & gasflow to burn off & blow away soot . Most common cause of soot is slow stop/start town driving of only a few miles & the blue smoke is oily exhaust deposits getting hot & smoking . A monthly blast in a lower gear to make engine really rev works wonders for the issues & at least 20 minutes fast driving to generate sufficient heat

Admittedly I did not drive it like I stole it afterwards as I assumed the regen would have taken care of blowing the dpf out, however out of those 1000 miles only about 30 have been in a town, the rest have been mostly to work which is a 40 mile round trips on the motorway during which I don't hang around.

What puzzles me is the smoke. If it was (and I hope it is) soot and oily deposits why would it only burn out in town, and after the overrun? There is nothing at all during hard acceleration after the town trip, but having said that there is also no smoke during cold town driving. I can't help feeling the smoke is what's causing the dpf to block up from another issue but I hope im wrong.

Regarding the Bluesmoke is the car Losing oil , Do you have to top it up ?.
It sounds like a turbo issue or valve stem seals to me.

No noticeable oil loss. Was serviced when I had it where it was around 3/4 on the dipstick and is still there now. I read somewhere if it was valve stem seals it would blow smoke on starting the engine which it doesn't. Is that the case?

Actually the heat required for DPF regen is generated by fuel being released into the exhaust when the ECU decides that a regen is required? You would be unlikely to ever reach the required temperatures by simply driving hard!


You have a DPF and it's catching the excess smoke! And that's why it needs frequent regens. You need to determine why... if you've ruled out engine oil burning then you're left with low boost or over-fuelling injector(s). I suggest having engine diagnostic routines performed by a diesel specialist with the appropriate Volvo equipment.