Diesel DPF recall

[rickwales]

My old 51 plate S60 diesel used to do 48mpg and that car did nearly 300,000 without any problem, the one I have now is a 55 plate 2.4 d and I should have noted the mpg dropping to only 43 lately.
A huge part of the problem I am seeing in work with modern diesels is the addition of bio fuel which burns dirtier. If people think volvo models are bad I can say with considerable experience that they are considerably better than most of their competitors

[Nick44]

I could not agree with you more. When I first looked into this I was totaly surprised to find out how much Bio-Deisel was in the forecourt pump.
currently up to 7% and rising.
There is something in me that rails at fields being used for fuel, when there are so many starving people in the world. plus the fact that Euro emmissions directives are one step behind engine technology.
This is not a good way to design engines. I feel (almost) sorry for power plant engineers who have to move the goalposts because a politician made a decision with no regard to the consequences, and what was in design at the time.

[Nick44]

P.S.
Try the Gen 3 cars, especially the V70, 2 tonne of car, I don't get 30 MPG out of mine, my old V70 T5 Petrol did better.
Seriously, I got better MPG from a petrol T5, than I do from a D5.

[rickwales]

In the last van hire company I worked in we had some 62 plate transit lutons delivered with 6 speed gearboxes, due to the design of the vehicle they do 70 mph at 1,800 rpm, if filled with morrisons diesel they went into limp mode within 10 miles of filling and had to go into fords for reprogramming (the temporary fix is to program the dpf out),
this was not a one off incident, it happened on 5 vehicles in a row!

[Bill_56]

Hi Nick, nice to see some constructive debate again.

One thing about the ongoing DPF issue, and the associated bio-diesel issues, is how little public awareness there is.

For sure things have settled down since this thread was in full flood, and the vast majority of diesel owners are probably never aware of a DPF problem. But that still leaves a small but measurable minority who will have issues, and nobody seems to be warning them until it's too late.

The paper I happen to buy on Saturdays (Guardian) does a car test every week, typical of most papers. It is nearly always a diesel, yet I don't recall him ever commenting on DPFs. The manufacturers may perhaps do a forced regeneration before handing over a press car to see it through the test with most flattering MPG, but the guy's a motoring journalist, he must know about these issues.. so why does he never comment on the fact it may not be suitable for everybody?

[exasperated]

Originally Posted by Nick44

The Volvo fix works.
Crude but effective.
1/ depends on who you ask,
A Tribologist will say yes, most practical people say diesel is very slippery anyway. not like petrol in the sump, so no. (at least not at the percentages involved here)
2/ Really would not do that if I were you.
3/ The Volvo fix works.
I started this thread, and have followed it through all the way. There have been no reported issues now for almost a year (since Volvo issued the patch)

I think I've got an issue with my 18 month old XC60.....!

[Djbutler]

Originally Posted by Dynosaur

A friend of mine has removed the cat. converter - which if the DPF's therein, certainly eliminates the problem and probably gets him old D5 consumption.

That's an automatic MOT fail now....

[Djbutler]

OK, I think we are all basically agreed that the method of "flooding" the engine in order to burn off soot in the DPF is not the way to go. Would it be beyond Volvo to put a separate injector into the exhaust itself in order to achieve this thereby leaving the engine to run on nice clean oil.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Djbutler

OK, I think we are all basically agreed that the method of "flooding" the engine in order to burn off soot in the DPF is not the way to go. Would it be beyond Volvo to put a separate injector into the exhaust itself in order to achieve this thereby leaving the engine to run on nice clean oil.

Oil dilution generally isn't a problem now , it was fixed a few years ago by the software and lower sump level .
What the problem now is Unknowledable general garages not knowing how much oil to add to the engine when they change the oil and filter ... That is now causing about 90% of the comebacks for high oil level .
For anyone's information , if you change the oil in a post 2006 5 cylinder diesel add 5.6 litres of the finest 0w/30 A5/B5 guaranteed tot to put the "Engine System Service Required " message up !
Some take 5.5 some take 5.7 some take 5.9 , but the 5.6 rule covers all practically .

[GrahamBrown1]

exactly right mines never a problem following this rule, not need to be scared of dpfs every diesel near enough has one its knowing how to look after it that's key to problem free motoring