Engine: D5: Soot Filter driving me crazy...HELP !

[Kev0607]

Originally Posted by rangerovering

Does the 2.0D behaves differently to the D5?

The principle is the same with regards to the glow plugs, just there’s one less cylinder on the 2.0 D (that’s a 4 cylinder engine).

[rangerovering]

Originally Posted by Kev0607

The principle is the same with regards to the glow plugs, just there’s one less cylinder on the 2.0 D (that’s a 4 cylinder engine).

Interesting, as Iain says so often the answer is "oh you don't need the glow plugs unless its below 7C" when in actual fact for those of us with DPF's they have an important job to do, let alone the glow plug relay.

Was out in the car today, 7C ambient, it took 10miles to get up to temperature with the "soot filter full" warning on the dash, mixed A-Roads of 40-55mph. Does this seem about right?

I have a thermostat on the shelf from last winter to put in as I suspected it was lazy, but never fitted it.

[Kev0607]

Originally Posted by rangerovering

Interesting, as Iain says so often the answer is "oh you don't need the glow plugs unless its below 7C" when in actual fact for those of us with DPF's they have an important job to do, let alone the glow plug relay.

Was out in the car today, 7C ambient, it took 10miles to get up to temperature with the "soot filter full" warning on the dash, mixed A-Roads of 40-55mph. Does this seem about right?

I have a thermostat on the shelf from last winter to put in as I suspected it was lazy, but never fitted it.

Well… that’s often what many people think with glow plugs. They think they’re just purely for starting the vehicle, but actually they aren’t. Iain is lucky his dpf is still regenerating, but the time will come where the car won’t start or struggle to and/or the dpf will clog up. The saving grace for him is he does a 600 mile trip fairly often. If he wasn’t doing that, I think it could cause problems. For now, he’s probably alright.

With regards to temperature, you probably have a slightly lazy thermostat. At that speed, I would have expected it to get warmer a little quicker than that (despite being 7 degrees outside). When it gets really cold (if it does this winter), it’ll naturally take even longer to warm up.

[foggyjames]

The glow plugs are barely used at all above freezing on a CR diesel - an often quite a bit colder than that - I've heard -10 mentioned before. Their main function is after-start in British weather, as mentioned elsewhere.

DPF problems are often caused by something completely different, resulting in excessive soot. It could be something like a worn injector causing excessive fuel delivery, or a boost leak, or an EGR issue...or, no doubt, many other things. This might be one to get professionally diagnosed by someone who sounds like they know what they're talking about.

cheers

James

[wynnj]

I'm not sure that all the discussion above is correct.
My understanding is that the DPF regeneration on the Ford/PSA 4 cylinder diesels as fitted to C30, V50 volvos uses the glow plugs to raise the exhaust temperature to 600degC to burn off the soot.
The Volvo D5 uses diesel injected into the engine on the exhaust stroke to raise the temperature but only when a regen is needed.

My C30 burnt all its glow plugs out when the differential pressure sensor that measures the difference in pressure across the DPF failed, as they were energised continuously and probably for a long time. The filter subsequently blocked up, but the car still started easily even on sub zero mornings.

On my D5 S60 I sometimes see the mpg go down if I've reset all the readings and am on a motorway for example, which is consistent with it using extra fuel to clear the DPF.

[IainG]

Hi

My C30 burnt all its glow plugs out when the differential pressure sensor that measures the difference in pressure across the DPF failed, as they were energised continuously and probably for a long time. The filter subsequently blocked up, but the car still started easily even on sub zero mornings.

That is interesting.
I did Check my fault codes a few years ago and found some DPF related ones.It was saying there were electrical supply/CEM problems to do with the DPF pressure sensor.
Eventually I found one of the pipes to the sensor had split. There was still a pressure reading as the outer protective sleeving over the pipe still caused a portion of the pressure to be monitored. Vida interpreted that as a low voltage supply issue. Eventually found the damaged pipe, replaced both pipes with new and cleared all the faults. I now wonder if that could have burnt out the 3 glow plugs?? Or it could just be age/ mileage related. Or both!!

[foggyjames]

Ouch, that split-pipe fault sounds like a swine to diagnose...!

As far as I'm aware, DPF regeneration normally involves both extra fuel and firing the glow plugs. I'm not sure the glow plugs alone would get the DPF hot enough. It's always struck me that the Euro 4 D5s were a bit rushed in terms of development, and I suspect that that's why they have various problems to do with DPF regen (fuel in oil, etc), but Euro 5s seem to be OK - they just had more time to polish the ECU calibration on the Euro 5s.

cheers

James

[hawksport]

Originally Posted by rangerovering

Does the 2.0D behaves differently to the D5?

I have no idea. I only know that with no swirl flaps and glow plug fault codes my D5 did both passive and active regens. I changed the glow plugs but still wouldn't be able to do a forced regen because of the swirl flaps. Luckily in 5 years I've never had a problem with the DPF

[rangerovering]

Really thinking an off car wash is the next thing to try (along with a glow plug relay ). The wynns chemical seems to get a good name.

[foggyjames]

I think you need to look at why it's clogging. You should be at the stage where it can clean itself...but why is it happening at all?

I don't have a miracle cure for that (although resolving the glow plug codes and observing the results would be an obvious next step), so expert diagnosis might be required.

I'm concerned that you might be doing repeated off-car cleaning if you're not careful.

cheers

James