XC90 D5 185 dpf regeneration timeframe

[MikeS100]

Hi all,

I know this is going to be a difficult question to answer but I am just after some general advice. I have just bought a 2008 XC90 D5, my main concern is with the dpf as it will mainly be used by my wife doing the school run and lots of short trips locally. Worst case scenario, how long can I expect to go between it needing to do a dpf regeneration? I understand as a 2.4 awd it has a larger dpf which triggers the warning message on the dash at 30g of soot, but how much town driving can you do for 30g of soot? Should I be expecting the need to take it on a run once a week or once every 6 months? Never had a dpf car before so no idea what to expect.

The longest trip we do at the moment is generally a run down to the in laws which takes around 30 minutes with 15 minutes on the motorway for the second half of the journey once the car is warmed up. Should that be enough to complete the regeneration or will it need a longer run? Will we know when it is doing the regeneration? What happens if it starts to do it but then we pull off the motorway before it has finished?

I know there is no definitive answer to this and it depends on driving patterns etc but I just want a very rough guide based on other people's experience.

Thanks,

Mike

[SwissXC90]

I once did the math on my MY2009 D5 diesel XC90 (easy to do, it's all in VIDA)

My car, used mainly on motorways, does a regen around every 1 to 2 tanks of fuel. So that's every 600 to 1200 kms (roughly)

The more short drives you do, the more soot is generated as the engine is being driven cold a lot more. So the quicker you fill up the DPF.

With lots of short journeys, you should figure on a regen around every tank of fuel, and thus try and factor in a good motorway drive - like to your in-laws - per tank of fuel.

The car doesn't tell you when a regen is occurring and honestly, I have never noticed any regen action in 3 years of ownership of my MY2009 D5 diesel.

There is a safety margin built in: the car will tell you when it hasn't been able to do a regen and the DPF is getting too full. At that time, you MUST go for a motorway drive for at least 30min to allow the engine to get hot and do a regen.
If you don't, you risk a blocked DPF, requiring DPF removal and cleaning (at a cost to you).

(And yes, some people will jump in and say any diesel car with DPF is absolutely the wrong car for short city journeys... as the DPF will get blocked easily... and this will generally apply whatever the make of car)

To further prevent blocked DPFs, tell your kids to walk, bike or take the bus to school....

[MikeS100]

Thanks for that, that's interesting. Hopefully it will be ok under normal use then and if the warning light comes on we will just have to take it on a longer run.

I would agree with you about walking to school in principle, however we live in a village on an A road with incomplete pavement so walking to school is not really an option. My wife used to walk our son and it wasn't too bad but we have a 2 year old as well now so navigating the road with a pushchair is not worth the risk. I wish Volvo made a lighter 7 seat car with a smaller petrol engine as I would have gone for that. I did consider the 3.2 petrol XC90 but the mpg would bankrupt me!