Service Issues: XC90 D5 engine DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter)

Hi all,

I am the owner of a Volvo XC90 D5 diesel engine. I understand that this car has the very latest D5 engine.
In order to reach Euro4 emission requirements, this car is equipped with DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter), which sounds fine ... on paper!

Recently my car has developped a fault that shows 2 messages on the car computer: Engine management fault and filter fault.
It started as a small fault and escaladed in the car being only driveable under automatic safe mode (ie: sloooooowly)
As the car is under waranty (purchased new in Jan 06), I brought it to Volvo Parkside in Orpington, Kent.
It took them 4 appointments to sort the problem. Well sort it might not be the proper word!

They explained me that this filter issue is actually not a problem but a feature of the car.

Here is a copy of the letter I was given this morning:

"On the new diesel engines from MY06 a DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) was introduced to reach Euro4 emission requirements.
The DPF requires regeneration between every refuelling. The regeneration itself requires a warm engine and medium load (at least above low load) and roughly 10-20 minutes in this condition.

...

Whilst this is a state of the art system, unfortunately there is a no chance to cheange DPF regeneration strategy to avoid above"


This is quite unbelievable! Volvo is telling me that i must drive for say 15 mintues every refuelling to regenerate the DPF!
Surely this is some kind of a joke?
On one hand they place a filter to reduce particulates sent in the environement but for this to work properly, one must drive 15 mins (say 12.5 miles)!!

I would expect this regeneration process to entirely offset the aim of the anti-pollution filter?!?!

When I purchased this car, no one EVER told me that I would have to drive 10-20 minutes after every refuelling, had I known, I would have had second thoughts on purchasing it.

Do you guys find this acceptable??
Anyone else experiencing this?? Funny enough when I ask the dealer, I am told( as always) that I am the only person ever to suffer from this!

[Track_Rod]

My understanding is that it cleans itself. Don't ask me how - I assume the computer keeps a check on fuelling and/or distance driven.

You may experience a slight loss of performance and a little more smoke when this occurs.

Originally Posted by Track_Rod

My understanding is that it cleans itself. Don't ask me how - I assume the computer keeps a check on fuelling and/or distance driven.

You may experience a slight loss of performance and a little more smoke when this occurs.

It is a self regenerating filter indeed but please, read again the Volvo memo I was handed:

"The DPF requires regeneration between every refuelling. The regeneration itself requires a warm engine and medium load (at least above low load) and roughly 10-20 minutes in this condition."


It means that I should be driving 10 to 20 minutes after EVERY refuelling and preferably at a good speed on a clear run, Volvo apprently advises to drive on a motorway. I live in London and only do very short drives...

I called Volvo to challenge them on this issue and they were very surprised I had that memo in the hands, asking me where I had got it from!

My point is that I live in London and cannot do what they are asking me to do. I dont have the time to do that neither the will nor is it convenient to find a motorway to drive 15 minutes non stop at 50-60 Mph!

If I dont do that, the filter will get blocked as it happened last week and I will need to have the filter manually regenerated (translation: go to the dealership) every 3-4 months.

I cannot find this acceptable in any way as when I purchased this vehicle (new) no one informed me of this, neither does the sales litterature mention this.

What will happen when the car is out of warranty? Will I have to fork out couple of hundred quid every quarter to keep the car going??

[Track_Rod]

I did read what you had originally posted. I also recall where I had read the information - on the Volvo Cars website ;

***

All versions of the new diesel engine have a particulate filter as standard equipment. It very effectively removes soot particulates from the exhaust gases, with filtration efficiency above 95%. The filter is a CDPF – Coated Diesel Particulate Filter, in which a special coating helps burn the particulates. Therefore, no additives are needed, and the filter requires no maintenance. Burning away soot particulates takes approximately 20 minutes and occurs automatically at 500 to 1000 km intervals, depending on driving conditions.

***

I fully understand what you are saying. The memo you have details the process more. Looks like you may have found a rather fundamental flaw in Volvo's good intentions to meet Euro IV standards wrt UK city driving.

Have you raised the matter with Volvo UK ?

[Jet2 D5]

I have an 06 year S60D5 and likewise had no knowledge about the regeneration on purchase. I have had a year of dialogue with the dealer and Volvo and remain unhappy with the inflicted technology.

I think your XC90 is probably the same as mine although Volvo seem to be experimenting with their customers, the V40/S50 clearly has the extra catalyst/additive which they claim allows regeneration at a lower operating temperature. Numerous posts suggest dissatisfaction with mpg on this model but think most owners (all models) are oblivious to the process, hence few complaints.

Since the first event when the engine was extremely hot I have kept a journey log on a spread sheet which gives the frequency, duration in time and miles etc. The info centre shows instant mpg at about half normal when regenerating, distance to empty drops 100 miles or so in a very short period and overall mpg is reduced by 4/6 with regeneration being about 10% of usage.

My journey usage is very consistent but the process is very variable, the best 26 miles in 30 min, more normally it spreads over 4/5 trips, excluding warm up time this can frequently equate to 55 miles over 1.75 hours.

The other potential problem is the high temperature required, what effect will this have, one could speculate about oil being stripped off bores, valve seals, cam belts etc. failing earlier.

"The other potential problem is the high temperature required, what effect will this have, one could speculate about oil being stripped off bores, valve seals, cam belts etc. failing earlier."

While the car had what they called manual regeneration at the dealership, I was informed by the service manager that it caused one of their extraction pipes to .... melt!

Glad to see I am not the only one suffering from this issue! I am not a unique case.

Jet2, what you say about mpg is interesting as I had noticed quite a change recently. MPG used to be much better in the 1st 6 months than the last 3.

My story is a bit complex as we bought the car in Belgium (LHD) and moved back to London in August, so I called our dealer in Belgium to check with them. The service manager was very helpful and immediately found the memo I talked about. When challenging him about it he fully understood and agreed that the DPF regeneration strategy is not compatible with our new life in London (short drives). He advised me to call Volvo Cars Belgium, which I did.

After their surprised of me having 2 copies of the memo (in French and English) they tried to explain me that it was not such a big deal to drive 10-20 minutes after every refuelling which I refuse to do.

I also challenged him on the last sentence of the memo (stating that Volvo does not intend to change this regeneration strategy) and explaining him that basically I was stuffed!
I finally told him that NO ONE explain me that "strategy" when I purchased the vehicle.
No reply came from him except the useless "go to your dealer"!

Dunno what to do really but this situation is not acceptable to me.

[kevinlewis02]

I havre just purchased an S60 D5 185 and have over the past two weeks had instances where the "Soot Filter Full" warning message comes on. This generally occurs just when I need the power to overtake and can be slightly embarrassing having to limp back behind the Ka, Corsa etc. As soon as I hit 3500 RPM or above I lose power and enter into crawl mode. I travel daily 220 miles at an average speed of 56Mph often reaching higher speeds at certain points, ( a miracle in itself on the M6). It seems that the problems I'm experiencing are slightly different, however once i stop and allow a couple of minutes of restfor the car all is back to normal!
Can anyone help?

[shimon340]

Hi

There's a few options here.

Either; your DPF is genuinely full and the engine is derating as part of its self protection.

Pos causes; In service regeneration hasnt been completed successfully (vehicle fault or vehicle usage means regen doesnt complete) and vehicle needs DPF to be cleared.

Usually accompanied with other fault codes and message to the driver via the cluster

OR

(as the derate is intermittant)

Depends on the car but the ECD16 common rail diesel system with DPF on other manufacturers also has pressure differential sensor on the DPF. The "DPF filter full" comes from the ECU's calculation of the particulate mass in the filter but also (as a backup) the differential pressure sensor on the DPF.

Now, if that sensor is intermittently saying pressure differential is too high, then the ECU will think the DPF is blocked and derate the engine.

I'd get a full code read and ECU parameters read to see what the calculated mass of particulate is in the filter and if the vehicle has logged high DPF differential pressure. Also, you can see how many attempted regens were made and how many completed.

You'd expect to see "differential pressure too high" as an intermittant fault presuming when you drove to the garage the engine was derating.

There's a few causes here and a few routes to repair.

good luck and please keep us posted

[stourmoons]

I wondered if you could help with some advice, since I have a similar but different problem to the Particulate filter issues dicussed on this thread. I have an S60 185 BHP D5 06 plate. I bought it 8 months ago and drove about 15000 very satisfying (mostly motorway) miles before the soot filter full message showed. I regularly do 100 mile plus journeys almost every week. The message showed on one such journey, so regeneration should have been taking place...I took the car to volvo garage that carried out the 90K service did the cambelt, carried out a successfull DPF regeneration and gave me the car back saying that they needed it back to do the throttle swirl the following week. I asked one of their technicians if it was OK to do a fairly long journey planned for work before bringing it back - he said should be OK

During that journey two days later the soot filter full message came on again and the engine response was intermittently sluggish. I had another problem when I looked under the bonnet. Oil in the coolant and very little showing on the end of the dipstick. I called the AA who said - oil cooler probably and it should regenerate once that is sorted.Was recovered to the garage. Oil coolerand throttle swirl done and fluids changed. The DPF wouldn't regenerate and I was told I needed a new DPF - it 'needs to be done'. I have done one 500 mile round trip journey since having the car back and the soot filter full message is back.

I have spent a fortune on the car and am a little wary of my garage's advice at the moment. My old Petrol S40 gave me 100,000 miles trouble free motoring. I not quite sure what to do next. Please, I would appreciate your thoughts

[Kapil Bhatt]

dear all , my xc90 has a engine system maintenance requirement light and has entered into limp mode. it goes in and out randomly.took it to the dealer and he says i need a dpf replacement which they want to sell it for 1800 pounds. i am living in kenya and that is where the car is ,please help a way forward to permanently disable this feature as there are no regulations on emission and i cant efford to send my car to a dealer as they are ripping people off here in kenya. just a diagnosis they charge 150 pounds . then each hour on regeneration they charge 50 pounds. they slapped me with a bill of 400 pounds and then told me the dpf requires replacement. i am just fed up since i bought my car 2 years back from uk when it had 30,000 miles on the counter and then its done only 8000 miles in kenya.