DPF issues, again!

[lil_coz]

Hey guys/girls.

After a bit of guidance!

I got my car new in Nov 2007. In July 2008, I had a prob with the DPF and the car went into limp mode. Long story short, Audi changed it for me under warranty even though apparently it's not usually covered by it.

This morning, the DPF light came on about 5 mins after I came off a 30 min trip on a motorway (which set off alarm bells straight away as I thought that the light comes on if you do loads of town driving but anyway...). So I jumped straight back on the M1 at J5 to do the whole regeneration thing to it. I had the car in 4th at about 3500rpm went up to J9, and back down to J5 and the light still hadn't switched off. I stopped into the Audi garage at Watford to have a chat to them about it and they said that it needs looking at. Possibly faulty sensor or they'll have to force the regeneration (whatever that means). I drove the car back home OK because I'll be getting my local Audi garage to look at it. I should also just say that the car isn't in limp mode at the moment.

What I'm thinking is that they'll prob have to change it again. Either way, I can't imagine it being cheap considering my car is 4-5 months out of warranty.

My question is, have there been any known issues with the DPF? Because I may have to change mine twice in a space of 2 and a half years. That can't be right surely? I just want to have a bit of ammo before I go speaking to my local Audi garage to get them to sort it out.

Now the eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed that my car is re-mapped which won't help matters, but this was done by my local Audi dealership where I bought the car and I am still covered under warranty.

Any help would be appreciated.

Ta.

 

[v1raj]

Hey,

A friend of mine had the exact same problem in his Skoda Octavia VRS. After weighing up the options, he decided to go down the DPF delete route rather than Skoda "fixing" the issue as it was likely the same problem would occur a months down the line.

He purchased the delete pipe from JBS Autodesigns - DPF-Delete Hi Flow Downpipe - JBS

But then had the guys at EMTuning.co.uk remove all the DPF fault codes and remap the ECU. Although, i think EMTuning offer a whole package now i.e. pipework and software at a very good price.

Hope that helps.

 

[RedDejavu]

Hey,

A friend of mine had the exact same problem in his Skoda Octavia VRS. After weighing up the options, he decided to go down the DPF delete route rather than Skoda "fixing" the issue as it was likely the same problem would occur a months down the line.

He purchased the delete pipe from JBS Autodesigns - DPF-Delete Hi Flow Downpipe - JBS

But then had the guys at EMTuning.co.uk remove all the DPF fault codes and remap the ECU. Although, i think EMTuning offer a whole package now i.e. pipework and software at a very good price.

Hope that helps.

+1, Best solution ever.

 

[lil_coz]

Thanks for the input guys.

I want to try and avoid going down this road to be honest. I'm only keeping the car another year, tops! The car is booked in for Monday, so we'll see what they say is wrong with it. But if they have to change the DPF again, I'm not going to be happy. The car has only done 20k miles! I'm going to fight paying for it, I know that much.

Anyone got any details on who to get in contact with at Audi UK?

Thanks again.

 

[c_w]

The DPF regeneration cycle is something like 45/50ish at low but constant engine speeds. As much as it sounds like thrashing it on the motorway in a low gear sounds like it will clear it it will actually make things worse.

 

[RedDejavu]

4th gear 2k revs (60mph) or 5th(70mph) gear 2k revs for regeneration cycle. Dont hammer it just drive steady with the same speed and revs for 15 min.

 

[MOOSH]

Mine has had the G450 pressure sensor replaced and regen'd and still wont turn the light off so the mechanic is going to try it again later as the figures are coming down but no light off yet.

Only had the car for just shy of 4 weeks and its been off the road for a week already

 

[MOOSH]

Hey RedDejavu what did you do with your Old DPF or was it knackrd??

 

[RedDejavu]

People I've done removal with took it. You wouldnt need it anyway. Mine DPF was fairly ok but I get it removed mainly because I wanted more power.

 

[lil_coz]

The DPF regeneration cycle is something like 45/50ish at low but constant engine speeds. As much as it sounds like thrashing it on the motorway in a low gear sounds like it will clear it it will actually make things worse.

I couldn't remember what the book said at the time. I knew that the exhaust had to heat up and blow it through to clean it so kept at a steady speed at 3k rpm. The fact that the light come up straight after I came off the motorway tells me there is something else at fault.

Mine has had the G450 pressure sensor replaced and regen'd and still wont turn the light off so the mechanic is going to try it again later as the figures are coming down but no light off yet.

Only had the car for just shy of 4 weeks and its been off the road for a week already

I had a chat with EMTuning and they said that a lot of their 170pd cars that go in with the prob and won't regenerate, had a sensor that's gone at the top of the engine at the back. No idea if this is the same sensor but time will tell. It's booked to go into Audi on Monday so we'll see.

People I've done removal with took it. You wouldnt need it anyway. Mine DPF was fairly ok but I get it removed mainly because I wanted more power.

It crossed my mind after v1raj's post, but now I'm serisouly considering selling it straight after it gets repaired and getting an S3. The only reason I got this at the time was because insurance on an S3 would have killed me! I look at it as a sign for an upgrade lol

 

[MOOSH]

Yes that is the sensor mate, G450 or pressure sensor and it cost me £46 buck and didnt take long to fit.

 

[lil_coz]

Did you do it yourself? Where did you get the part from?

 

[fizz]

Had the exact same problem last week on mine, got vagcom on it and it showed a faulty g450. Swapped and its ok now.

 

[MOOSH]

Did you do it yourself? Where did you get the part from?

Yeah mate i did it my self, i got the part from audi for i think 46 buck approx and it took my about 20 mins to fit, on the A3 if you take of the first engine cover and look at the top left hand side there is a small unit with a connector on the side and two small hoses very close together entering from the bottom.

PS from reading your earlier comment i think you have had this changed mate so a forced regen will fix yours fingers crossed.

Im about to get vag com out my self and see if i can do a regen, a friend from the skoda garage tried it but can only get so far before his machine cuts out and he had it as low as 15% but it needs to be below 10% to come out of gimp mode.

HTHs

 

[MOOSH]

Well guys after a day of mayhem and laptop problems im now all fixed up! woo hoo...

A forced regen and a long drive worked i managed to get the lamba % down to 5.3% i couldnt get it any lower but i have learned from my mistake, when the dpf light comes on head for the highway!

 

[lil_coz]

Dropped the car off at my local today and it turns out it is the sensor that has gone. They quoted me some £250 all in to get fixed. Happy it's not the whole system that needs changing again! It's going to be up for sale after Easter.... got an S3 on the way now

Thanks for the help/advice guys!

 

[MOOSH]

Dropped the car off at my local today and it turns out it is the sensor that has gone. They quoted me some £250 all in to get fixed. Happy it's not the whole system that needs changing again! It's going to be up for sale after Easter.... got an S3 on the way now

Thanks for the help/advice guys!

Sensor cost 50 bucks max so they are pocketing £200 for a job that essentually takes an hour to do. Bad times mate but like you say least it is not the DPF its self...

 

[lil_coz]

Sensor cost 50 bucks max so they are pocketing £200 for a job that essentually takes an hour to do. Bad times mate but like you say least it is not the DPF its self...

True, but the car went into limp mode on the way to the garage and I don't have VAGCOM to sort the error codes myself. I just wanted the job done properly as I'm going to be selling it. Also going abroad first thing tomorrow morning for a month and a half so wanted to get things done ASAP really as I was running out of time. I'm just happy it wasn't anything major/expensive!