Heads up for everyone with a remapped 170 with DPF

[lil_coz]

Must have been no more than about a month ago when someone posted up asking if there are any problems and I confidently said 'No'... famous last words! lol Here's the full story...

Back when I bought the car I was doing weekly trips to Coventry (to go to Uni) which means going up and down the M1 which kept things nice and clean DPF wise. For the past month and a half I've been living at home as Uni has finished and have been doing my daily commute to work which is about 5 miles from where I live (if that). So thats pretty much all town driving. Last week (I think it was on Monday) the DPF light come on. Now I know the drill of running it through its re-generation programme to clean things up again but I didn't have time/couldn't really be bothered to run it up a couple of junctions on the motorway to clear it up.

Thursday morning on the way to work, the car went into limp mode (really suprised me as to how limp it did go!!!). Brought her back home and called Audi breakdown to have a look and see if they could sort it out. The guy came, said that it was more than 90% blocked, so the DPF had to be changed. Now right off the bat I started to think that this was going to be pricey because I know that the DPF isn't covered under warranty. So I took it on the chin and let him take her away because it had to be done. He tooked it to my local dealership and told me that I'd get a call back to sort out a courtesy car. Within 5 mins, someone rang me and a courtesy car was dropped off outside my door within 2 hours of this all happening. It was a brand new Passat as it happens with a woeful interior! Shockingly poor compared to Audi standards! But anyway....

The dealership rang me later on in the day to confirm that they have the car and asking permission to check it over and he confirmed to me that if they have to change the DPF I'd have to pay because it's not covered. I got a call the next day (Friday) saying that a new DPF had to go on and that they were on the phone to Audi UK and they fought my corner for me and that they'd get it done under warranty as a gesture of goodwill! Now I was well chuffed with that considering that I didn't even ask for it to be done, I just took it as it was and let them get on with it! They said that they couldn't have the part in till Tuesday and I'd pick it up on Wed. And thats exactly what happened! Now a lot of people slate Audi dealerships and as a family we've dealt with 3 (Coventry, Milton Keynes, and mostly Hitchin). And all 3 cannot be faulted. Top notch service!

Moral of the story... don't ignore the DPF light! I only left it for 3 days and that was enough. Now I know to clear it out as soon as the light comes on! If you keep that up, your car will be just fine! :icon_thumright: Hope my experience helps someone!

Coss

 

[neil.c]

Good advice there, I can't see the point of the DPF system as uses change and it is a bit inconvenient not being able to use it for short trips, I am sure a lot of people have/will get caught out by this.

I have had some good service from Audi Coventry.

 

[newbiecrg]

I agree DPF should work no matter what driving you do... imagine if you had to change the air filter just because you drove more in town than in the motorway....

Concerning Audi dealerships I still have to find faults... Both Highland Audi and more recently Portsmouth Audi... 5 - star!!

Pedro

 

[steve184]

i still dont get this though - seems very inconsistent. I do pretty much all town driving hardly any motorway or fast driving at all, and in 17 months of town doodling i have never seen my light come on once - my car seems to be able to sort itself out at low speeds (its an S-tronic) - i think s-tronics are safer because the engine talks to the gearbox and changes the way it shifts - even with slow driving, quite often i find my idle is just over a 1000rpm and then when i come to stop i can smell how hot the exhaust is and the tips are so hot you cant touch them - so mine seems to be able to get the high temperatures on its own without fast 15 min drives on motorway at higher revs, as i say never had the light come on once.

I've said this before and ill say it again i think with the dpf system you are safer in an s-tronic than a manual as in a manual you can choose to ignore any warningsp - in an s-tronic you simply cant ignore because the gearbox takes that decision away from you and looks after your dpf for you. Thats what i find anyway.

 

[lil_coz]

i still dont get this though - seems very inconsistent. I do pretty much all town driving hardly any motorway or fast driving at all, and in 17 months of town doodling i have never seen my light come on once - my car seems to be able to sort itself out at low speeds (its an S-tronic) - i think s-tronics are safer because the engine talks to the gearbox and changes the way it shifts - even with slow driving, quite often i find my idle is just over a 1000rpm and then when i come to stop i can smell how hot the exhaust is and the tips are so hot you cant touch them - so mine seems to be able to get the high temperatures on its own without fast 15 min drives on motorway at higher revs, as i say never had the light come on once.

I've said this before and ill say it again i think with the dpf system you are safer in an s-tronic than a manual as in a manual you can choose to ignore any warningsp - in an s-tronic you simply cant ignore because the gearbox takes that decision away from you and looks after your dpf for you. Thats what i find anyway.

Are you re-mapped? I think when its re-mapped, it produces a healthy dose more of the 'black sh!t' which the DPF picks up and blocks it up a lot quicker than a normal 170.

Coss

 

[Mikey]

at the risk of sounding daft, whats a DPF?

 

[newbiecrg]

It is a particule filter on the new diesels that collects harmfull particles from exhaust making diesels cleaner for the environment.

Pedro

 

[rob1210]

How many miles has the car done? Mine is remapped 170 s-Tronic and no probs yet at 10.5k miles.

Rob

 

[Matt]

When you say its not covered under the warranty is that because you have a remap?

If mine ever went wrong theres no way I'm paying for it, should be covered under warranty.

12.5k here and no light has been seen with manual gearbox.

 

[Keef]

Coss

Sorry It was me who jinxed it! I asked the question bout the DPF!
as I’m considering a remap or blue fin for my A4.

How on earth can a filter that is crucial to this engine not be covered under warranty!

Not sure what to do now??

 

[lil_coz]

How many miles has the car done? Mine is remapped 170 s-Tronic and no probs yet at 10.5k miles.

Rob

Its just coming up to 6K. It isn't a problem at all...(he says lol). My journeys have been seriously short for the past month and a half so I'm putting it down to that. Its had no more than 5-10 mins per day at a time. And I couldn't be bothered to run it for longer to clear it up. If I had, it would have been good as new.

When you say its not covered under the warranty is that because you have a remap?

If mine ever went wrong theres no way I'm paying for it, should be covered under warranty.

12.5k here and no light has been seen with manual gearbox.

The way I understand it, its not covered full stop. Because its a filter and the car tells you when its blocked, they say that you have no excuse to keep running it without clearing it up (something like keeping the revs at 2.5K for 10-15 mins).

Coss

Sorry It was me who jinxed it! I asked the question bout the DPF!
as I’m considering a remap or blue fin for my A4.

How on earth can a filter that is crucial to this engine not be covered under warranty!

Not sure what to do now??

lol No worries mate. I would have sent you the bill if I had to pay up!

Seriously tho, I would still recommend it. Just dont ignore the DPF light if/when it comes up!

Coss