DPF

[Tom H]

Now that I don't do regular long runs, this DPF notification comes on regularly and I have to 'nip' up the M1 for 15 miles and back just to get rid of it. It's intensely annoying me now. So much in fact that I'm considering getting rid of the car and maybe getting a 4.2 petrol version...

[KEN33Y]

Have you considered an additive. I done so for my CLK Merc and it done wonders. 

[Tom H]

No I haven't. Any you'd recommend me getting?

[KEN33Y]

I purchased the COMMA diesel injector and emission cleaner from Halfrauds. There were more expensive ones but that poured into a tank of diesel with a blast seemed to do the trick. Stopped my engine management coming on, like yourself I got fed up with it resetting the fault code every five minutes. 

[Tom H]

3 hours ago, KEN33Y said:

I purchased the COMMA diesel injector and emission cleaner from Halfrauds. There were more expensive ones but that poured into a tank of diesel with a blast seemed to do the trick. Stopped my engine management coming on, like yourself I got fed up with it resetting the fault code every five minutes. 

I've just ordered some. Many Thanks

[Tom H]

DPF message back with a vengeance. Really really annoying. Shall I change the filter?

[JOE-DOT-COM]

Hi

There is no filter to change, The DPF is a sealed unit, just like a exhaust silencer box and wont be cheap, £500 plus

you could try changing your driving style and just keeping the revs a bit higher every now and then, this will get the DPF hotter and allow it to burn off the build up inside

The DPF is basically like a filter, which builds up with soot, when it starts to get blocked, a pressure starts to build, which is monitored by the engine, which puts the DPF in to a regeneration mode, which basically heats the filter up to about 600 deg, there also a heater built into it, which burns the soot off, in to ash and out the back

this is why if you put your foot down more often or keep the revs up, the heat help keep the dpf clean, pottering about every where at 1500 rpm and 30 mph, just keeps filling the dpf with more soot

cheers

Joe

[Leo]

I changed my XF 3.0D S when I retired for precisely this reason.

You could try using Shell Optimax diesel, which makes a lot less soot. Opinions differ, but some find that it gives more mpg as well as keeping their DPF cleaner. We use it on my wife's Citroen C4 Grand Picasso 2.0D and have had no problems in the 3 months since we bought it, despite an awful lot of short runs.

I don't think that you would find any appreciable difference in power, but if you get better mpg and it helps look after the DPF, that is enough justification as far as I am concerned.

[Old Peter]

In spite of only going just under 7000 miles a year I have never had a problem with the DPF. I always us Shell V power and the extra 8p a litre is well worth it.  I also give each fill up - about once a month - a dose of an additive which keeps the EGR vales clean a well as assisting the DPF to burn off soot.

Preventative maintenance is better than having to sort a problem out after the event.

Peter.

[Old_Growler]

On 4/25/2016 at 2:04 PM, Tom H said:

Now that I don't do regular long runs, this DPF notification comes on regularly and I have to 'nip' up the M1 for 15 miles and back just to get rid of it. It's intensely annoying me now. So much in fact that I'm considering getting rid of the car and maybe getting a 4.2 petrol version...

I take it being a 2008 model XF it's the 2.7 diesel. Is it using any Oil? or when changing is there more than 6lts of Oil when drained.

Like others have said, If the soot has turn to ash no amount of passive or active DPF regeneration even whilst motorway driving will cure the blockage problem as ash doesn't burn.

Using additives mixed with diesel helps? Some modern cars have a dedicated tank filled with an additive which costs around £120 to recharge.

Also having the EUC properly (not genetic) remapped to the individual vehicle should set the air & fuel flow to improve combustion to the best possible.

Options? You could try having the DPF filters ultrasonic cleaned. Buy new cheap after market DPF filters as they have the minimum materials inside to block.

Or the illegal route for road use .. Have the guts neatly taken out of the DPF filter and refit them empty and have the DPF deleted from the ECU. (if DPF filters are in place & visually look ok it will pass the MOT)

 

[Old Peter]

Hi Tom, 

I have the 2.7 diesel in my car and have never had a problem wth the DPF.  I do use Shell V Plus and also an occasional additive to clean the EGR valves and the DPF, which, with the occasional longer run, seems to work.

I would not personally go down the illegal route.  There is strong opinion that in the near future the MOT will include a  full inspection of the DFP which will make the car an automatic failure if it has been removed.

It might well be the best route to have the DPF cleaned in a garage as Paul has suggested.

Regards,

Peter. 

[Old_Growler]

17 hours ago, Old Peter said:

Hi Tom, 

I have the 2.7 diesel in my car and have never had a problem wth the DPF.  I do use Shell V Plus and also an occasional additive to clean the EGR valves and the DPF, which, with the occasional longer run, seems to work.

I would not personally go down the illegal route.  There is strong opinion that in the near future the MOT will include a  full inspection of the DFP which will make the car an automatic failure if it has been removed.

It might well be the best route to have the DPF cleaned in a garage as Paul has suggested.

Regards,

Peter. 

Ah yes but they drive a Jaguar should with it removed + an extra 5 mpg lol...This is the problem running an older model, The cars worth next to nothing but manufacture original replacement parts are priced still as if it was a new model, ie Walk in a Jaguar dealers and order a new DPF filter and your leave with a bit of metal piping and your pockets £1,300+ lighter! And that's before if there given the job to fit it as no doubt your be ripped off for new sensors, Heat shields, Nuts, Gaskets & clips, Where's you can buy a new after market DPF filter for the XF 2.7D for under £240 and take it to your local exhaust centre and have it fitted for £50-60.

[Old Peter]

It is a well known fact that main dealers sell cars rather than service them.  Since I retired in 1999 and the company car never came onto my driveway every year or so I have only bought three cars, one Rover Sterling, and two Jaguars.  I bought all three from main dealers.  I have never had them serviced by a main dealer, and only once have I been to a main dealer [for a diagnostic test when the amber light came on] and the cost was £69 for ten minutes.

The amber light has been on a few times since, and when I joined the club about three and a half years ago, the advice I have had has enabled me to run my car economically.

The removal of the DPF is a chancy thing, insofar as if the MOT rules are changed and the DPF removal is a fail, then you can be stuck with an expensive bill or n unsaleable car.  

Peter.

[JOE-DOT-COM]

Hi

As peter says is correct, from may this year all DFP's will be tested for operation in mot's

so if your DPF is a empty can, then's its a straight fail, its even worse as a lot of people had them mapped out, in the ecu, so the cost of a new DPF and the cost of getting the DPF mapped back in, also it will go on the mot history and these days with a simple app like "VEHICLE SMART", Any body can check the MOT history of your car with just the registration number, so will make the car hard to sell on

cheers

Joe

[Tom H]

I really appreciate all the replies guys. Very helpful.Firstly I would say that I probably don't drive very economically, in fact I stick it in S mode most days and stick my foot down in short bursts.

I will start by switching to optimax and regularly adding additive and let you know how I get on!

 

Cheers