Astra 2.0cdti dpf regen info?

[Boroboy]

Hello all,
I've owned my 64 plate 2.0cdti elite auto for around a year now. So I'm getting quite used to the dpf regeneration function.
My driving style usually consists of longer journeys around 60% of the time. Although the other time is spent driving around town. Never usually do less than a 7 mile journey, even around town. My dpf seems to regenerate around every 1-2 weeks. Although It's not done on an intelligent basis. I.e I have been on a long journey. Stopped the car for half an hour. Gone on a short trip again, when I arrive home. I turn the ignition off. Hadn't realised it was in the middle of a regeneration, due to listening to my radio. Then he fan comes on, car then sounds like a hovercraft for around 2-3 minutes  As the car must have been in the middle of a dpf regen. Does this sound similar to other 2.0cdti owners? Or is there a fault? I've never had the regen light appear on my dash, no ecu lights. Car runs A1. No extra oil dumped into my engine. Annoying, none the less.

[stigeye]

I think the car will do a regen when the exhaust pressure sensor detects that the pressure in the dpf is at a point where a regen is required. So it isn't necessarily anything to do with a set period of time or distance. This is why it can go of at random times regardless of long or short journeys. Ours went off on Friday, we got in he car and it said dpf was full and continue driving, took it up and down the bypass a few times until the puffs of soot came out the exhaust and light went out.

[Rusty2009]

I won't repeat what stigeye said, but when I've done regens the fan has been running at full blast for good 20-25mins afterwards even with the car off it gets very hot when doing a DPF regen.

[Boroboy]

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I won't repeat what stigeye said, but when I've done regens the fan has been running at full blast for good 20-25mins afterwards even with the car off it gets very hot when doing a DPF regen.

Rusty,
Nope, that's never occurred with either of my 2.0cdti's. Fan overrun occurs for around 2-3 mins after a regen for me. Even after I've nailed it. Mine must have a mind of it's own. Although I usually realise when one occurs whilst on tickover, unless the music is on & I'm caught out. At a guess, I'd say it occurs around the 200 mile mark or after 200 miles covered.
Thanks.

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I think the car will do a regen when the exhaust pressure sensor detects that the pressure in the dpf is at a point where a regen is required. So it isn't necessarily anything to do with a set period of time or distance. This is why it can go of at random times regardless of long or short journeys. Ours went off on Friday, we got in he car and it said dpf was full and continue driving, took it up and down the bypass a few times until the puffs of soot came out the exhaust and light went out.

Stigeye,
Yes the dpf regen does seem to occur when the filter seems to reach a certain level, annoyingly for me, seems to be during a short journey, after a long run. Shame we didn't have a dash function, where we could set a regen off, when it was convenient for us, during a long journey. I've never had a dash dpf light occur, perhaps I'm doing something right lol.
Although my car has now covered 55k.
I might as well enjoy my diesel whilst I can, before the smaller turbo petrol engines take over the world. Followed by the electric cars.
Cheers.

[Boroboy]

Update,
I've decided to take it in for a diagnostic at a trusted indy diesel specialist, as it may not be dpf related. Ill post back. Once I have more info.

[stigeye]

If your fan was constantly on, or at least running on full for longer than it should you could have a thermostat issue. Other than that it just sounds as though yours is acting as it probably should.

[Boroboy]

Stigeye,
Full diagnostic done, including checking the thermo. Dpf saturation levels are good. No faults Found. Neither did the fan come on for them. However he did say it could be a faulty temperature sensor. Said for me to bring it back if it gets worse. Being intermittent, hardest fault to find. Said they don't think it's dpf related. Case of waiting to see if it becomes more frequent. One week it may come on twice straight after each other, once key took out of ingnition. Other times may just happen once a week or even once every two weeks. I've even had a week where it had come on around 4 times or so, after I've locked the car and walked away. Never usually for more than around 5 minutes.
Perhaps it wasn't trying to regenerate after all, more a temperature sensor fault. Time will tell, no doubt. I've never had the regen light appear on my dash, most my journeys are long.
Does your fan come on frequently after taking your ingnition key out? By frequently I mean around once a week.
Cheers.

[stigeye]

I had an issue with my temp sensor once and the car couldn't complete the regen so we took it to our local garage, he ordered a new temp sensor and whilst he was waiting for it to be delivered he stuck some dpf cleaner in it and we took it for a run and the car completed a regen and saturation levels returned to normal. He cancelled the temp sensor and the car has done normal regens since, we will see a dpf full, continue driving message every few months simply because we very rarely take the car for a continuous run at a reasonable speed.

The regen procedure gets peoples head in a spin when a message pops up because they believe it means the car is 10 minutes from imploding lol. The facts are these days there are dpf cleaning solutions for around £5 to £15 and professional dpf removal, cleaning and refit for around £200 which substantially reduces the risk of having to replace these filters. Unfortunately though they are reliant on other sensors to keep them in tip top condition and it's these that are the main culprit when things go wrong.

[Boroboy]

I had an issue with my temp sensor once and the car couldn't complete the regen so we took it to our local garage, he ordered a new temp sensor and whilst he was waiting for it to be delivered he stuck some dpf cleaner in it and we took it for a run and the car completed a regen and saturation levels returned to normal. He cancelled the temp sensor and the car has done normal regens since, we will see a dpf full, continue driving message every few months simply because we very rarely take the car for a continuous run at a reasonable speed.

The regen procedure gets peoples head in a spin when a message pops up because they believe it means the car is 10 minutes from imploding lol. The facts are these days there are dpf cleaning solutions for around £5 to £15 and professional dpf removal, cleaning and refit for around £200 which substantially reduces the risk of having to replace these filters. Unfortunately though they are reliant on other sensors to keep them in tip top condition and it's these that are the main culprit when things go wrong.

Having had the saturation levels checked, all seems good with my dpf. So the fan issue may not be dpf related in my case, although I'm really not sure at this point. The fan even comes on after a short run, not as though I've booted it, turbo needs cooling down.
Also the garage said to me that these engines have more than one temperature sensor, which complicates matters a bit.
For what it costs I may put some dpf cleaner in. I doubt if my car has had any put in over the 55k it has covered. Although I've only had it from around 46k.
Thanks for your input.

[stigeye]

Sounds like you have a thermostat issue to me if your fan is running excessively.

[Boroboy]

Sounds like you have a thermostat issue to me if your fan is running excessively.

They said they'd checked it & it was OK. Will have to see how it goes. Although the tick over rate rises slightly prior to turning off the ignition, then for the fan to come on. Coolant level is spot on.

[Boroboy]

I also forgot to add that my instant fuel consumption goes up from 0.2 to 0.4, along with my tickover. Prior to myself turning the ingnition off, for the fan to then come on.
This must point to the dpf having a regen?

[Rusty2009]

Normally when a DPF regen is happening it does go upto 0.4.

Have you though of fitting a LED so you know when a regen is happening?

https://www.vxoc.org.uk/forum/Thread-HOW...ARNING-LED

[Boroboy]

Rusty,
Thanks for info.
Just spoke to garage again. He explained to me that all my dpf readings were good. Reason for the increased fuel reading at .4 was due to the fact of the rev increase, not the dpf doing a regen lol.
As I've said it happens randomly, even after I've been on an hours run. Stop the car for 30 minutes. 10 minute run, key out of ignition or just driving to work (10 miles), take key out. Fan on again. Problem is it doesn't do it all the time. Could do with it having a diagnostic when it happens. Not much chance of that though. Although I do have an older version of Opcom. Not really set up for Js though.
Around 9 months ago I had a dpf software update at the dealers, suppose to make regens easier. Whilst I was having a new gearbox fitted under warranty.
Don't fancy blue LEDs. Not even got round to changing those woeful DRLs lol.

[Boroboy]

As I'm not totally sure whether my issue is dpf/regen related or not?? Next time I finish a journey, notice the tick over increase. I think I'll try a static regen. I'll rev it to just over 2k, hold it there for a few minutes. If my fuel calc then drops to .2 (normal tick over rate), i'll  yhen know it has gone through a regen cycle. Perhaps I've just been a bit unlucky to have a regen start, prior to me finishing my journeys. I know the saturation levels are OK. I also think a static regen is possible with the 2.0cdti. Even though the indy said not. It does feel like it's in the middle of a regen, prior to switching the ignition off. Although I've never had the warning dash light appear.
I'll post back if this does the trick.
Thanks for the input guys.

[Boroboy]

Normally when a DPF regen is happening it does go upto 0.4.

Have you though of fitting a LED so you know when a regen is happening?

https://www.vxoc.org.uk/forum/Thread-HOW...ARNING-LED

Rusty,
Few further questions regarding led dpf lights.
Did you splice into the connector cables? Will this light come on when any dpf regen occurs? Not just when the filter is full. I may fit one, don't mind it being in the door.
Annoying GM didn't make it easier for their customers to realise when one is occuring. As we shouldn't need to check the tick over rate continuely or the fuel consumption calc. Rediculos really.
Cheers.

[Rusty2009]

Normally when a DPF regen is happening it does go upto 0.4.

Have you though of fitting a LED so you know when a regen is happening?

https://www.vxoc.org.uk/forum/Thread-HOW...ARNING-LED

Rusty,
Few further questions regarding led dpf lights.
Did you splice into the connector cables? Will this light come on when any dpf regen occurs? Not just when the filter is full. I may fit one, don't mind it being in the door.
Annoying GM didn't make it easier for their customers to realise when one is occuring. As we shouldn't need to check the tick over rate continuely or the fuel consumption calc. Rediculos really.
Cheers.

Yes I spliced into the wires.

So the Light will come on whenever the rear-demist is on, even if you put rear demist on manual the LED will light up.
The reason we tapped into the rear demist is purely because the car turns this on in the background when doing a regen (yet the tell-tell led on the button doesn't come on).
If you have the tap consumer menu on your display next the car is doing a regen pop to that menu and you will see rear demist is active.

I totally agree, I emailed Vauxhall about this and the fact failed regens could end up costing the owner a lot of money.
The reply was if I've never seen the light I'm driving the car correctly.
They totally missed the point that as drivers we want to know a DPF regen is being done so we don't turn the car off etc.

[Boroboy]

Rusty,
Thanks for the info. I may live with it the way it is, monitor the tickover or fuel calc. When it regens again, will let it finish off, if possible. Not always practicle though.
A lot of people just don't have the interest regarding maintenance etc or watching out for regen dash lights. Just want to drive, that's it. With the diesel car now in decline, doubtful if Peugeot (lol), would change the system now. Even though we were pushed into buying diesels by previous governments.
I'll probably keep my motor for another 18 months or so. Maybe consider buying a used Astra K 1.4t elite or may even consider another manufacturer. As much as I like my car, I won't buy another diesel.
I've owned mainly vaux's most my driving life (since the 80's).

[Boroboy]

Update.
Just did my first static regen. Was on my way to work, from a second shift. Notice the tick over rise, fuel calculator at .4. So realised it was on a regen. Sat in car park, revved car at a constant 2k for 5 minutes. Then noticed a lot of smoke coming from the exhaust. Realised regen was complete.

[Kiel0777]

Hi guys my dpf saturation is 131%....wont regen but my miles since last regen are going up via opcom?