diesel particulate filter problems

leonfr170 · Nov 14, 2007

just wanted to explain my day -
yesterday the dpf light came on on my dash. called the dealer and they said i need to rev it to 3k rpm in 4th to clean it out. if this doesn't solve it bring it in to look at.
did this and the light went out. this morning the light came back on but now i lost power and revs limited to 2000. called seat assistance and they sent aa out. aa came and said its dpf filter so i limped my car to dealer. dealer was too busy to look at it but said there is a possibility this is not covered by warranty as there are two stages to the warning lights? has anyone got any experience with this as its really unfair! i drive 110 miles a day so there is no way the dpf filter just be getting clogged. i want to gauge a percentage of roughly how many others are in the same situation as the dealer said its quite common and i should take it up with seat uk - if this is common then surely it should be covered by warranty and more action should be taken to resolve any potental problems?
i'm lucky enough that ive got a work vehicle i can use in the interim but not everyone is going to be in the situation.
would appreciate your advice guys!

MikeShaw100 · Nov 14, 2007

same happened to me at 500 miles. limped to dealer, who regenerated filter. dpf light came on again at 1300 miles (mad as hell) but a few miles down m1 cleared light. since then, tried occasionally to drive between 2-3k revs in 5th gear for 5 minutes and all has been fine (4k on clock). hope this helps and note that my initial concerns have now gone.

mike

MikeShaw100 · Nov 14, 2007

ps - when light goes out, this does not indicate filter is clear, only that it is less than around 40-45% full. occasional 2k+ revs in 5th should keep filter clear.

chin up

mike

leonfr170 · Nov 14, 2007

thanks for reply -did you have to pay for the clean out though? i've been led to believe it will cost in the region of £300 to sort out? i drive regularly at 70mph or above (on private roads only of course

) so was led to believe the filter would be fine?

MikeShaw100 · Nov 14, 2007

leonfr170 said:
thanks for reply -did you have to pay for the clean out though? i've been led to believe it will cost in the region of £300 to sort out? i drive regularly at 70mph or above (on private roads only of course) so was led to believe the filter would be fine?

no charge from my dealer - just lots of appolgies and a courtosy car.... seat autoworld sheffield rocks.

i also didnt expect this problem given my weekly travel, but happy with the odd thrashing given the high mpg (47mpg round trip to liverpool today)

mike
best of luck.

goble · Nov 14, 2007

if you turn all electrical lods on and hold it at 3000 rpm for 12 minutes(stationary) it will clear it out anyways

beachboy · Nov 14, 2007

It seems like we have several threads running on the DPF saga. One is in the TDI section and the other in the Mk2 Leon section (Tdi > Tfsi).
The worrying part about all this is, how do you prove to SEAT/VW/Audi/Skoda that you have followed their recommendations and therefore the replacement (£1000 to £1500) DPF should be covered under warranty?
I have a horrible feeling that the only thing being covered is the manufacturer's backside and poor old Joe Customer is going to foot the bill for a new DPF.

Michael B · Nov 14, 2007

Ive put 17000miles on my FRTDI in the last 5months, and not a single problem.. 1/3 of those miles are motorway miles.. Mixture of driving.

Snarks · Nov 14, 2007

I scanned a leaflet I got from my dealer about this here.

Yes, that is a Cupra on the leaflet and no, it doesn't have a DPF.

sm_allen · Nov 15, 2007

I have just ordered a FR TDI. All these stories about DPF problem have started to make me think that I have made a grave mistake.

I wonder what proportion of drivers have experienced this problem?

I have started a poll to gauge how big the problem really is.

JonoUK · Nov 15, 2007

sm_allen said:
I have just ordered a FR TDI. All these stories about DPF problem have started to make me think that I have made a grave mistake.

I wonder what proportion of drivers have experienced this problem?

I haven't

Just don't do too much short or start/stop journeys between driving it how it wants to be driven (hard) and you'll be fine.

It tells you what needs to be done (or avoided) in that DPF leaflet. However, admittedly in the dealership I bought from it wasn't offered to me when I was looking at the car, nor really mentioned.

All I got was a "You need to give it a good run every now and then to help clear the DPF out". The Leaflet was available, but just on a literature stand and I found it by chance.

Have a think about what the MAJORITY of your driving in it will be.

Thom1983 · Aug 10, 2011

Dpf

I've had the same issues too, to the point where I'm trying to get the car sent back to the finance company. In the last five weeks I've had the car for 6 days and had nothing but a battle with JCT600 SEAT and SEAT UK. Neither are helpful and I've had staff from the dealer shouting down the phone at me...I was told today that the Leon FR diesel isn't designed for driving into town and should only really be driven on the motorway...by a very unhelpful member of SEAT's customer 'care' team. I've had regens done and had the light back on within 120 miles, in fact the record was 90 miles. I've had it go into safe mode while overtaking, leaving me stuck on the wrong side of the road with no power.
SEAT and VW as a whole should man up and sort this problem out, my car has broken down on 10 occasions since April and I've had little or no support from SEAT UK - I was even told by the dealer they couldn't ever fix it which I promptly told SEAT UK who called the dealer who then called me back and told me they could fix it and it required a regen which would cost £180...despite the car being in with them only two weeks prior to the fault re-occurring.
It is the car, not my driving - I have a regional job role so do a lot of miles on the motorway and even after driving it to Bristol and back (I live in Leeds) the light has come on after only a few local trips.

I wouldn't buy a VAG diesel again and would advice anyone NOT to buy one...they're trouble.

flashp · Aug 10, 2011

Rather than fight this it would be cheaper to get Custom Code to de-DPF and map your car.

Thom1983 · Aug 10, 2011

flashp said:
Rather than fight this it would be cheaper to get Custom Code to de-DPF and map your car.

I just don't trust the car...my employer have told me they aren't happy driving it and want me to get a company car, it's just not a feasible car and anyway...I shouldn't have to modify a car that's built with an inherent fault! Seat should fix it.

Fusster · Aug 10, 2011

goble said:
if you turn all electrical lods on and hold it at 3000 rpm for 12 minutes(stationary) it will clear it out anyways

Incorrect mate,the engine control unit needs to see a speed signal of 30mph or so before regeneration will commence,mainly due to the heat thats involved during regeneration,600 degrees c approx.
2000 rpm light throttle(very low load) 4-5 th gear is the ideal range for regeneration
If we have to do a forced regeneration for a customer we always do the first one free and advise customer on "how" to regenerate the particle filter.That is off course if there is not a underlying issue(sensor problem etc) that would be claimable under warranty.
if there is no sensor fault and the system is working as designed SEAT will not pay the dealer under warranty as there is no defect,I appreciate you may think theres a defect and it should be free but if the dealer wont get paid for it they can be reluctant to work for nothing.
Hope you get it sorted anyhow

Thom1983 · Aug 10, 2011

Fusster said:
Incorrect mate,the engine control unit needs to see a speed signal of 30mph or so before regeneration will commence,mainly due to the heat thats involved during regeneration,600 degrees c approx.
2000 rpm light throttle(very low load) 4-5 th gear is the ideal range for regeneration
If we have to do a forced regeneration for a customer we always do the first one free and advise customer on "how" to regenerate the particle filter.That is off course if there is not a underlying issue(sensor problem etc) that would be claimable under warranty.
if there is no sensor fault and the system is working as designed SEAT will not pay the dealer under warranty as there is no defect,I appreciate you may think theres a defect and it should be free but if the dealer wont get paid for it they can be reluctant to work for nothing.
Hope you get it sorted anyhow

I just don't understand why it keeps doing it - I've tried to explain that the DPF light coming on is the result of a fault, not the fault itself but no one listens to me. It's had the sensors replaced and some pipework too but tbh it's got worse since that was done. I don't expect them to work for nothing, I just want them to tell me more than "the computer isn't showing a fault" - the car broke down with them while it was in so they've just done a regen and are sending it back!
I had a A4 company car a couple of years back and the DPF went on that after 50,000 miles and sitting in traffic in London for the best part of 8 hours which I can forgive it for...but driving to work and back twice...which is less than 90 mins driving...don't think so - trouble is SEAT seem to think that's perfectly reasonable - where do I go from here?

betty_swollox · Aug 10, 2011

Thom1983 said:
I just don't understand why it keeps doing it - I've tried to explain that the DPF light coming on is the result of a fault, not the fault itself but no one listens to me. It's had the sensors replaced and some pipework too but tbh it's got worse since that was done. I don't expect them to work for nothing, I just want them to tell me more than "the computer isn't showing a fault" - the car broke down with them while it was in so they've just done a regen and are sending it back!
I had a A4 company car a couple of years back and the DPF went on that after 50,000 miles and sitting in traffic in London for the best part of 8 hours which I can forgive it for...but driving to work and back twice...which is less than 90 mins driving...don't think so - trouble is SEAT seem to think that's perfectly reasonable - where do I go from here?

It's ****ing mad mate. I only travel 9 miles to work and have had the dpf light come on once. Only once!!! I originally thought u was being lied to by SEAT as they told me that the dpf wouldn't affect me even though I don't do many miles. So far....they have been right. Apologies if you have already mentioned this, but have the sensors been replaced? You do loads more miles than me so you shouldn't be getting the dpf light on.

Hope you get it sorted mate.

Bruce1 · Aug 10, 2011

Thom, I know how you feel as I am currently going through this problem too and Seat need to be held responsible for this. There are so many failures and horror stories, not just with VAG cars either. I was quoted £1860 for a replacement DPF icluding labour which I just couldn't afford. How can they expect their customers to cough that up on a so called wear and tear part!!

I have just got my car back after having the DPF removed and cleaned. That still set me back £500!!

The clean was succesful and I am still experiencing other problems but I don't think they are DPF related. The car is now running, no limp mode and no lights on the dash. See how long it lasts!!

If you are interested in the clean option have a look at smilesengineering.co.uk

The other option is to try the DPF delete which I couldn't do as I said, I have other issues with the car and hope it will be covered by warranty!

Thom1983 · Aug 10, 2011

betty_swollox said:
It's ****ing mad mate. I only travel 9 miles to work and have had the dpf light come on once. Only once!!! I originally thought u was being lied to by SEAT as they told me that the dpf wouldn't affect me even though I don't do many miles. So far....they have been right. Apologies if you have already mentioned this, but have the sensors been replaced? You do loads more miles than me so you shouldn't be getting the dpf light on.

Hope you get it sorted mate.

Hi mate, yeah the sensors have been changed, it's just a wrong'un...i love the car to bits but I can't rely on it anymore...I have lost my faith in SEAT - they don't care

Thom1983 · Aug 10, 2011

Bruce1 said:
Thom, I know how you feel as I am currently going through this problem too and Seat need to be held responsible for this. There are so many failures and horror stories, not just with VAG cars either. I was quoted £1860 for a replacement DPF icluding labour which I just couldn't afford. How can they expect their customers to cough that up on a so called wear and tear part!!

I have just got my car back after having the DPF removed and cleaned. That still set me back £500!!

The clean was succesful and I am still experiencing other problems but I don't think they are DPF related. The car is now running, no limp mode and no lights on the dash. See how long it lasts!!

If you are interested in the clean option have a look at smilesengineering.co.uk

The other option is to try the DPF delete which I couldn't do as I said, I have other issues with the car and hope it will be covered by warranty!

I'm glad it's not just me! I think tbh I will just get rid of it, it's dangerous at worst and a pain in the ass at best! I would honestly bring a group action against SEAT if I could get enough of us together - they need to deal with this problem.

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