Car help needed. DPF problems

[Red ones]

Anyone on the great ORG who knows anything useful about DPF problems?

I have a Zafira which now has a fault light that suggests the DPF is full.

The web I a useless as usual. Everything from remove it, to £1500 repair bill. Even suggestions it's about half an hour of work if you find someone with the right bit of gadgetry to clean it.

Any ideas?

[Tomor]

Get it gutted and forget about it. It is a visual MOT inspection now, so you will need to leave the canister in place, just remove the internals and have it welded up. May need to get it removed from the cars memory though, otherwise it will constantly throw problem light

[Mr Speirs]

Take it on a long journey and rag it. Isn't that supposed to clear it?

[NTECUK]

Not rag it. It's higher than normal RPM constant cruise.
But vaxhall are known for it.
Reprogramming the ecm and remove the dpf internals it's a good plan.

[punyXpress]

Take it on a long journey and rag it. Isn't that supposed to clear it?

AKA: Italian Tuning

[cb1000rsteve]

I have the 120 bhp cdti engine and have had 2 faults which wrongly point to dpf failure. One is the pipe from the dpf to the sensor that tells it is broke. From under the car it's above the exhaust level with back of the engine. It's a hard plastic pipe which over time breaks causing a false reading (great design vx). To replace this pipe costs £30 from vx but a fuel line and 2 jubilee clips cost £5 and does the job. The other is the sensors broke which this pipe enters. It sits behind the top of engine attached to filter if memory serves?
This costs £55 from Andrew pages and is a five minute job.
My zafira is an 08 plate, done 80,000 miles.

[cb1000rsteve]

If it is blocked then first
To regenerate the dpf you need to travel at a constant above 2000rpm for about 20-30 minutes. U should notice your fuel consumption drop to about 33mpg on computer
Second:
Forced regen by a garage with op com type software
Third:
Take dpf off and clean it out with caustic and a jet washer
Fourth:
Have it ripped out welded up and re programmed out. £320 and upwards
Last option
Replace dpf which by vx is £1000+ but u can get them off eBay for a lot less and bolt them in.
My betting is the pipe or sensor.

[Red ones]

Cheers guys.
I had a nose around this morning but can't get the car up enough to have a good look for the hose. I ran it up the motorway for an hour last night to no avail.

Looks like it's going to the garage tomorrow. Wouldn't mind quite so much if the AC worked, the central locking locked or the stereo could play CDs!

[NTECUK]

Have you got a code scanner

[cb1000rsteve]

U don't need one on zafira. Just do the brake pedal test. Brings the codes up on the dash then just google the codes.

[Red ones]

Tried it. Says the DPF is fubar.

[Sid Squid]

Until recently I would have said bin/gut/delete it, but apparently coming MOT regs will be checking for DPF function not just presence, which means one's options will be rather restricted.
DPFs can be specialist cleaned for about £250, an industry that I suspect will become more prominent.

[NTECUK]

How are the testers going to check the dpf is indeed working.
All the test is at the moment is smoke opacity.
What is the new one, I'm intrigued

[Sid Squid]

I should imagine a particulate matter exhaust test of some kind, I don't have any info on what equipment will be needed, but it is coming it seems.

[NTECUK]

As of February 2014 we have to check a catalyst or a dpf is fitted,were appropriate.
But however we can't climb inside the tail pipe and look at the inside of the pipe (as they are close to the engine) to know what is inside.

[jonny.boyd]

Can be a very expensive job! we had an audio a4 in with blocked dpf symptoms.

Tried taking up the motorway at higher RPM - no success
Took to a guy who cleans them out - no success - said dpf was 80% blocked or something silly
Got new DPF - cost £1000! (temporarily fixed - symptoms came back again after a week)
Got new EGR - cost £250 - Fixed it!

So in our case DPF and EGR where knackered.

Blocked DPF is usually caused by never really giving the system a good clean out - i.e. giving it some up the motorway or round the lanes.

Our customer had the 6 gear model and pootled around from village to village - most likely in 6th gear! So we deemed that this was probably the cause of the problem.

Hope this helps!

[NTECUK]

Egr valves are a pita.

I've mine blocked off as cleaning is a chore when you have 200 k miles clocked up.

[Red ones]

Turns out it needs a new inlet manifold. The swirl valve (?!?) actuator has broken.

The VX dealer wants an arm and a leg, so I'm off round the Saab specialists to see what they can do. Apparently the same engine is used by Saab, VX, Alfa Romeo etc.

Best estimate so far is about £620. It's a 4 hour job for starters. Rumour has it that if the manifold is fixed the DPF should sort itself on the motorway.

[cb1000rsteve]

Check out the vx sites for swirl valve problems. I don't have them as mines the 120 bhp which is one of the many reasons I didn't buy the 150bhp 16valver. Good luck sorting it but I'm sure it can be done DIY

[Red ones]

I'm guessing the moral of the story is that the wife should let me drive it to work one a week to clear the carp out of the exhaust.

[Jason H]

Same problem on my mum's Vectra.

Depending on how broken the swirl flaps/intake manifold are, this will work (assuming it is just the actuator arm that sits on top has worn and popped off or snapped):

http://swirlrepair.com/Kaufen_en.html

Would also suggest getting the Vuaxhall/Alfa blanking plates for the EGR.

New intake manifold will not fix this as it will come back after another 30k ish miles.

J

[Red ones]

Its going to a Saab garage. The same engine seems to be rebadged as Saab 1.9TiD and Alfa Romeo 1.9JTD.


The Saab garage, apart from being cheaper, appears to be more au fait with the problem and the long term repair. I called the Vauxhall dealer who told me I was talking rubbish as there aren't flaps in the inlet manifold, they're in the exhaust. Even corrected me when I said I was standing there looking at them on the manifold with the little fuel pipes going in to it. Konbs.

[Mark_h]

Think yourself lucky on the E46 diesel BMWs the swirl flaps disintegrate, get sucked into the engine and lunch the pistons. At least that's according to the forums while I was looking at a similar fault on mine a few years back.

[Red ones]

The guy in the garage did say "think yourself lucky, if this were a BMW you could be looking at a write off!"

[yorkie_chris]

And what was his explanation for how the flaps in the exhaust would get into the engine? lol

[Red ones]

Lol

Must be the back pressure from the blocked DPF!

[appollo1]

I've just had the egr valve and air inlet manifold replaced on my zafira. Thankfully under warranty .
At each service pour a bottle of dpf rejuvenator and cleaner into your fuel tank. It works and improves mpg. Can't remember make of stuff but it does work and helps keep the dpf filter clean.

[Red ones]

Maybe I spoke too soon.
I got a call to say the car is done and that I an pick it up in the morning. Fine

Courtesy car is nice, apart from the fuel filter that leaks and dumps diesel everywhere. I curse enough people for dumping diesel on the roads without adding to them! Only noticed the leak after the garage had shut for the night, but before I have the 30 miles to do.

[Red ones]

Now find the DPF totally blocked and the engine stalls.

Argh.