[garynortheast]

Not today but this week. Week from car hell!

Ever since I bought this Zafira it kept trying to run a regen cycle on the DPF, even though the light wasn't on. Using huge amounts of fuel and dumping the excess in the oil.
Finally got round to sorting it this week. Started by doing what the manual recommends and checked the EGR valve. Took it off the car and cleaned it, and discovered that it wasn't seating fully in the closed position. Held up to the light it was possible to see daylight around the seat even after a good clean. New EGR valve ordered and fitted then. Trouble was, as I discovered after fitting it, the blind holes on the manifold for the exhaust input to the valve were not as deep on the new item as the original, so the bolts bottomed out before the manifold clamp sealed the exhaust input. As I found out when I drove the car up the road and the car filled with smoke as it tried to run yet another regen. Cough....splutter. Quick, up to my friend's to get the car on his workshop lift so I could do an oil change again, then back home and off with the EGR valve again. I shortened the bolts and this time the exhaust input sealed properly.

Next I had to decide what to do about the flashing DPF light. I figured the cheap option was to try and clean it with a serious thrash for 20-30 minutes. If that failed I would have to think about the expensive option of a new DPF or a chemical clean. Started the engine and drove at reasonably high rpm out to the main road. Light still winking at me. Ok, on the main road, 3rd gear and 4200rpm all the way into town. Lots of smoke for five minutes then none. Hit town 15 minutes later and the DPF light was still flashing, but 3 or 4 minutes later it stopped! Hoobloodyray!!!! I felt like getting out of the car and doing a little dance in the road (but I didn't as I would have either been arrested or run over).

I've done a couple of hundred miles since and the light has remained out, fuel consumption has decreased dramatically, oil level has remained constant, and there is no more smoking or further attempts to do a regen on the DPF.

I had tried thrashing it to clear the DPF previously, but not at such high rpm. It's now obvious that I wasn't getting it hot enough for the exhaust gases to burn off the collected particulate matter in the DPF. Lesson learned.

Horrible job but at least the week has ended on a much better note than that on which it began!