Landrover Discovery sport DPF filter

[RonA]

Just taken my 66 Plate disco sport out for first time in ages. After a short drive of approx 5 miles, stopped to complete an errand & when I came back, on starting the the engine the dpf filter warning came up (ie drive your vehicle at over 40 mins to clear filter, a not infrequent message ( 4 times since new) as I don't drive very far these days).
However, on setting out to drive the car to clear the filter, another message came up “Exhaust filter full, visit dealer” the engine management light has come on, the performance has dropped off & I suspect I may be in limp home mode.
Sounds decidedly expensive, anybody advise on what they do to clear the filter & does anybody provide the service at sensible not dealer prices. Can it be done DIY I usually do all my own maintenance.
RonA

 

[julianf]

I think, but please do check, that the icarsoft fault reader thing can trigger a forced regen.

They're not overly expensive as far as diagnosis things go either.

 

[julianf]

I also wonder if, if you can clear the fault, and get to hot running temp on an a road before it comes back, if it's not a job for an Italian tune?

Trouble will be if the fault instantly comes back after clearing and won't let you get to tune up temperature.

 

[RonA]

I also wonder if, if you can clear the fault, and get to hot running temp on an a road before it comes back, if it's not a job for an Italian tune?

Trouble will be if the fault instantly comes back after clearing and won't let you get to tune up temperature.

Hi Julian,
Somebody else has also suggested to me that unless the engine management warning is cleared it won’t start a regen. Just found a local guy who specialises in mobile DPF cleaning (with specialist software) who reckons he can sort it, fingers crossed
RonA

 

[hotponyshoes]

As a one off it's probably cheap enough to get a mobile guy out to do it.
At least you can watch and see what happens.

If you carry on using it the same it's going to be happening again though so probably worth buying an interface to do it yourself.

What you don't want to do is let it get so blocked you can't even force a regen as then you will have to remove it and have it cleaned out chemically. Not expensive to have it cleaned but a mission to get it off.

 

[nicko868]

after a forced regen has taken place the car should really be serviced too as its not like your normal driving or stationary regens.

If the ash values are too high within the DPF it will not let you do a forced regen either this is the point that the DPF will either have to be removed and cleaned or removed and replaced. if you go down this route the learned values on the car need to be re set once the DPF has been re fitted so it can see it is a new/clean DPF.

I would look into what has caused your DPF to fill though its quite un common for it to fill up after 4 regens my money would be on that you have got a fault standing (even if the engine management is not on) this means the DPF cannot reach its parameters to start a regen and will eventually block.

 

[Turbo]

However, on setting out to drive the car to clear the filter, another message came up “Exhaust filter full, visit dealer” the engine management light has come on, the performance has dropped off & I suspect I may be in limp home mode.

You could have the same issue I have on my Citroen van, some of the Discos shared the same PSA HDI engine as the van.

Every time it squirts the eolys fluid into the fuel it records the amount and after squirting a set amount of litres the ecu reckons that your dpf has reached the end of its serviceable life & must be changed, whether or not it's blocked.
If you have someone good with dealer software they can go into the ecu & tell it that you've just fitted a new dpf & reset the counter. I have a cloned copy of the software & I might try that myself & give the dpf a good wash.
The other option is to get someone to remap the car to ignore the dpf pressure sensors & gut the dpf. That's what I want to do whenever I can get chatting to the guy who does the mapping.

 

[RonA]

Epilogue (hopefully)
Being as how the Engine management light was displaying & just in case of causing damage to the engine I phoned a firm (recommended by a friend who had used them before) who provided a mobile DPF cleaning service. After some serious investigation with the guy’s box of tricks turns out the DPF wasn’t full at all. The system had ‘calculated’ the filter should be full (what !!) In addition the adblue system had suffered a brief communication error. The system put 2 & 2 together & came up with 5, put the car into limp mode & lit the engine management warning light. After resetting al the alarm flags & a good ten minute thrash at 70 mph, all working as normal. Cost me £50 but as dealers charge £80 per hour + fee for putting the car on the code reader still quids in. Thanks for everybody’s input.
The guy did comment he had several call outs to vehicles with similar faults after lack of use during the lockdown.
RonA

 

[hotponyshoes]

£50 for somebody to come out to you and fix it seems good to me!

I would look into getting yourself something to read/reset it yourself as I would be surprised if you never get any more problems

 

[RonA]

You could have the same issue I have on my Citroen van, some of the Discos shared the same PSA HDI engine as the van.

Every time it squirts the eolys fluid into the fuel it records the amount and after squirting a set amount of litres the ecu reckons that your dpf has reached the end of its serviceable life & must be changed, whether or not it's blocked.
If you have someone good with dealer software they can go into the ecu & tell it that you've just fitted a new dpf & reset the counter. I have a cloned copy of the software & I might try that myself & give the dpf a good wash.
The other option is to get someone to remap the car to ignore the dpf pressure sensors & gut the dpf. That's what I want to do whenever I can get chatting to the guy who does the mapping.

You were spot on with the comment about the adblue counting. The mobile DPF cleaning man thinks that’s what triggered the limp home mode after experiencing a communication error. Thanks RonA

 

[Turbo]

You were spot on with the comment about the adblue counting. The mobile DPF cleaning man thinks that’s what triggered the limp home mode after experiencing a communication error. Thanks RonA

Your Disco could either have the Peugeot engine like mine or the newer Ingenuim engine but if it uses adblue it must be the newer one.

My van uses stuff called eloys fluid that is added into the fuel tank & mixes with the fuel. & helps the fire burn hotter during the dpf regeneration.

Adblue is continually injected directly into the exhaust system, mixes with the exhaust gases making what comes out the back end 'cleaner'. I don't see how there should be a limit on the amount of adblue, it has nothing to do with the dpf!

It may be mileage related, on my van it reckons that after a certain amount of regenerations the DPF needs replaced and will throw up an error light. With the correct software you can go into the ecu & tell it you fitted a new DPF but you also need to enter a different menu & reset the counter, otherwise the fault will not delete!

Glad you got it sorted though, £50 is cheap when it comes to diagnostics so he's a good contact to have!