Dpf Problems And A Farewell!

[kanulondon]

All,

It's been a pleasure lurking on these forums over the last few years. I feel I need to make one more post to benefit anyone else that has the same problems I've encountered.

Essentially last year the car went into limp mode (May '13) and upon taking it to the Toyota dealer it was discovered that there was a problem with the DPF filter. The error code was P2002 (low flow pressure or such like) I believe. Toyota cleaned out the pipes serving the DPF and carried out a force regeneration at a cost of £300

Roll forward to 2 weeks ago and the same error occurred. Toyota tried the same tricks, this time charging me £300 for removing and refitting new pipes and they tried to carry out a forced regeneration (unsuccessfully). They quoted £2.1k to replace the DPF filter but the Service Manager suggested I trade in the car as is!!

I wasn't prepared to do this, so I did a lot of research and they're plenty of options out there (some legal and some not so). In the end we went to a Bosch Service Centre (Bradbury Motor Group - Near Edinburgh) and they carried out a DPF pressure tests and clean.

When the car came in, there was a massive pressure imbalance. 35mb before the DPF and only 4mb after. However after the DPF solution clean and extended 45min drive in 4th gear over 3500rpm, the pressure ready 19mb before and 16mb after DPF. So restriction has clearly been removed. They charged a tenth of the price Toyota wanted for the new DPF.

Anyway, we've decided to sell the Rav 4 T180 with my reverse camera and xenon light upgrades :-( as I have no confidence that the DPF clogging won't come back again and as it's my wife's car I couldn't be bothered with the hassle. The car did over 1000 miles during the Christmas period but still couldn't regenerate as I wasn't driving in the correct way perhaps? Who knows....

We're moving onto a the new 5 Series Touring, 520D M Sport. Looking forward to getting over 50mpg instead of 28MPG..

I have a tuning chip should anyone want for sale, I'd sell it for buttons

All the very best

[Raistlin]

Good luck with the new car, missing you already... :)

[steve_lj]

Sorry about your woes with the DPF - I have first hand experience of problems with this piece of kit, albeit not on Toyotas.

Can you give me a bit more info on the tuning chip. What make is it and will it fit a 2005 2.0 D-4D

Cheers

Steve

[kanulondon]

Hi Steve,

I sent you a PM with details

[Mike169]

The more i read fuel pressure problems/imbalance the word chip seems to be on the same thread, i am starting to believe these chips cause the breakdown. I have read stories of dash lights coming on showing fuel problems, then say the AA man just disconnecting then reconnecting the chip to make it loose it's memory or static or something then everything is fine again, the vehicle may drive well for say 2 years and this happens only once but enough to put me off buying one, any comments on what i have written would be appreciated.

[Heidfirst]

Remember that your car has a chip in it to start with so the car actually needs one. These aftermarket chips are just varying the conditions from the factory settings.

Having said that not all chips are created equal & yes, I'm sure that some of the cheap & unsophisticated ones probably increase the risk of problems by overfuelling. There are good (& not inexpensive) ones that are pretty thoroughly tested though as well.

[Mike169]

I have no doubt in my mind at all the Parts King Lindop chip is the best one out there and the only one considering as it is probably the most reliable.

Apparently the ECU and the like of the car doesn't record/store the fact a chip has been fitted if say you were to 'whip it off' just prior to taking it to Mr T's for a service BUT i was told by a senior man at my local dealership they can tell which cars have had chips fitted and taken off purely for the figures the car show when they plug in their box of tricks to make sure the car hasn't had any fault codes come up as certain 'figures' they see they know the car is not capable of giving unless a chip was fitted at the time making any warranty issues a 'grey area' depending on the warranty claim submitted which leaves me 50/50 on fitting a chip............i am getting different answers from different people on all this hence why i have not, as yet anyway, altered my car at all but anyone's opinion would be welcome.

[kanulondon]

Read the comments...

I am in no way bashing any other chips, but please note the much fabled Lindop Chip Kit caused our car to go into Limp Mode 3 times. Each time it was resolved by disconnecting. It's a shame as when it was connected it worked slightly better than the chip we used latterly. The new chip worked flawlessly. . . . As to whether it caused excess soot build up .. . I can't tell you for sure. But I sincerely doubt it. Even during periods of having no chip fitted the car I felt was always sooting up (so to speak). I cleaned the EGR valve twice and it was almost near choked. So I can only imagine what the DPF was like.

KL

ps. That reminds me, I have a spare EGR valve in the garage if anyone wants it for pennies!

[Uncle Buck]

I wonder sometimes if the problems are exacerbated by the individual's driving route or manner ? No offence meant to anyone, I'm merely suggesting that lots of city driving & stop/start runs might be contributing to the 'coking-up' issue ? Obviously though, if an aftermarket chip has been set for more performance it will also be fuelling differently to the factory standard one. Perhaps these conditions are perfect for sooting to occur ?

[Heidfirst]

Absolutely. I'm sure that lots of people have bought diesels when they would have been better served by a petrol engined car.

[kanulondon]

Most probably . . . . However I *think* there maybe an issue in the way the DPF regen works. As over Christmas & New Year we did over 1000 miles of driving. So how come February the DPF is fully blocked was beyond me

[Uncle Buck]

Is it possible that in the same way a catalytic converter has a shelf-life (ie, when all the precious metals are used up & unable to soak any more nasties), that a DPF works in a similar manner ? Once it's coked up & unable to flow sufficient gases, it just can't do it's job anymore & needs replacing or an extensive clean-out ? Either way it's going to cause problems with how the engine runs.

[Awebb180]

Most probably . . . . However I *think* there maybe an issue in the way the DPF regen works. As over Christmas & New Year we did over 1000 miles of driving. So how come February the DPF is fully blocked was beyond me

what were the types of driving that were done in this 1k miles?

DPFs can have both good and bad issues with them, plenty of other manufactures having issues with them failing, Think Ford have them replaced as part of a service schedule

Alex

[kanulondon]

Most probably . . . . However I *think* there maybe an issue in the way the DPF regen works. As over Christmas & New Year we did over 1000 miles of driving. So how come February the DPF is fully blocked was beyond me

what were the types of driving that were done in this 1k miles?

DPFs can have both good and bad issues with them, plenty of other manufactures having issues with them failing, Think Ford have them replaced as part of a service schedule

Alex

80% Motorways and Fast A Roads

[Parts-King]

There are chips and chips!

I record any failures we get, it is around 2%. By a failure, I mean somebody whose car went into limp mode. (and that is not really a failure in the true sense of the word) They can go into limp mode for lots of reasons, and they do so by detecting minut changes in fuel pressure. In fact, by having a chip kit fitted, if it does go into limp mode, it is usually a pre-curser to something else going wrong which has so far been undetected. The chip kits are pretty bomb proof and I have always re-programmed anybody's kit who has gone into limp mode FOC, pretty much regardless of age, (within reason) we are that confident our kits are top quality, and actual failure rates where the kit is proven to be duff are very low indeed, considering the numbers we sell

Despite what anybody tells you, they leave no trace in the ECU all the wizardry is in the box. Some people drive their cars a lot harder than others, and it is not surprising that some will display a fault code when a certain set of circumstances are met, in particular, pulling away hard from a junction in cold wet weather where the damp cold air is being drawn, or pulling away hard, backing off and pulling hard again, these are the most common instances where the EML light comes on

Kingo

[Uncle Buck]

Well explained Kingo