Vectra C 1.9 CDTi DPF issue???

[lysander2k]

Hi guys,

I am after some advice if at all possible please? I have recently brought an 06 plate Vectra 1.9 CDTi. To cut a long story short I only had the car for a short while when I experianced a loss of power and the spanner light came on. Car went into local VX dealer (as closest garage to me that was VAT registered) and fixed under warrenty.

Was told the DPF had blocked causing pressure to build up in the system which had taken out the EGR valve, swirl actuator and cracked the manifold. ALL these parts were replaced and a manual regen done on the DPF - thankfully at no expense to me!

I picked the car up on monday and it seemed fine, did about 50 miles in it (short journeys) over monday/tuesday. Set off on wednesday up to meadowhall on M1 (in sheffield from my house in nottingham). About 20 miles into the journey I notcied the the car was struggling to get above 55/60mph. Pulled over turned off (no lights on) started up again and like someone had pressed a reset button absolutely fine for a few more miles then the same again. Took back the the dealers suspected loose / split pipe - tightened and checked all seemed ok. Picked car up at 5pm drove home and within few miles did the same again but this time with spanner light on.

Took back this morning and just had a phone call to say they have done another manual regen on DPF (f.o.c) as this was blocked again? Tried telling lady I spoke to that had only had it back a day and a half and covered about 70 miles but she was adament that its the 'short journeys' I have done that has casued it to block up again??? She is recommeding some kind of fuel adative to use every 3 fill ups which to be honest can't see it making any differance!


What should I do when I collect the car? Will try and get the exact fault code out of them for a start...... Can't beleive it would have / should have blocked up again so quickly?

Dont know whether to put some of this adative in and go for a blast up the M1 or take it to another garage as I really dont have much confidance in the stealer (makes me wonder why they would do the regen f.o.c again if my 'fault')!

Thanks in advance for any info - much appreciated!


James.

[lysander2k]

Ok well just a slight update - got car back - all seems well fingers crossed touch wood and all that! Noticeably better, done about 35 miles up and down a46, just have to see how it goes I guess?? Interestingly enough turns out the addative they were on about was tunap 184 - when I got there there refused to sell me any saying that they weren't allowed to retail it and that if used incorrectly it could damage the vehicle? Have done a quick search and seen a couple of threads on this, anyone have any recent experiance with this, is it any good and should I give it a try? Thanks!

[barney490]

Sadly, DPF's are the devils own work. I know they are there for a purpose, but it is true that short cold runs will block a DPF quickly, ideally if your journeys are predominantly short runs, then a DPF equipped cars isn't for you. However, it shouldn't be blocking in 70 miles, 500 is nearer the mark, unless it is so badly blocked that the manual regen isn't clearing it fully. Personally, consider having the DPF removed and the regen mapped out of the ecu, this costs about £300 but you won't have any DPF issues again. Cars that have been done report better perfomance and some slight increase in mpg.

[naut1que]

Struggling to find a how2 on how best to remove the DPF and then remove it's innards prior to getting it remapped. Would like to do this bit myself if I could.

Does a thread exist for this job?

[Vectra Meldrew]

If you've just recently bought the car and it's still under warranty it might be best to leave the DPF intact for now or you will have problems making any more warranty claims. If you have any more problems with it, surely it will be the responsibility of the dealers that did the work to put it right.

[naut1que]

I've had it for 6+ years victor and put 160K miles on it

[Vectra Meldrew]

sorry, I meant Lysander2K.

[lysander2k]

Thanks for the replies gents, was getting a bit disillusioned with the car as its my first Vauxhall lol - 'upgraded' from an S reg 4.4 V8 5 series BMW which never missed a beat in 4 years. Will see how it goes, serves me right for trying to be sensible and going back to a diesel I guess!

[bafoo]

sounds to me that the dealer is spouting rubbish, if your motor is running as it should be then no amount of additive is going to stop your particulate filter from becoming blocked, as stated above, if anything , it should become saturated approx every 500 miles and then automatically "re-gen" itself. Ive had the same kind of issues, and owing to financial circumstances, have not had it mapped out of ecu but simply drilled a big hole straight through the DPF, have not had a problem since doing this. I know this doesn't sound ideal, and a remap would probably be better but its worked for me, and had no problems with M.O.T either.

[naut1que]

Got the car up on ramps tonight. The hissing I have is coming from the flexible part of the exhaust just before the dpf and it is all sooted up . All pointing to the dpf block the flow of exhaust gases. Squirted a load of penetrating oil on the bolts arround the dpf. The flange bolts at that stage were on solid so unsure if Ill be able to release them as I havent a heat source. The one at the top of the triangle seems like a dog to get at. To get at it do i need to drop the unit by taking off the bracket at the rear end of the dpf to allow me to push the exhaust back off the rubber hangers?

What type of drill bit did you use bafoo?