Hey folks,
Had my TDi FR 2 weeks tomorrow. Picked it up used, one of those which was previously a company car to a Seat employee. 7600 on the clock.
I clicked on the 3rd option in the poll - Seen DPF light, had problems, clear DPF. In fact, the Emissions warning light came on about 3 miles after I picked it up! A week later the DPF light came on. Now then, just prior to buying the car, I seriously grilled the salesman over the DPF, and his fleet manager colleague and basically got them to
a) reassure me I was very unlikely to have problems with it and give me some statistics on failure (I almost had them giving me an oath over it!)
and
b) tell me that it *would* be covered by warranty!
So, when the DPF light came on I naturally reported the
problem; the 1st attempted response was to say it was my driving style. Of course, having pre-read all about the DPF I was prepared for this promptly and purposely lost my rag on the phone (it does a lot of good, believe me!) and told them that you can't do 800 miles in a week and blame it on urban driving or driving style (I had them record the mileage when they took the car in to diagnose the fault to prove it).
They promptly booked it in and diagnosed it as a fault with a pressure sensor in the 'exhaust' - I believe they meant the sensor which is pretty much part of the DPF (I've seen the diagrams of the DPF). They couldn't source the part for two days and I had a lot of driving to do over the coming days including an airport run and I made that very clear to them - they told me it would be fine.
250 miles later, a little trip round town prompted the 'coil' warning lamp and loss of turbo.
I spoke to them over the phone with little success - the response was, drive it down the road a bit and call the breakdown assistance line (they won't pick you up from home) - that's the only way you'll get a replacement car for your airport run. Of course, when I started the car up again, it was fine. So, I figured, they're not gonna want me losing my rag in the showroom like I did on the phone and they were gonna have serious egg on the faces after the promises they'd made - so I drove over there.... damn were they nice to me! Take a seat sir, would you like a coffee? Our service manager will be over shortly. In the end, I spoke to the service manager and my salesman together - they moved my car to the top of the job list for the following morning when the sensor would arrive and promised it would be ready by mid-day (it was actually ready at 10:45!). The sales guy also said that I could borrow his car in the event that they couldn't fix mine. Result.
From all this, I would say, don't be afraid of the DPF problems, just be well armed. Get names! Ask them on the phone and if they've got an employee picture board in the showroom - take a look at it. Don't ever let them fob you off with 'driving style' or 'urban driving'. The car, *I know* can do approximately 1000 miles without regeneration (mine did) and it only takes 15mins of minimum 1400rpm at 50mph to clear the DPF and if you can't do that the car has a fail-safe where the ECU will override exhaust gas control to let extra heat into the DPF - it will attempt that at 60% saturation and will try for 30mins?(I'll check that!) One more thing, whilst talking to them I told them I knew the next stage after the coil lamp was going to be red lights, all stop! (in retrospect that actually means you probably need a new DPF - big job and expensive!) The guys almost went pale at that prospect.
My *only* worry is what the state of the DPF will be in 3 years time (after 3 years use) combined with being out of warranty at that time.
I've got a copy of the DPF training material (I probably shouldn't say where I got it) and I can scan and post the interesting bits if anyone's interested, and of course IF it doesn't infringe copyright.... I might have to paraphrase it instead? In essence tho', having read it, it should be pretty difficult for the car not to be able to perform regeneration. Most problems (I think, as someone has already suggested) seem to be caused by sensor malfunction (temperature in someone's case, pressure in mine).
All credit to my local dealer, Marshalls of Cambridge, who really pulled the stops out to get me back on the road and make sure I was covered for when I really needed a car. Great guys.
Finally, to Min Jeeta who wrote
>> The car has been into the service center for a week know and I am not able to get an answer as to who is going to pay for this.
They are!! Assume that and don't accept anything else. From your post, there's no way it's your fault! Ie, driving style/urban driving. Your mileage is proof. If they even suggest it's your fault or anything other than the car at fault, *give them hell* and tell them not to insult you. And if they still keep it up, tell them you'll get on the phone to Seat UK and start naming names (and how long it's been with the dealer!). They really won't want that. Hope that helps.
Bob
![[:@]](/forums/styles/seatcupra/oldforumsmileys/furious.gif "Furious [:@]")
