DPF Woes, and what is Eolys fluid \ is it required??

[NJG]

We have a MKII Leon FR 174bhp (2007), and it's been a great workhorse for us.
The car has now covered 160,000 mls

About 18mths or 2 yrs ago (I think) there was a recall for this model, for replacement injectors, and we had the car booked in for the free replacement.
Prior to this, the car was running sweet and no probs with the injectors.

Since that recall however, we have had nothing but trouble with DPF problems .
We could even smell exhaust gasses in the cabin, but this was eventually sorted.
The DPF however remained a problem, and was always needing re generating through the usual manual instructions (higher revs etc...)
You could tell when this was about to happen, as the engine would feel like it was misfiring or hesitate, and eventually the DPF light would show.

From new, the car has been used for long distance commutes from Devon to London, and even on holiday treks through France. The DPF light would emit on occasions on the motorway, even while the car was and had been driven at motorway speeds for several hours.
We had the sensor checked, and the car has been back and forth to the main dealer for investigation, but they could never find out why the DPF needed regenerating so frequently.

At times, the car would drive normally for several weeks or months without a hiccup.

Anyway, the DPF is now totally shot, and we need to replace it as it is completely full.
With the mileage the car has done, I guess it's lasted well.
So our options are to remove the DPF , although new MOT regs suggest this will be a big no no in the future, or remove and clean the filter , and of course replace with a new one.

We've chosen an aftermarket replacement at £610 (Genuine is £1,300), as to have the original one cleaned would cost in the region of £200, and no guarantees the filter would be 100% fit for duty.

I was also told by the supplier that I may need some EOLYS fluid too, but the main dealer has never heard of a fluid being used for the DPF, so maybe this is specific for other manufacturers??

I actually was only going to post the question of whether I need this fluid with a new DPF, but thought I would rant on about the DPF problems.

 

[Dragon1978]

I can't help with the fluid question I'm afraid but could you tell me what the fault was for the fumes in the car. I have got the same thing and it isn't pleasant at all.

 

[old 'uns]

AFAIK if yours is a 2007 it'll be a PD? so should be DPF only?

EOLYS is injected into fuel tank to clean up emissions and is used predominantly by PSA ( Citroen/Peugeot), Fords with PSA developed engines and some Volvo's.
It lowers the combustion temperature of particles to help with re-generation

VAG, Mercedes and most Truck makers use AdBlue for the same thing, injected into the exhaust manifold

 

[MJ]

AFAIK if yours is a 2007 it'll be a PD? so should be DPF only?

EOLYS is injected into fuel tank to clean up emissions and is used predominantly by PSA ( Citroen/Peugeot), Fords with PSA developed engines and some Volvo's.
It raises the combustion temperature of particles to help with re-generation and clean the injectors, raised combustion temps are critical to burn off excess particles.

VAG, Mercedes and most Truck makers use AdBlue for the same thing, injected into the exhaust at the closest possible point to the DPF and is made of pig piss (used to be any way)

my advice - if you intend to keep the car then gut the dpf and have it mapped out. if the filter shell is in place i doubt you'll have issues come mot time and you could have this done for the same price your replacement filter is going to cost.

 

[andy550]

As what old'uns said, AKAIK VAG don't use Eolys, it's a PSA derived thing.

As for the DPF, if you don't want to gut it, then with the journeys you do you shouldn't have problems at all hence if you do get it gutted, you need to find what's causing the DPF to fill up. When i had mine De-dpf'd we found Seat had installed the recall injectors incorrectly, causing excess soot levels. The guys doing it (Shark) told me it was a fairly common thing so it might be worth arguing it with the dealer who did it.

That's assuming thinking there maybe an injector positioning fault. In all fairness it's a high milage car with a DPF that may just be old and knackered.


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[Dodsy]

We have a MKII Leon FR 174bhp (2007), and it's been a great workhorse for us.

The car has now covered 160,000 mls



About 18mths or 2 yrs ago (I think) there was a recall for this model, for replacement injectors, and we had the car booked in for the free replacement.

Prior to this, the car was running sweet and no probs with the injectors.



Since that recall however, we have had nothing but trouble with DPF problems .

We could even smell exhaust gasses in the cabin, but this was eventually sorted.

The DPF however remained a problem, and was always needing re generating through the usual manual instructions (higher revs etc...)

You could tell when this was about to happen, as the engine would feel like it was misfiring or hesitate, and eventually the DPF light would show.



From new, the car has been used for long distance commutes from Devon to London, and even on holiday treks through France. The DPF light would emit on occasions on the motorway, even while the car was and had been driven at motorway speeds for several hours.

We had the sensor checked, and the car has been back and forth to the main dealer for investigation, but they could never find out why the DPF needed regenerating so frequently.



At times, the car would drive normally for several weeks or months without a hiccup.



Anyway, the DPF is now totally shot, and we need to replace it as it is completely full.

With the mileage the car has done, I guess it's lasted well.

So our options are to remove the DPF , although new MOT regs suggest this will be a big no no in the future, or remove and clean the filter , and of course replace with a new one.



We've chosen an aftermarket replacement at £610 (Genuine is £1,300), as to have the original one cleaned would cost in the region of £200, and no guarantees the filter would be 100% fit for duty.



I was also told by the supplier that I may need some EOLYS fluid too, but the main dealer has never heard of a fluid being used for the DPF, so maybe this is specific for other manufacturers??



I actually was only going to post the question of whether I need this fluid with a new DPF, but thought I would rant on about the DPF problems.

Do you know what the cause was to the smell of fumes in the cabin? I sometimes get this when sitting it traffic. It's done it since I bought it year and a half ago and I never thought anything of it but I'd now like to get down to the bottom of it as it's potentially dangerous.


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[MJ]

Usually the turbo to DPF gasket leaking.

 

[betty_swollox]

Was the car fine before the recall?

 

[NJG]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies.
Regarding the fumes, we took the car back to the dealer, and they checked their work when they replaced the injectors, and couldn't find anything wrong. (For some reason I thought they found the cause, but looking back on the service records, they couldn't find the problem)
It eventually went, but every now and again, the smell returns.
The car also had a new intake manifold too, as the original one was causing some of the hesitation when driving.
We have always blamed the injector recall as the start of the DPF problems, so maybe something in that somewhere.....

 

[afcajax73]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies.
Regarding the fumes, we took the car back to the dealer, and they checked their work when they replaced the injectors, and couldn't find anything wrong. (For some reason I thought they found the cause, but looking back on the service records, they couldn't find the problem)
It eventually went, but every now and again, the smell returns.
The car also had a new intake manifold too, as the original one was causing some of the hesitation when driving.
We have always blamed the injector recall as the start of the DPF problems, so maybe something in that somewhere.....

Hey NJG,

I had very VERY similar problems to what you had, it kept going back and back not getting sorted, in the end it turned out that the dealer had reset the mileage in regards to the DPF to zero. this completely confused the car and let it to throw up the DPF light every other day, it felt like there was a constant regen. I took the car to a different SEAT dealer and they identified it within about 15 mins, set the DPF mileage to my current mileage and i havent had a problem since.

 

[afcajax73]

also, sorry i forgot to mention, my problems started the very next day from having the injector recall.

 

[Adam4D]

You cannot reset milage for dpf, you reset the learned values for ash mass content.

There is a glitch sometimes which says replace dpf and gets stuck in a loop and the car will keep carrying out but not completing a regen

The fix is to tell the engine ecu the dpf has been replaced then do a dpf regen to relearn the ash mass content.

Make sure your dpf sensor is good and your engine ecu software is up to latest versions. Dpf pressure sensors have superceeded many times due to poor design, latest sensors are good.