Sounds like I has not regenerating For some reason What mileage has it got As my Leon fr has been fine Think I'm on 5k now Did you ever have the fan stay on for a long time when you stopped the car?
My GTD is literally ticking onto 2,000 miles and it has gone through 3 regen's that I know of even though I do 65 miles a day and vary the engine load to keep the parts 'moving'. The first one went unnoticed and didn't know it was a regen until I knew the tale tale signs from the drivers seat in the third regen. The second one I noticed as I pulled into my drive the fan's were on despite having a gentle drive and I noticed a burning smell and the fans stayed on for a long time after the car was shut down. The third I knew straight away as the start stop was not enabled even though I had done 30 miles already and instead of an idle rev of 850rpm it sits around 1,000 rpm. Once I know it's doing a regen I try not to interrupt it if I can help it as didn't want to have to get a forced regen done at the stealers. I guess the DPF light means it needs a forced regen?
Found this on a mk7 forum: I found a copy of the VW service training manual for mechanics/technicians (for tdi common rail engines) on the internet. It goes into detail about the DPF which was interesting to read. To summarise: The regen of the DPF is performed in stages: - warm up - passive regen - active regen - customer initiated regen drive - service regen Warm up - this brings the oxidation catalyst and DPF up to operating temperature quickly through an extra injection of fuel after the main injection. Phase is complete when operating temperature is reached. Passive - soot is continuously burnt without additional intervention when exhaust temperatures range from 350 - 500 degrees C. This is often at normal motorway/A road driving conditions. Active - when exhaust temperatures are not high enough to effectively burn off soot particles, soot accumulates in the filter. When a specific soot load has been reached, the engine control module will initiate an active regen. Effectively similar process to warm up phase - more fuel burnt to increase exhaust temperature. Customer initiated - lots of short journeys, where high enough exhaust temperatures are not reached, will cause the filter to reach threshold value. The DPF indicator lamp will come on in the instrument panel. This prompts the driver to perform a regen drive - a short journey at increased speed to ensure high enough exhaust temperatures are reached to burn off the soot in the filter. Service - if the regen drive is not performed (or successful) the DPF lamp and the glow plug indicator lamp will appear in the instrument panel simultaneously. The text 'check engine - service shop' will also appear. This prompts the driver to take the car to a garage to get it sorted. There is also a 'Distance Regen' which is a distant dependent regen. The engine control module will initiate an active regen automatically if during the last 466 - 621 miles (750 - 1000 km) no successful regen has taken place. This is an additional safeguard to minimise load condition of the DPF. It seems there is no visible indication (icon/message) that a regen is taking place, only an indication that one needs to take place. As we all know, there is an audiable indication (the fan running) and a smelly indication (soot burning) but if you're driving, the only indication that a regen is taking place is slightly higher revs at idle. (I can't guarantee the above info is totally up to date and accurate but it has gone some way to improving my understanding!)
I actually have been - my friend's had a nightmare with his Astra's DPF so I've been well aware of it.
I had DPF regen problems on my vrs 2L tdi it is an older one than yours with higher mileage taking it out for a thrash wont regen a DPF it needs constant engine rpm between a range of 1800 to 2700 rpm it will take 10 to 15 minutes (in the case of my car) if you drop out of the rpm range you will have to restart your DPF regen again, things might have changed since but this was the case with my car also if you get a sensor malfunction this will prevent a DPF regen happening ( I had an exhaust gas pressure sensor fail causing mine not to regen and then going into limp mode). Don't know if this info might help at all, also on mine DPF regen light on go for a long uninterrupted motorway cruise as above, if DPF light and glow plug light flashing ( youre in limp mode) go to dealers or a garage equipped to do a forced regen asap. Did hear through a mate of mine at a local VW dealer they had a year old golf in with a knackered DPF (over 2K bill) not covered under warranty as it had been driven in limp mode until it packed up completely (lots of short journeys) it had been driven around in limp mode for over twenty days !!! as the ECU stores dates and mileages.
I had the look at the manual - it says drive for 15 minutes in 4th at over 45mph. Looks like I'll be in Guildford for breakfast then!
