Car Servicing/Maintaince

[pullhard]

97p on the Armagh to Portadown road, been under a quid there for about 5 weeks.

82p if you drive on to the border.

76p if you drive to Ballina!

RED

[doodaa]

What constitutes a service in some of these dealer garages nowadays? Oil and filter change?

Depends if its a major service or minor service and what you ask for?
Major service in my eyes would be new discs and pads if required, timing belt, oil change, fuel filter coolant/lights/wipers/tyres/suspension/bearings/bushes checked and replaced if required.

[omagh_gael]

GJL, I have just had an antipollution fault come on my 207 (1.6 hdi 90bhp) last week. Been doing a bit of research and it appears to be an enforced limiter due to the dpf filter needing cleared out in the exhaust. Have u done this type of work before? My car is driving grand apart from revs being limited at 3000rpm.

[general_lee]

Is this not a case of taking it for a spin down a motorway or dual carriageway in 4th for 5/10 mins?

[laoislad]

GJL, I have just had an antipollution fault come on my 207 (1.6 hdi 90bhp) last week. Been doing a bit of research and it appears to be an enforced limiter due to the dpf filter needing cleared out in the exhaust. Have u done this type of work before? My car is driving grand apart from revs being limited at 3000rpm.

My wife's 308 same thing is happening,it's a 1.4 petrol though. Her NCT is next week so if there is a quick fix it be great to know.

[omagh_gael]

Would you believe it, it has disappeared these last two days. I put in some redex fuel system cleaner the week before and have been driving with higher revs than normal as it was sluggish. Driving 100% now, hoping it stays that way.

Our family car was in for the MOT last week and I mentioned it to the tester. He said an anti pollution fault wouldn't fail the test as its not a safety concern. They'd be more interested if it was an airbag light or abs warning. Not sure If this would be appplicable with the NCT.

On another note, I assumed these faults only came up on diesels as it tended to be a blockage in the diesel particulate filter or a lack of fluid that's injected into the filter that breaks down the build up?

[laoislad]

Would you believe it, it has disappeared these last two days. I put in some redex fuel system cleaner the week before and have been driving with higher revs than normal as it was sluggish. Driving 100% now, hoping it stays that way.

Our family car was in for the MOT last week and I mentioned it to the tester. He said an anti pollution fault wouldn't fail the test as its not a safety concern. They'd be more interested if it was an airbag light or abs warning. Not sure If this would be appplicable with the NCT.

On another note, I assumed these faults only came up on diesels as it tended to be a blockage in the diesel particulate filter or a lack of fluid that's injected into the filter that breaks down the build up?

The error message on the wifes car is 'depollution system faulty.'  It has brought the engine light is on also so I think that's an automatic fail for NCT. I wonder would it be worth throwing that redex stuff in her car.

[omagh_gael]

The fella couldn't be clearer in that an engine management light wouldn't fail the test in the north unless it was related to a safety feature. Is it effecting the performance of the car?

[laoislad]

The fella couldn't be clearer in that an engine management light wouldn't fail the test in the north unless it was related to a safety feature. Is it effecting the performance of the car?

Don't think so. I don't drive it very often, haven't heard her complain that it does, and she would complain!!

[omagh_gael]

I called into a garage last week and the guy told me that it's a very common problem and lots of people drive on with it for months/years with no problem. When it came on in my car it made an obvious difference to performance in that it struggled up hills and overtaking.

[93-DY-SAM]

The DPF's are all part of the car manufacturers trying to meet emission levels. If you are driving a diesel these days you need to be doing semi-regular long journeys preferably on motorways in order for the exhaust system to build up enough heat to force a regeneration of the filter and burn of the soot build up. Pottering around on short journeys doesn't cut the mustard and is why you get these warnings coming on. The car puts itself in a safe mode and limits performance. Fuel additives can help prevent a build up of soot and you might just have caught it in time. I'll be surprised if it's not back on again in a month.

[JoG2]

The DPF's are all part of the car manufacturers trying to meet emission levels. If you are driving a diesel these days you need to be doing semi-regular long journeys preferably on motorways in order for the exhaust system to build up enough heat to force a regeneration of the filter and burn of the soot build up. Pottering around on short journeys doesn't cut the mustard and is why you get these warnings coming on. The car puts itself in a safe mode and limits performance. Fuel additives can help prevent a build up of soot and you might just have caught it in time. I'll be surprised if it's not back on again in a month.

Thats it.  Keep a close eye on it as replacement DPFs cost around a grand!

[omagh_gael]

Feck off with your negativity, haha! Yeah, will be doing all I can to keep it well maintained. Hopefully get a lucky break as I have had shitty luck with cars over the past few years.

Out of interest, have you heard of dpfs being taken out and washed out then refitted? Noticed a lot of forums reporting that this worked well for them.

[93-DY-SAM]

Feck off with your negativity, haha! Yeah, will be doing all I can to keep it well maintained. Hopefully get a lucky break as I have had shitty luck with cars over the past few years.

Out of interest, have you heard of dpfs being taken out and washed out then refitted? Noticed a lot of forums reporting that this worked well for them.

Yeah but unfortunately haven't heard much long term success with that. Only long term solution bar a complete replacement is to get the engine remapped to bypass it (but that might not be entirely legal )

[doodaa]

FYI its only a visual check for a DPF in the Northern MOT, at present,so if the DPF box (DPF gutted and remapped out) is still there then it should pass.
Eventually they will bring in a test for it to test it is working. Until then there will continue to be people who will cut it out and remap it.

DPF and EGR systems are a very shortsighted view to reducing total emissions.
When they work they do their job well. When they don't they cause inefficient engines. They then need replaced, which means throwing away the old DPF, someone somewhere manufacturing a new DPF and shipping it to be fitted.
The car itself might be more efficient at the exhaust pipe but think of the total cost (environmentally) to keep it like that.