DPF Question.

Does the instrument panel tell you is DPF is regenerating?

Have done over 1000 miles now and most journeys have been over 60 miles at a time.

The other night driving down to Bristol came up against M4 roadworks, and noticed a strange smell similar to tar, well it was a chemical smell.

Just wondered if that was DPF.

Also does DPF only do this when necessary or by mileage?

The tar smell going though the M4 roadworks, could have been tar from the M4 roadworks

I have also noticed a burning smell twice now over the last 6 months, after parking my Evoque in the garage.

(07-07-2012 08:44am)Evo-king Wrote:  Does the instrument panel tell you is DPF is regenerating?

Have done over 1000 miles now and most journeys have been over 60 miles at a time.

The other night driving down to Bristol came up against M4 roadworks, and noticed a strange smell similar to tar, well it was a chemical smell.

Just wondered if that was DPF.

Also does DPF only do this when necessary or by mileage?

No, but the burning smell was it happening. Since you do rerlatively long journeys, it happens whislt you are going. The only other way is an say on a cold day when you switch off and cooling fan is on, since the process makes the engine run hot to heat up the DPF to burn off particles. This is the burning smell that you got, which often smells like the smell you get from the engine compartment of a brand new car as the oils etc on the block are burnt off. Nothing to worry about!

The only time you will see the light come on is if you do lots and lots of town driving, as above you are doing decent runs at decent spends you, like me, hardly notice it when it does a regenerating cycle

Yep I get this from time to time, as you step out the car you get a strange rubber burning smell.

I believe its activated by back pressure measured in the exhaust manifold, if this back pressure gets too high the light will come on and a re-generation is forced to happen, if a regeneration doesn't clear the back pressure (by burning off the captured soot in the filter during a regeneration) then the back pressure will continue to increase which can eventually damage the engine.

So if the light comes on it is forcing an essential regeneration and so you should continue to drive for 20 mins, preferably at speed.

Our Volvo was just booked in for it service and they said the service will be £1200 because the DPF should be changed at 75000 miles! Fortunately It doesn't have a DPF... after the garage insisting it did, we explained that black soot is released whenever it accelerates, there is no way it has a DPF... after looking at the car spec they then realised it didn't! I hope that was a genuine mistake, as what a way to rip-off customers.

More to the point... does the Evoque DPF have a service interval???

It's replacement date is the day after the warranty runs out, like so many of the expensive bits on any car these days, built in obsolesence!
I will say this for the Evqoues DPF system - it is a lot less intrusive (apart from the smell) than the system that adorned my TDV8, there was a really noticable reduction in engine power when it started a regeneration cycle. I have never noticed the Evoque's one operate, apart from the burning rubber smell