Excessive DPF regeneration cycles

[romain]

Hi everyone!
I'm posting here because you're my last hope before I set fire to my 2015 Transit Custom (2.2 TDCI 125 – 118,000 miles).
First off, apologies for my English—I'm French and this is a translation, so I hope it's understandable.

Here’s my issue: for the past 6,000 miles, I've been experiencing very frequent DPF regenerations, along with blue/white smoke during the process. It lasts a few minutes, then everything goes back to normal. The DPF itself isn't original; it's a WALKER and has about 49,000 miles on it.

I started by changing the glow plugs, as one of them was dead. Then I went to a garage, and they told me I needed to replace the entire DPF with a genuine Ford one, along with all the sensors. I didn’t go for it because the cost was over €3,500.

Instead, I replaced the vaporizer, which was almost completely clogged, and then changed the other DPF sensors. I also used a can of DPF cleaner that you spray directly into the filter—but I'm still having the same problem...

I’ve now used FORScan to check the data:

DPF_Load: 1%

DPF_soot_ld: 39%

DP_dpf: 0.2 kPa

At this point, I really don’t know what else to try... Maybe a static regeneration?
I know this is a common issue, but I really don’t want to buy a brand new DPF unless I’m absolutely sure it’s not caused by something else.

If anyone has any advice or experience with this, I’d be really grateful.
Thanks a lot!

[metalworker0]

First off

Did you reset the learnt values for the DPF when it was renewed.

You need to monitor the soot load, and find out at what percentage it starts the regen
the net suggests it should regenerate at 45 percent and confirmed according to this RAC website.
This info on soot loading may be wrong, if DPF not had values reset for the new one

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/emis ... e-filters/

Further research suggests ; driving short journeys and in traffic all the time can set it off every 100 miles
long distance journeys is 300 miles plus for regen activation.

A faulty thermostat or engine coolant temperature sensor can stop regeneration happening or end it short..

Must have the right low ash spec oil in the engine suitable for dpfs

a lot of other factors can block DPF's sooner

oil burning
bad fuel injectors
stuck open EGR

On vans with heated mirrors - you can wire in to the mirrors power supply, an LED, to tell you the dpf regeneration is happening ...this is because engine is put under electrical load automatically by the system, it puts various electrical loads on the van to make the engine work harder and hotter, to aid regen

O'Riley is the guru of transit DPF's ..you can learn a lot from just watching a few of his videos .....that's where i learnt all the info, ive just given you .

https://www.youtube.com/@orileysautos

all the best.mark

[romain]

It’s true that I don’t always drive long distances, but I do make weekly trips of around 30 minutes at 3,000 RPM to try and prevent the DPF from clogging up too quickly.

I’m not sure if the DPF was reset after it was replaced, since I wasn’t the owner of the vehicle at the time.
I don’t think it’s the EGR valve, because I removed and cleaned it—it didn’t seem to be in bad condition, and it wasn’t stuck open when I took it off.
I can clearly tell when my van is going through a regeneration: the exhaust makes a deep rumbling noise and my side mirrors heat up.
I’m familiar with O'Riley's videos—he actually mentions in one of them that aftermarket DPFs are often unreliable and can cause problems. That said, I haven’t found any websites offering genuine FoMoCo DPFs...

And if I spend €1,800 on a new DPF and it turns out not to be the issue, I’ll be seriously frustrated.

[metalworker0]

you could do a reset after the next regen ..O'Rilley often does after he cleans it.

see how you go on from there

all the best.mark

[romain]

I came across a video by O'Riley that explains the same issues I’m having with my Ford.
He says that aftermarket DPFs don’t work well, and that it’s necessary to replace the DPF with an original part to avoid further problems.
In my opinion, he’s right...
I managed to find a new FoMoCo DPF for €1,400...

[metalworker0]

That's a lot of dosh.

all the best.mark

[Quint]

I have a 2016 2.2l Transit Custom with 244000km on the clock. Driving it more then 80km a day, mostly highway . Regens about every 75-100km. The weird part is that most of the time the regen starts as soon as I leave the highway and have been driving on the highway for about 60km.
Regen process works fine, using forscan I can see the soot load going almost all the way back to 0%. Driving on the highway, it steadily goes up, but when I exit the highway is goes up fast within 1 km until it is at 100% and starts regenerating. It happens more often when the outside temperature is warmer. It is doing this already since I bought the van at 120000 km.

Turbo replaced at 150000km. At 180000 replaced the DPF Pressure Sensor. With a new one, but forscan reading the same values as the old one. Replaced the EGR, DPF injector, fuel filter, oil and filter at around 200000km. No difference. Not much after that the car went to a diesel specialist. Checked glowplugs and injectors, all working fine. Had them cleaned the DPF just to try, but they say the dpf is cleaning itself properly. It made a little difference after it went to the diesel specialist, but not much. Driving like this for about 44000km now after the replacements, but not a big difference since I bought the van. Diesel specialist and ford dealer say there is no problem, but regenerating this frequent just doesn’t seem right.

In my mind it would be something with the car not adapting it’s fuel to air ratio to warmer weather, since it is happening more frequent with warmer temperatures, but that doesn’t explain why the regen starts as soon as you lift your foot of the throttle when leaving the highway or ending up in traffic jam.

I think I have read all DPF threads on this forum already. Hope someone could help me where to look for next.

[Radiofence]

I do mega miles on mine, and I never use 6th gear. If I do, I get great mpg for a while, then get a regen that seems to eat into the mpg.
If I leave it on 5th, I hardly ever get a regen.

[BHM]

Mmm, perhaps the DPF pressure sensor internal scaling is no longer correct, so for a given DPF pressure differential a higher than actual signal is being sent to the PCM. I'm not sure if any 'pressure to reading' calibration charts exist but the sensors don't appear to be very expensive. One consolation is that at least your DPF is clean, just how much extra fuel are you using with the additional regens.

BHM

[seb_custom]

Hi,
I've the same problem of excessive DPF regeneration cycles on my 2013 custom 2.2 tdci 125. It has now 149k km and DPF is from factory.

I've had DPF issue for a year, first was warning message on dash, then I had the check engine light but it never went to limp mode.
I put the van at a garage that did glow plugs change and told me to put cleaning product in the fuel tank. EML light came back soon after...
Then I installed Forscan on my computer and started analysing, helped by watching O'Riley. I found out that my EGR valve was not moving, so I replaced it. I also changed the thermostat (complete housing + sensor) as it could be another a cause of DPF issue and it was not that expensive on https://www.transitcenter.fr/boitier-thermostat-pour-ford-transit-tdci-2011-p-5181.html and of course I had to do a coolant change.
Then I did a proper DPF cleaning by putting a mixture inside. After this procedure I reset the DPF value, and some other stuff like the EGR value using Forscan.

Now I still have DPF problems as it is doing regens a lot (every 100km, maybe even less).
What I know is:
- DPF_Load is going down to 0% after a regen but quiclky goes back up to more than 100%
- I think my DPF sensor are working, after regen DP_dpf is around 0.5 kPa at idle and slowly goes up as the DPF_Load is rising
- My vaporizer is working since the activ regen are working (I can see EGT13 going more than 600°C during regen).
- EGR is working (I can see the value changing in Forscan)

I've noticed like @Quint that regens seems to be even more frequent with warmer temperatures, so maybe the car not adapting its fuel to air ratio is a good lead to follow ?

I've also noticed that since I changed the thermostat and coolant, my van is running with coolant temp around 70-75°C in town or country road, on the motorway a bit more but I rarely reach more than 80°C, even when I put the van at 3500rpm (oil however is reaching a little more than 90°C when doing so).
This is also becoming an issue for me as the regen can only start if the coolant temp is above 80°C.
Before the thermostat and coolant change, I think my coolant temp reading were higher (around 80-85°C), but I'm not sure since I didn't payed too much attention...

@Quint, do you know what is your average coolant temp? If other owners of 2.2 can check what are their values it would be much appreciated.

Sorry for the long message and thanks for your responses,
Sébastien

[metalworker0]

i would be also worried about the fuel being used up during the time of the regen ..any idea how much fuel a regen uses?

all the best.mark

[seb_custom]

i would be also worried about the fuel being used up during the time of the regen ..any idea how much fuel a regen uses?

all the best.mark

No idea, but I don't think it's a lot since my range is more than 1000km with a full tank. I'm doing between 7 and 7.5L/100km which I think is okay for this engine.

[metalworker0]

which is 31 mpg - miles per gallon

all the best.mark