Thrashing your motorhome is good for it! (1 Viewer)

[Zigisla]

4 1/2 k done so far and never seen dpf light come on. Does this means I should now try to put it on by harsher driving or wait until it decides to do it its self. Or at that low mileage it hasn't soothed up yet.

 

[MR. FUSION]

But that answer doesn't say HOW you can change your driving style to prevent excessive regeneration.

So....how do you drive to prevent excessive regeneration

I refer back to the original article for that info. What I find difficult to comprehend is that there seems to be a perchant to want to ignore the automatic system and do a manual burn out. Surely the best way forward is to work with it. Obviously if the auto system is coming on a lot there is a big soot build up and maybe you want to follow the advice in the article I posted. OR trust the auto system will take care of it. But in any case ignoring the fact there maybe an auto system in the first place which the original article did, is a significant omission IMHO.

 

[MR. FUSION]

4 1/2 k done so far and never seen dpf light come on. Does this means I should now try to put it on by harsher driving or wait until it decides to do it its self. Or at that low mileage it hasn't soothed up yet.

If it has not come on everything should be OK.
Its the opposite, BTW, regularly pootling around to the shops 500 meters away at low revs is part of the issue with non auto DPF.

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[JJ]

Thrashing your car doesn't seem to work either...



JJ

 

[MR. FUSION]

I don't think I need to "thrash" my van to clear out anything...

Mr campa cola tells me that the roads here in Portugal are all pot holed and bumpy... so I reckon any soot anywhere in my van will be shaken loose by the vibrations as I potter around.

JJ

The only roads as nearly as bad as Portugals I have found on this European trip are at the Lofoten islands(Norway) .......affecting about a 3 mile portion in total. The Lofotens excuse is that they are considerably above the arctic circle and suffer extensive winter damage.

 

[DuxDeluxe]

When I was having my Honda CRV serviced the mechanic said.. I hope you give it a good thrash every so often..does them no good just poodling around .. ( he was obviously thinking.. OAP owner )

thrash is the wrong word.. but engines, be they petrol or diesel need to be worked.. get rid of all the soot and carbon build up in the valves and head.. driven gently does them little good...

back to the OP..

I think you are picking holes in an otherwise good article.. the writer is of the 'old school' giving sound advice, whether there is an auto DPF cleaner or not ..

My daughter picked up the Jag on her way in to work to get it serviced. She said "can I thrash it, dad?" I said "no"


She delivered the car back from servicing and said she never thrashed it, but ragged it instead.......

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[Neckender]

Our 2014 Peugeot based van as now done 16,500 miles and not had auto regeneration to happen. So I must be driving correctly touched 85 once.

John.

 

[MR. FUSION]

My daughter picked up the Jag on her way in to work to get it serviced. She said "can I thrash it, dad?" I said "no"


She delivered the car back from servicing and said she never thrashed it, but ragged it instead.......

Silly me, I misread that the first time

 

[Derbyshire wanderer]

This debate misses the point in my view.
The advise is to work the engine well (not thrash it to death) every couple of thousand miles for a reasonable distance (time for the burn off).
The auto regen is nothing new but WILL ONLY WORK when the conditions are met for it to start. This means a minimum temperature and speed as partial burn offs are not desirable as they can cause fuel dump into the sump.
Driving everywhere like Miss Daisy will not allow the burn to start and then it will need manual intervention. Working the engine a little harder will get the temp correct to start the burn.
My Fiat dealer charges 1 hours labour to do this as once at working temperature the burn off takes about 20 minutes to complete. They have a sign in reception explaining that driving dpf vehicles a bit harder once a fortnight will save the customer a lot more than the mpg losses of giving it some welly.
I spend at least 2 visits a month sorting out blocked dpf systems on industrial equipment because the plonker using it decides to keep switching it off for tea breaks when it's trying to do a burn. Once it locks out it won't rev up at all.
The warning light is there to tell you that there is a problem developing.
If you have a dpf and have never seen the light on, you are driving it properly. When it burns off the only noticeable effect is a slight power loss and a strange noise (which you are unlikely to hear in the cab).

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[MR. FUSION]

This debate misses the point in my view.
The advise is to work the engine well (not thrash it to death) every couple of thousand miles for a reasonable distance (time for the burn off).
The auto regen is nothing new but WILL ONLY WORK when the conditions are met for it to start. This means a minimum temperature and speed as partial burn offs are not desirable as they can cause fuel dump into the sump.
Driving everywhere like Miss Daisy will not allow the burn to start and then it will need manual intervention. Working the engine a little harder will get the temp correct to start the burn.
My Fiat dealer charges 1 hours labour to do this as once at working temperature the burn off takes about 20 minutes to complete. They have a sign in reception explaining that driving dpf vehicles a bit harder once a fortnight will save the customer a lot more than the mpg losses of giving it some welly.
I spend at least 2 visits a month sorting out blocked dpf systems on industrial equipment because the plonker using it decides to keep switching it off for tea breaks when it's trying to do a burn. Once it locks out it won't rev up at all.
The warning light is there to tell you that there is a problem developing.
If you have a dpf and have never seen the light on, you are driving it properly. When it burns off the only noticeable effect is a slight power loss and a strange noise (which you are unlikely to hear in the cab).

I see, thanks for that, a clear explaination.

 

[tonyidle]

When I was having my Honda CRV serviced the mechanic said.. I hope you give it a good thrash every so often..does them no good just poodling around .. ( he was obviously thinking.. OAP owner )

thrash is the wrong word.. but engines, be they petrol or diesel need to be worked.. get rid of all the soot and carbon build up in the valves and head.. driven gently does them little good...

back to the OP..

I think you are picking holes in an otherwise good article.. the writer is of the 'old school' giving sound advice, whether there is an auto DPF cleaner or not ..

Dave mentions running the engine at 3000rpm or so for perhaps 10 miles once in a while. I rather hope that no-one construes that as 'thrashing' the thing because at a true 65mph my 2005 2.8jtd is turning over at 3200rpm. And 65mph is my preferred motorway (and anywhere else it's nearly legal) cruising speed.

 

[WillH]

53k on my 08 Ducato and never had the light up. Went up a couple of hills today in 3rd hitting 3000 revs, no smoke. They were long hills as well, not thrashing it but using the engine properly.

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[GAVLAD]

Well if Diamond Dave is Dave Newall, I think I will trust his judgement and his journalistic skills and will continue to give mine the occasional 'thrash' as you described it, to keep it tickety-boo. It's worked for me for the past 22 years of owning and driving diesels.

Each to their own I suppose

 

[f6c]

Iam Going to bed

 

[Wildbill]

i've always been told that diesel engines, cars and vans, are meant to be 'workhorses' but they do benefit from a 'gallop' every now and again to blow away the cobwebs.......
have i been wrongly advised then?

No thrash the arse of it frome time to time.
Bill

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[TerryL]

PRACTICAL ADVICE NEEDED

Okay, following on from the above I've got an intermittent problem that I think may be related. I'm not a "thrasher" but like to give the engine a workout every now and again.

But we've just done a lot of miles (I'm talking thousands here) in Scandinavia and frankly the roads are not up to giving the motor the 10 min workout proscribed. But every now and again, particularly if I've just used a high power setting to, say climb a long hill, the engine suddenly starts misfiring and hiccupping (that's what it sounds like) under "normal" cruising loads. After a few minutes it settles down but the engine management warning light comes on (my ODB reader says Throttle Actuator Control Range / Performance Bank 1) and we go into limp mode. I've discovered that I can "clear" the misfiring by giving it full throttle for around 10 secs, but the light stays on until 5 restarts when it goes out. It seems to come out of limp mode after a 5 min stop.

My point - is there enough crap generated in the cleaning process that could cause this misfire? Or should I be looking for a dealer?

Interestingly, over the past 2 days I've been doing some higher speed motorway cruising and the fault hasn't re-appeared.

 

[Boycie]

Not with a big stick.

 

[MikeD]

Well if Diamond Dave is Dave Newall, I think I will trust his judgement and his journalistic skills and will continue to give mine the occasional 'thrash' as you described it, to keep it tickety-boo. It's worked for me for the past 22 years of owning and driving diesels.

Each to their own I suppose

I trust what Dave says as well. Someone with many years experience using, servicing and fixing hundreds of vans over his career is worth listening to.

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