Land Rover DPF issues

there were more problems with the earlier DPF's as they were fitted to far away from the exhaust manifold so never got as hot as needed to burn the soot but nowadays they are fitted reasonably close which helps to keep them somewhat cleaner. the sensors however are another problem.

In addition to my previous comments, if you do low mileage and  short journeys change the engine oil and filter every 5/6 k( as in the old days and regardless of what the service book states) with a good quality oil with low sulphur ash content. Every time forced regeneration takes place small amounts of fuel enter the sump diluting the oil.

I don't know that I agree with the concept of blasting the vehicle at excessively high engine revs as a concept to clean up a DPF. Doing that means for the given power the engine will be pumping way too much air so the turbo exit temperature will not be as hot as if more modest revs were employed to generate the required power.

A vehicle with a DPF is going to be modern, with the technology aimed to limit black smoke from the combustion, so run as intended but at quite high speed so power, could well result in as good a filter cleaning conditions being presented as possible. What most in trouble with them probably lack is the sustained time to do that cleaning process.

These DPFs can only be cleaned of the carbon and tars, the inevitable ash simply accumulates over use, being the finite life limiting issue with them. Those I have looked into their specs are designed for a useful life in the 90 to 100k miles range for domestic market cars.

Here re ash the use of the right engine oil is a major factor as that will be the primary contributor; those using mineral two stroke oil to stabilise the low speed combustion quieting things down a bit, are simply inviting a build up of excessive ash in any DPF.

I often wonder if towing helps or hinders DPF regeneration? I suspect the market pressures to optimise fuel consumption tends to make those with auto GBs seek via their control system to run in too low a gear when then asked to run in towing mode requiring rather high torque conditions. That being so  selecting "sport" or holding down just one gear I feel would best optimise a clean up; ie not excessive revs but avoiding running in a way that is just holding onto too higher gear.

A interesting area, one I wish I was still young enough to be involved with, to better understand and assess the current thinking in the industry. 

I’ll leave the hearsay, anecdotes & well meaning family members & rely on my own experience. If anything does go wrong with the DPF I’ll sue the S/mkts & call ‘Frank down the pub’ to give evidence😂😂😂. 

When I was still at work the fleet of 2000 London Buses we operated all had some form of filter and emission control system, either DPF or CRT.  There were no great issue's with them. We used cheap fuel, the vehicles were run between 12 and 18 hours a day in stop start conditions, average speed about 9 MPH, 7 days a week. Servicing is the key. London Buses are serviced every 4 weeks, and they also have to meet lower pollution levels to operate in central London. (reduced emissions cert) done at annual test.

The only things that were troublesome were the early Add Blue systems which used to clog with crystallized urea  and put the MIL light on in the instrument panel and de-rate the vehicle until the issue was rectified.

From what I remember the filters are cleanable of all contamination including ash. ours used to go back the manufacturer "Emminox" who had a process of putting them in an oven at something like 800 degrees for 12 hrs. 

One issue we did have that cost us a lot of money (£3000+ each) was theft (Scrap value) over night at some of the more remote locations of our Garages. 

We bought our caravan from a motor home dealer. When were there a motorhome was  being moved & I commented on the fact it's exhaust was very loud ie blowing. Apparently this dealer routinely removed cats from vehicles left on their fore court due to theft.

Our biggest theft was 9 CRT filters from 9 buses (they are about the same size as a 6kg calor bottle) at our Garage in Rainham Essex, to get them out from under the vehicles they had to dig out the shingle hard standing beside each vehicle in the adjacent parking area to the workshops.  

Em-Bee at Heywood?

No its not common.  And using supermarket fuel makes no difference.

That's just one of the many excuses for a failure, fact is if the DPF doesn't get a regen a burn it will fill, it could be the LR system relies on the DPF differential pressure to initiate a burn, so a sensor out of range could be the issue.

I have driven DPF cars since 2009 and never had an issue other than oil rise in the sump because I've interrupted a burn.

My mileage is only 7K max a year with 90% local driving, but NOT city driving in stop start traffic. Only time my car sees a motorway is when towing or the odd trip to relatives say 5 times a year.

I forgot to mention 99% on Tesco fuel, rest I put anything in usually when away towing.

A modern diesel requires no Italian tune up which only adds more soot to the DPF unless a burn is taking place, and additives to the fuel is not what the manual advises, they can damage the emissions system.