#car dpf

Car manufacturers now a days give more effort toward making their cars safer for everyone because such cars are in more demand. More Eco friendly would be the car, more it would be safer for the environment. Scientists now a days promote such vehicles. Emissions from vehicles are very toxic as they heavily pollute the air and harmful for inhalation by animals. Various components are installed to make vehicles eco-friendly. DPF is one of such components. But it is found that the Porsche or similar cars get their DPF fail many times which is harmful. So the owners need to study the signs which I’m gonna discuss here.

DPF and DPF light in Porsche

DPF stands for diesel particulate filter. This filter makes the emissions low from the cars by separating the soot from the exhaust gasses. These diesel particulate filters are used in diesel engine vehicles. The harmful gasses released to the exhaust not only harms the environment, pollutes the air, but also create various disorders in the respiratory system of humans and other animals if these are breathed in.

Such gasses if emitted from exhaust, then the car would fail in the emission test. So the diesel particulate filter traps up the soot while the exhaust gas pass through it. While starting, the heat in the exhaust system increases due to which the soot at the filter burns to ashes which is expelled out of the exhaust system. This is called regeneration process but this can be only possible if there is a very high temperature in the exhaust. The exhaust system can only attain a high temperature if the car is running at a high speed. But if the driver would drive the car for low speed or for a short distance frequently without going for a long trip, then the diesel particulate filter or the DPF would gradually get clogged by the soot. More and more soot would be accumulated at the filter without getting burned and the regeneration process would not happen.

When the DPF gets clogged, then the monitoring sensors detect this problem and make the DPS light on the dashboard to glow to warn the driver. While your DPF is faulty and you are getting its various signs, you should not drive more and more as it would lead to heavy loss of power as engine would not breathe properly. This would lead to further damage at the engine.

What are the signs of faulty DPF in Porsche?

Here are some signs that regenerating process in the diesel particulate filter is not occurring or the DPF has completely failed. So you have to fix the problem but before that you have to know if the DPF is really failing or not by its signs. Here are some common symptoms of bad DPF.

DPF light glowing

If the DPF is failing, then the dashboard would show you the DPF light. This is the first and the most common signs of the problem.

Engine revving at low RPM

Due to faulty DPF, there would be very low power so the engine would not be able to rev at high speed.

Black smoke

You would find black smoke from the exhaust whenever you accelerate the car. This is due to more consumption of fuel.

Diesel smell in cabin

While driving, a diesel smell would get into your car. This is one of the common sign of faulty DPF.

Check engine light glowing

The check engine light at the dashboard would glow due to high loss of power.

Limp mode

If the diagnosis of the DPF is delayed, then the car would get to limp mode with a highly reduced performance.

Diagnosis of DPF

If you want to clear the DPF light by regenerating the DPF, then there are two ways to do this -

You can make your car to run with speed of 40mph for 15 minutes. This would burn down the soot by creating enough heat and then clear the filter. During the process, there would be a pungent smell with an unusual noise. After the completion of the regenerative process, the DPF warning light would stop glowing.

If a speed over 40 mph for 10 - 15 minutes cannot be maintained, then you can take your car to a garage to remove the soot through a forced regeneration process. Even the DPF would be checked and replaced if found damaged.

Conclusion

For the better functioning of vehicles, manufacturers also install other components like filters, sensors, etc. The vehicles intake the things like air, fuel, oil, etc as  input and the output are the power, the speed of the car as well as some waste products like smoke, exhaust gasses, etc. So the car burns down the fuel to produce power and many unburned carbon particles. These carbon particles are of no use and they are not good for the components of the car. Hence they are removed out of the car. This is done safely by the DPF now what is DPF and what problems it can have in your Porsche car is what I’m gonna discuss here.

What is a DPF?

The DPF stands for diesel particulate filter that traps the unburned carbon particles from the exhaust. This is a filter that is present in the diesel engine cars and help those engines to remain clean. Those particles are also called as diesel particulate matter or soot which can cause heavy pollution to the air when it is released in the form of black smoke with the exhaust gas. This soot is blocked by the DPF but is released out after they get burned with excess heat from the engine. The burned soot is removed out of the exhaust. In this way the clog is removed from the filter.

The DPF traps those soot so it has a high chance to become clogged and you have to remove the DPF or clean it, but it is not required every time in every diesel vehicles. Because the soot accumulated at the filter is burned and removed from the DPF by the heat from the engine and the exhaust. This heat is generated when more and more fuel is burned to make the car accelerate and run at high speeds. The catalytic converter temperature rises over 600oF and then the DPF is cleaned up from the soot. This process is known as regeneration where the DPF again starts to work fine.

So when the DPF is clogged enough with the soot, the dashboard gives a warning sign in form if indicator lights or by warning message. Then car computer stores the errors. DPF is an important component hence the car monitors its functions and provides error messages when detects any malfunction. When these warning comes up, there must be some error codes. If you have a Porsche, then you may find the errors like P246300, P200200 which shows about some issues in the DPF.

DPF is regenerated when the car is made to run in a quite more speed or for some long time because the heat will be more. But what if the driver doesn’t drive the car for long trip? If the driver is repeatedly taking short trips due to0 which the soot buildup would increase and then the DPF would simply block the exhaust gas flow. So in that case there would be many severe performance related issues. So in this case, there is an alternative way to clean the DPF. You have to clean the DPF by certain cleaners available.

What problems can a clogged DPF cause?

  Low fuel efficiency

  Low performance

  Rough idling

  Permanent failure of DPF

What causes the DPF to clog?

Frequent short trips

If there would be frequent short trips then there would be no regeneration. The DPF may get clogged very quickly and you have to remove the clog.

Ignoring the DPF warning sign

If the DPF is going to get clogged soon, then you would surely see the DPF warning light or warning message. Even after getting the warning sign, if you still ignore the sign and do not take necessary steps to regenerate, then the DEF would become clogged completely.

Conclusion