D3 MT Diesel Particulate Filter Saga

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IAM Joe
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D3 MT Diesel Particulate Filter Saga

Post by IAM Joe » Sat Jan 05, 2013 11:27 pm

Further to my novel on 'clutch judder experience' I wish to add a new chapter on my experience with the good old Diesel Particle Filter (DPF).

I'll try and keep it as concise and to the point but bear with me if I start to wander with descriptions.... Happy reading :wink:

On the D3 MT, the DPF and CAT is a one piece unit located right after the turbo (Cat then DPF). As we know, the DPF is a relatively new technology on diesel cars and has only become apparent in the last couple of years the issues associated with the units failing or causing issues.

The service indicator for this item starts at 120k miles (not a service interval on the bi-turbo). I've covered 89k miles and my service indicator was showing 30k so right on the button for a 120k life.

However, a couple of weeks ago the car was feeling a bit sluggish under acceleration. I reset the throttle adaption thinking the car was trying to be a bit too frugal. This did not seem to work as it had in the past and then a couple of days later, the dreaded DPF malfunction light came on (looks like a half full tin of baked beans on its side). I was surprised due to the service indicator and also the type of journeys I do (usually motorway and fast A roads). I'm very rarely in urban situations or slow traffic. May I also point out that this fault had never previously occurred on the car. I only use Shell fuel and also use Millers additive to raise the centane rating of the fuel to hopefully create a cleaner burn (less soot).

The difference with this fault from others I'd read about was that the turbo felt very restricted and non existent after 3000rpm (much like a regular diesel with limited power band) it wouldn't redline like it was in some sort of 'safe mode'.

My initial thought was to take the car for a 'spirited drive' to force a regeneration. I covered 100+ miles, the majority on the motorway (the car needs a constant throttle at speed to initiate and complete a regeneration cycle). I was in 3rd and 4th gear for the majority of the first 50+ miles but went into 5th on the return as was starting to think this was a serious blockage and didn't want to damage anything else.

I took it to my local indie garage and they plugged her in to see if anything else was coming up on the fault list. Nothing to report apart from the back pressure at idle was up at 58 mbar! They told me a good idle should be around 10-12 mbar!

They initiated a forced regeneration and off I went for a drive down the A64, A1(M) then M62 (60+ miles). Nothing seemed to happen and the DPF light stayed on throughout. At this point I was starting to worry the DPF was beyond repair. I had acquired a can of the Marly (professional use only) turbo diesel engine and dpf cleaner from Pataket when he had his blocked DPF but never used it as it successfully regenerated. Basically pour it into the fuel, take it for a drive and all will be good. I was at the stage where I'd give it a go so in it went and off I went to a friends near Hull for the weekend. Still no good so got it booked in to my indie for removal and manual clean.

They had manually cleaned DPFs before by hosing them out (lots of sooty water) then blasting with the air hose. You get sausage like soot bogies coming out! However, when mine was removed, they didn't seem to be getting the amount of soot coming out that they'd expect so it was put into some detergent (traffic film remover) for a soak. It was then rinsed out and dried. The car was in a couple of days and a couple of hundred sheets lighter but a damn sight cheaper than a new DPF which BMW would've insisted on (£1200!). I could have gone the removal, retune route but I think most of you know of my view on this option. I asked the chaps if the DPF was basically 'as good as new'? They believe it should be however because the use of detergent this may damage the coating although if it's platinum plated I doubt it. So here's to another 90k miles?

They also thought that the boost of the turbo must have been restricted due the blockage so it was protecting it. Good news is that now the back pressure of the exhaust at idle is only reading......... 4 mbar!! Bit of a difference to when it was blocked and a demonstration of how well Alpina have got the exhaust system to work with such a low pressure to allow the turbo to boost to the max!

The after glow...part of the problem?..

One item that gets forgotten on a diesel are the glow plugs. Unlike a petrol car where you'd change the spark plugs with say every 3rd oil change. Glow plugs seem to stay in until they fail, which you don't actually know when they fail (unless a rough start on a cold morning raises suspicion). I didn't realise mine had failed on cylinder 2 and 3 until I took it to Sytners for some other work and was told of the fault codes. Although the car seemed to start fine (even in cold weather) I was advised that they should be changed as they assist in building up temperature for the DPF regeneration to take place.

The OEM glow plugs are made by BERU. I got hold of a genuine BMW one and compared it to the ones I bought from HERE. Absolutely identical in every way. Use promo code MA35 at the checkout to get 35% off. BMW charge £23 each for these!

I got the glow plugs changed in November when the car was due its 4th oil change. At the same time, whilst the engine was stripped to access the glow plugs, I had the swirl flaps removed as they were the old type and were actually failing to operate due to a faulty actuator spring. There did seem to be a fair bit of soot in there when things were stripped down.

I think a combination of the faulty glow plugs, faulty swirl flaps but ultimately poor design of the DPF caused the premature blockage. I think the ECU was trying to regenerate so many times, the soot just got more and more baked on, along with the high pressure turbo packing it all together tighter and tighter! :shock:

Anyway, it's all good now and I have the POWER back which feels great. I hope this is useful and someone will benefit from my findings :roll:

I guess the moral of the story is that the DPF will probably not last 120k miles. Taking it for a thrash to regenerate is not always the answer. But ultimately, there are options to getting it cleaned out rather than renewal or removal. :wink: Oh, and don't forget about your glow plugs! :lol:
Last edited by IAM Joe on Sat Jan 05, 2013 11:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by D3orbust » Sat Jan 05, 2013 11:52 pm

bookmarked.

thanks for that informative post.

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Post by ade and liz flint » Sat Jan 05, 2013 11:55 pm

Really, really interesting, Joe. Thankyou for taking the time to detail this and share.

The bit I'm most interested in is the glow plugs info. Why is there not an on-dash indication on our E9x's (I'm assuming my LCI is the same as yours) to warn of GP failures? My 2000MY technologically-challenged Astra has an on-dash warning of this...I know as I've changed a couple of them in the past, and the 1st thing I check on seeing the engine management warning is the GP's as they fail often and are a piece of cake to sort. Now, the Astra uses the GP's to both pre-heat and to assist warming the engine when it is cold: so a similar system to our E9x system whereby when extra heat is required, the ECU fires them up. I'm amazed such an important feature of the emission control of our cars is overlooked, except for a daignostic check undertaken every 2 years at oil service. That is simply pathetic IMO, and a significant software error.
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Post by jamesa » Sun Jan 06, 2013 12:04 am

Thank you Joe, great information although I hope not for personal concern in the future ... much as I respect the D3.

Isn`t such design `stuff`great :roll: , that which should help the environment ... backfiring :(
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Post by IAM Joe » Sun Jan 06, 2013 12:05 am

ade and liz flint wrote:I'm amazed such an important feature of the emission control of our cars is overlooked, except for a daignostic check undertaken every 2 years at oil service. That is simply pathetic IMO, and a significant software error.
Thanks Ade. It does seem to be a bit of an oversight for such a potentially important component!
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Post by ade and liz flint » Sun Jan 06, 2013 12:12 am

IAM Joe wrote:It does seem to be a bit of an oversight for such a potentially important component!
Staggering, simply staggering, and it makes perfect sense how they are incorporated in the re-gen system, too: that is really useful information to have been made aware of. This would probably be the reason some of our number, yourself included, end up with apparently correctly used and maintained cars with early-failure DPF's...crap sensor management.

It has to be mentioned, any D-car used for short daily journies requiring regular pre-heating etc will be seriously stressing its GP's as they will be 'on' more than 'off' leading to premature GP failures which will therefore further shorten DPF life :shock:
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Post by Bri-E » Sun Jan 06, 2013 5:56 pm

Thanks Joe, very detailed and informative. I will make a note and try to remember for the future.
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Post by IAM Joe » Sun Jan 06, 2013 11:24 pm

jamesa wrote:Isn`t such design `stuff`great :roll: , that which should help the environment ... backfiring :(
I do love technology and progress, but always appreciate the simple, almost obvious solutions rather than making things complicated! :roll:
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Post by IAM Joe » Mon Mar 25, 2013 11:40 pm

Ok an update....

Since the first DPF blockage, I covered just over 1600 miles when the dreaded malfunction light came on again! How could the DPF get blocked up so quickly?! The car was trying to regenerate and had diluted the oil with diesel to a dangerously high level (1.5 litres had to be drained off to get it back to normal levels again!)

What had changed to cause this? I started to look back at work carried out and it all seemed to start when I had the oil change in November and swirl flaps removed. Looking at the mileage I'd covered since the swirl flaps had been removed in November I saw that I'd covered just over 1500 miles the first time the DPF blocked. Was this just coincidence that I'd covered similar miles between DPF blockages?

I started to wonder if there was another issue. Injector malfunction, thermostat failure, faulty EGR? As there could be so many causes, I decided to put things back as they were so reintroduced the swirl flaps by sourcing a used manifold as mine was well clogged up with carbon deposits and the diaphragm valve spring that controlled the flaps had failed anyway. 1st class service from Fabdirect

I decided to get the DPF cleaned out again, so it was removed again and washed through. The EGR valve was also given a good clean. All back together, the car felt great again but for how long?

I've since covered over 2100 miles and today went back to my Indy to check the back pressure in the exhaust. A very healthy 1.8mbar :D and it was also not requesting regeneration.

I also got them to take it for a blast up the road with the diagnostic kit plugged in to check is was getting up to temperature ok (make sure the thermostats were operating as they should) and all is well. Hopefully this is now fixed. So, what caused this? The chaps at the garage are convinced that the swirl flaps are not linked to this but the similarity in mileage is quite compelling IMO. From my research, I couldn't find any other case on the internet that someone had removed the swirl flaps but retained the DPF. All of the examples I could find also involved removing the DPF too. The chaps at the garage however say they have removed flaps from many other cars with no DPF issues. From my research, there is some thought that the swirl flaps are used in some cases to create the correct circumstances for regeneration to occur.

It could just be coincidence and not all of the carbon build up in the engine had been removed the first time around (I'd put the fuel additive in the first time around so may have done its job and cleaned things out internally into the DPF). I'll run another couple of thousand miles and get another back pressure reading done to put my mind at ease. In the mean time, an oil change next week as I don't like the thought of diluted fluids and the OBD says I have another 19k miles before the next oil service!

There seems to be confusion with swirl flaps which I was unsure of and was misinformed if you read my posts prior to this. My understanding is that the flaps used in the E46 had a thinner spindle shaft that could snap and end up in the engine. The change to the E90 was to make the shaft thicker to eliminate this risk. However, the flaps are still held on to the shaft with two screws. The independent BMW specialist garage I take mine to for servicing have never known a swirl flap failure on an E90 although I've seen cases where screws fail and end up killing an engine!

Fingers crossed things have sorted themselves out. :roll:
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Post by L8 ALPINA » Tue Mar 26, 2013 9:29 pm

Thankyou very much for the update, interesting reading

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Post by IAM Joe » Fri Mar 29, 2013 11:49 pm

Just a couple of pictures of how clogged up the inlet to the manifold had got. This is where the EGR valve bolts onto and dumps a load of carbon back into the mix :shock:

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Post by L8 ALPINA » Mon Apr 01, 2013 6:46 pm

That is shocking,

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Post by Charles » Mon Apr 01, 2013 8:05 pm

It's like a clogged artery!

Seeing that really worries me about what comes out of the exhaust pipe of diesel powered cars ...
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Post by IAM Joe » Tue Apr 02, 2013 10:38 pm

Charles wrote:Seeing that really worries me about what comes out of the exhaust pipe of diesel powered cars ...
And that's why I'd never get rid of the DPF, it's nasty stuff.
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Post by IAM Joe » Thu May 02, 2013 8:48 pm

Since my last update, I've had the exhaust back pressure checked a couple more times when I've been back to the indy. Both times at a very healthy 0mbar. I've covered 2680 miles since the last DPF blockage so regeneration must have successfully taken place over this period.

Today I had the EGR thermostat changed as the coolant temp seemed to be running a little cool (76-81 degrees max). It is now getting up to 80-83 degrees quicker and staying there. Still cooler than I was expecting but an improvement which should also assist regeneration and improve MPG. :D
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