Any done a forced or manual regen on their DPF fitted car?

[jazd]

should there be a light that comes on the dash to say its doing it?

Nope. Dead give aways are revving higher than normal before changing gears in a DSG and higher idle rpm.

[Greg Roles]

Lights indicate the automatic, quite unobtrusive ones aren't working, and the car has gone into a more active / alerting mode.

[JimmyT]

Aww okay thats weird i have the manual version and can honestly say i have never noticed it before doing it. How long does it last for? What if it starts doing it and i turn off my car while its going through?

Will have to keep an eye for it!

[poyta]

Aww okay thats weird i have the manual version and can honestly say i have never noticed it before doing it. How long does it last for? What if it starts doing it and i turn off my car while its going through?

Will have to keep an eye for it!

Yeah I've always been curious about what to do when its gone into an obvious regen with the raised revs too - seems to always occur when I'm just about to stop driving so always been wondering should I now go for an extended drive and keep the revs up so that it can actually complete the regen? from my understanding it needs a good 10 minutes of uninterrupted driving with at least 60kph speed and revs above 1800rpm to properly do a regen - if not won't it just register it as a failed regen?

[Mysticality]

Also the exhaust is much louder (mine is a catback only) and if you have an intake you can hear the same whoosh you get on load by just revving it - something that doesn't happen when its not doing a regen.
Obviously it turns the vanes up so it gets more airflow to go with the increased fuel burn!


EDIT: Also, my dealership said regens every 400km were normal, and thats what I've been having. Plenty left in my DPF after 95,000kmk though.

[cru22z]

Mine is blowing white smoke now during acceleration from the lights and whilst its doing regen. Should I be worried? Seems to blow white smoke each time I accelerate.

[cru22z]

Also seems like my regen comes on every 400kms due to short distance driving. Anyways back to the white smoke. I think the regen was interrupted about 4-5 times today due to stop start.
Then after I took car for a good long 1 hour drive on freeway on 5th gear above 2k rpm. But after that hour as I pull up on my street bloody dpf light came on again so I am back to driving another 30 mins on the freeway. After I had enough I decided to drive back home take car out of sports mode and back to normal mode. As I approach a stop light the dpf light went away.

[poyta]

Yeah when the DPF light comes on it means that the regen failed so it alerts you and forces you to take the car on a long run to clear it which it sounds like it did otherwise it would gone into Limp mode. I'm very surprised that it failed during your 1hr drive on the highway with revs above 2k. Whenever I get the DPF light a good 10-15 minute run clears it.

When you say you were above 2k, how above? I hear that it won't regen if the revs are above 3.5k as the EGT's get too high. I've also
heard conflicting stories about the speed you need to be at though to properly regen, some say you need to be traveling above 20kph while some say you have to be at least 60kph. The later seems odd because it essentially means that VW have designed a car that you need to break the law and speed in to keep it properly maintained. Fine if you live in Europe or any place with lots of highways but for someone like me in little ol Adelaide where its mostly 60 zones it means I never give the car a chance to properly regen - especially considering our speedo's are so out that I'm mostly driving at 57kph when its an indicated 60 on the speedo.

[cru22z]

Yeah when the DPF light comes on it means that the regen failed so it alerts you and forces you to take the car on a long run to clear it which it sounds like it did otherwise it would gone into Limp mode. I'm very surprised that it failed during your 1hr drive on the highway with revs above 2k. Whenever I get the DPF light a good 10-15 minute run clears it.

When you say you were above 2k, how above? I hear that it won't regen if the revs are above 3.5k as the EGT's get too high. I've also
heard conflicting stories about the speed you need to be at though to properly regen, some say you need to be traveling above 20kph while some say you have to be at least 60kph. The later seems odd because it essentially means that VW have designed a car that you need to break the law and speed in to keep it properly maintained. Fine if you live in Europe or any place with lots of highways but for someone like me in little ol Adelaide where its mostly 60 zones it means I never give the car a chance to properly regen - especially considering our speedo's are so out that I'm mostly driving at 57kph when its an indicated 60 on the speedo.

I was doing 110kph at around 3k-3.5k rpm on 4th gear. Sometimes I put it on 5th and it hovers around 2.8k rpm.
We don't have a long 60kph stretch here and all have roundabouts or traffic light every 1km. So freeway is the only way to go.
Anyways I drove all the way to town on almost empty tank to fill up BP ultimate diesel. It's the only place in Sydney that sells it and took me 40mins to get to with the traffic on the M4

[Transporter]

All you need for the regeneration process to complete is: engine at operating temperature, fuel tank at more than 1/2 full, turn the accessories to ON (headlights, heated seats etc.), and keep the rpm's above 1500, that should keep the temperature in the DPF at the correct range so the regeneration process can complete once started, 20-30 minutes is enough. I can regenerate while driving through the hills without any problems.

Those with the stop start system should weight the advantage of the saving 0.2L or less per 100km, against the DPF clogging and also against the battery, starter motor and the flywheel ringgear wear. I know that these were made stronger in the late models, because the first ones just didn't last and needed replacing, but again, just the cost of that AGM battery when it needs replacing will 00 all the savings you made on fuel. Not talking about other inncreased engine wear during start ups.

[Mysticality]

My car started a regen on a track day - after a 5 lap run!
Also on some hard runs on cruises I've had regens happen, and sometimes the exhaust sounds like a regen is running when it isn't - probably EGT based.
Can heat effect sound? From what I've seen, it can but maybe its just me.

[GTD_XU1]

FWIW. The last two days I have had a "Regen- interruptus" so today day I went for a run down the motorway from Springwood to Nerang and back ( via Yatala pie shop ), traffic was slow so I left the transmission in M5 most of the trip and it seems to have cleared it now. I'd say I have done too much lazy around town crawling in D. I do a lot of clicks ( 68,000km came up today ) and am normally not stuck in slow traffic and don't notice the regens occurring, so far have never had the DPF light come on. I am running Caltex Vortex usually and stick 75mL of DSK into an empty tank, and normally drive like a mad man, relatively speaking.

[Transporter]

Yes, most drivers don't notice that the DPF is regenerating.