[Mondaywoe]

A few months ago I had a new DPF fitted by a local exhaust centre - not a genuine Ford item but from a reputable motor factor. A few weeks after it was fitted the car started doing frequent regens (about every second run!) and that was followed by a 'Service Oil' warning and eventually an 'Engine Malfunction' warning. I took the car to a local garage and they said the oil quality was poor due to diesel in the sump. They flushed the engine, changed oil and filter, did a manual regen and cleared the codes. Now, within about 500 miles exactly the same thing has happened again!

It appears that the car is not carrying out the regen process properly and there is a connection between this and the diesel in the sump. The garage said they were aware of a problem with diesel pumps leaking into the sump but that wasn't the problem with my one. My feeling is that the extra diesel that's injected to instigate the regen cycle is not being 'fired' and so the regen doesn't complete, although I'm not clear how that diesel can land in the sump?

The garage is going to have another look next week but I was wondering if anyone has a clue what's happening. Vaporiser glow plug faulty perhaps? Should the DPF settings have been reset when the filter was changed? I'm assuming the garage checked the hoses and sensors. I do know the exhaust centre reused the sensors.

I've had the car from new (13 years!) and haven't had a moment's trouble until the DPF was replaced in January. Mileage is around 75,000.

 

[PURPLE_2L_LX]

Several DPF options depending on the year which you did not mention?

2009 ? What engine?

 

[Mondaywoe]

Several DPF options depending on the year which you did not mention?

2009 ? What engine?

Oops sorry - 2.0 TDCI (PSA engine) I haven't looked underneath but I'm guessing it doesn't have the vaporiser

 

[Mondaywoe]

Oops sorry - 2.0 TDCI (PSA engine) I haven't looked underneath but I'm guessing it doesn't have the vaporiser

Update = Car's been back to local garage. They haven't found any problem with the DPF system on diagnostics but they have reset all the DPF settings and changed the oil again. They say that if it does it again it's almost certainly the high pressure diesel pump leaking.

My Mondeo doesn't have the vaporiser so diesel for regen goes straight into the cylinders. My understanding of the 'oil quality' warning is that it computes mileage, time elapsed and number of regens and decides the oil has degraded but the garage thinks that there is a sensor that actually measures oil quality (??) If there is then it's understandable that a leaking pump would trigger this but if it's based on regens, etc then extra diesel from a bad pump wouldn't affect it. The oil has certainly degraded in less than 700 miles.

Can anyone advise if a bad pump would cause this fault before I shell out big money? Does the car really diagnose 'bad oil'?

 

[Mondaywoe]

Anyone? - help!!

 

[turbopete1]

given that the 2.0 has the fuel vapouriser, and assuming its working as it should, then really it shouldnt be shoving that much fuel into the engine as the vapouriser does most of the work instead! i did have the oil message come up on mine but found that the fuse was blown for the vapouriser glow plug, which was faulty, but wasnt sure about the injector itself so i bought a complete vapouriser unit. fitted it, changed the fuse and, because it had a 300% soot loading, it took literally ages to fully regen, but it managed and the car never missed a beat after that. it did its regen about every 400 miles after that, with a good amount of short trips/stop start trips etc.
im not on here as often as i should be but to be honest i cant say i can remember a pump going on a 2.0 TDCi, unless it had 200+k miles on it.

 

[Mondaywoe]

Ah but the problem with my one is that it's an early MK4 Mondeo which doesn't have the vapouriser system - just shots of diesel fed straight into the cylinders on the exhaust stroke. I don't think it's the pump - just 78,000 miles and never had supermarket fuel! I THINK the oil warning is triggered by counting regen cycles (as well as mileage etc) but NOT actual oil quality as such so if it was the pump the system wouldn't know?? Mind you, I'm getting a value in Forscan for 'Estimated volume of fuel in oil that's light grade' Is that an estimate of oil dilution??

Been into Ford dealer today - only thing they can think of is it's a non genuine Ford DPF and they reckon it's smaller than the original. Could that prevent proper regens?

 

[turbopete1]

possible i suppose, its not unheard of. that said, i was under the impression all of the PSA powered 2.0s (ie ALL mk4s) had the same system with the vapouriser?

 

[Mondaywoe]

possible i suppose, its not unheard of. that said, i was under the impression all of the PSA powered 2.0s (ie ALL mk4s) had the same system with the vapouriser?

No the early MK4s didn't have it - seems to have been introduced in 2010 with the facelift. I've ordered a second hand 'Genuine Ford' DPF off Ebay just to see if it makes any difference.

 

[Mondeo2013]

Only mk4 with euro 5 engines has the vapouriser. (2011->)

 

[Mondaywoe]

Only mk4 with euro 5 engines has the vapouriser. (2011->)

That's it. They realised that injecting diesel on the exhaust stroke was diluting the oil but even so 10,000 miles without excessive dilution was OK. I've had the car 13 years and never any issues with regens or dilution. It all started with the aftermarket DPF. The original DPF was an advisory in the last MOT but even then it was because it was cracked - not malfunctioning!

 

[turbopete1]

That's it. They realised that injecting diesel on the exhaust stroke was diluting the oil but even so 10,000 miles without excessive dilution was OK. I've had the car 13 years and never any issues with regens or dilution. It all started with the aftermarket DPF. The original DPF was an advisory in the last MOT but even then it was because it was cracked - not malfunctioning!

odd as i read an article that said that all the mk4s were euro5 compliant. my new to me mk5 is, apparently, euro 6 compliant, but doesnt have an Adblue system