Particulate filter

[James walsh]

Is there anyone can help.my Car is a 320i petrol with 18400 miles on the clock.the regeneration of the particulate filter came on followed  the book and it did not work.so I booked it in to bmw to get a forced regeneration ithought my warranty would cover it but no I was told that due to the fact that the car has done a 12o trips under 4 miles it was my driving style that caused the fault. I been told that I must at least drive the car for 30 mins once a week.iam now looking for a small car my wife to go to work as she does short journeys and in 8 weeks of driving it would need to be redone. This is a forty grand car .

[Greydog]

Morning James

Particulate filters first appeared on diesel engines and many short "school run" type journeys by owners caused the same issue. One of my sons is a tree surgeon he rarely travels far from home and his Toyota pickup was the first time I saw this issue. The advice from the Toyota dealer was the same give it a goo blast once a week, it works

The particulate filter needs to reach full operating temperature to be able to work effectively short journeys don't allow that. BMW are not alone as just about every car made now has a particulate filter regardless of cost. As your journeys are so short what about electric if your changing car

Dave

[James walsh]

Thanks for your advice just makes it hard when we are in lock down to give a good blast.i have had two diesel motors before and had no problem's both with more miles and doing the same types of travel.

[James walsh]

Can I ask you do you think 120 trips under 4 miles  is not reasonable over 18400 miles.

[Greydog]

Hi James

When you say a trip of 4 miles is that round trip ? If it is round trips they do seem short, I walk around 8 to 10 miles a day with my dogs.

However it isn't what I think is reasonable, it is about chemistry. The particulate filter is just that a filter. All filters will clog if not either cleaned or changed on a regular basis. 

The particulate filter needs to reach an optimum temperature before it achieves a chemical reaction and self cleans/regenerates. If your 18400 miles has been made up from many journeys where the engine doesn't reach full operating temperature (not just 4 mile ones) for long enough for the regeneration cycle to start then the filter will clog. That is exactly the issue my son was having with his Toyota even though on some journeys his heater was working the Particulate filter just wasn't getting hot enough. He has got into the habit of going for a half hour drive 2 or 3 times a month and no more issues.

All Dealers are different due to the staff and their interpretation of the situation in front of them. I have to say as your car is so new still that they have been harsh, another Dealer may have reacted differently who knows? 

Dave

[James walsh]

Thanks for your balance view on the matter I just a bit raw on the matter having seen another post where the guy doing the same short trips got his covered no problem by the warranty having the exact same problem by the garage. 

[Greydog]

As I have said it sadly is in the hands of the Dealer to interpret the Warranty rules or in perhaps make a Goodwill gesture ?

The Toyota Dealer my son uses carried out 2 forced regeneration cycles 1 under Warranty the other a goodwill gesture, my own BMW dealer had my car back for a Recall (Drivers Airbag) I had ordered a new Auxiliary water pump when I collected the car they had fitted the Aux Water Pump as a "Goodwill gesture". I use a BMW Specialist for annual service/MOT everything else I do myself so a pleasant surprise.

Dave

[SuzukiBoy2]

Been watching this thread....So are new Euro 5? 6? petrol engines subject to the similar diesel DPF issues? Sounds the same to me, in which case, short runs in a petrol driven car will suffer the same effects as a diesel? My word, those that rule, are really trying to bugger up car lovers enjoyment.

I'm 60 next year and looking to buy my final car. It will almost certainly be an older one not subject to this current restrictive crap we suffer.

[Greydog]

Morning Richard

You are spot on petrol or diesel the Particulate filter is basically the same, plus a filter by it's nature is a screen to catch debris or contaminants so eventually it will clog up. Diesel motors just tend to do it faster because the produce more soot. Clever engineering jacks temperatures in the filter up to burn the soot, but as physics teaches us you cant destroy matter you just change it so in 10 years will what we have changed it into be a problem??

Come 2030 when our erstwhile leaders have decided that all new cars sold in the UK will be Electric at the moment these vehicles pay no road tax and sales are very low a around 500,000 total currently on our roads out of 32m cars 4.5m trucks and buses. So it will be a good few years yet before they shut petrol stations. I wonder what cunning schemes they are considering to replace the lost revenue from road tax? Plus as the EU as our nearest neighbour have a much longer timescale what will we do about all the cross channel traffic? There is no mention of the fact that rare earth mining (to provide material for our laptop, mobile phone and electric car batteries) is one of the dirtiest around, or that the raw materials are then shipped half way around the world to be processed, then shipped again to be turned into batteries?? Not exactly a green process plus at present there is no way to recycle these batteries. 

World wide transportation Air Sea Road and Rail is rated as the 5th highest polluter, makes me wonder how much emissions have dropped with reduced air traffic in the last year? It seems obvious to this old bloke that there are clearly other more important targets to reduce emissions but the car unfortunately is an easy target (especially if you were the inventor of the Boris Bike)

Me I am a lot nearer 80 than I want to be so my program to save the planet is to keep driving my fat V8 in the knowledge that I am encouraging people to plant more trees and save the planet that way 🤣

Rant over 

Dave