StanleyStill

Hi there,

Have spent the night reading the entire tread, but still have one question.

First though, a little background:
My M57N2, with the combined DPF and catalytic converter, runs too cold so I have decided to change the AGR thermostat first and then the main thermostat if the coolant is still too cold. Needless to say, I have the DPF error message in the idrive, popping up exactly 10 minutes after the engine is started. Last winter, the local BMW dealer fixed the problem with updated software, forced regeneration and a highway run according to the BMW specifications, as well as some mechanical cleaning (not sure how).

This week, I covered the radiator to increase engine temperatures. Yesterday I went for a highway drive where the temperatures went into the 90s (Celcius) and lasted for 5 hours at a fairly steady pace. Today, the error message is back. My question is: Will there be any form of regeneration when the DPF error message is already there? In other words, is the experimenting with longer runs a waste of time? I have no cable or software to clear error messages or force regeneration.

Thanks,
Stan

Anzafin

Some people say it won't start the regeneration when there's an error message, and some people say it can start it. In your case the DPF can be too clogged to start the regeneration. This was my case, and I had to manually clean it. Even if you get the regeneration started, it may not be effective enough to clean a heavily clogged DPF.

- Antti -

StanleyStill

Thanks for your answer

The DPF is being replaced by something else this weekend, but I will clean it and keep it in case I want to put it back on in the future.

tom_il

This is not true. BMW instructions say clearly a regeneration will take place every XXXX miles OR when the back pressure is to high.
So with a good DPF it will only get triggered by the amount of miles driven. Back pressure only comes in to play when it is clogged up.

staffordcox

Just to update my earlier post.....


I had to cut the bolts holding the DPF of with a grinder as they were all rotten. Once the DPF was out, I used an air line with about 6bar of pressure to blow the soot out, both forward and backwards and filled the garage up with soot. Once it was blowing through clear I jet washed it out forwards and backwards until the water was flowing out as fast as it was flowing in and then put it back on (still wet).


I reset the codes and reversed off the drive, and within a few seconds, as usual, it went into limp mode. This is exactly the same as before and it was totally gutless. I couldn't even reverse it up a set of ramps without resetting the codes. I then went for a drive with the laptop still plugged in with a mate of mine resetting the codes as soon as they came back and after 5 or 6 resets, the codes didn't come back. I took it to the motorway and gave it some major right foot (only up to 70mph of course) and it checked out a massive cloud of white smoke and then was fine!! It's now been over a week which is about 1000 miles for me and it is still running sweet. In fact, better than it ever has!!


So to summarise, this procedure has fixed my car and made it run better than ever. Thanks to everyone who has contributed, you are all my heroes!!


Staff

Anzafin

Awesome!

Donk70

My e60 520d had a lack of power.from 2500 rpm up.
Took my dpf off and power washed it with industrial soap and petrol.
Replaced it and car goes back to normal. Brill forum

lemps999

Hi, everyone!

Nice DIY here. Wanted to ask a few things before trying to clean the DPF myself.
Anyway, i first noticed that i was having problems with DPF a few days ago when i was replacing some other parts.. Was checking out the oil level to see how much is still there and then i found out that there was waaay too much oil and a friend of mine said that it occurs when there are problems with the DPF filter - that the filter wants to start cleaning itself but it fails and the diesel flows back and right into the oil tank.. So i did some diagnostics and it only gave me 1 error code - 4030 which should be "Exhaust gas temperature sensor before catalytic converter: Open circuit or short circuit to positive".
I've owned the car for 6 months and drove for 6000km and never noticed that it has ever tried to clean the DPF.. The previous owner had the thermostat and EGR thermostat and all the glow plugs changed and also had the oil changed before i bought it.

Does anyone know if the Exhaust Gas Temperature sensor error might be the cause of my DPF problems? - Don't know where to start with the repairs 'cause the official BMW dealer in here is full of complete morons who don't know a thing about the car they're representing.

I own a 2004 E61 530, with a mileage of 232 000km and in the iDrive it shows that the DPF will last for another 170 000km... Also, the muffler tip is quite dirty.

Spent the whole day reading online posts and still couldn't find anything that could really help me.


Thank you guys in advance!!

tom_il

Exhaust gas temp is one of the parameters monitored for the regeneration. If it is to low the regeneration won't start. Regeneration is not more then increasing the exaust temp to clean the filter.
So it seems logic that if the sensor is dead it will never happen.

iDrive milage for de DPF is meaningless. It tried to predict and is often wrong.

Diesel in fuel. I think you have a leaking injector.

lemps999

But isn't the fact that there's diesel in the oil tank/crankcase, related to the incorrectly or none-working DPF filter? Like i said, one other guy told me that it should happen when the car wants to send highly concentrated diesel to DPF so it starts burning at high temperatures, but for some reason it fails and the diesel flows back and right into the oil tank/crankcase. I'm not sure of it though, maybe he's wrong.

Should probably have the sensor checked out at first.. And have the oil changed i guess, although its been only 6000km since the last time it was changed.