# DPF full limp mode



## gregbonat (Apr 5, 2014)

158,799 mi on 2014 Cruze Diesel. CEL was on, but car was still running fine. Wife took car on out of state trip 800 mi. RT, ran great. Stopped about 40 miles from home to fill up diesel. Got about 5 miles down road and started to run rough and reduced power mode. Got on side of road and went into Limp Mode. Had to send roll back to bring it home. Now it says DPF full, Reduced Power. It looks like going to have to remove the DPF Have mechanical skills with tools, no scangauge 2 though; but not a mechanic. Is it very difficult to remove DPF? Was thinking along lines of sending it to DPF Cleaning to have filter and SCR cleaned thoroughly and put it back in. $600 vs ?1500 dealer dpf. 
Does anyone have info on diy removal of dpf and good photo or description of where it is and ease of removal? Think it is connected direct to turbo if I am looking at right thing. Only see three flange bolts from my view from bottom, but can't see what else I have to get to in order to get it out


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## IndyDiesel (May 24, 2015)

If the DPF is full, just take it to the Chevy dealer and they can do a manual regen and it is about $250 and you will be back on the road again.


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## Chris Tobin (Feb 23, 2016)

gregbonat said:


> 158,799 mi on 2014 Cruze Diesel. CEL was on, but car was still running fine. Wife took car on out of state trip 800 mi. RT, ran great. Stopped about 40 miles from home to fill up diesel. Got about 5 miles down road and started to run rough and reduced power mode. Got on side of road and went into Limp Mode. Had to send roll back to bring it home. Now it says DPF full, Reduced Power. It looks like going to have to remove the DPF Have mechanical skills with tools, no scangauge 2 though; but not a mechanic. Is it very difficult to remove DPF? Was thinking along lines of sending it to DPF Cleaning to have filter and SCR cleaned thoroughly and put it back in. $600 vs ?1500 dealer dpf.
> Does anyone have info on diy removal of dpf and good photo or description of where it is and ease of removal? Think it is connected direct to turbo if I am looking at right thing. Only see three flange bolts from my view from bottom, but can't see what else I have to get to in order to get it out


Did she by chance misfuel the car? Sounds very suspicious that it started right after refueling. Remember not all stations use GREEN handles for Diesel, some use GREEN handles for Gasoline. If she was at an unfamiliar station and tired from a long road trip drive it would have been easy to misfuel and that sounds fairly likely in this scenario.

Rough running within miles of the refuel aligns with a misfuel as well...

I would consider testing the fuel... Possibly even a simple sniff test by removing the fuel cap and seeing if it smells like gas or diesel... Fortunately the HPFP on our Cruze's is much more robust than the one used on the VW TDIs and you might be able to get away with simply draining the gas and flushing the fuel system, changing the filter and refueling with no other damage...

Definitely worth looking into before you pay someone else to diagnose it.


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## gregbonat (Apr 5, 2014)

Ok, will try that first. Most of my driving is highway, high speed. Should be doing regen pretty regularly. May have got bad diesel that clogged it up so fast.


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## IndyDiesel (May 24, 2015)

If she put in diesel fuel, which she probably did assuming she put some of the 158k miles on. I would think without a scanguage, the car was in pregen status and she didn't know and shut the car off, the DPF was filling with diesel fuel, she completes the filling the car with diesel and goes on her way, and then the DPF is full and not working properly and shuts her down to limp mode, which means it needs a manual regen by the dealer. That's my theory.


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## Cruz15 (Mar 17, 2016)

this 200.00 regen is serious BS. Takes a tech 5 mins to do it they just let the car regen while they are doing other jobs.


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## CruzeDan (May 17, 2015)

I vote for questionable fuel/diesel. There is no way to clean the DPF off board.


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

Cruz15 said:


> this 200.00 regen is serious BS. Takes a tech 5 mins to do it they just let the car regen while they are doing other jobs.


I wonder how much the machine costs to induce the manual regen?

How much for the garage space costs. 

How many people are involved in getting your car in and out: service writer, car jockey, tower, technician, cashier, etc. 

How much for the lounge you wait in, the free coffee or the lift there and back. 

Then all the hidden costs like property and payroll taxes, wear and tear, software liscensing fees, etc. 

I agree that $200 is a lot to charge for a manual regen - but it's not like the dealer is making $199 profit either.


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## mr overkill (Dec 1, 2013)

Cruze15 not that im picking on you but if you dont know what your talking about cut the **** that 5 minutes it "takes" costs money i have the ability to do it because the scanner cost me 2500.00 plus my 10k plus in snapon tools so im sorry if i paid my way to be a professional and you think your "entitled" to think it should cost 20.00 to do it because its just a push of a button. RANT OVER


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## Cruz15 (Mar 17, 2016)

mr overkill said:


> Cruze15 not that im picking on you but if you dont know what your talking about cut the **** that 5 minutes it "takes" costs money i have the ability to do it because the scanner cost me 2500.00 plus my 10k plus in snapon tools so im sorry if i paid my way to be a professional and you think your "entitled" to think it should cost 20.00 to do it because its just a push of a button. RANT OVER



Shop time is about 10.00 or less so ya Im sticking to my guns!!! Its really truly a cash grab. 2.50 dollars Tech time so [email protected]!!


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## mr overkill (Dec 1, 2013)

Lol


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## IndyDiesel (May 24, 2015)

Cruz15, I run a very small professional business, there are lots of cost the average person doesn't see, at $200 to $250 to do a manual regen is a lot of money but worth it and semi reasonable. When as a business owner I see the dealership cost it is nothing short of amazing. Plus things can change, here in Indy we had a major dealership expand right before the Great Recession, he went into debt big time to modernize the ford dealership, car sales went in the toilet and he was going to loose it and he committed suicide so his family would be ok with life insurance. So $200-250 to get your car back on the road sounds reasonable to me.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Depending on how you look at it, the real issue is the system allowing itself to get into this state or GM's failure to provide a manual regen.


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## IndyDiesel (May 24, 2015)

ChevyGuy said:


> Depending on how you look at it, the real issue is the system allowing itself to get into this state or GM's failure to provide a manual regen.


I agree with you, seems like a design flaw that this can happen, it shouldn't.


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## Cruz15 (Mar 17, 2016)

IndyDiesel said:


> Cruz15, I run a very small professional business, there are lots of cost the average person doesn't see, at $200 to $250 to do a manual regen is a lot of money but worth it and semi reasonable. When as a business owner I see the dealership cost it is nothing short of amazing. Plus things can change, here in Indy we had a major dealership expand right before the Great Recession, he went into debt big time to modernize the ford dealership, car sales went in the toilet and he was going to loose it and he committed suicide so his family would be ok with life insurance. So $200-250 to get your car back on the road sounds reasonable to me.


Rich Folk think this way, that 200 - 250 is cheap. The regen should be be an in menu car item and not have to go to the dealership.
You guys think we all have endless funds to do crap like this seriously?


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## IndyDiesel (May 24, 2015)

Cruz15 said:


> Rich Folk think this way, that 200 - 250 is cheap. The regen should be be an in menu car item and not have to go to the dealership.
> You guys think we all have endless funds to do crap like this seriously?


Hey I just look from a realistic perspective, I did research here before I bought a CTD, I am fully aware of how the car works and potential problems, I don't like the possibility of a manual regen anymore than you do, and I would prefer this not be an issue either, but the world we both live in there is a possibility of needing a manual regen. Just because I referenced the cost as semi reasonable doesn't mean I want to spend 250 on a manual regen, but if it happens you can not drive the car unless you do a delete which cost a **** of a lot more than 250


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

All of this hassle because GM for some unknown reason left out the region warning light that I have in my 2012 Holden Cruze diesel, so stupid of them.


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

I found this thread on Cruzetalk and I hope it helps.

http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/64-g...sion/62297-calm-down-read-about-your-dpf.html


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## mr overkill (Dec 1, 2013)

I agree that's it's gms fault for leaving the light output and the manual regan option out


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## CruzeDan (May 17, 2015)

GM designed the system for the American market. Thats why there is no option for manual regen, no lights, and no notice. The car was designed to please us Americans, who already had bad stigmas about diesels. The car is designed to take care of itself with out any intervention. If it isn't, there is usually some sort of other issue at hand. If you car is not letting you know there is an issue, there probably isn't one.


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

I've yet to have any regeneration issues with my cruze and I should see issues often as I have 48k km of city driving.


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

CruzeDan said:


> GM designed the system for the American market. Thats why there is no option for manual regen, no lights, and no notice. The car was designed to please us Americans, who already had bad stigmas about diesels. The car is designed to take care of itself with out any intervention. If it isn't, there is usually some sort of other issue at hand. If you car is not letting you know there is an issue, there probably isn't one.


The light isn't for a manual regen, it is there to let you know to keep driving until it goes out so that you won't have to get a manual regen. The engine in the US Cruze is an older design that was easier to make meet the pollution requirements in the US. Hopefully the new one will be much better sorted in this area.


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

money_man said:


> I've yet to have any regeneration issues with my cruze and I should see issues often as I have 48k km of city driving.


I drive in the city 90% of the time and also 48k km on my 2012 diesel and the light has only come on once. I have noticed that when my fan is on high speed when I park the engine idles 100rpm higher than normal, so must be in the middle of a regen, never causes a problem though.


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

Now and again when I get out of my car the fan stays on but never gives me any grief.


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## gregbonat (Apr 5, 2014)

No, it is no question that it was diesel fuel. I checked the fuel right off, and the receipt of course showed diesel.


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## gregbonat (Apr 5, 2014)

Took it to dealer and they did 3 manual re-gens to get particulates back below 25ppm. Still running a little rough, but that will probably be case till I can run out the current fuel in tank. Won't be using that gas station again. 
FYI, Chevy dealerships don't know much about CTD. When I called about DPF filter they were totally lost. They couldn't find anything on DPF or even where it was located. Showed up as an oxygen filter??!! There is a company that does full clean out of DPF to OEM specs in one day in Stamford Conn. DPF Cleaning. You can check their info on their website. I am going to see how difficult it is to pull the DPF out. Not much info anywhere that I could find. Think somewhere in near future I will need to have a thorough cleaning.


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## gregbonat (Apr 5, 2014)

You may have something there. I have never discussed the re-gen with her as she drives it so little, except when she needs to make one of these family trips that are all highway miles. I drive over 80% highway when I am in it as well. I am going to have to be more aware of the re-gen taking place in car. For it to have hit 81 ppm with all this highway driving something isn't right. Eliminating the consistent use of that one gas station will be my first move. Finding out how to get the DPF out will be my next move in case this comes up again anytime soon. They were right when they said the emissions on this car is the weak link


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## gregbonat (Apr 5, 2014)

I didn't have any issues either fo my first 100,000 miles. I had to replace the DEF pump right around there and of course the belt. At over 150,000 we are probably at the region that GM probably figures as being the life of the car, so expect things to happen.


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## LulzT1 (Aug 24, 2015)

CruzeDan said:


> GM designed the system for the American market. Thats why there is no option for manual regen, no lights, and no notice. The car was designed to please us Americans, who already had bad stigmas about diesels. The car is designed to take care of itself with out any intervention. If it isn't, there is usually some sort of other issue at hand. If you car is not letting you know there is an issue, there probably isn't one.


This is possibly one explanation.

I would argue another possibility a manual regen was left out as an option is simply for liability. How many people would hit a regen button while sitting in the driveway or garage for convenience sake and not pay attention to their surroundings? There are enough cases of deaths by carbon monoxide poisoning after using remote start or leaving a car idling in the garage with the door shut... With exhaust temperatures well above 1100*F I imagine there's a significant potential to start a fire or a similar aforementioned garage scenario. It's pretty common for people in rural areas to park on the lawn and considering the relatively low ride height (as opposed to trucks with exhausts up high), the exhaust is pretty close to flammable materials. Spontaneous combustion of paper occurs around 451*F and a published paper studying autoignition temps of grass/leaves found 550*F to be a minimum temp (conditions permitting) to start a fire. 

Furthermore, I bet the number of cases where the dpf has accumulated more soot than can be handled by a typical regen is small compared to the number of sucessful regens that occur. I personally have had more than 60 regens without issue..

So I wouldn't blame GM for a lack of a button which you may or may not need. I'm sure there are valid reasons such option was left out. There may even be a code/law that prohibits it. $250 isn't exactly "cheap", but labor, taxes, Healthcare, etc. all have to be covered somehow ..


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

LulzT1 said:


> This is possibly one explanation.
> 
> I would argue another possibility a manual regen was left out as an option is simply for liability. How many people would hit a regen button while sitting in the driveway or garage for convenience sake and not pay attention to their surroundings? There are enough cases of deaths by carbon monoxide poisoning after using remote start or leaving a car idling in the garage with the door shut... With exhaust temperatures well above 1100*F I imagine there's a significant potential to start a fire or a similar aforementioned garage scenario. It's pretty common for people in rural areas to park on the lawn and considering the relatively low ride height (as opposed to trucks with exhausts up high), the exhaust is pretty close to flammable materials. Spontaneous combustion of paper occurs around 451*F and a published paper studying autoignition temps of grass/leaves found 550*F to be a minimum temp (conditions permitting) to start a fire.
> 
> ...


Epic post.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

@gregbonat - Here is probably what happened: 

http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/201-...sel-owners-read-can-save-you-trip-dealer.html

I've driven 50K+ miles since I needed to have a manual regen with no further DPF issues. I am at 182K now. A manual regen should have you on your way, and it would not hurt to get a Scangauge II.

By the way - Ford offers a manual regen option. GM should as well:

*Manual Regen Initiation*

*$250S4*


Add
Manual Regen Initiation is available for all Transit models with a Diesel engine.


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## beaurrr (Aug 27, 2016)

diesel said:


> @gregbonat - Here is probably what happened:
> 
> http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/201-...sel-owners-read-can-save-you-trip-dealer.html
> 
> ...


Agreed. The 'idiot lights' from way back when weren't a great idea just as complete lack of driver involvement in the regen process isn't a great idea now. 

I'm not saying the system _should _involve the driver, since many drivers really don't want to be involved. But for those 'powerusers' who are savvy enough, give some options and some data without needing to go aftermarket. It's easy enough to build in overrides and limits so the driver doesn't do something totally dumb. In other words, make it just a bit less idiot-proof.


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## TheDog (Mar 27, 2014)

How did this conversation go totally to a debate about the cost of a manual regen? Why was the CEL light on and what code had it been throwing for AT LEAST 800 MILES?


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

TheDog said:


> How did this conversation go totally to a debate about the cost of a manual regen? Why was the CEL light on and what code had it been throwing for AT LEAST 800 MILES?


One problem is that people are trained to ignore CEL lights in gas cars. Unfortunately it's not that simple in a diesel car.


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## maypearl (Oct 4, 2016)

You're not paying $50K for the heart stint. You're paying the doctor $45K to know how to put it in, plus his overhead.


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