# DPF problem?



## k_ob1991 (Apr 28, 2014)

Well i have about 8,000 miles on the cruze td and love it. Great mileage (41 lifetime so far), fun to drive....great cruzer. I live in the metro Detroit area and was working in Chicago for the week. I got fuel before i left for home at a BP station. They had biodiesel which was labeled to have up to 20% bio (the owners manual says this is ok). I really did not want to get it but it was the only,station around. I fillled up and drove the 275 miles home without stopping. Everything was great until the next day when i went out to leave. I started the car and got an immediate "Diesel particulate filter plugged" message. As i put the vehicle in drive a check engine light came on and the message center said "engine power reduced". I checked the owners manual and it says to limit driving and take it to,a dealer as soon as possible. 

I am going to try to get it into my dealer tomorrow. Hopefully i can get a free rental as i need it to work. My question is why did i never get a regen needed warning or anything else. I rarely drive in the city and in this case drove almost 300 highway miles, straight. Does anyone have any ideas what is going on? I am pretty frustrated. Hopefully this is not something that will happen very often. Please let me know your thoughts.


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## Diesel Dan (May 18, 2013)

You post some very good questions of which I don't have the answers but am looking forward to finding out why.


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

My diesel is 2 years old and the warning light only came on once since I bought it and that was at about 6,000km. 90% of my driving is city and the only sign of a regen is when the fan roars after the engine is switched off. My guess is that the fuel was contaminated in some way, always buy at a diesel busy service station as the fuel will be fresher.


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

Based on the posted experiences of other users it would seem that your cautionary message is correlated with the fuel you took on. 

It seems that all modern diesel operators need to be extra vigilant about the quality of fuel we take on. Unfortunately there's no easy way to do that at the fuel pump and we're left with having to patronize a known good source or a visibly busy service station. 

Please do let us know what the dealer says. As a community, we're still building our body of experience with this Powertrain.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

I personally don't think the bio was the root cause, but I agree that we need to really be choosy about what we put in our cars. I took a chance once and filled up at an unknown station that had one diesel pump and got lucky. In retrospect, I probably would have just put a gallon in and then driven to a more popular station off a highway.


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## k_ob1991 (Apr 28, 2014)

It could be fuel, but it was a big, clean station that had alot of traffic going through it. I had to wait for several minutes to get fuel as there was a line with diesel trucks getting fuel.


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

k_ob1991 said:


> It could be fuel, but it was a big, clean station that had alot of traffic going through it. I had to wait for several minutes to get fuel as there was a line with diesel trucks getting fuel.


Okay - good to know. That throws my supposition out the window. Which raises my curiosity even more. Keep us plugged in. Hopefully it's something really minor. 


Sent from AutoGuide.com App


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## k_ob1991 (Apr 28, 2014)

So i was able to get my car in today and the dealer could not find anything that caused the dpf to plug. The car had a code p2463. The particulate filter had 44 grams of soot. They cleaned the filter. Drove the car and found nothing wrong. I was told to drive more on the highway, and drive more aggressively. I figured i would get this response, but i drive 85 percent highway and definitely drive agresssive. So i am not sure what to do from here but wait. I unfortunately feel that something else is wrong and it will happen again. I will not put any bio diesel in this from here on out as this was the first tank. If anybody has any ideas let me know. I do want to thank my dealer (Liberty Chevrolet) as they got me in on short notice and even had a car for me.


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## Scott M. (Apr 23, 2013)

That is a tough one. I guess if it were me I would avoid the bio diesel just to rule it out and drive it some more and see what happens. at 8000 miles total maybe it wasnt able to do a complete regen since new. Maybe you just happened to stop the car before it was able to do a regen or two since new. You still should have got the keep driving message though. Gather more info. keep track of regens if possible. Its hard to do with this car. The edge tuner will show soot levels but thats a $400 gadget.


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## KpaxFAQ (Sep 1, 2013)

Who changed the oil at 7500??? Was it the right oil and amount???


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## PanJet (Jun 18, 2013)

I am skeptical that your fuel fill was the culprit. The car is programmed to begin a DPF regen at about 22 grams of soot, and per this thread, it has been confirmed by DieselEnvy with his monitor that it does occur right at 22 grams.

Given that your DPF was double the soot level of a regen, it seems like the car failed to generate a regen long before you filled with fuel at that station. Duramaxtuner noted that the DPF builds about 1 gram of soot every roughly 50 miles. Even if you double the sooting to 1 gram/25 miles, your 275 mile trip would only have generated 11 grams of soot, meaning your DPF was well over regen level before you ever filled with fuel at that station. This also rules out your driving style as the car should have given you a warning _long_ before 44 grams if you were doing too much short-distance driving. Shoot, I've only done two trips of longer than 50 highway miles in a stretch in the last two months and mine is regenerating just fine.

Keep an eye on it, and if it happens again, I'm willing to bet you have a bad sensor that isn't causing the ECM to initiate a regen.

EDIT: I misquoted the 1 gram/50 miles as DieselEnvy. I forgot I heard that quote from Duramaxtuner after reading DieselEnvy's post. DieselEnvy has noted sometimes higher rates of soot buildup.


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## k_ob1991 (Apr 28, 2014)

Good questions all. The Chevy dealer didthe oil change and they have the correct oil listed and i made sure to bring it up several times before the change.

Panjet- i agree with you..but did not have the soot build up rate to back me up. I do think i have a sensor that did not work properly...but will cut out the bio to be sure. I really love this care....just got 53 mpg from detroit area to Columbus OH.....seems i am getting a but better fule economy now....could be me though.


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