P0101 MAF and P2463 DPF soot problems...

[Problems]

Unable to get rid of the P0101 code myself even after fitting a new MAF and clearing the codes, I took it to an indie garage. They had the Mercedes Star system and said that new MAF sensors need to be “adapted” to the car using Star. So they did the ‘adaption’ for my new MAF sensor and the P0101 code could then be cleared!!


That just left the P2463 soot code and they were reading the DPF at 380% full. They said they forced a regen but that it wasn’t successful in reducing it much and said I may need to have a new DPF or to get it cleaned out manually. However, when I went to get the car the next day, they said they had just done a software update for their diagnostics system and tried a regen again and this time it was able to get the DPF down to 130% full, but no lower. I collected it and after a bit of driving the car started doing a regen by itself, so I headed out onto the motorway for an hour and the soot content went down to 34%!


My jubilation was short lived however as on the way home, engine light back on and back into limp mode. Just one error code this time which was P2279 “A leak was detected in the intake air system”. So I’m thinking a) there probably is a leak and this may have been the route cause of my P0101 error, which meant no regens which lead to the DPF blocking and hence the soot error and b) if there is a leak, my MAF ‘adaption’ was done with a 380% full DFP and intake leak, which means the car may not have learnt the right values.


So this weekend is going to be spent looking for an inlet leak...

 

[ariello]

Where have you been to regenerate you DPF? How much it cost?
I have Fill 400%

 

[Problems]

They charged £70, I think this was a little less than normal as they could only get it down to 130%.

 

[HITECH]

Thats really interesting actually about adapting the MAF sensor to get rid of the P0101 but i cant help but not beleive it. I think they discovered what had to be done and smokescreened it over by saying STAR has to adapt the MAF sensor and a software update. Yes I agree about your p0101 down to a leak somewhere. But cheapo non brand maf sensors for the mercs can throw up a 101 error aswell so can be quite annoying. I know of cars coming out the dealers and telling customer unable to do a forced re-gen. yet when 3/4 of them customers came to me for a 2nd opinion the car was starting a regen every single time the engine was startd then it would cut it off after a minute or 2. DPF light on every time the customer got in and started the engine.

With your car was it simply they maybe believed it would be false economy to force regen it incase it bounced back in with a full soot content again, i dunno. just saying what Ive come across.

I had 1, 2 weeks ago but wasnt a merc was VW. It just had that dreaded VW emissions software update. VW Never manually re-generated it. That I definetely found out. They simply updated software and sent them on their way. I cleared the errors and done a forced re-gen on it. It took 1hr 15mins and was spitting out a lot choking up momentarily burning it all off and blowing it out. It came up as 95% full in the beginning when I done a soot content check. I was able to do a full forced re-gen after clearing all error codes. Point of telling you is Im coming across more and more that the dealers will not manually re-generate the DPF. Why? I have no idea but they obviously have some kind of reason for it.

Some info I CAN give you is that 9/10 when a DPF shows an excessive full content (eg. 300%/400%) its usually a false reading caused by a fault that is within the air/fuel ratio system. That could be anything from a MAF, a DPF sensor, an O2 sensor and in some circumstances I have come across a clogged fuel filter kicking up all sorts of emission faults pointing to DPF faulty. Any sensor (if its supposed to be adapted) will not adapt and will refuse to if their is a fault on the same electronic line that it is in. So if the MAF sensor required adapting then if the DPF was full up to 400% i can guarantee you, ur car would not even be running properly in limp mode never mind not in limp mode. To get to the source of these kind of faults. u have to drive the car 4/5 times and constantly delete the codes and see what ones consistently come back. Most of the time it is usually only 1 code that you would least expect to be causing it. If you have any air intake leak at all then you will hear a hissing or weezing noise when you accelerate. If you dont then very doubtful you have a leak in your airbox/hoses side.

Just giving you my own thoughts. I am not in any way saying anybody is right or wrong or do this or shouldnt do that. Simply sharing my thoughts and experiences on cars Ive worked on the last 12 months.

Unable to get rid of the P0101 code myself even after fitting a new MAF and clearing the codes, I took it to an indie garage. They had the Mercedes Star system and said that new MAF sensors need to be “adapted” to the car using Star. So they did the ‘adaption’ for my new MAF sensor and the P0101 code could then be cleared!!


That just left the P2463 soot code and they were reading the DPF at 380% full. They said they forced a regen but that it wasn’t successful in reducing it much and said I may need to have a new DPF or to get it cleaned out manually. However, when I went to get the car the next day, they said they had just done a software update for their diagnostics system and tried a regen again and this time it was able to get the DPF down to 130% full, but no lower. I collected it and after a bit of driving the car started doing a regen by itself, so I headed out onto the motorway for an hour and the soot content went down to 34%!


My jubilation was short lived however as on the way home, engine light back on and back into limp mode. Just one error code this time which was P2279 “A leak was detected in the intake air system”. So I’m thinking a) there probably is a leak and this may have been the route cause of my P0101 error, which meant no regens which lead to the DPF blocking and hence the soot error and b) if there is a leak, my MAF ‘adaption’ was done with a 380% full DFP and intake leak, which means the car may not have learnt the right values.


So this weekend is going to be spent looking for an inlet leak...

 

[Aows]

Hi, have you managed to figure out the problem as I have the exact codes as you. I bought an OEM MAF sensor for £250 thinking it would fix the problem but the check engine light is still on after clearing it and the car is very sluggish.

 

[HITECH]

What is your cars details? Are u in limp mode , if so does it reset for minute or 2 after turning engine off n on ?

Hi, have you managed to figure out the problem as I have the exact codes as you. I bought an OEM MAF sensor for £250 thinking it would fix the problem but the check engine light is still on after clearing it and the car is very sluggish.

 

[Aows]

It’s a 2013 E250 cdi w212, It hasn’t actually went into limp mode however it’s slower accelerating and just not as responsive.

Thanks for the reply your help is much appreciated.

 

[Aows]

Just a quick update, took it to a Mercedes specialist and they suspect it could be an air leak they checked the hoses but couldn’t find splits so it’s possible it could be a manifold leak. They think that the build up of soot had something to do with it. Anyways they will do a boost test to verify the problem.

 

[HITECH]

A forced re-generation should be a start. If its clogged up then all sorts of pressure readings will be all over the place. Especially air flow readings as the MAF works alongside the DPF sensor and O2 sensors.

Just a quick update, took it to a Mercedes specialist and they suspect it could be an air leak they checked the hoses but couldn’t find splits so it’s possible it could be a manifold leak. They think that the build up of soot had something to do with it. Anyways they will do a boost test to verify the problem.

 

[Aows]

I managed to find the problem, it was the air intake pipe, I found a split in the hose which was letting air out. I will replace it and see if it will sort it.

A forced re-generation should be a start. If its clogged up then all sorts of pressure readings will be all over the place. Especially air flow readings as the MAF works alongside the DPF sensor and O2 sensors.

 

[Problems]

I managed to find the problem, it was the air intake pipe, I found a split in the hose which was letting air out. I will replace it and see if it will sort it.

Did that sort your problem? Sounds like a likely cause of these error codes and the sluggish acceleration problem.

 

[Problems]

Thats really interesting actually about adapting the MAF sensor to get rid of the P0101 but i cant help but not beleive it. I think they discovered what had to be done and smokescreened it over by saying STAR has to adapt the MAF sensor and a software update. Yes I agree about your p0101 down to a leak somewhere. But cheapo non brand maf sensors for the mercs can throw up a 101 error aswell so can be quite annoying. I know of cars coming out the dealers and telling customer unable to do a forced re-gen. yet when 3/4 of them customers came to me for a 2nd opinion the car was starting a regen every single time the engine was startd then it would cut it off after a minute or 2. DPF light on every time the customer got in and started the engine.

With your car was it simply they maybe believed it would be false economy to force regen it incase it bounced back in with a full soot content again, i dunno. just saying what Ive come across.

I had 1, 2 weeks ago but wasnt a merc was VW. It just had that dreaded VW emissions software update. VW Never manually re-generated it. That I definetely found out. They simply updated software and sent them on their way. I cleared the errors and done a forced re-gen on it. It took 1hr 15mins and was spitting out a lot choking up momentarily burning it all off and blowing it out. It came up as 95% full in the beginning when I done a soot content check. I was able to do a full forced re-gen after clearing all error codes. Point of telling you is Im coming across more and more that the dealers will not manually re-generate the DPF. Why? I have no idea but they obviously have some kind of reason for it.

Some info I CAN give you is that 9/10 when a DPF shows an excessive full content (eg. 300%/400%) its usually a false reading caused by a fault that is within the air/fuel ratio system. That could be anything from a MAF, a DPF sensor, an O2 sensor and in some circumstances I have come across a clogged fuel filter kicking up all sorts of emission faults pointing to DPF faulty. Any sensor (if its supposed to be adapted) will not adapt and will refuse to if their is a fault on the same electronic line that it is in. So if the MAF sensor required adapting then if the DPF was full up to 400% i can guarantee you, ur car would not even be running properly in limp mode never mind not in limp mode. To get to the source of these kind of faults. u have to drive the car 4/5 times and constantly delete the codes and see what ones consistently come back. Most of the time it is usually only 1 code that you would least expect to be causing it. If you have any air intake leak at all then you will hear a hissing or weezing noise when you accelerate. If you dont then very doubtful you have a leak in your airbox/hoses side.

Just giving you my own thoughts. I am not in any way saying anybody is right or wrong or do this or shouldnt do that. Simply sharing my thoughts and experiences on cars Ive worked on the last 12 months.

Wow, thanks for the detailed response and info and sorry for the delay in responding.

Interesting that you're seeing other garages not doing the forced regens, maybe it's the time it takes, or the noise / smoke bothers their neighbours or something? I think some cars need to be driven to do the forced regen as they don't all support doing it stationary. Perhaps it takes someone away from the workshop for too long, or perhaps an insurance thing? Just trying to think of some possible reasons...

Very interesting re the 300%/400% DPF being a false reading - I think that's what I'm seeing. You sound like you know your stuff - do you have STAR and is adapting the MAF an option and something you would normally do when replacing the MAF?

Since going to the Indie garage and getting the P2279 “A leak was detected in the intake air system” code, I've done my best to check for air intake leaks, but haven't found one. I took the cover off the engine and removed the under body shields to better hear what's going on and no sound of an air leak when driving. So I removed the air hose between the turbo outlet and the intercooler inlet and did my best to pressure test the intercooler with a homemade rubber seal and compressor. Not a perfect test setup, but with the engine stopped it held pressure, so I assume this tested the intercooler and everything up to the engine. I also started the engine and put a seal over the intercooler inlet which stalled the engine. Probably not great for the engine, but it held a vacuum which again shows no leak. I inspected the pipework after the MAF and cleaned up the tube from the turbo to the intercooler and made sure it was sealing. When refitting I accidentally got one of the o-ring seals out of place and the air leak when the turbo kicked in was really obvious as a whooshing / hissing noise when the turbo spins up. So fitted that correctly and no leak again. So I'm pretty sure there isn't an air leak.

Resetting the codes and driving round I always get the P2279 air leak code, but also get an occasional P0400 "EGR Flow Malfunction", so perhaps there's an EGR issue which is screwing up the airflow and giving me all these codes? That doesn't look fun to remove...

 

[Aows]

Well after taking the pipe off and temporarily fixing it using epoxy, duct tape and cable ties it has cleared the code for the maf and after driving it there is a massive improvement in acceleration however, the dpf code is still present so I think the next step would be to get it deep cleaned.

Did that sort your problem? Sounds like a likely cause of these error codes and the sluggish acceleration problem.

 

[UKCCE]

P2279 “A leak was detected in the intake air system” is normal a leak in the intake manifold ive found on these

 

[MattClinton]

Hi, this is my first post after doing lots of digging on a similar subject.

About a month ago my E250 (102k on the clock) went into limp mode, no boost, limited revs. P0101 was displayed. After trying EGR cleaner and DPF cleaner, I plumped for a new MAF - which was unsuccessful in getting out of limp mode, but also threw up P2463.
After a bit of frustration, I took it to the garage to get the DPF cleaned, hoping this would clear both messages. They reported that they'd attempted to clean it with no luck, I'd need a new DPF. Over £800 later they report that they still can't get it out of limp mode and they needed to check it again. They fitted another new MAF with no luck.
At this point it was spotted there was a huge hole (about 3" across) in the boost pipe. Another £250 later, new boost pipe and I've got the turbo back and working, but the garage said it might take some time to get the values back up and out of limp mode.
A week and about 300 miles later I'm still frustratingly in limp mode - with both P0101 and P2463 now displayed. Clearing codes does not seem to work, nor does disconnecting the battery.

I'm lost as to what it could be as the same error is there with three MAF sensors and the soot particles surely can't be restricted after just a week's use.

Could the DPF sensor be the cause? Any other ideas?

I feel like I'm banging my head against a wall to resolve this one!

 

[UKCCE]

Do you know what the pressure seeing is for the dpf it's unlikely to be the sensor as there would be a code for it on these can't see why the garage could not clean the dpf ive not had 1 yet I can't clean

The maf code will be a airleak or a cheap maf maf sensor

 

[Problems]

Hi, this is my first post after doing lots of digging on a similar subject.

About a month ago my E250 (102k on the clock) went into limp mode, no boost, limited revs. P0101 was displayed. After trying EGR cleaner and DPF cleaner, I plumped for a new MAF - which was unsuccessful in getting out of limp mode, but also threw up P2463.
After a bit of frustration, I took it to the garage to get the DPF cleaned, hoping this would clear both messages. They reported that they'd attempted to clean it with no luck, I'd need a new DPF. Over £800 later they report that they still can't get it out of limp mode and they needed to check it again. They fitted another new MAF with no luck.
At this point it was spotted there was a huge hole (about 3" across) in the boost pipe. Another £250 later, new boost pipe and I've got the turbo back and working, but the garage said it might take some time to get the values back up and out of limp mode.
A week and about 300 miles later I'm still frustratingly in limp mode - with both P0101 and P2463 now displayed. Clearing codes does not seem to work, nor does disconnecting the battery.

I'm lost as to what it could be as the same error is there with three MAF sensors and the soot particles surely can't be restricted after just a week's use.

Could the DPF sensor be the cause? Any other ideas?

I feel like I'm banging my head against a wall to resolve this one!

I’m not an expert, I’ve just had similar problems. My guess is that at the start, the 3” hole in your boost pipe gave you the P0101 code and put your car into limp mode (MAF and DPF were probably fine). Once in limp mode the car no longer regenerates the DPF, so it’s just a case of time (miles driven) before you get a P2463 (soot accumulation in DPF).


The garage probably saw the P2463 error and assumed the DPF, hence the attempt to clean it and then replacing it. As the boost pipe hole was causing the P0101, and hence no regeneration leading to a P2463, this obviously didn’t fix it. Same with the new MAF.


What got rid of the P0101 on mine was the garage “recalibrating” my newly fitted MAF to the car. This apparently isn’t something the car will do automatically and isn’t something you can do with a normal fault code reader – you need the Mercedes Star to do the recalibration, apparently.

 

[HITECH]

I used to ridicule technicians when they would say that certain new MAF'S will not work until calibrated in certain cars. But its almost right. The actual process is not calibrating it. But it starts it on a new learning process and tells the ECU its new. It doesnt actually CALIBRATE IT. More a learning adaptation. A bad connector on the MAF actually causes a 101 fault aswell. Disconnect your MAF and run a scan. you will see fault code 101. Just a bit of useless info from me on it

I’m not an expert, I’ve just had similar problems. My guess is that at the start, the 3” hole in your boost pipe gave you the P0101 code and put your car into limp mode (MAF and DPF were probably fine). Once in limp mode the car no longer regenerates the DPF, so it’s just a case of time (miles driven) before you get a P2463 (soot accumulation in DPF).


The garage probably saw the P2463 error and assumed the DPF, hence the attempt to clean it and then replacing it. As the boost pipe hole was causing the P0101, and hence no regeneration leading to a P2463, this obviously didn’t fix it. Same with the new MAF.


What got rid of the P0101 on mine was the garage “recalibrating” my newly fitted MAF to the car. This apparently isn’t something the car will do automatically and isn’t something you can do with a normal fault code reader – you need the Mercedes Star to do the recalibration, apparently.

 

[Lenin123]

Hi, a week ago eml comes on and diagnostic says MAF, so i changed it. Still on limp mode with diagnostic saying MAF. Changed the pressure sensor and still same result but after driving a while diagnostic says MAF and DPF fault, a mechanic says i could be DPF from the start as its 260%. He says lets do a regen on motorway and hopefully this will clear all problems, this is where I am at the moment, will post whats whats later.

 

[dodi]

Hi, this is my first post after doing lots of digging on a similar subject.

About a month ago my E250 (102k on the clock) went into limp mode, no boost, limited revs. P0101 was displayed. After trying EGR cleaner and DPF cleaner, I plumped for a new MAF - which was unsuccessful in getting out of limp mode, but also threw up P2463.
After a bit of frustration, I took it to the garage to get the DPF cleaned, hoping this would clear both messages. They reported that they'd attempted to clean it with no luck, I'd need a new DPF. Over £800 later they report that they still can't get it out of limp mode and they needed to check it again. They fitted another new MAF with no luck.
At this point it was spotted there was a huge hole (about 3" across) in the boost pipe. Another £250 later, new boost pipe and I've got the turbo back and working, but the garage said it might take some time to get the values back up and out of limp mode.
A week and about 300 miles later I'm still frustratingly in limp mode - with both P0101 and P2463 now displayed. Clearing codes does not seem to work, nor does disconnecting the battery.

I'm lost as to what it could be as the same error is there with three MAF sensors and the soot particles surely can't be restricted after just a week's use.

Could the DPF sensor be the cause? Any other ideas?

I feel like I'm banging my head against a wall to resolve this one!

Hi mate did u find what was the problem coz i have same experience problems as you, thanks in advance