Sensor problems /DPF removal - would really appreciate advice!

[nidgemo]

Hi All

I recently (about 6 weeks ago) bought a 2013 (facelift) W212.

Within 20 mnutes of picking it up, the engine warning light came on, and it transpired to be a small electrical fault that was extremely hard to trace (a boost pressure sensor).

I must say, the independent (but very large) dealer I bought it from have been excellent to date in getting it sorted out, extending my warranty for another 18 months (on top of the 12 I got initially)

However, on getting the car back (eventually) from that repair (which took going to the dealer for 3 days, Mercedes for 9 days and an independent diagnostic for 5 days!) within another few days another fault appeared (Temperature sensor 1 Catylitic converter cylinder bank 1 has a malfunction. The signal is outside the permissible range)

The dealer got the specialist to come and look at it and (bear with me - long story, I know) he said because I do a reasonable bit of town driving, that sensors would keep failing.

(I am aware of the needs of a modern diesel with dpf etc, to take for decent drives etc, and make sure I do this - I bough a MBII sensor to read the dpf levels once a week, and, if it's getting a little high, I take it for a 60 mile A road and mororway run which takes it back down nicely)

The independent specialist then recommended I get the dpf bored out, ECU remapped etc, as with my driving style sensors would keep failing.

So, two questions...

1. Does this sound right? Even with me being aware of DPF soot level, checking it regularly and taking the car for a spin to clear it out? Surely in a modern, £15,000 car with only 60k on it, it shouldn't be the case that a bit of town driving during the week should be leading to continual sensor failures surely?

2. I'm not very keen to cause about £2000 worth of, essentially, damage to a £15k car... And would obviously be concerned at future MOT failure and having to spend that to put it back in... but, frankly, I'd also be glad to see the DPF, ECU and that whole bank of sensors gone too, as it's a balls of a system (and I'm not concerned about being ecologically friendly as, living in Northern Ireland, you should see the state of some of the messes and black smoke machines clogging up the roads over here)...

So, any advice, answers to the questions, thoughts, experience of having had dpf bored out and remapped etc and anything you have for me welcome!

Thanks

 

[Delayed Steve]

I'd ask for my money back, if you bore out the dpf it will not pass a mot or be legal on the road and you will have to replace the lot, although if the tester can't see it you might get away with it.
I'm sure the dvsa will have a test in place soon to make sure the dpf is still working to get round the tester can't see it problem.
Get rid of the car its going be a lemon . Good luck

 

[Owdy]

I'm on my fourth diesel, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar and Audi, and being retired during my ownership of all of them and therefore an habitual short journey driver - 6000 miles a year - I've never had a single dfp or sensor issue. In fact I've never had a single issue of any type. Maybe it's the way I drive and maintain them and use only the best fuel and lubricants, I don't know, but to me dpf issues are urban myths, only giving problems to those who don't give their car proper care and maintenance. In my opinion, though I have only elementary 'mechanical' knowledge, the "independent specialist's" advice seems to be utter tosh and I'd ignore it.

 

[Petrol Pete]

OP, I expect Northern Ireland has the same MOT laws as the mainland so you can expect to see all of those smoke generators littering your roads gone within 12 months if their owners take them for an MOT at all !

Your car on the other hand ? I would be very careful. The dpf is the next 'big thing' for MOT success and your car runs the risk of not being able to pass any MOT in the future unless this fault is fixed for good WITHOUT piddling around cutting the filter and messing around with re-maps which (even if it did squeeze through the MOT) will kill its re sale value. Remember the change in dpf MOT rules has only just come in, in years to come normal 'civilians' i;e people who are not on any car forum will know about it and it will be the first question they ask when buying a diesel car. Personally I would get shot of the car. Good luck.

 

[sturgeon]

Surely if you monitor it and take it for a brisk motorway run when the dpf is in need, you are sorted?

I'd go with the flow for a while!

 

[KennyN]

I did my 3 mile daily trip to work and back with my Cls diesel for 4.5 years and had no issues with the DPF . when it started a regen i took it for a run down the motorway.

Premium fuel was all i ever used , if that made a difference.

Kenny

 

[Eddy77]

Had a Mondeo with DPF since 2010. Wife spends 90% time pootling around on 2 mike journies. Never had a single dpf issue so this all sounds rather odd....

 

[David404]

So given that you're doing this are you having DPF issues?

 

[nidgemo]

No, not having DPF issues at all - as outlined in the original post, it's been a series of sensor issues.

 

[nidgemo]

I did my 3 mile daily trip to work and back with my Cls diesel for 4.5 years and had no issues with the DPF . when it started a regen i took it for a run down the motorway.

Premium fuel was all i ever used , if that made a difference.

Kenny

How did you know when it started a regen, though - there is no indication at all.

 

[KennyN]

How did you know when it started a regen, though - there is no indication at all.

Fans running but temp normal , heat from under the car , very hot sounding exhaust due to the DPF being superheated to burn off the particulates.

When it started the process it was a quick 70 mph blast down the motorway in 4th to let it complete the cycle.

Why there is no warning light illuminated on the dash i dont know.

It will only do the regen when the filter is full enough and the engine is at the correct temperature.

Kenny

 

[nidgemo]

See, I've never noticed any of that - and, as a 7 gear auto, the car wouldn't get in high revs (over 2500) unless I was doing WAAAYYYY over the speed limit (and even manually dropping it down it reverts back t auto after about 20 seconds.

 

[nidgemo]

Seems mad (indeed, it seems like car companies want to keep selling £2000 DPF filters...) that there is no visual indication given. This stuff is ALL in the ECU - soot fill level, ash level, when a regen starts, time left of a regen etc - why won't the car just show it to us?

Mercedes trucks DO show all this stuff, and indeed even have a "Force regen" button on the dash so the driver can instigate it when they like (say, on a longer journey) - so the capability is there.

I can genuinely think of no other reason for cars this advanced, with the abilities and computer power they have, to not show the owner what is going on is because they don't want you to know, so the things DO fail...

 

[KennyN]

On the CLS with the 7G Auto box it would stay in whichever gear you manually selected until the revs hit the red or you put it back into auto.

Kenny

 

[nidgemo]

Not the same for the E Class, unfortunately. No "M" option - just "E" and "S" which are both auto modes. You can drop down (or up) with the paddles, but it only holds it for about 20 seconds.

 

[HITECH]

Ide get rid of it. Buying a diesel car with a DPF for short runs and town runs is a recipe for disaster. If ur gonna spend your driving thinking bout that and regenning etc etc then it’s a tell tale sign that it’s 1 extra stress in your life not worth it. But when u start to like the car we don’t always make the correct decisions with regards to what is right or wrong for us lol It’s not the sensors packing in. Majority of time the sensors are alerting you to faulty mechanical/electrical faults within the car that have wondered out of the accepted parameters.

 

[Alex225]

Don’t remove the DPF, they’ve coming down much harder on this now so no guarantee it’ll pass an MOT.

Sounds to me a little like the independent chap is touting for a bit of business offering that. Especially as the MOT that’s recently come in includes more strict emissions/smoke checks.

In terms of using a diesel for short journeys. It’s not ideal for them in the DPF sense. 50mph+ for 20 minutes+ are the normal conditions for a regen. It’s not that you have to do 20k miles a year but just regular A road or motorway driving will keep the DPF in good shape.

The other thing to consider is town driving and diesel driving doesn’t equate to great MPG anyway. I get 25mpg in my E320 on a short journey, the engine is not properly hot so it uses more fuel. On a long run, especially in the warm weather it does 50mpg easily.

You’re as well off with a petrol engine if you’re doing just short town drives not just for sale of the DPF.

 

[clk320x]

Especially as the MOT that’s recently come in includes more strict emissions/smoke checks.

It hasn’t come in yet, it starts from the 20th

It’s not actually any different for non-DPF equipped cars I don’t think, me and you should be safe

 

[HITECH]

How are garages going to see any DPFs thru undertray panels that are fitted ? Majority of independent MOT garages have no electronics gear to plug in. I think this is all a big smokescreen (get it boom boom, smokescreen) and that this can’t ever be properly enforced. DPFs are one of the biggest con in cars that the government has ever done. I’ve never met a taxi driver with a new car that HAS NOT ADMITTED he’s had DPF troubles with it. I think most people who talk about this are ill informed and missing the point. The change is going to increase the sensitivity of the emissions test . One of the reasons being is that cars with DPFs are actually that clean when the gun is stuck in the exhaust to be checked. The emissions test reads nothing. So what they are doing are making the emissions parameters tests more sensitive. Wither u got a DPF or not if your oil filter is dirty and ur car ain’t been serviced properly then it will be a guaranteed fail and every garages nightmare with cars queuing up taking up more space. They are either going to fail your MOT on ‘ unable to check components under car’ ( due to undertrays) THIS IS NORMALLY AN ADVISORY. or going to charge you for the 5 minutes to take the undertrays off ????? No chance !

 

[grober]

EXHAUST SYSTEM FOR FOUR-CYLINDER DIESEL VEHICLES MERCEDES E-KLASSE [Car] [CHASSIS] (EUROPA)

The "cat" item 10 is two things in a single canister -first a catalytic convertor section and second a dpf section each section has a temperature sensor 235,240. The sensor that usually gives problems is the differential pressure sensor 370 which measures Exhaust gas pressure for and aft of the DPF section- and that's usually the sensor which indicates a blocked cat.