6 replies to this topic

[Mayo85]

Hi all,
My Focus mk2 57 1.6tdci zetec (climate) has done 100k miles and the DPF has failed.
The car is displaying the engine Managment light, a red led (bottom right) and engine system failure on the dash.
Iv had the car checked and all pointed to the DPF.
I contacted ford who said its not worth doing a regen on it as it will be a waste of my money and won't work(for long) and that I need a new DPF at a cost of around £1000!!
Iv only had the car just over 3 weeks and aparantly isn't covered unfder the dealers warranty!

Anyway, there's a company near me that removes the DPF's internals and reprograms the engine for £400.
Is it legal to remove the DPF? Is it likely to cause MOT failures?
They can also remap the engine for an extra £100, is it worth getting this done?

Thanks

[gforce]

Hi mate, I have a DPF on my 2.0TDCi as well and would like shot of it too to be honest. I was having a few issues which my mechanic thought may have been due to the DPF but think it turned out to be a sticky turbo. He did some sort of regen anyway which I think was due with 75k on the clock. But I started looking into removal and that, and a crowd local to me has offered a DPF removal and remap for £320.

I'm in the middle of a non-fault insurance debacle at the minute, so once I'm out of the woods on that and get my renewal premium refunded I think I'll go down this route. As far as legalities go, this can open a whole can of worms!

As far as I know, the car has to be stock, so anything fitted as standard has to be there upon visual inspection, or at least look like it is! So if the DPF was removed but the casing put back on, it shouldn't be a problem as it shouldn't affect the particle test on diesels but will still look like it's fitted. Same might go for decats, but that may be another can of worms again!

The remap is probably worth it if you're getting the DPF done anyway for the extra bit of cash, but as far as gains go I wouldn't be sure on the 1.6. Think Lenny has had his done. I'd be looking for 165 I think, and supposedly a 4MPG gain...but I'd doubt that as I'd say my right foot would get about |4MPG heavier with an extra 30 or so bhp!

Think you might be able to do better than £500 all in too for both services so worth looking around. This crowd told me;

Remap only £190
DPF (software delete) £200
The DPF will have to be removed from the car. This usually costs around £100.

Remap and DPF delete/removal together £320.


Hope this is of some use to you!

[Stoney871]

As long as they guarantee the DPF delete with the reprogramming and remap you'll be ok.
On an MOT they have to assume the DPF is intact as they can't start ripping fixtures apart, as long as it appears to be installed and doesn't throw up any fault lights you will be ok.
I have heard of cases where the delete fails and warning lights pop up meaning an MOT fail, so if they say that they'll reprogramme again if any problems occur then you should be golden.
£100 on top for a remap sounds good, bear in mind though that a DPF delete is technically a remap anyway.

[Mayo85]

Thanks for the reply's guys! Made me feel much better about getting it done now.
I don't understand why these stupid filters have been used! I get that its to lower emissions but at a huge cost to all the consumers.
Over £1000 to get a new one fitted every 72k miles, what a joke!

[salsheikh]

i have a copy of car mechanic mag (July 2012) and there is an article statement from Vosa saying that removing the DPF will not fail the MOT as it is based on an opaque emissions test (how much smoke is thrown out). There is an article about DPF's and basically the DPF shouldnt fail and that cleaning products should work etc but it did suggest that DPF removals were the best option.
Mayo, as your close to RS Tuning (Leeds) why dont you give them a call to see what they offer?
The attachment also shows a list of contacts that maybe useful.

Attached Files

•  dpf.pdf   419.81K   47 downloads

[salsheikh]

thread updated and attachment added as mentioned before.

[ajt]

i have a copy of car mechanic mag (July 2012) and there is an article statement from Vosa saying that removing the DPF will not fail the MOT as it is based on an opaque emissions test (how much smoke is thrown out). There is an article about DPF's and basically the DPF shouldnt fail and that cleaning products should work etc but it did suggest that DPF removals were the best option.
Mayo, as your close to RS Tuning (Leeds) why dont you give them a call to see what they offer?
The attachment also shows a list of contacts that maybe useful.

Nice find, might want to put in own thread entitled something like "DPF Removal NOT illegal nor is it an MOT failure" to help the thousands of people who keep debating this point, whilst ignoring published statements. It may be illegal in the future, but is not yet.