Mondeo Mk4 Dpf Problem

[andrewpickford81]

Hello all,

First post so go easy if failing to see etiquette please.

Just got a 2009 Mondeo 2.0 from my old man, he just retired, company sold it to him for a £1k, previously fleet so full service history from the company (but minimal I'll guess). 90,000 on the clock but impeccable and all motorway miles

Anyway, been off the road in the olds garage for a month as I got the cash to pay him, drove it first time today and after about 45 minutes the engine warning light comes on. Take it to local Kwik Fit who tell me its the particle filter and to drive it on the nearest A road for a bit in high revs. They turned the light out.

Did this, but only for about 15 minutes; they didn't give me a time nor speed to drive at.

Got it home, only for the light to come back on again.

A fair bit of frantic googling later and I understand its the DPF and that it needs to be run at a constant speed (70?) at high revs (presumably 4th?) for 20 minutes for it to regenerate???

A couple of questions:

1. Is this likely to work with the Engine Warning light on? Or do I need to get this reset again before the car will regenerate?

2. Is this likely to fix the problem? I.e. is it likely to be a problem caused by the fact that its not been driven for a month or so??

Any early advice appreciated as I'd like to take to garage to sort out tomorrow.

Cheers

Andrew

[ppeter7]

i drive a vw van with dpf it the same process you need to do about a steady 50mph for around 20 miles at about 2750 revs u get a regen message when done

[andrewpickford81]

Cheers man.

Do you/ anyone know if the engine light needs to be reset BEFORE it will regenerate??

Thanks

Andrew

[BOF]

1. Is this likely to work with the Engine Warning light on? Or do I need to get this reset again before the car will regenerate?

That would be a bad feature and I haven't heard of anyone complain about it, so I'd have to guess that the answer is no.

2. Is this likely to fix the problem? I.e. is it likely to be a problem caused by the fact that its not been driven for a month or so??

2a Quite likely, although it probably depends on how bad it was.

2b I'd have thought not; I can't see what would make the DPF worse over a month of non-use, unless it rusted internally, and I can't see why that should happen.

It is possible that it isn't really the DPF. There is a pressure transducer/sender that monitors it, and, if that is leaking or the pipes to it leak, that might cause the same symptoms, so it would be worth checking for a corroded sensor box (connections, most likely) or cracked flexible hoses (quite likely).

A fair bit of frantic googling later and I understand its the DPF and that it needs to be run at a constant speed (70?) at high revs (presumably 4th?) for 20 minutes for it to regenerate???

Constant speed as in constant engine rpm. It is less important what road speed that relates to. You should stay on the throttle for that period and keep the engine speed north of 3k rpm, or so, for this to happen (and be in whatever gear allows you to do that). I wouldn't have thought that you needed as long as 20 mins, but that may depend on how bad it is.

Any early advice appreciated as I'd like to take to garage to sort out tomorrow.

Here's the thing; if you are going to take it to a garage to sort out, what good is our advice; the garage will do what they think will cure it, won't they?

[jeebowhite]

my personal preference, and that of others on this forum is that you do a very good run on the motorway (the longer the better) giving the car a massive number of revs (I personally have driven 30 miles each way from home in 3rd gear, revs between 4000 - redline to ensure that the DPF gets the maximum heat to regenerate as much as possible. Also when you have done this, its good to drive it like you stole it on top to make sure that your previous burnoff attempts allow it to blow as much of the coke out the tailpipe as possible.

Thats how I would do it, and I would if I could not do a regular long motorway run do it regularly (once a month) but thankfully, when I owned the DPF Focus, I had a regular route down a motorway so could do it once a week if I felt it was getting a little less responsive.

[kevzs960]

i drive a vw van with dpf it the same process you need to do about a steady 50mph for around 20 miles at about 2750 revs u get a regen message when done

You wont get a regen message on the dash.

If its the engine malfunction on the center part of the dash (not the eml on) then you need to do 70mph high revs for upwards of 45 mins. You drop beliw this then the regeneration will not work.

Its easier to do a static regen (only at ford or someone with a i.d.s unit) the i.d.s unit controlls the rpm while the car is not moving, carries out the regen, reset the sensors and the malfunction light then restest. (Presuming the right dpf code is up for a regen to be carried out)

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Ford OC mobile app