Burning Smell

[Col66]

When I came home this evening there was a burning smell coming from the front of my Mk 3 2.0tdci titx. The fan was also on even though the temperature gauge was reading normal . Would it be the DPF regenerating?

[DJ_Andy_M]

On 3/3/2017 at 6:24 PM, Col66 said:

When I came home this evening there was a burning smell coming from the front of my Mk 3 2.0tdci titx. The fan was also on even though the temperature gauge was reading normal . Would it be the DPF regenerating?

Yes, this was the DPF regenerating. You'll need to make sure that you get a good run the next time you go out in it because otherwise the soot loading level will go up resulting in a longer regeneration.

[Col66]

Thanks for the reply. I haven't used the car yet since. What would you consider a long enough run?

[DJ_Andy_M]

20-30 minute run down the motorway as your car will need to get up to temperature to initiate another regeneration.

[drsdriver]

If you hear the fan running next time you stop , try and hear it before you turn the engine off. I know it's difficult to hear it over the engine noise, radio on etc, but you really shouldn't interrupt the regeneration once it's started. 

If I do hear mine and I've just reached my driveway, I always go back out and drive for another 15 minutes or until at least the fan has stopped. 

I do wish they could have put a dashboard light on to say it's regenerating, at least then we would know it's doing one ! 

[B0D0]

3 hours ago, drsdriver said:

 

I do wish they could have put a dashboard light on to say it's regenerating, at least then we would know it's doing one ! 

I was thinking the same thing. This is really annoying.

They should put a notification in the dash or something, exactly like a computer update. It should let you know that it wants to start a regen and you should be able to tell it yes or no, it should show you a  percentage  or something and when it is done. This can avoid soooo many problems. 

[B0D0]

17 hours ago, Col66 said:

Thanks for the reply. I haven't used the car yet since. What would you consider a long enough run?

What Andy said but make sure that you drive in a lower gear than normal. Keep it around 2500 rpm. The 6th gear is quite long so depending of your speed keep the engine a bit reved up. You don't want to drive at 50mph in 6th at about 1500rpm for example.

It happened to me 3 times 2 weeks ago and i was so fed up with it that I took it for a spin quite fast on some empty roads and it did the trick. The only trouble is that I can't do it all the time.

Make sure you cool the turbo after and don't stop the car immediately after the run and make sure you don't park over something that can catch fire easily.