Hello all, I would appreciate some thoughts on a DPF issue with my 2018 Galaxy diesel (40k mileage). 

The engine light came on and a code reader indicated P2002 Diesel Particulate Filter Efficiency Below Threshold (Bank 1).  I was getting a brief smell of fumes on starting the car esp. in colder weather, and there is some soot at the ends of the exhaust pipes, but no other issues with fuel economy or driving performance.  I have generally been using supermarket / costco diesel but have now switched to Shell V-Power at least for a couple of tanks.

Ford dealer ran diagnostics and diagnosed a cracked / failed DPF and they also stated that the injectors had breached their adaption limits.  Cost to repair was ~£4k which is obviously a lot for a 4 y/old car (we've only had it 18 months and third-party warranty apparently doesn't cover DPF or injectors).

I took it to a local garage to see if they could give me a cheaper quote.  They performed a static forced regen cycle and confirmed that the regen completed successfully: soot levels have dropped and the P2002 light went off.  I've not done any significant mileage since the static regen (less than 50 miles).  The garage also noted that there are no other fault codes stored relating to the injectors, and there's nothing that they could detect that would suggest an injector issue (car ran fine cold / warm), they suggested driving it for a while to see how things go.

Shortly after the regen the "Change Oil Soon" message appeared, so I've had an oil change today which has then cleared that message - not sure if that was coincidence or whether the regen would have dumped extra diesel into the oil and triggered the service message?

I guess my questions are:

1) Would the static regen still complete successfully if the DPF is genuinely cracked / failed?

2) Does the fact there is some soot in the exhaust guarantee a failed DPF?

3) Even though the static regen completed successfully is it just a matter of time before the problem re-occurs? I'm not sure what "injectors have breached their adaption limits" actually means but I assume it indicates the wrong mix of fuel going through the engine / exhaust (would that cause excess soot build up in the DPF?).

4) Am I risking even more catastrophic damage to the engine if I don't bite the bullet and get the DPF and injectors replaced? 

At this point I'm leaning towards swapping for a petrol Galaxy but that will come at a similar cost as there are a lot fewer around so prices tend to be a bit higher than the part-ex for my model.

Sorry, that's a lot of detail but I'd appreciate any advice from the forum.

Have you tried to replace the fuel filter ? 

38 minutes ago, Sean17 said:

Have you tried to replace the fuel filter ? 

We had new oil and fuel filters fitted in Nov 2022 as part of the 4y service but I guess the damage may have been caused before that. The engine light first came on a few months after the fuel filter had been changed though, it was intermittent at first (cleared after a good motorway run) but then persisted until the forced regen last week. 

1.  Yes.  The PCM confirms a regen is complete when it detects the desired pressure differential between the top and bottom of the DPF.  Assuming the crack isn't so large to make a 0% pressure differential, then in theory there's no reason for the regen to fail for it.

2.  No.  The DPF core is generally not sealed to the inside of the metal can absolutely perfectly.  When the DPF gets full, the extra pressure will force soot out of the weakest point, which could be through a crack in the core, but could equally just be past a slight gap in the edge seal.

3.  Diesel injectors are very precise nowadays due to tight emissions requirements.  Injectors do wear internally over time, and the PCM has to adapt for this.  It can only adapt so far though, and then triggers the code you've got.  It's a Ford specific code that may not be shown on a generic garage scanner.  I would never recommend replacing injectors based purely on that code.  Only when they start causing noticeable running issues.

4. No.  As long as the DPF backpressure isn't excessive, the turbo & engine shouldn't be under any more strain.  And while the injectors are past their best, they won't cause catastrophic engine failure either.  You may experience more regens and more oil contamination, but as long as the oil is changed when required, that shouldn't be an immediate issue either.  It may affect the much longer term health of the engine, but I really wouldn't worry about that unless you're intending to keep it for decades.

Thank you Tom, I appreciate you taking the time to reply. Sounds potentially less catastrophic, at least to the point where I can drive a few more miles and see if we get any other issues.  I should have said that the Ford dealer wasn't able to share any details about the injectors as it was a proprietary fault code apparently... would Forscan give me any more information about the injector health and adaption limits, or would Forscan only provide the same as the local garage got with their generic scanner?

13 hours ago, caspian said:

Thank you Tom, I appreciate you taking the time to reply. Sounds potentially less catastrophic, at least to the point where I can drive a few more miles and see if we get any other issues.  I should have said that the Ford dealer wasn't able to share any details about the injectors as it was a proprietary fault code apparently... would Forscan give me any more information about the injector health and adaption limits, or would Forscan only provide the same as the local garage got with their generic scanner?

I'm not entirely sure what they meant by a 'proprietary fault code' but yes Forscan will show the injector adaption code.  It shows all of the same codes as the Ford dealer software does.

You can check the injector balance using live data on Forscan, that should show if one or two injectors are much more worn than the others.