DPF Anxiety

[bgg1b]

Happy New Year, I am getting to grips with driving my new 6.1 Cali and love the high driving position. Apologies if there is another thread which answers this question, I have looked. We bought the Cali because we didn’t want a large motor home which would gather dust in the drive, so the intention was to use it as an everyday all purpose vehicle and to do away trips and overnight stays. Having read a lot about the DPF woes I’m finding myself avoiding jumping in the Cali and using it for short trips which defeats the one of the goals of having the van. My question is, can I use if for short local trips providing once in a while (every week/month??) I take it for a an extended blast to give it a good regeneration ? Second part to the question is how many trips 1-3 miles can I do before needing a blast? I had a Range Rover evoque previously (diesel) which did a lot of short trips with the occasional long run and it never had a DPF issue in 4 years of ownership. Thanks in advance for all the advice.

 

[eejoor]

intersted in this to, as i'm still waiting for delivery. our current car doesn't have a dpf but we had a van previously wich gave a warning when the dpf needs a clean, so we had to take it on a longer highway run. I hope the cali will do the same.

 

[Stu@rt]

Happy New Year, I am getting to grips with driving my new 6.1 Cali and love the high driving position. Apologies if there is another thread which answers this question, I have looked. We bought the Cali because we didn’t want a large motor home which would gather dust in the drive, so the intention was to use it as an everyday all purpose vehicle and to do away trips and overnight stays. Having read a lot about the DPF woes I’m finding myself avoiding jumping in the Cali and using it for short trips which defeats the one of the goals of having the van. My question is, can I use if for short local trips providing once in a while (every week/month??) I take it for a an extended blast to give it a good regeneration ? Second part to the question is how many trips 1-3 miles can I do before needing a blast? I had a Range Rover evoque previously (diesel) which did a lot of short trips with the occasional long run and it never had a DPF issue in 4 years of ownership. Thanks in advance for all the advice.

Morning. I too do worry about it and try to interject my short trips with longer ones, as the Cali is also my daily driver. There are plenty that say the small trips should be avoided, but I console myself with the theory that plenty of tradesman use the same vans for their day to day, with small trips in between jobs and trips to various trades counters. This time of year the engine (And more importantly the oil) takes so long to come to temperature. But when the DPF soot level rises enough to trip the regen program, it should look after itself. Might be worth a watch of Will's (@itguy ) Video about the oil overfilling issue, as he gives some idea of how to tell if you are about to turn the engine off "mid regen", which I now actively try to avoid. I just work on the theory that it will be VW's problem within the warranty period. Another reason why I extended out to the 5 years. Well worth the extra cash in my opinion if you still have time to take up the offer. (If you didn't opt for this, I think you can still buy within the first 90 days)

I know its a worry. Sometimes the more you read on here, the more you convince yourself that you are going to see every issue that people come across. I know I do ! Learnt loads, but worry too.

I say just use "DPF maintenance" as an excuse to venture further and enjoy the van more. I am sure a motorway drive every week or two, ensuring that everything gets to temperature will serve you well.

Enjoy!

 

[WelshGas]

Morning. I too do worry about it and try to interject my short trips with longer ones, as the Cali is also my daily driver. There are plenty that say the small trips should be avoided, but I console myself with the theory that plenty of tradesman use the same vans for their day to day, with small trips in between jobs and trips to various trades counters. This time of year the engine (And more importantly the oil) takes so long to come to temperature. But when the DPF soot level rises enough to trip the regen program, it should look after itself. Might be worth a watch of Will's (@itguy ) Video about the oil overfilling issue, as he gives some idea of how to tell if you are about to turn the engine off "mid regen", which I now actively try to avoid. I just work on the theory that it will be VW's problem within the warranty period. Another reason why I extended out to the 5 years. Well worth the extra cash in my opinion if you still have time to take up the offer. (If you didn't opt for this, I think you can still buy within the first 90 days)

I know its a worry. Sometimes the more you read on here, the more you convince yourself that you are going to see every issue that people come across. I know I do ! Learnt loads, but worry too.

I say just use "DPF maintenance" as an excuse to venture further and enjoy the van more. I am sure a motorway drive every week or two, ensuring that everything gets to temperature will serve you well.

Enjoy!

I fear you will be disappointed in VWs response to a DPF failure within your extended warranty period if you fail to follow the information in the Handbook. The vehicle computer stores data regarding the DPF status and failed regenerations. It’s not the short trips that are a problem but the failed regenerations allowing soot buildup until you get a blocked DPF.
The app Carista coupled with their OBD dongle provides information on DPF soot levels and can trigger a DPF regeneration if required, on the T5.1/6/6.1 vehicles.

Yes, commercial vehicles may do a lot of short trips, but often a lot of such trips back to back so they often get to temperature and complete DPF regenerations unlike a California doing a short trip daily.

 

[Stu@rt]

Might be worth a watch of Will's (@itguy ) Video about the oil overfilling issue, as he gives some idea of how to tell if you are about to turn the engine off "mid regen", which I now actively try to avoid.

 

[The Merle]

These engines/vans are sold buy the sh@t load to all sorts of tradesmen/delivery drivers etc and get used and abused short trips/engine on and off every 5mins.
Keep it serviced and used regularly is my view. Nothing worse than something sat there, and say being used 1mths.
You can switch to once yearly service that’s what my joker is on, even has van set for it.

 

[kurienp]

Happy New Year, I am getting to grips with driving my new 6.1 Cali and love the high driving position. Apologies if there is another thread which answers this question, I have looked. We bought the Cali because we didn’t want a large motor home which would gather dust in the drive, so the intention was to use it as an everyday all purpose vehicle and to do away trips and overnight stays. Having read a lot about the DPF woes I’m finding myself avoiding jumping in the Cali and using it for short trips which defeats the one of the goals of having the van. My question is, can I use if for short local trips providing once in a while (every week/month??) I take it for a an extended blast to give it a good regeneration ? Second part to the question is how many trips 1-3 miles can I do before needing a blast? I had a Range Rover evoque previously (diesel) which did a lot of short trips with the occasional long run and it never had a DPF issue in 4 years of ownership. Thanks in advance for all the advice.

If you've used the RR diesel, use this one just like you would use the RR. When you use it once in a while on longer runs, use the van spiritedly and all will be well. Don't worry too much about the dpf. Enjoy the van!

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[bgg1b]

Thanks for all the comments and advice. I‘m guessing delivery drivers don’t really care too much about the DPF as it’s probably someone elses’ van. I‘ve ordered a Carista dongle as recommended by @WelshGas (thank you) so I can drive as I intended and monitor the soot levels / force regen.

 

[The Merle]

Thanks for all the comments and advice. I‘m guessing delivery drivers don’t really care too much about the DPF as it’s probably someone elses’ van. I‘ve ordered a Carista dongle as recommended by @WelshGas (thank you) so I can drive as I intended and monitor the soot levels / force regen.

I think you may have missed the point, VW designed/built transporters to be used as a work horse.
Needs to be able to do it all regardless of who owns it, if it’s ain’t reliable then no person or company would buy them.
Just enjoy van and keep it serviced you will be fine.

 

[Big Bloke]

I've literally lost count how many times our DPF light has come on!
We use our Cali everyday, often for very short trips (2 miles or less sometimes). We do make a conscious effort to give it a good run out at least once a month, we do also take it on long camping trips ( Lands End to John O Groats most recently as a support vehicle, down to Croatia and up into the Arctic circle, Portugal, Spain etc in the good old pre Covid days).
It's a pain in the neck when the DPF light comes on just as we are returning home off a short journey but we either take it for a short blast on our local dual carriage way upto Junction 10 M6, or just sit in it with the revs on at about 2000rpm until it clears itself.
We have never had it come on when we are touring in it, clocking up decent mileages each day and no longer worry about it at all.

 

[Photo Nan]

Happy New Year, I am getting to grips with driving my new 6.1 Cali and love the high driving position. Apologies if there is another thread which answers this question, I have looked. We bought the Cali because we didn’t want a large motor home which would gather dust in the drive, so the intention was to use it as an everyday all purpose vehicle and to do away trips and overnight stays. Having read a lot about the DPF woes I’m finding myself avoiding jumping in the Cali and using it for short trips which defeats the one of the goals of having the van. My question is, can I use if for short local trips providing once in a while (every week/month??) I take it for a an extended blast to give it a good regeneration ? Second part to the question is how many trips 1-3 miles can I do before needing a blast? I had a Range Rover evoque previously (diesel) which did a lot of short trips with the occasional long run and it never had a DPF issue in 4 years of ownership. Thanks in advance for all the advice.

Hi we had a T6 we used this as our daily car as other than that we only have bicycles . The only problem we had was with the EGR but that was a standard problem which effected that model.

 

[GrannyJen]

Happy New Year, I am getting to grips with driving my new 6.1 Cali and love the high driving position. Apologies if there is another thread which answers this question, I have looked. We bought the Cali because we didn’t want a large motor home which would gather dust in the drive, so the intention was to use it as an everyday all purpose vehicle and to do away trips and overnight stays. Having read a lot about the DPF woes I’m finding myself avoiding jumping in the Cali and using it for short trips which defeats the one of the goals of having the van. My question is, can I use if for short local trips providing once in a while (every week/month??) I take it for a an extended blast to give it a good regeneration ? Second part to the question is how many trips 1-3 miles can I do before needing a blast? I had a Range Rover evoque previously (diesel) which did a lot of short trips with the occasional long run and it never had a DPF issue in 4 years of ownership. Thanks in advance for all the advice.

I know nowt about all these technicalities.

I get in the vehicle and drive it.

Lots of short journeys, loads of long ones, switch off engine and hear it puffing and churning away when on regen .... It's a vehicle, a tough workhorse vehicle, not some form of wet, soppy, techno-dripping that you have to treat as though it's a slippery baby in it's soap-filled baby bath.

Get out there. use it. love it. Work it. Drive it. Enjoy it. If you can't sleepover in it then have another glass of wine whilst looking at it.

 

[Loz2286]

Had no issues with a VW Amarok regarding DPF. Mainly used for short runs but on the one occasion the light came on I took it for an Italian tune-up (high speed - lower gear) run. No issues. I use my T6.1 regularly for mixed length runs, it gets hot easily enough and can smell the regen happening.

 

[bgg1b]

I know nowt about all these technicalities.

I get in the vehicle and drive it.

Lots of short journeys, loads of long ones, switch off engine and hear it puffing and churning away when on regen .... It's a vehicle, a tough workhorse vehicle, not some form of wet, soppy, techno-dripping that you have to treat as though it's a slippery baby in it's soap-filled baby bath.

Get out there. use it. love it. Work it. Drive it. Enjoy it. If you can't sleepover in it then have another glass of wine whilst looking at it.

Love this

 

[Lambeth Cali]

Happy New Year, I am getting to grips with driving my new 6.1 Cali and love the high driving position. Apologies if there is another thread which answers this question, I have looked. We bought the Cali because we didn’t want a large motor home which would gather dust in the drive, so the intention was to use it as an everyday all purpose vehicle and to do away trips and overnight stays. Having read a lot about the DPF woes I’m finding myself avoiding jumping in the Cali and using it for short trips which defeats the one of the goals of having the van. My question is, can I use if for short local trips providing once in a while (every week/month??) I take it for a an extended blast to give it a good regeneration ? Second part to the question is how many trips 1-3 miles can I do before needing a blast? I had a Range Rover evoque previously (diesel) which did a lot of short trips with the occasional long run and it never had a DPF issue in 4 years of ownership. Thanks in advance for all the advice.

You can worry about a lot of things to do with the Cali. Ultimately I don’t think anyone knows the answer to your core question.
I would tend to agree with the people saying that VW vans are built to withstand lots of different uses. VW didn’t design a van that can only be used on long trips.

I would recommend yearly services. As a person who had a DPF sensor fail and easily replaced it, I would suggest that a large percentage of DPF problems are actually DPF sensor problems. I’ve come to suspect that some garages offering to clear DPFs are actually on a bit of an easy scam as the DPFs are probably fine.

As someone who has read this forum for a while I don’t really get the impression that the DPF is a weak point of the van. There seem to be many people using their vans as daily drivers but I don’t recall many reporting problems.

I’m slightly surprised anyone worried about mechanical reliability bought a Range Rover! A Cali is a VW Transporter!

 

[bgg1b]

You can worry about a lot of things to do with the Cali. Ultimately I don’t think anyone knows the answer to your core question.
I would tend to agree with the people saying that VW vans are built to withstand lots of different uses. VW didn’t design a van that can only be used on long trips.

I would recommend yearly services. As a person who had a DPF sensor fail and easily replaced it, I would suggest that a large percentage of DPF problems are actually DPF sensor problems. I’ve come to suspect that some garages offering to clear DPFs are actually on a bit of an easy scam as the DPFs are probably fine.

As someone who has read this forum for a while I don’t really get the impression that the DPF is a weak point of the van. There seem to be many people using their vans as daily drivers but I don’t recall many reporting problems.

I’m slightly surprised anyone worried about mechanical reliability bought a Range Rover! A Cali is a VW Transporter!

Thanks, I must gave been lucky, 5 years motoring in the Evoque and no problems.

 

[hirsty]

As others have said just do what you were going to do anyway, being mindful that a longer faster drive is occasionally good all-round.

I understand the context for a lot of posters here, but IMO there's way too much fretting about passing on a perfect used van to the next guy ...

This is still a great DPF description:

DPF and how it works

I found this explanation of the function of the DPF on the T5 Oil Consumption Facebook page. Makes a lot of sense, if you have had the problems I have experienced before the new engine was fitted. Sorry it is a long item, but worth reading. Alan VAG DISESEL PARTICULATE FILTERS Courtesy of...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[California_Ocean]

If DPF regeneration is going to keep you up at night, then whatever you do, don't buy a boat ... anchors dragging, engine reliability can be a matter of life and death, through hull fittings failing can sink you in 5 minutes, and a host of other stuff like losing people over the side.

As many have said, drive it, enjoy it, and follow the instructions in the user manual.

 

[Mistadave]

For trips of 1 to 3 miles the best way to look after your engine (not just the DPF, cold starting is when most engine wear occurs) is to walk or cycle, with the added bonus that our kids and grandkids are more likely to survive the rest of this catastrophic looking century .

 

[BikerGran]

I have a 2007 DSG (Tiptronic) Cali with 2.5 engine - can anyone tell me whether I have a DPF and if so, whether I have a DPF light? Mine is used mostly for short journeys (daily driver) but if it gets a bit smelly I take it for a trip round the countryside as we don't have any motorways in Dorset!

 

[Lambeth Cali]

I have a 2007 DSG (Tiptronic) Cali with 2.5 engine - can anyone tell me whether I have a DPF and if so, whether I have a DPF light? Mine is used mostly for short journeys (daily driver) but if it gets a bit smelly I take it for a trip round the countryside as we don't have any motorways in Dorset!

Yes we all have DPFs. Our T5s don’t have a specific DPF light but the orange light that looks like an engine would likely come on if you had a problem.
Let’s face it, your van has survived nearly 15 years without a problem. I’m very much of the ‘don’t worry about it’ school. When you pass 300,000 miles you should worry.
Our 2.5 5 cylinder engines (mines a 2008) are the best California engines. Cog driven and no adblue, they last forever. The vans will outlive us both.

 

[john mar]

Happy New Year, I am getting to grips with driving my new 6.1 Cali and love the high driving position. Apologies if there is another thread which answers this question, I have looked. We bought the Cali because we didn’t want a large motor home which would gather dust in the drive, so the intention was to use it as an everyday all purpose vehicle and to do away trips and overnight stays. Having read a lot about the DPF woes I’m finding myself avoiding jumping in the Cali and using it for short trips which defeats the one of the goals of having the van. My question is, can I use if for short local trips providing once in a while (every week/month??) I take it for a an extended blast to give it a good regeneration ? Second part to the question is how many trips 1-3 miles can I do before needing a blast? I had a Range Rover evoque previously (diesel) which did a lot of short trips with the occasional long run and it never had a DPF issue in 4 years of ownership. Thanks in advance for all the advice.

Hi. When my Cali is ticking over at below the number 1 on the rev counter I know the regen is not happening ( when stationary)...when its above the 1 , I try (if I remember) not to turn the engine off until its finished.

I am hoping this will do the trick. I've only done 800 miles so far. There a video all about on YouTube. Cant remember the name sorry.

 

[john mar]

Hi. When my Cali is ticking over at below the number 1 on the rev counter I know the regen is not happening ( when stationary)...when its above the 1 , I try (if I remember) not to turn the engine off until its finished.

I am hoping this will do the trick. I've only done 800 miles so far. There a video all about on YouTube. Cant remember the name sorry.

found it. Watch this

 

[Delfhill]

As well as our California we have a 2 litre diesel VW Tiguan, owned from new, 6 years old with 20,000 miles. This almost exclusively does short local runs and we have never had any problems with the DPF so hope this is reassuring.

 

[66tim99]

If start/stop is disabled, and the revs are 1000 (rather than below) at idle (similar to having pressed Max Charge) … then don’t turn off the engine. Let it idle until the revs drop back to c.800