G'day Dubbers,

My Mk5 has the DPF light continuously on with Check Engine light as well and OBD code for the DPF fail. No matter what I do it wont do a burn and the mechanic tried to do a software induced burn with no luck. So I'm wondering if anyone out there has had some experience with this; good or bad, and maybe offer some advice or a ballpark figure of what the cost might be to rectify.

Thanks in advance,
Sean.

What brand of fuel are you using? Try some BP Ultimate diesel and go for a good long drive at highway speed for a couple of hours at least.

had this just after they did the recall work on it. the mechanic down the road managed to do a burn cycle on it to fix it but it just kept happening. we were using bp in it as well. it was worse if it didn't go for a long drive every couple of weeks.

Yeah, I've only ever run BP Ultimate in it since I've owned it. I had a different mechanic (VW Diesel Specialist) perform forced burn (regeneration) and he replaced DPF differential pressure sensor, lasted 24 hours until blocked DPF again. Just had some intake manifold flap vacuum operated solenoid replaced and another burn...24 hours later, so far so good. We'll wait and see.

Also, what oil are you using?

the recall was about volkswagen falsifying emissions results ( big lawsuit here and america).
what they did was bump up the injector rail pressure and it was causing this issue.

dpf is diesel particulate filter, aka catalytic converter.

cheers man, and thanks for the good work on the forum...How many kms u done and what year / date? was recall 2015?

Any good info on here or? for rookie me re diesels?

here's what it was
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_emissions_scandal 

i want to say 100000km is what ours did, we just did the timing belt in it before selling it. it was fine ran like a dream till we took it in for the recall work,then we started having these problems and eventually we sold it not long after. have one of the diesel passats that we will be selling shortly.

cheers mate, appreciated.

We had a diesel Passat. Great power/torque and economy. Read on the Watercooled VW forum that some people were having issues after they took their car into the dealer for the software change. We ignored the recall letters and had no regrets. Ran like a dream until it was written off in a prang. Hopefully that engine lives on in someone else's VW now.
Cheers

what kms on it on sale. Mine has now 172,000 and i did 935 kms back from Sydney to Ipswich with detours and A/C 3.7 L /100 !!!!!!!!!!! no kidding. Are Passat seats better than Golf ""omfortline"" when a bad back tries to ruin a journey.?

bump up injector rail pressure ?? now thats a new one ?? injector rail pressure creates more soot , every manufacturer who sells in europe did it , VW was Americas number 1 seller .The big three went after them with the help of MIT, help as in new campus and facilities in exchange , it was the egr valve not responding at low rpm so as not to put soot into intake , yes it raises high temp emissions , upside it extends the life of the motor , they couldnt work out why domestic cars were unreliable , considering they all used Robert bosch or siemens parts, it was a simple software change ,land of litigation jumped on it, when your car went in for the recall you had a choice by not having it done as there was a written waver you could sign ,i did heaps of software recalls and lot of people chose not to when explained it will increase service cost inline with other manufacturers remembering fixed price service was at $236 for 12 month basic,because of the high sulphur low grade diesel we have in Australia , and no we dont manufacture fuel east coast its all imported from Indo or singapore ,its blended for either summer or winter regardless who sells it , short trips at under 25km and lower than 2300rpm or under highway speed for constant 10 mins no regen will occur , DPF light will stay illuminated till forced regen by dealer (there is a certain procedure that you have to adhere to or it will not perform regen regardless if you try generic software)
In conclusion the Dpf light will illuminated if there is another problem in the system also , ie throttle shut valve ,egr , piezio values incorrect, etc , i can tell you first hand the software change did not cause your problem , Lee

excellent info mate. cheers B

just to add a DPF is a Diesel Particulate Filter not a Catalyst converter, it traps diesel soot then at very high temps @ above 600c incinerates it to make the particles smaller , if the regen was done more frequently your fuel economy would suffer as more fuel is needed to heat exhaust, some high end euro 6/7 emission have both ,to combat nitric compounds ,whilst people enjoy the tight arse status of 60mpg they wont pay for the egr and manifold cleans, the 6 month oil changes ,and finally injector and turbo replacements , not to mention dpf removals and ultrasonic cleans ,if compatible ,in the long run this makes paying for and air/fuel and spark plugs cheaper, ,these maintenance items ,are however not to be confused the electrical issues, which both vehicles have depending on OEM supplies and manufacturing adjustments/ expendable losses