2.8 dpf fail

[404pug Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 404pug]

Just got a call from a friend who just limped into Coober Pedy with his 2.8 Prado. 5000km old. Back story is he towed his 2200 kg van up from Port Augusta today into a howling headwind. Car was using 22-24 l/100km at 80 kph in 4th gear. 100 km out of CP the DPF light came on and about 10 km out it went into limp mode with the DFP light flashing. Local mechanic says blocked DPF filter and says he has seen a few. Toyota says truck it back to Port Augusta for repair/ replace DPF. At least a week!!! Local mechanic will put a scan guage or similar on it tomorrow to see what is going on. The mechanic suggested a steady 30 min drive without the van to see if it cleared. It didn't. WTF? A 5000 km old 2.8 auto Prado which has spent its entire life out of the city where this problem could crop up.He is going to disconnect the battery overnight to see if that resets the computer so the DPF does its job tomorrow....hope hope...
Any similar stories out there? Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? A week stuck in scenic Coober Pedy is not something to look forward to!
Incidently he says that when it is towing it is using 15-20% more than his previous D4D did over its 4 year trouble free life [ also towing]. Has Toyota stuffed up the design with the DPF or is this a one off? Hmm

[t303 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close t303]

Geez, 22-24KL/100km? I'll stop complaining about 18-20 on my old 1KZ then!
Surely that consumption must indicate something amiss? If it wasn't burning it all properly then I could understand the blocked DPF.

[404pug Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 404pug]

Howling headwind will kill economy when you are towing, whatever you tow with. The point is the DPF should not fail under what are really normal conditions for which the car is supposedly designed.

[cuda Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close cuda]

Maybe 5th injector not working or wired up. During that 5000km the dpf should have been cycled (burned) roughly every 250km. My guess is that wasn't happening and if that were true the fuel usage would have been increasing as the DPF was blocking up. The DPF light only comes on when a true differential between inlet and outlet of the DPF is too great. Hope this is a relatively isolated case.

Thanks

[Lski Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lski]

Maybe 5th injector not working or wired up. During that 5000km the dpf should have been cycled (burned) roughly every 250km. My guess is that wasn't happening and if that were true the fuel usage would have been increasing as the DPF was blocking up. The DPF light only comes on when a true differential between inlet and outlet of the DPF is too great. Hope this is a relatively isolated case.

Thanks

Not good..

You might be onto something their cuda.

Hopefully it is an isolated case, interested to hear the outcome..

[Anth120playdo Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Anth120playdo]

Welcome to even more technology.
Stick with the devil you know! 1kd-ftv. We know it well.
Avoid dpf vehicles or expect problems, there is talk about them, no suprise.
What a p.i.t.a.

[120D4D Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 120D4D]

I'd be interested to know when his last burn was. It may not have done one for some time...
Ask him if it did a burn in the last 500kms.

What did he do when the DPF light first came on? Keeping on trucking or stop/slow down.

While doing a burn the economy does suffer but assuming it wasnt doing a burn at the time, with a howling headwind and 20+ L/100 I'd be taking a break, slowing down or both. I realise its a brand new car but there is something to be said for having mechanical sympathy.

Hopefully they can force a burn in the workshop to empty the DPF and even if they can I'd be pushing for a new one when I got it home.

[404pug Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 404pug]

He is very mechanically sympathetic and had no trouble with the D4D 150 before it. I understand that the regens have been working as they are supposed to. 80 kph in 4 th gear is far from pushing it too hard. Similar conditions are met everyday by those towing vans and apparrent failures should not occur in a 5000 km old car which has been serviced by the book and has not been flogged and is doing what it is supposedly designed to do.As a 1GD owner who also tows I am most interested in the fragility of this system for those who actually get out of the city .If the light comes on in the middle of nowhere what optons does one have?

[dBC Member Find all posts View Profile Close dBC]

I'd be interested to know when his last burn was. It may not have done one for some time...
Ask him if it did a burn in the last 500kms.

How can you tell when it's doing a burn?

[120D4D Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 120D4D]

Agree 80km/h in 4th is not pushing it in usual conditions - having experienced significant headwinds (also on a hot day) I know that I struggled to keep the torque convertor locked at 80 (in 4th) on a flat road - and my van is only around 1500kgs. I felt I had no choice but to slow up and when the semi's were doing the same thing and not passing me I know I was doing the right thing.

Don't get me wrong, I hope this is not major failure for your mate, but pulling that sort of fuel consumption into a headwind, likely with the tq unlocked, tells me the engine and trans were being overworked.

I think that the amount of fuel he was burning, combined with distance travelled, was producing far more particulate matter than the DPF could handle.

[120D4D Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 120D4D]

How can you tell when it's doing a burn?

At highway speeds you likely wont know unless you're watching the instant fuel readings.
Around town and in traffic you will notice the idle increases (900rpm for the auto and 1200 for manual).
When you shut it down mid-regen you can smell the burn and hear the heat dissipating from the DPF.

[cuda Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close cuda]

Agree 80km/h in 4th is not pushing it in usual conditions - having experienced significant headwinds (also on a hot day) I know that I struggled to keep the torque convertor locked at 80 (in 4th) on a flat road - and my van is only around 1500kgs. I felt I had no choice but to slow up and when the semi's were doing the same thing and not passing me I know I was doing the right thing.

Don't get me wrong, I hope this is not major failure for your mate, but pulling that sort of fuel consumption into a headwind, likely with the tq unlocked, tells me the engine and trans were being overworked.

I think that the amount of fuel he was burning, combined with distance travelled, was producing far more particulate matter than the DPF could handle.

Thats a hell of a lot of soot but from what I was told by Toyota they use a complex algorithm which includes fuel used over a certain distance to work out when to commence a burn.

[dBC Member Find all posts View Profile Close dBC]

At highway speeds you likely wont know unless you're watching the instant fuel readings.
Around town and in traffic you will notice the idle increases (900rpm for the auto and 1200 for manual).
When you shut it down mid-regen you can smell the burn and hear the heat dissipating from the DPF.

Thanks. Now that you mention it, I've noticed all those things at various times and wondered what the deal was. Good to have the observed two idle speeds explained! That mystery got me fiddling with the Idle-Up switch but to no avail. In fact, I don't think I've found the right conditions required in order for that switch to do anything. I can't tell the difference with it on or off. Does anyone know what conditions are required for it to make a difference, and how many RPM different it should be?

[cuda Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close cuda]

Thanks. Now that you mention it, I've noticed all those things at various times and wondered what the deal was. Good to have the observed two idle speeds explained! That mystery got me fiddling with the Idle-Up switch but to no avail. In fact, I don't think I've found the right conditions required in order for that switch to do anything. I can't tell the difference with it on or off. Does anyone know what conditions are required for it to make a difference, and how many RPM different it should be?

Never thought the idle up switch would work for me as I live in Perth but from what I can tell anything below 10deg seems to be considered cold enough. The RPM's go to about 1400rpm when its active.

If the temp is low enough and you have switched on the heater the engine will idle higher at 900rpm. I have been caught out thinking the DPF is active but then after switching the heater off the RPM drops. You can hear the injection occuring from outside the car when the DPF is cycling.

Thanks

[OzDriver Member Find all posts View Profile Close OzDriver]

on DPF - no issues so far, just the usual occasional idle increase, burnt smell and once locked into 4th gear on freeway for a while.
on Idle Up - Mine only seems to work when very cold (has frost on car), which makes sense.

Suggestion to Toyota: have an indicator set for DPF status using a few LEDs or one of the displays e.g. Just Cleaned, Normal Operation, DPF process approaching, Cleaning in progress, Overdue (warning), Blocked [the last 2 seem to exist?]

I have started ensuring I give the engine a bit of a 'blast' every now and again. Seems driving too gently all the time can be worst for economy and DPF than working the engine somewhat. Getting close to 8L (on the computer) on longer runs now.