I had the DPF light come on during my 20km trip to work on Friday. This was the first time it had occurred in the 18-months of ownership of my MY16 Prado. Just over a year ago, I started getting white smoke clouds - a software "upgrade" and a couple of forced burns by the local dealer seemed to fix the problem. The DPF soot accumulation level fluctuated between around 20% and 100% whenever I checked. This was like I expected it to be.
Then yesterday (Friday) on the way to work the DPF light came on. When I got home, I plugged my CAN analyser into the vehicle and was surprised to see the accumulation level at 162%. A read of the DPF booklet suggested that the condition was "normal" and that I should drive the vehicle at over 60km/h for at least 30 mins and it would correct itself.
So today I took the Prado up Perth's northern freeway to the end and back. Cruising at up to 100km/h, I was alarmed to see the accumulation level just keep climbing and climbing. The DPF temperature stayed below 500C, which from previous experience it seemed to require for an effective burn. Around half way through the journey, I tried holding the gear selection with S4 (visible in the attached chart as RPM around 2700RPM). This seemed to cause the DPF temperature to trail off and when this occurred, soot accumulation escalated. Next, the DPF warning light started to flash. After leaving the freeway and stopping for a few minutes, I limited the speed to just over 80km/h. The DPF accumulation continued to rise and finally the Prado went into "limp mode" about a kilometre from home, with the engine and traction control lamps illuminated and jarring gear changes.
I suppose that this series of events is familiar to other owners but I was surprised at how quickly the DPF could deteriorate to reduce the performance to "limp mode". My guess is that the 5th injector has failed.
I'll be calling the local Toyota service department first thing on Monday. It is a pain in the backside because I need the vehicle for carrying tools and materials for my work.
The two charts cover the same journey. Speed and RPM are logged more frequently - hence the horizontal scales appear to differ.
Then yesterday (Friday) on the way to work the DPF light came on. When I got home, I plugged my CAN analyser into the vehicle and was surprised to see the accumulation level at 162%. A read of the DPF booklet suggested that the condition was "normal" and that I should drive the vehicle at over 60km/h for at least 30 mins and it would correct itself.
So today I took the Prado up Perth's northern freeway to the end and back. Cruising at up to 100km/h, I was alarmed to see the accumulation level just keep climbing and climbing. The DPF temperature stayed below 500C, which from previous experience it seemed to require for an effective burn. Around half way through the journey, I tried holding the gear selection with S4 (visible in the attached chart as RPM around 2700RPM). This seemed to cause the DPF temperature to trail off and when this occurred, soot accumulation escalated. Next, the DPF warning light started to flash. After leaving the freeway and stopping for a few minutes, I limited the speed to just over 80km/h. The DPF accumulation continued to rise and finally the Prado went into "limp mode" about a kilometre from home, with the engine and traction control lamps illuminated and jarring gear changes.
I suppose that this series of events is familiar to other owners but I was surprised at how quickly the DPF could deteriorate to reduce the performance to "limp mode". My guess is that the 5th injector has failed.
I'll be calling the local Toyota service department first thing on Monday. It is a pain in the backside because I need the vehicle for carrying tools and materials for my work.
The two charts cover the same journey. Speed and RPM are logged more frequently - hence the horizontal scales appear to differ.
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