Frequent DPF Regenerations on CX-3 – Need Advice

[TeT024]

Hi everyone,

I have a question about the DPF regeneration process on my CX-3. Recently, I've noticed that the car is doing more frequent regenerations, even though the DPF PM Generated is only at 12% and the DPF PM ACC G/L is 2.84g. The regeneration process is also much shorter than usual, taking just 1-2 minutes at most.

A few fill-ups ago, I added a DPF cleaner to the fuel tank for maintenance purposes, and it seems like something got messed up afterward. Has anyone experienced something similar or have any ideas on the possible root cause? Also, are there any recommended ways to fix this issue?

I was considering buying an OBD dongle to force a regen and possibly reset the DPF. However, I'm unsure about what exactly a DPF reset does and whether it’s safe to perform. Any advice or support would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

TeT

[Percy247]

Hi everyone,

I have a question about the DPF regeneration process on my CX-3. Recently, I've noticed that the car is doing more frequent regenerations, even though the DPF PM Generated is only at 12% and the DPF PM ACC G/L is 2.84g. The regeneration process is also much shorter than usual, taking just 1-2 minutes at most.

A few fill-ups ago, I added a DPF cleaner to the fuel tank for maintenance purposes, and it seems like something got messed up afterward. Has anyone experienced something similar or have any ideas on the possible root cause? Also, are there any recommended ways to fix this issue?

I was considering buying an OBD dongle to force a regen and possibly reset the DPF. However, I'm unsure about what exactly a DPF reset does and whether it’s safe to perform. Any advice or support would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

TeT

What year is your car and how many thousands miles/km has it done? Do you use the car for lots of short journeys? Do you have any DPF warning lights of stored fault codes.

These engines are dirty and as they get older soot builds up, partially blocked the engine intake manifold, emissions system and the DPF.

I have tracked my DPF regens using the Forscan app over the last 3 years (the car is now 8 years old and done 80,000 miles). The regen intervals have fallen on average from about every 140 miles to every 100 miles. I have stabilised this by adding redex injector cleaner and redex DPF cleaner every 4th tank of diesel. If it gets worse I will use a dedicated DPF cleaner.

The regen should take around 10 minutes to complete and I try and minimise the number of incomplete regens to reduce diesel contamination in the oil. It is not clear whether it's the EGR system or faulty injectors that are the cause of this excess soot production.

I would buy a OBD dongle and monitor your DPF regens. If the distance between regens drops to below 35 miles then the DPF warning light will come on and you will need a forced regen. I have only reset the fuel injectors, not the DPF learned values.

There are companies who will clean the inlet manifold, EGR and DPF to address these issues.

[TeT024]

My concern is that the pm generated is well below 20% actually at 12% and the regeneration is taking place.. what could trigger the regeneration apart from a full dpf ?

[Percy247]

How do you know your PM is only at 12% when regen starts? What are you using to measure it? Once the PM gets to 5.4g/L then the DPF starts a regen and once complete this should go down to almost zero. What is the interval between your DPF regens. I use Forscan lite app and this gives you a wealth of information.

[TeT024]

Here’s a more polished version of your post,

Hi everyone,

I think we’ve identified what might be causing the issue with my car. Basically, we dosed two tanks back-to-back with a DPF Cat Cleaner by ECR, and that seems to be when the problems started. Once me and another my wife as we didn't sync.

Attached is a screenshot of the parameters after a longer-than-usual drive. I live in Malta, and most of my driving is city driving with lots of traffic. The issue began after I used the DPF cleaner in two consecutive tanks. Currently, my tank is still 60% full, and I'm planning to run it down and refill it without adding anything this time.

Any ideas on what might help? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[Percy247]

How often and how much do you normally add of DPF cleaner? Bottle says dilute at 1;1000 (250ml bottle treats 250 litres or about 5 tanks @ 50 litres). Have you used the correct dosage?

It might be worth topping up with premium diesel if you can buy that in Malta and hopefully the DPF cleaner will be diluted and work it's way out of the fuel system.

If it does not sort itself out then you probably need a diesel specialist to check the emission system. Could be any number of things such as; blocked DPF, failing sensor, blocked pipe etc. I am surprised that you have not got a DPF warning light on the dashboard!

[TeT024]

I got a warning flashing DPF and when i searched the Code it state that main reason would be that too many regenerations are being done. And then I confirmed them buy monitoring live whilst driving. Upon each generation its taking only a couple of minutes then % of PM Generated would return to 0.

[Percy247]

You will likely need a diesel/DPF specialist garage to resolve this as it could be any number of problems from injectors, EGR valve, sensors to the actual DPF itself.

Could you please update this forum with how you get on and whether you manage to get this fixed. Good luck.