Wheels Australia - June 2018

@wheelsaustralia 31

No pricing provided although independent service

agents showedWheelsinvoicesforanX5DPFat$5126

plus labour.

BMW says, “our particulate filters are maintenance

free and are designed to last as long as the vehicle.”

No response on carbon build up.

Prices range from $2200 on a Ranger to $2600 on a

Mondeo, plus labour. Ford says its DPFs are designed

to last the life of the vehicle and “should therefore be

of no concern to the new vehicle buyer – or the second

or third, for that matter.”

No response on EGR carbon build up.

Fiat Chrysler Australia quotes “in excess of 150,000km” as

the expected service life of its particulate filters – albeit

with the usual riders from the warranty department.

“Poor fuel or oil will very quickly contaminate a DPF.”

A replacement for the company’s Alfa Romeo Giulia is

priced at $9602. With labour and coding costs the retail

bill could be expected to comfortably top $12,000.

The Jeep Grand Cherokee filter is a $5409 item and

the Compass $7693. The company has no service

recommendation for any decarb of the inlet system/EGR.

A frank response citing service life for the DPF as

“the lifetime of the vehicle” and that regular intake

decarbonising procedures are unnecessary.

Replacement filter prices range from $5683 for

a Tucson to $6991 for a new i30 or i40. Plus labour,

of course.

Parts-only replacement cost for DPFs range from $4000

to $6500 and are a claimed “lifetime” fitment.

On the carbon issue the response was forthright.

“Given the location of these components and the

complexity of reaching them mechanically or with

chemicals it is not only unnecessary but also cost

prohibitive.”

While acknowledging there are no scheduled servicing

parameters for “decarbonizing or cleaning Exhaust Gas

Recirculation (EGR) and intake components” the JLR says

the emission system carries out “strict monitoring and

will alert the driver to seek retailer attention should any

compromise to performance occur.”

The company response was that it had “never sold a

replacement” (not surprising as they are extremely

expensive.) Kia said “the general view is that if they

are driven as recommended in the owner’s manual

then they will outlast the car.”

No pricing and no response on carbon build up.

The major car brands continue
to insist that early failures of
their diesel particulate filters are
a form of owner abuse. Many are
then refusing warranty claims
on DPFs.
They justifiably claim diesel
vehicles require at least one
‘hot’ run every week at freeway
speeds, under load for at least
20 minutes, to instigate what
they call a passive regeneration
within the blast furnace
the DPF. Too many own
they say, don’t read thei
owner’s manuals and st
start, short, cold runs in
urban environment don
the filters up to operatin
temperature.
Supporting that
claim are case studies
Wheels has seen of city-
based European marque
with low kilometres but
filters blocked by
85 percent.
One BMW customer dr
from Bondi to Maroubra
in Sydney every day (a
distance of maybe 15km
and presented with a
blocked DPF at 60,000km
On the flip side, servic
centres are also seeing f
DPFs on country cars th
routinely log plenty of lo
hot runs.
In what may be a poin
the future, only one com

Subaru, tells customers their

diesel Forester and Outback

models are not well suited to

prolonged urban use.

The bottom line here is if

you do the school run and the

shopping, rarely leaving the

city limits, you are much better

off with a petrol engine. It will

save money too, given the hefty

upfront price premiums charged

fordieselmodelsandthe

The sulphur content of

Australian diesel fuel has fallen

from 500 parts per million in

2002 to 10ppm today, another

tailpipe-focused outcome. Diesel

now has five times less sulphur

content than Australian petrol,

although new regs are imminent

to reduce those levels to parity.

So what? Sulphur combines

with other elements to produce

a lubricating effect in engines.

“Th h l h

years of replacing injectors and

getting pumps overhauled,” says

Frank Spiteri. Indeed, injector

and pump failures showed

a spike as sulphur levels fell

but the consensus now is that

the problem has been largely

solved with new component

countermeasures.

For the record, a diesel

pump costs around $2500 and

replacing a set of injectors

i $3000 i h l bour and

Urban battle Dry run

g provided although independent service Afrankresponseciting service life for the D

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mpany,

ongoing maintenance issues. “Themomentthesulphur

came out we went through two

cantip $3000with lab

coding costs.