Hi all
having some serious problems with my car,it has now been off the road for 3 weeks
problems started with the car refusing to go above 3000rpm and 30mph,that slowly turned into not going over 4mph then it wouldn't rev at all.
after spending hours investigating and removing stuff we found that if we disconnected the exhaust after the cat it revved perfectly again.we have concluded that the fap is now totally blocked as it wasnt letting any exhaust fumes through it.the car did have the clean partivcle filter up and a glow plug relay error which i believed is used to burn off the soot?
anyway im stuck what to do,anyone got any bright ideas,options are
take filter off and manually clean it out,put diesel cleaner in fuel and hope it then gives it a good blast through.
change filter totally but i heard they want around £950 which i dont have at the moment.
or is there someway of bypassing the fap as to be honest it is the most annoying thing ever invented.
thanks for any info given
andy
particulate filter(fap)
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myglaren
- Forum Admin Team
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Welcome dci_andy.
I think the pricing you have been given is way out.
If you look for similar subjects in the Citroen forum you'll find that the FAP filter comes in at around £114 and I can't see the Renault one being any more expensive.
You may have to have the ECU reset after fitting a new one, which will be included in the dealer's pricing. Take this into account before buying and fitting one yourself.
Are you out of Eolys fluid too? This usually costs around £35 per litre and you usually need 5L. Again the ECU may need to be reset after replenishment, particularly if it has completely run out - there are varying systems. There are also two kinds of Eolys fluid and it is critical you get the correct type for your vehicle.
It is possible but fairly messy to clean the fap filter - high pressure jet or steam cleaner appear to be the most useful methods - you should really contain the effluent and have it professionally disposed of as with old oil etc.
Do you do mainly short trips? that seems to clog them up.
There are two methods of 'regenerating' them.
1st the DIY method - which is no longer available to you:
Bring the engine up to temperature then drive at forty miles an hour for twenty minutes in third gear. Any deviation and you will have to restart the process.
2nd, the dealer method where they use a diagnostic computer to run the engine at around 3,000 revs for forty minutes.
Side effects being melted tarmac under the car, melted bumpers on cars parked behind and an awful lot of diesel dissapearing in smoke. This is generally used for taxis - but only once when the owner sees what's going on.
I think the pricing you have been given is way out.
If you look for similar subjects in the Citroen forum you'll find that the FAP filter comes in at around £114 and I can't see the Renault one being any more expensive.
You may have to have the ECU reset after fitting a new one, which will be included in the dealer's pricing. Take this into account before buying and fitting one yourself.
Are you out of Eolys fluid too? This usually costs around £35 per litre and you usually need 5L. Again the ECU may need to be reset after replenishment, particularly if it has completely run out - there are varying systems. There are also two kinds of Eolys fluid and it is critical you get the correct type for your vehicle.
It is possible but fairly messy to clean the fap filter - high pressure jet or steam cleaner appear to be the most useful methods - you should really contain the effluent and have it professionally disposed of as with old oil etc.
Do you do mainly short trips? that seems to clog them up.
There are two methods of 'regenerating' them.
1st the DIY method - which is no longer available to you:
Bring the engine up to temperature then drive at forty miles an hour for twenty minutes in third gear. Any deviation and you will have to restart the process.
2nd, the dealer method where they use a diagnostic computer to run the engine at around 3,000 revs for forty minutes.
Side effects being melted tarmac under the car, melted bumpers on cars parked behind and an awful lot of diesel dissapearing in smoke. This is generally used for taxis - but only once when the owner sees what's going on.
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dci_andy
- Posts: 5
- Joined: 23 Mar 2009, 18:33
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myglaren
- Forum Admin Team
- Posts: 27132
- Joined: 02 Mar 2008, 13:30
- x 5255
Maybe I'm labouring under a misconception here and someone will be allong to correct the error but the Eolys fluid is injcted into the diesel and reduces the teperature at which the soot burns.
When fully up to temerature, as on a longish motorway run, the soot trapped in the FAP filter burns down to a very fine ash.
If this doesn't happen fairly regularly, as with only short trips or low speed useage as with taxis, the filter becomes clogged and chokes the exhaust system, as you have observed.
There is another method, comparitively rare, from when Eolys became almost unobtainable, in which when conditions (engine temperature and revs more than anything) were right then raw diesel is injected into the exhaust manifold, increases the exhaust temperature substantially and burns away the trapped soot, usually with a fairly spectacular comet-tail of smoke while it is happening.
I imagine the dealer quoted price is for replacement and resetting the ECU. Robbery otherwise.
Have you tried other sources?
GSF and Eurocarparts being the two chief suspects here.
Note that I am not a Renault owner so may be talking nonsense here but this info applies to Citroens and I find it hard to believe that they would be any different to anyone else.
There aren't a whole lot of posters to this forum so a definitive reply could take a little while.
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Edited to add:
I may have to eat my words, or some of them at least, in light of this bit of info from Renault. Maintenence free for the life of the vehicle - hmmmm...
When fully up to temerature, as on a longish motorway run, the soot trapped in the FAP filter burns down to a very fine ash.
If this doesn't happen fairly regularly, as with only short trips or low speed useage as with taxis, the filter becomes clogged and chokes the exhaust system, as you have observed.
There is another method, comparitively rare, from when Eolys became almost unobtainable, in which when conditions (engine temperature and revs more than anything) were right then raw diesel is injected into the exhaust manifold, increases the exhaust temperature substantially and burns away the trapped soot, usually with a fairly spectacular comet-tail of smoke while it is happening.
I imagine the dealer quoted price is for replacement and resetting the ECU. Robbery otherwise.
Have you tried other sources?
GSF and Eurocarparts being the two chief suspects here.
Note that I am not a Renault owner so may be talking nonsense here but this info applies to Citroens and I find it hard to believe that they would be any different to anyone else.
There aren't a whole lot of posters to this forum so a definitive reply could take a little while.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Edited to add:
I may have to eat my words, or some of them at least, in light of this bit of info from Renault. Maintenence free for the life of the vehicle - hmmmm...
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dci_andy
- Posts: 5
- Joined: 23 Mar 2009, 18:33