Dpf and limp mode

[Jambobwana]

I'd be very grateful for any advice... I have a 22 Citroen Relay that's done 1000 miles and is being converted to a campervan. The company have told me that the dpf light came on. They tried driving the van in the hope that it would do a regen but it didn't. So a mechanic has been out to strip and clean the dpf but he was unable to clear the fault codes so it was stuck in limp.

Green Flag have also been out and they had the same problem clearing the codes and suggested that a sensor is at fault.

The van is 160 miles away and ready to be collected. The local Citroen dealer is fully booked until mid February- so I have a problem!

My question is, would it be OK to drive it in limp mode for 160 miles? If so, how fast is it likely to go. The dpf is clean so I'm assuming I won't be causing damage in that area. Any advice gratefully received and thanks in advance. Jim

[E-bmw]

If it has only done 1000 miles & is registering a DPF fault I would be returning it to Citroen as their problem, and certainly wouldn't be driving it just in case a sensor isn't the issue.

[Jambobwana]

I'm with you. Citroen need to sort out the issue. The question is how to get it 160 miles to them.... I'm trying to convince myself that there's really nothing wrong with the van apart from an erroneous code. I remember when you just broke down.. nowadays,every time my car is in the garage it is to investigate a faulty sensor - wrongly reporting a fault.

[stevieturbo]

Jambobwana said:

I'd be very grateful for any advice... I have a 22 Citroen Relay that's done 1000 miles and is being converted to a campervan. The company have told me that the dpf light came on. They tried driving the van in the hope that it would do a regen but it didn't. So a mechanic has been out to strip and clean the dpf but he was unable to clear the fault codes so it was stuck in limp.

Green Flag have also been out and they had the same problem clearing the codes and suggested that a sensor is at fault.

The van is 160 miles away and ready to be collected. The local Citroen dealer is fully booked until mid February- so I have a problem!

My question is, would it be OK to drive it in limp mode for 160 miles? If so, how fast is it likely to go. The dpf is clean so I'm assuming I won't be causing damage in that area. Any advice gratefully received and thanks in advance. Jim

If they are converting it to a camper van, why are they driving it ? Typically the conversion is done inside the van, with no real need to drive it.
Convert it, then take it to the dealer.

Really they should not be taking things apart like the DPF, it's under warranty, you're opening yourself up now for a refusal of a warranty claim because someone has been tampering.

And instead of just reading codes, has anyone actually tried to diagnose the fault ? If not, just leave it alone and let the warranty take over, and don't do anything stupid that might assist them in refusing the warranty

[liner33]

Yep needs to go to a dealer , any dealer its under warranty, however inconvenient

[Jambobwana]

Thanks for your reply. I believe the van was started regularly and left running to keep the battery charged. A mistake in hindsight. My guess is that the idling led to a blocked dpf. I'll get the AA to bring it home and book it into my local dealer. Hopefully it won't be apparent that the dpf has been cleaned. But I'd be surprised if that invalidated a warranty as it's a common.fault and lots of people out there offering the service. Cheers..

[GreenV8S]

Jambobwana said:

I believe the van was started regularly and left running to keep the battery charged.

If you believe the fault was due to a problem with the vehicle, their attempts to fix it themselves has potentially invalidated your warranty, or at least compromised your right to make a claim.

I don't think that. I think they caused the problem due to their incompetence. Starting an engine and leaving it idling is a spectacularly dumb way to keep the battery charged and is bad for the engine, and in this case also the DPF. If your warranty doesn't cover the damage I'd hold them liable.

[stevieturbo]

Jambobwana said:

Thanks for your reply. I believe the van was started regularly and left running to keep the battery charged. A mistake in hindsight. My guess is that the idling led to a blocked dpf. I'll get the AA to bring it home and book it into my local dealer. Hopefully it won't be apparent that the dpf has been cleaned. But I'd be surprised if that invalidated a warranty as it's a common.fault and lots of people out there offering the service. Cheers..

What sort of idiots are doing the conversion ? Have they never heard of a battery charger ? They might only need to run it to verify certain systems are working, not a lot more.

And it's a van, it should happily be able to idle for hours DPF or not. Ya know, like if you got stuck in traffic ?

Just hope whatever has gone on will not affect your warranty, but we know dealers will like to wriggle out of things

[GreenV8S]

stevieturbo said:

And it's a van, it should happily be able to idle for hours DPF or not.

Depends how they're running it. If they're doing a cold start and then leaving a diesel to idle for 10 - 15 minutes then it's likely to have been running cold for most / all of that time. That's quite different to getting up to temperature and sitting in traffic.

[stevieturbo]

GreenV8S said:

Depends how they're running it. If they're doing a cold start and then leaving a diesel to idle for 10 - 15 minutes then it's likely to have been running cold for most / all of that time. That's quite different to getting up to temperature and sitting in traffic.

I can drive out of my house and get stuck in traffic. It happens, that's normal life.

I can start the car up to heat up in winter, it's essential. It's part of normal service.


Even French vehicles should be able to cope with normal life when brand new.

Unless of course they've done something else, damaged something, blew something up electrically during whatever work they are doing....all may not be as clear as it seems ?

[Smint]

Sounds faulty to me, if it was that easy to block the DPF those parcel drivers on 100/200 drops a day wouldn't get past day 2 before the DPF choked up.

Most trucks now have the ability for the driver to select a static regen when safe if they've had to cancel regens if inconvenient, surely this van chassis has some form of regen capability.

[stevemcs]

Doesn’t it have 1 year roadside assistance ? If so I’d be calling them and letting them deal with it.

[NMNeil]

stevieturbo said:

Just hope whatever has gone on will not affect your warranty, but we know dealers will like to wriggle out of things

The Citroen warranty does not cover;
"The consequences of repairs, conversions or modifications which may have been carried out on your vehicle by companies which are not approved by the manufacturer, as well as the consequences of fitting accessories which are not approved by the latter"
https://www.citroen.co.uk/content/dam/citroen/uk/b...

[GreenV8S]

stevieturbo said:

I can drive out of my house and get stuck in traffic. It happens, that's normal life.

You can do it, but it isn't normal to repeatedly start a diesel, leave it at cold idle and then shut it down. Diesels heat up extremely slowly off load and cold running is bad for any engine.

[Polly Grigora]

stevieturbo said:

GreenV8S said:

Depends how they're running it. If they're doing a cold start and then leaving a diesel to idle for 10 - 15 minutes then it's likely to have been running cold for most / all of that time. That's quite different to getting up to temperature and sitting in traffic.

I can drive out of my house and get stuck in traffic. It happens, that's normal life.

I can start the car up to heat up in winter, it's essential. It's part of normal service.


Even French vehicles should be able to cope with normal life when brand new.

Unless of course they've done something else, damaged something, blew something up electrically during whatever work they are doing....all may not be as clear as it seems ?

Yes it's a load of fking bks

You buy a new motor and do what the fk you want with it when it comes to starting and stopping the engine

If there are warnings all over the front cover of the handbook, a big fker of a sign hanging from the mirror and others stuck to the insides of the windows then things are different

The main above difference being that the dealer won't sell any vehicles

Amen, rant over

[TwinKam]

You've clearly never read a handbook then, Penny.