[dilipkgr]

My Second and a first diesel Car – Experiences with BS6 DPF

Hi,
Thank you Team-Bhp for accepting me as a member. A Big salute to all automobile enthusiasts here on this forum and also reading this post.
Let me take you along with the journey I had with my Galaxy Blue Creta SXO 1.5 Diesel Manual. As the caption suggests this is my second car after my Breeze Blue Wagon R Vxi (K Series-2012 model) which served us for 9.5 years (60k KMS).
Our Galaxy Blue Creta (color option no longer available) was delivered to us on March 6, 2021 which I had booked in November 2020. The car has clocked 36,000 kms as on June 2023 (2 Years 3 months since purchase of car).
I am sharing my experience with DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) issues I have encountered so far. It does not mean that there are no positives/ good experiences with this awesome car, a disclaimer here.

1st encounter;
7710 kms on December 23, 2021
The car threw a DPF warning symbol and check engine light started blinking. Immediately contacted the SA at Arsh Hyundai, Mumbai in the morning. The car was picked from my office in the afternoon and was delivered to me next day morning. It was informed to me that they had cleared the error. That is all I could hear from the SA. This was my first experience, and I came to know later that the symbol apart from check engine light which was glowing was actually a DPF warning which I did not recognize initially. However, there was no warning on the instrument cluster regarding Regen process. Later I came to know that the Regen indicator pops up only when the engine has reached an optimum operating temperature.
Till 7710 kms the car had done multiple trips breaks on Mumbai-Bengaluru Highway with good speeds of 110+ and some heavy throttle inputs to zip through while overtaking.


2nd encounter;
19520 km on July 16, 2022
The car threw a DPF and hazard warning symbol and check engine light started blinking (after a while the DPF warning disappeared). After driving the car for a few kms, the instrument cluster displayed the message “Diesel Filter Regeneration required. See owner’s manual”.
After some trial and error, managed to initiate the Regen process. A timer started on the instrument cluster (count down from 28 min) and the engine revved up and stayed at 2100 rpm for around 30 minutes and the process ended after that. During this process, I had opened the bonnet lid of the car as a precaution against overheating, but the manual does not have a mention about it.
After the Regen process, I used the car for two weeks for short trips (<8 Kms per day). Voila, the DPF warning symbol appears again. I deliberately ignored this warning as I had done Regen recently and a trip to Pune was due after two days. Drove the car for short runs <10km a day for couple of days with DPF warning blinking. During my trip to Pune, I drove the car changing gears at a little above 2500 rpm. Till Khalapur toll plaza, I did some speeds at 80-90 kmph in fourth gear (RPM around 3000) for a good stretch (approx. 30 KM). After this experiment, I concluded that I have to drive the car at some good RPM consistently to burn the soot accumulated in DPF whenever possible.

3rd encounter;
After the Pune trip, my daily use was restricted to just under 8 KM per day for two weeks. The DPF Hide & Seek game was ON again. DPF waning flashed and came to life.
Decided, I shall repeat the same strategy (long drive). But here I drove the car clocking single digit KMS each day for a week. After a week of DPF warning and short drives, took the car to Malshej Ghat. This time I was wrong with my hypothesis. I could not do good speeds on the stretch because of the broken roads. The DPF warning was tirelessly flashing and did not budge at all. When I was just about to reach Malshej ghat my instrument cluster popped a warning Check Exhaust System and also engine check light started blinking.

Called my SA at Sharayu Hyundai, Turbhe and I was told that I can drive the car with such warning (I knew the advice tendered was wrong here) and I did the same. While returning I noticed a weird behavior wrt RPM. The car would not accelerate beyond 3000 RPM in any gear. I could feel the power drop at 2800 RPM. I felt like I was driving a vehicle equipped with a clogged carburetor. The more you tried to accelerate, the more it gave up. So, I drove sedately not to stress the engine and reached Navi Mumbai without any hiccups.
Next day was a Sunday, took the car to Showroom. The head of service advisors was giving excuses to attend the car and was suggesting that I leave my car and collect it the next day. On my insistence and my affirmative stance that I had taken an appointment on previous day, he did budge to assign a SA. Later I came to know that the garage had only 3 scanners out of which 2 were not functional.


The car was taken for diagnosis. Mr Dharmendra took the car to the open yard and the diagnostic tool was hooked to scan. He had to reset the system to initiate a forced Regen process.
The process was started and it was almost similar to Manual Regen process which I had done earlier. But here the instrument cluster did not show any timer. The tablet indicated few parameters with readings as given in images. As the forced Regen progressed, the exhaust gas temperature increased and reached a max of 635 degree centigrade and the soot load decreased from 200% to 0%. With my limited knowledge I am unable to comment on the parameters. Let the pictures do the talking here.









4th Encounter;
At 29200 km odometer reading. After a Mumbai-Sirsi-Bengaluru-Tirumala-Bengaluru-Horanadu-Sirsi- Mumbai trip of around 3500 Kms, I did an exclusive city drive of 90 kms (<10 km drive each time) for 2 weeks after the trip. I wanted to see at what interval DPF indicator flashes again. The 90 km drive was consciously driven sedately without any heavy throttle inputs, less idling time (engine tuned off immediately when not required). Just after driving 90 km the DPF warning came. To burn the soot this time I drove the vehicle on JNPT Road from CBD Belapur on 4th gear in speeds around 60 to 80 kmph constantly. This stretch relatively has less traffic and no speed breakers. The DPF warning disappeared after a drive of around 25 km (around 20 min). Since I stay in Navi Mumbai, taking the car out for a spin is not a pain as highways are easily accessible from here.

Here are my thoughts about clearing a clogged DPF:
If your DPF indicator flashes, see that the engine has reached optimum temperature to initiate a manual Regen. A drive of 6-8 km at speeds more than 60kmph after a cold start will attain such engine temperatures. Only then the instrument cluster pops the message “Diesel Filter Regeneration required. See owner’s manual”. Without this message you cannot do the Manual Regen.
Else, take your car for a spin. Drive in 4th gear in speeds around 60 to 80 kmph constantly till the indicator stops flashing.

My observations/comments on DPF;
1. Short runs assuming a daily run under 10 kms will clog your DPF in two weeks since the exhaust gases have not reached the desired temperature to burn the soot accumulated in DPF during such short runs. It also depends on idle time of engine at traffic signals etc. More the idle time more frequently the DPF clogs irrespective of Kms run.
2. With RDE norms kicking in, I am assuming that this may aggravate and recur more frequently (strictly a guess).
3. I was under the assumption that the DPF may clog at 200-300 km of city drive or short runs. Oh boy! I was wrong here.
4. Keeping the vehicle ON to run the AC to keep the occupants cool when the car is stationery is ruled out unless you are driving extensively in BS 6 Diesel cars.

Two Questions?? at last!
1.To put more clearly, does DPF clog, say if you are driving regularly around 15-20 km at a stretch with medium to heavy traffic (approx. travel time of 1 hr) wherein you can hardly reach 60 kmph speeds occasionally. I presume someone driving a BS 6 diesel in Bengaluru may encounter such scenario often.
2.Anyone can suggest a good economical OBD scanner here, so that I can monitor the soot level.
I felt that Hyundai should have provided a DPF level indicator on instrument cluster to monitor the soot levels regularly.

[Aditya]

Hyundai Creta SX(O) 1.5 Diesel MT - Experiences with BS6 DPF - Post moved to a new thread.

[Sameer016]

Welcome to the club, I have been facing the same issue with my Altroz since past 2 years. Faced the issue multiple times with no real solution other than to change my driving style. I have found few people who drive in stop and go traffic are more prone to DPF clogging. But what to do if your drive is mainly concentrated in the city. Car should serve your purpose not the other way round. The dealership didnt mention it while I was buying the car. Now I have no option other than to drive it as it is, in order to save me from depreciation bomb.

[Phantom 510]

We have a Nexon XZ plus 1.5 diesel MY2021 in our family. It has covered 40k plus kms till now (70% of it done on the highways and 30% in traffic infested driving scenarios). However, we make sure to run it in 2nd/3rd at around 2000 rpm for 10-15 mins whenever the conditions are right (especially during commutes). That helps to clear the soot deposited during the low speed commutes. If a dpf equipped vehicle is lugged around endlessly at low speeds in a high gear then soot deposition takes place. Trick is to drive it in one gear lower than required for some time (10 min atleast) whenever it's driven in the congested low speed environs. And it seemed to have worked in our case. No dpf warning signs till date. Inspite of all this low gear high rpm driving it still returns 12-15 kmpl during the commutes and 17 - 22 kmpl on highways with ac on always. It has to be driven mindfully and not lug it around. It is a small price to pay for all that torque and the fuel economy which a petrol can never match IMO.

[fhdowntheline]

I think you also need to check your source of diesel fuel. Sticking to one particular petrol pump may help reduce chances of getting DPF warnings. I have driven my Creta AT in varied conditions for short distances and haven't faced the issue as such - may be once very early (before 1500km). It also probably helps that I run my car daily to the office on a route that makes the car run at about 50-60 kph at an average RPM of 1500-2200 for most part .
I am not sure what you mean by the probability of this occurring more frequently in the new RDE regime.

[gauravdgr8]

Originally Posted by dilipkgr

My Second and a first diesel Car – Experiences with BS6 DPF


4. Keeping the vehicle ON to run the AC to keep the occupants cool when the car is stationery is ruled out unless you are driving extensively in BS 6 Diesel cars.

This is exactly what I was looking for. Driving a BS4 diesel, this is something seamless. Specially driving in Indian summers, we end up keeping the ac on for extended durations.

Is this something common across all BS6 diesels or just the Creta?

Did anyone with a Harrier/Safari/XUV face this?

[dilipkgr]

Originally Posted by Sameer016

The dealership didnt mention it while I was buying the car. Now I have no option other than to drive it as it is, in order to save me from depreciation bomb.

Dealership should be the last one to look for any Honest suggestions! Like range anxiety in EVs, we have to like with DPF anxiety in BS6 diesels.

Originally Posted by Phantom 510

If a dpf equipped vehicle is lugged around endlessly at low speeds in a high gear then soot deposition takes place. Trick is to drive it in one gear lower than required for some time (10 min atleast) whenever it's driven in the congested low speed environs.

Unlike petrol engines which are revv happy, the torquey diesels are meant to chug around at low RPMs. I have adopted the style as you have suggested to drive in a lower gear wherever possible. Sometimes you can't really help bcoz of traffic etc.,

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

I think you also need to check your source of diesel fuel. Sticking to one particular petrol pump may help reduce chances of getting DPF warnings.
I am not sure what you mean by the probability of this occurring more frequently in the new RDE regime.

I stick to COCO pumps everytime and do a tank full. I am certain that my short rides are the problem here. With emission norms more stringet my guess was that car manufacturers may make DPFs more choking.

[Mach_1590]

My EcoSport behaves the same when extensively driven at lesser speeds for say a week. But since my commute is in non-peak hours, I have seen this error message may be twice in 2+ years of ownership. Consulted the SVC for the same, solution as per them is to drive the vehicle at speeds over 60 km/h for 10-15 kms. I am positive that this issue will crop again once I start making short trips at lesser speeds for multiple days. Also, try to drive over 2k rpm when you are doing those small hauls.

[narayans80]

A year back when I was a prospective BS6 diesel owner. The DPF discussion was vogue. Pretty much every C2 and above segment car that had diesel on offer had these complaints. One of the common traits was the usage was on low speed city usage.

When I brought the Alcazar diesel MT last September, I knew what I was getting into. I have run close to 31000 km in 9 months without any DPF issues.

• The usage is primarily on midrange speed suburb-city commute with speeds between 20 to 80. With the occasional highway run.
• I am particular on where I fill diesel and stick to the same PSU pumps repeatedly. This applies even on highways, where I plan refills at an approximate 600-750 km intervals. Strictly no premium diesel. I am explicitly avoiding Shell for this reason.
• Never really bothered on AC usage. Going by experience, I don't see it has any bearing.
• The Nexa salesman who I had stellar experience buying the S-Cross in 2018. Had no idea the 2022 XL6 had a detuned K15C engine compared to K15B pre-facelift. So am not surprised if car salesmen don't know about DPF quirks, which is entirely usage based.

[shancz]

Layman speak here but the clog interval should also depend on the DPF capacity and amount of soot generated which is dependent on your driving style and engine.

For expert advice here's an awesome thread from ninjanayak (All your questions about DPF & BS6 Diesel answered by a Diesel Calibration Engineer).

[Cooltronics]

Originally Posted by narayans80

[*]I am particular on where I fill diesel and stick to the same PSU pumps repeatedly. This applies even on highways, where I plan refills at an approximate 600-750 km intervals. Strictly no premium diesel. I am explicitly avoiding Shell for this reason.

Why would you not recommend Shell Diesel or premium Deisel ? Does that have inverse relation? I somehow thought it would have been better to use premium Diesel

[MinivanDriver]

I would suggest tracking RPM rather than speed. Even in city traffic, one ahould be able to get the car to 2500 RPM by say driving at 35 KMPH in the second gear. This may be a few KMPH up or down based on the gear ratio (may be 30 KMPH or 40 KMPH for example based on the gear ratios of your particular model of car). Request the author of this thread and other folks with BS6 diesel cars to try this and report back here for everyone's benefit. In an automatic or IMT, hopefully, driving at a lower gear at a higher speed to get the required RPMs could still be accomplished via manual overrides.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by Cooltronics

Why would you not recommend Shell Diesel or premium Deisel ? Does that have inverse relation? I somehow thought it would have been better to use premium Diesel

During the early days of BS6 launch, premium diesel used to trigger frequent DPF clogging. The service centres strongly recommended using plain diesel and that has been the advice since. Shell normal diesel is an option but I never found it worth paying extra that Shell charges.

[kika]

Our XUV7OO has covered close to 13k kms on the past 10 months and I'm happy to say we have not encountered any DPF issues. The car is mainly for highway use but even with the minimal city runs I have never see DPF message flashing. Even though I prefer HP regular diesel, I have used Indian Oil Xtragreen premium diesel a couple of times on highways but never faced any problems with it.

[Sommos]

Originally Posted by dilipkgr

[left]My Second and a first diesel Car – Experiences with BS6 DPF

My observations/comments on DPF;
1. Short runs assuming a daily run under 10 kms will clog your DPF in two weeks since the exhaust gases have not reached the desired temperature to burn the soot accumulated in DPF during such short runs. It also depends on idle time of engine at traffic signals etc. More the idle time more frequently the DPF clogs irrespective of Kms run.

Originally Posted by kika

Our XUV7OO has covered close to 13k kms on the past 10 months and I'm happy to say we have not encountered any DPF issues. The car is mainly for highway use but even with the minimal city runs I have never see DPF message flashing. Even though I prefer HP regular diesel, I have used Indian Oil Xtragreen premium diesel a couple of times on highways but never faced any problems with it.

My XUV 700 is almost one year old and I have not faced this issue till date (touchwood). This is my only car and my daily drive to office is only11 KM. The car is also used for short runs (market) in the evening along with wife. Even with such short running everyday, the XUV has never faced a DPF clogging issue. Also my car is AT and I have never tried to monitor the RPM level - as most people have suggested.