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Warning for diesel owners - I'll never have another

Smiffy said:
When somebody comes into the showroom or onto the forecourt asking for a Diesel car, I'll always ask how many miles they are doing a year.
If they are doing only a very low mileage, certainly under 10k I'll always mention the benefits of driving a petrol car to them.
A Diesel car is normally more expensive than the equivalent petrol one (in the Qashqai range, as much as £1750.00 in some instances) and unless they are doing a high mileage they will never make up the deficit in fuel savings.
Some people like the low down torque that a Diesel car gives them, so the above information won't sway them one way or the other.
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What he sez.

The was a guy on the radio from the RAC last week. He said that if you're not doing over 15k miles a year you'll be better off with a petrol car.
 
Got myself an older diesel last year just as a long range motorway burner. Had loads of DPF problems instantly as it hadn't been driven much in a while. Took it back, they regened it and basically fine since. Sometimes the light comes on when I gun it up a hill to overtake because the engines high mileage so chucks out enough soot to make the sensor think its in trouble but it soon clears itself.
 
Herein lies the problems of modern motoring... My old bangers used to get me from A to B equally effectively [most of the time]... And, when they went wrong most repairs cost less than a score...
 
Oh joy! DPF fixed & I now have the common problem with the swirl valves, requiring a new manifold, which looks like it can only be done by removing the engine. Oh for the days of the simple petrol engine with a carburettor & magneto. I could fix them myself!
 
A sequel to my sorry tale. As a result of the swirl valve problem the brand new DPF became completely blocked within 40 miles & I had to be towed to Bristol Street Motors to px my car. Fortunately, they honoured the px price we'd already agreed. This is after the garage who replaced the DPF advised me it was OK to drive - wrong! and that the DPF couldn't be cleaned - wrong! Now negotiating to have their bill reduced. Important to find a mechanic who understands these complicated engines, the internet is full of stories about expensive repairs & misdiagnoses by repairers who don't know what they're doing.
 
Feel your pain, I had a Citreon C5 1600 estate which was a big roomy motor and went forever on a tank of diesel and I miss. However DPF issues arose and condemned the car due to repair costs, damn things are a menace, was told to run the car in 3rd for 20 miles at 4000 prms by garage to clear the thing but it didn't work, tried additives etc - on one occasion the car went into limp mode (due to DPF) climbing over the Soutra hill south of Edinburgh with an artic bearing down on me, brown trousers time!

There are companies out there offering to remove dpf's but where that leaves you re MOTs I don't know.

Ended up trading in for a petrol Hyundai Tucson.
I drive a Yeti diesel through work and its been fine but is on a lower mileage.
 
maxfli65 said:
Feel your pain, I had a Citreon C5 1600 estate which was a big roomy motor and went forever on a tank of diesel and I miss. However DPF issues arose and condemned the car due to repair costs, damn things are a menace, was told to run the car in 3rd for 20 miles at 4000 prms by garage to clear the thing but it didn't work, tried additives etc - on one occasion the car went into limp mode (due to DPF) climbing over the Soutra hill south of Edinburgh with an artic bearing down on me, brown trousers time!

There are companies out there offering to remove dpf's but where that leaves you re MOTs I don't know.

Ended up trading in for a petrol Hyundai Tucson.
I drive a Yeti diesel through work and its been fine but is on a lower mileage.
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Apparently you can remove the guts from the DPF and program the car's computer to bypass the exhaust gas recirculation valve but whether the car would pass the MOT emissions test is debatable. If you get caught you can be prosecuted for Vehicle Excise fraud & be fined £5,000. Hardly worth the risk.
 
It would fail the MOT as your car is supposed to have it and you are removing it. In addition you would be in trouble insurance wise as you are altering the car. Insurance companies love a technicality.
 
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My old C250 Turbodiesel Merc has had no problems ( touch wood). 191,000 on the clock and still going strong. Independent dealer I take it to has seen em with 300k plus on the clock.
German engineering......
 
Key phrase there is old. Less parts added on that cause problems now, probably less electronics as well. The older Mercs, E class in particular, were absolute work horses, in the nicest possible way, and go round the clock many times over. I bet your old Merc has never even heard of a DPF.
 
CMAC said:
and petrol is cheaper than diesel
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^ Yes, isn't this the most important point? I never even considered buying diesel when I got my new motor. Noisy, smelly things. The point of them was that, 20 years ago, diesel was miles cheaper than petrol, especially on the continent, so it was worth the extra outlay and the fuel economy returns in those days.
 
Just a follow up. I'm enjoying my new petrol vehicle, smooth & quiet. Also discovererd that modern diesels are even more complicated. In addition to the dreaded DPF they now, in order to reduce Nitrous Oxide emissions, have to have a pump fitted, which injects pee into the exhaust. Well, a mixture of urea & water actually, but that's more or less the same. There are up to 12 sensors fitted to monitor the process and you have to fill up the tank every 5,000 miles. If you don't, the car goes into limp mode & eventually won't let you restart it. The stuff is called Adblue & any vehicle with a badge saying "Blutech" or " Blumotion" have got them. More & more complicated, more & more to go wrong.
 
my car a new INSIGNIA CDTI has a self cleaning system that if you havnt done the miles or done a lot of stop start trips goes into cleaning mode, never had a problem with any of my cars.
 
Dan2501 said:
This. My Toyota Yaris has 191,000 on the clock, and is still going very strong. Japanese seem to do great diesel engines.
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Got to disagree there I had a RAV 4 t180 diesel it was a nightmare with DPF and EGR problems - I won't buy another Toyota!
 
Jensen said:
My old C250 Turbodiesel Merc has had no problems ( touch wood). 191,000 on the clock and still going strong. Independent dealer I take it to has seen em with 300k plus on the clock.
German engineering......
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no its probably has got a dpf on it - is it pre 2006?
 
My car gave up the ghost last week on the A19. Should find out today what the damage is but if it needs replaced I'll almost certainly be looking at a petrol family sized car like a Focus.
 
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