Regen: Is This Normal?

[Lone Wolf]

last two full tanks it has regen at less than quarter of a tank?
I mainly do about 15 miles per journey
The last tank I’ve just done completed 3 full regen’s Where normally it does only two.
Normally on the second regen which is just under half a tank that normally doesn’t regen anymore and besides thought it would not be possible to regen under quarter of a tank?

 

[Northern Monkey]

Mines done that before it just stops the regen when the fill up light pings on.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Ok thanks mate, i was on the understanding it couldn’t regen with only a quarter of a tank

 

[Northern Monkey]

Yeah I’ve seen people say that, the regen will finish its cycle when you fill up again.
I think this maybe when people get dpf light coming on because they run the tank right down but it hasn’t finished the regen cycle I tend to fill up before or just as the fill up light comes on.

 

[hallix100]

Hi,

Very, very new to this and keep reading about not switching off engine when doing a regen…. What does this mean? How will I KNOW it’s doing its regeneration??

 

[Drive Wayne]

Hi,

Very, very new to this and keep reading about not switching off engine when doing a regen…. What does this mean? How will I KNOW it’s doing its regeneration??

There really is so much info on the search on here, but basically revs at idle go up to around 1000 from 900, and it feels a bit rough! Look for the jump in idle revs from 900 to 1000. Usually when you've done a longer journey and you pull up on the drive, it's time to take her out for another 7 or 8 minute spin, preferably on a faster road, try to keep driving revs at 2000+. Wait for the idle revs to drop back to 900 and the oil temp stabilises around 93 degrees, having gone up to around 98/100 degrees. My display is permanently on oil temp... Well, that's what happens with mine, even my wife is trained now!

 

[ginkster]

Interrupting a regen once in a while doesn’t matter. The problem comes if you do lots of short journeys and constantly keep stopping the regen from completing. If you interrupt one it will restart it on the next drive so try to ensure that one finishes. Indications of a regen are:

• Higher idle - approx 1000rpm.
• Stop/start not operating.
• Fan running for several minutes after switching off the engine.
• A burning smell (like a cooker burning off spilled food) that you can sometimes smell when stationary and window down.

It’s very difficult to tell it’s doing a regen, unless you spot the high idle, so the fan running after switching off tends to be the tell tale. If you have Carista you can get DPF Monitor for VAG app (CarPlay compatible) and use that to see what is happening with regens. Useful if taking a different route home will allow a regen to complete.

 

[mlh677]

Welcome to the forum @hallix100 !

As mentioned above, you will get used to the engine tone - and the revs will be higher when at idle.

If you have an Android device, another way to keep an eye on what the DPF is doing is to use the Torque app. I find this information useful to understand - since as alluded to above, my van also loves going into regeneration about 50ft from my driveway!

I permanently leave a Bluetooth OBDII device plugged into my van and thanks to @mmi posting a Torque configuration file I can easily see what is happening with my DPF. ([T6_measured] Monitoring DPF regeneration, DPF condition, EGR operation)

In the example below you can see that my van had been regenerating for 16 minutes and 45 seconds. The DPF Soot value is 6.16g which indicates it is coming to the end of the regeneration (at around 5.50 - 5.75g). In my case the regeneration is always triggered at around 24g of soot - and you will also see that the previous regeneration completed 387.8 miles earlier. This suggests mainly motorways and A-Roads, since I managed to experience a couple of regens within about 140 miles when on holiday in the Yorkshire Dales earlier this year.

 

[hallix100]

Interrupting a regen once in a while doesn’t matter. The problem comes if you do lots of short journeys and constantly keep stopping the regen from completing. If you interrupt one it will restart it on the next drive so try to ensure that one finishes. Indications of a regen are:

• Higher idle - approx 1000rpm.
• Stop/start not operating.
• Fan running for several minutes after switching off the engine.
• A burning smell (like a cooker burning off spilled food) that you can sometimes smell when stationary and window down.

It’s very difficult to tell it’s doing a regen, unless you spot the high idle, so the fan running after switching off tends to be the tell tale. If you have Carista you can get DPF Monitor for VAG app (CarPlay compatible) and use that to see what is happening with regens. Useful if taking a different route home will allow a regen to complete.

Thanks for info, really helpful. The carista - do these affect the warranty? Are they easy to use?

 

[Sasquatch]

Thanks for info, really helpful. The carista - do these affect the warranty? Are they easy to use?

No. OBDII is, by law, an open architecture to allow anyone to plug into it in order to work on a vehicle, related to the block exemption regulations. You only start treading on the warranties toes when remaps or the like are piped in, and modern VW ECUs do keep an undeletable log every time the software is changed so a dealer would know even if its flashed back to standard.

Apparently, yes. Word is favourable enough that I've ordered mine.

 

[Drive Wayne]

I love my Carista, easy to use, great for keeping an eye on the soot levels so you become more aware of when Regens are about to happen.
Well worth the yearly fee for me, £40 ish. There are many tweaks you can perform to personalise your van, clearing inevitable fault codes every month is worth doing, a really useful bit of kit.
Great start into the fantastical world of VCDS!

 

[ginkster]

Thanks for info, really helpful. The carista - do these affect the warranty? Are they easy to use?

No they don’t effect the warranty. Very easy to use, it’s just a simple app and a dongle you plug into the OBD port (bottom right of dash). You get a short free trial which is enough to have a play. I don’t bother with the subscription as you can do many things with the free ‘beta’ version and also monitor the regens. If there was something than specifically needed the subscription you can by a months worth through the app. They are on offer regularly on Amazon at the £20-25 mark - I paid £17 about 18 months ago.