C3 Picasso DPF additive refill

[russbif]

After putting the job off for some weeks, I today set about topping up the additive tank on my C3 Picasso 1.6Hdi 16v. When I bought the car the dealer said that the additive should last for 80k km's, so, with the odometer showing 77800 I reckoned it was about due.
I have had no warnings at all, but expected to find the tank almost empty.
The tank is in a plastic housing underneath the offside (nearside in UK) of the car and the housing is held together with three small turnbuckle fasteners, when these are released the lower half of the housing droops down and the inside of the housing is exposed. To my surprise there was a thick plastic bag inside, and there is only one connection to the bag, this being via a push in plastic connecter, this is easily released by pressing the green plastic buttons on each side. There is no risk of spillage as there is a one way valve that closes when the connecter is released.
Could it be that Citroen sell a complete new bag as a kit rather than refilling the existing one?
I was surprised to find that the bag was still almost full.... filling was a bit difficult since there is only the one connection to the pump, and with the non return valve being spring loaded you have to press on the valve to allow fluid to enter the bag, this proved messy, but I managed to sort it using a very small funnel, the funnel is pressed down opening the valve and then the fluid is simply poured in.
I had a 1ltr bottle of additive and managed to get it all in, however, this presented a problem on reassembly as the bag would not go back into the reservoir housing, too full. I removed half a litre and all was well.
Reassembly is easy, just put the bag back into the reservoir container and then clip the connector back onto the bag. push the lower housing up into position and secure using the three white turnbuckle fasteners. QED

Very surprised how little fluid I have used, perhaps because I only ever fill the car when the tank reads 1/8th full, I never put a tenners worth in.

Haven't had the counter reset as based on the amount of fluid in the reservoir I don't think the ECU has counted enough fills to be a problem, but a Spanish chap in our town has said he will reset the counter if I wish for €15.

Hope the above helps, its an easy job, and can be done without even jacking the car up. Definitely an easy DIY.

[Richard Stevens]

This seems to be the way they're going - whilst in France and getting help diagnosing a C5 fault last year, I asked about a possible Eolys fluid top-up if required.
The garage reply was that the fluid came either in a 1 litre can or in a ready-to-fit bag of unknown capacity.
As it turned out it didn't need any, and like your car, despite being at around 65k miles, the fluid tank was well above half full. I did check the functioning of the pump by raising the rear seat, removing the large round cover and listening to it running with ignition on.
Also like you, I normally tend to add plenty of fuel at each fill.
Good to hear you suffered no ill-effects from the fluid, contrary to some reports on its qualities!

Cheers

[russbif]

No ill effects yet, my hands were saturated with the stuff until I perfected the funnel technique, it smelt like creosote! I have had worse on my hands in the past.. washed the lot off after about 5 minutes so do not expect any ill effects.
The bag of Eolys had a label saying "for industrial use only" in English, I should have taken a picture of the label, it may be something that is readily available elsewhere, and with a different application, but cheaper. We shall see.

[russbif]

BTW, I thought the additive pump only ran when the filler cap was opened, thus being triggered when refuelling? how did you make it run with the seat up?

[mooseshaver]

Should it matter how often you fill up? I was under the impression that the system measures how much fuel you add and adds the appropriate amount of Eolys.
I've never had DPF troubles on any of my C5s but I also fill full from empty so maybe it does matter.

[spider]

I think it also looks at fuel cap openings as well to determine how much to use. Not 100% sure but on a 406 I seem to think it counts that as a 'full tank' each opening so will squirt some additive in. Those who say put in 20 litres or so of fuel frequently will run out of additive before those who use a near tankful I suspect.

The 'bag' method sounds better really as it could be a messy job otherwise and its not really the kind of liquid you want to stand under a vehicle and have a shower with it.

[mooseshaver]

So if adding fuel additive, add it at the forecourt.
I notice most fuel additives for diesel contain the same ingredient as Eolys. Think it's cerium ? So a dpf car that has the Eolys is a cleaner engine?

[spider]

I think what I was meaning to say is the additive tank will not last as long for those that frequently fill up, ie re-fill every half tank or suchlike.

The Eolys (as fas as I know and its not my area) is simply to burn the soot build up from the particle filter as it gets trapped there that's all. Its debatable in my mind if a car with a DPF is actually 'cleaner' as they are really only 'saving' it for a the fluid to burn off later.

Andy would be interested to measure the exhaust gasses and content at a stationary forced regeneration too, I bet its not clean at all.

[wheeler]

The DPF cant naturally get to a high enough temperature to burn the soot off, what the eolys fluid does it create a chemical reaction that makes the soot burn off at a lower temperature. The big downside of this is the eolys itself can burn either so stays trapped in the DPF & if the system is working correctly its the eolys that eventually blocks the filter requiring it to be replaced (or steam cleaned out ), not soot. This means if you let the system run out of fluid the DPF will clog really quickly.

[mooseshaver]

Does anyone know why Citroen chose the additive route? Others such as Volvo and vauxhall have a cerium coated honeycomb inside the filter instead of an additive.
I guess eventually it burns off an needs the whole thing replaced, but you still need to replace a Citroen one in this country anyway.

It is nice to drive a diesel without a big cloud of black smoke behind you though.

[spider]

I thought cost maybe but the cost of the associated parts would possibly be higher.

I'm not sure on 'big cloud of black smoke' none of my oil burners have smoked to any noticeable degree and were always clean as a whistle at MOT time* , if they are smoking they are overfueling or have been treated too gently too often I suspect but I guess this depends on the smoke level. I do understand the newer engines are 'cleaner' in that they fail the smoke test as the machine sometimes does not think there's a car connected though, so I know what you're saying.



*The Italian tune up immediately prior to the test no doubt helps

[mooseshaver]

It's VAG group cars I notice smoking the most. A friends PD was regularly serviced and had no engine issues, did loads of mpg. But if booted would impress Batman with its smoke screen.
I don't think it was driven gently most of the time either.