2010 C5 X7 risk of particle filter blocking

[Aidenk777]

Morning all.

I have a 2010 C5 VTR with the 1.6HDI. Recently I have had the ‘particle filter at risk of blocking’ warning come up on the dash, with the associated ‘service’ light.

My usual commute is only five miles, however I have taken several long distance trips (Scotland to Somerset and back, Scotland to Newcastle) but the warning remains. I can feel when the car is doing a regen but it never seems to do it on the long trips, but tries to on my commute and cannot complete.

There is no noticeable loss of power or drivability, the car performs exactly as expected. I have tried a bottle of DPF cleaner in with the fuel but this hasn’t cleared the warning. I’ve tried going for a longer run, doing 70mph in 4th (just over 3k revs) but no luck.

Is there an option to remove the DPF and manually clean it? Is it welded or bolted into place? I have considered getting some diagnostic software for my laptop but there’s about 25 different versions on eBay. My nearest Citroen dealership is quite far away, as the car is only worth around £1700 I’m reluctant to take it to a main dealer unless I have to. I also have the MOT due next month and I’m slightly worried that it’ll fail with that warning up.

Any help would be most appreciated.

[GiveMeABreak]

Might be stupid but: Change the oil and filter to proper no-ash one. Worn oils can cause MOT to fail on emissions.
If you have interrupted regens, you have diluted oil to point of it becoming damaging to engine. When this warms up it causes all sorts of troubles as the fuel begins to evaporate.
They can do a forced regen, which basically is ecu revving the balls out of engine in the parking lot.
On Highway, there should be enough heat to basically burn soot off as it is created.

[Paul-R]

How many miles has the car done?

Also, please post your VIN (it will be masked so only staff can read it) and someone will find out exactly what is fitted to your car.

[RichardW]

2010, so it's probably near 100k? My guess would be it's decided the DPF is full of ash. They can be removed and cleaned (Mr Muscle and a pressure washer, or one of the proprietary DPF cleaners) - but in most cases if they are still regenning, and the differential pressures are OK, then you can just get away with telling the car that the DPF has been replaced and it will re-set the counter.

I'm not that far away from you, and my Lexia will talk to a 2010 car, so could plug it in if you want....

[Aidenk777]

Thank you for all the responses, the vin of my car is:

VF7**************[VIN obfuscated, can be read by forum staff]

The car is on 114k, I did an oil and filter change when I bought it on 107k - I used Petronas 5-30.

It’s a good shout to blast out the DPF, where is it located on the car? Presumably at the back by the back box?

I am located in Helensburgh in the west of Scotland.

[GiveMeABreak]

No, it's part of the catalytic converter assembly at the front manifold - CAT first, then DPF, item 12.

[Aidenk777]

Thanks for adding the drawing, it doesn’t look like it’ll be too tricky to get out if required.

[Stickyfinger]

Thanks for adding the drawing, it doesn’t look like it’ll be too tricky to get out if required.

IMHO you NEED to have the car "read" as that fault can be a number of things wrong......from the DPF blocked/failed to a small £5 magnetic sensor on the fuel flap. To obtain the 2nd and 3rd level diagnostic information a LEXIA/Diabox system must be used. This can be privately owned (about £100-150) or at a main dealer for about £80.

As is....Guess Work is all you have (I accept some of it from experience ....but)

[lexi]

Not that it will cure your problem Aiden, but 70mph in third ( rather than fourth) for a few minutes will do these things good.

[Aidenk777]

Thanks for all the advice, I really appreciate it. I’ll give the car an Italian tune up and get it scanned.

[Stickyfinger]

Whoever scans it...ask for print outs of the saves files....I think you would need the live data as well so always take a SD card
or maybe screen shots by your phones camera.