Particulate Filter replacement $$

YukonLT said:

Nice! Any other problems you have had?

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See post #58 on this thread:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=371626&page=4

mortimersnerd said:

Wait, what? How in the world did you rack up that kind of mileage in 4 years?

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Not quite 4 years yet (purchased May 2010) but I'm a professional courier and bought my sportwagen specifically for my job. The fuel mileage plus cargo space with seats folded flat sold me. Some days I drive close to 1000 miles, other days (like yesterday) only 100 miles. Average is about 300 a day though. Hoping to get at least another 200K miles.....maybe more?

bruce846 said:

My annual state inspection would be interesting with an emissions code activated.

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The NC state inspection for a diesel does not include emissions, just the safety piece and should cost you $13.50. I just had both of mine done in the last two weeks.

limbwalker said:

I discovered that my DPF had failed (cracked) before the 120K mark.

Private mechanic told me he thought he could get the replacement parts for about $900, plus his labor (not sure what that would have been) to replace it. Dealership told me $1700-1900 in parts, plus their labor (approx. $700-900) to replace it.

Having had mine fail before the scheduled inspection threshold, I would have been very reluctant to replace it. Had I decided to keep the car, I would have had it deleted.

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Is this only for the DPF part, or it also includes the EGR, NOx and/or CAT replacement? Happy holidays.

Update:
Went to the dealer today and had the DPF checked. As previously posted, I currently have 282,200 miles on the JSW, with 257,000 on the DPF that was replaced under warranty at 25,000 miles. Got the bad news that I was hoping not to hear. DPF has 300 ml of accumulation and service manager said 175 was max allowable. Guess I'm more than just a tad bit over. Anyway, estimate is $2430, of which $1452 is parts and $890 is labor. Breaking down further, the cat converter with particulate filter is $1100 and manifold tube is $245. The remainder are gaskets and misc exhaust parts. No EGR replacement. Advised this would be a 2 day job (10 hours labor). Parts have been ordered and hopefully they will have the job completed by the end of next week.

Pretty big expense that I had not budgeted for. But with the mileage I'm not suprised. Keeping fingers and toes crossed that nothing else major will need to be repaired or replaced for awhile.

Thanks for posting your information. It is a big expense but I am sure you weren't surprised considering your impressive mileage. Did you consider having one of the TDI gurus install the system? I don't know where in Michigan you are located but I've heard good things about Martin Bergel in Fowlerville (http://www.martinbergelllc.com/index.html)

Not to derail your thread but with this mileage I have to ask... How's the driver's seat holding up? Worn? Lost its support?

I'm in the Grand Rapids area. Don't know any gurus here but my JSW is my job, so can't afford to be without my vehicle too long. Dealer is providing loaner (as they normally do when I drop more than $500 or so). I've tried several indie VW/Euro car repair places in the GR area over the past 3 years but none were competent and some were even HIGHER priced than dealer.

Driver's seat is still OK, although truth be told, even when brand new not the most comfy. I long for an 8-way adjustable, fully powered seat. Lumbar support is a joke, but maybe it's just not made for someone who is 5'3"?

Fully understand your logic behind using the dealer for your repair. As for the seat I wonder if any of the luxury CC model seats would fit? I assume they must be better.

Keep everyone posted on your mileage. You truly win the mileage tally for the A6 JSW!

I've driven several 2013 Passats (loaners) with very nice 8 way power seats. Maybe when I have the DPF job done next week I can switch the seats without anyone noticing?

I've made it to 500,000 on a couple Chrysler minivans, so shouldn't be a reach to think I will get at least that many miles on my JSW.

Did you have any dash lights on before you had the dealer inspect the DPF?

740GLE said:

Did you have any dash lights on before you had the dealer inspect the DPF?

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Interested as well. No lights means it's still chugging along and I'd keep the thing until the car warns you about it.

^^ +1 on the warning light question.

I had a CEL but not a DPF light on mine, even though the eventual diagnosis was a cracked DPF. This is why I questioned the initial diagnosis - because the DPF light wasn't on, and the codes that were thrown didn't point to it.

dzcad90 said:

Interested as well. No lights means it's still chugging along and I'd keep the thing until the car warns you about it.

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Try that logic with yer oil change interval, too. Or timing belt.

The maintenance schedule says, at 120k miles, to "check DPF for ash loading, and replace if necessary. If not necessary, check every 10k miles thereafter."

It may be that the car isn't checking the DPF for this 'on the fly.'

There's an idiot light for a major DPF malfunction, but I'm not sure you'd want to wait until that goes on.

see this thread too

This company cleans our DPF's!
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=363974

frugality said:

Try that logic with yer oil change interval, too. Or timing belt.

The maintenance schedule says, at 120k miles, to "check DPF for ash loading, and replace if necessary. If not necessary, check every 10k miles thereafter."

It may be that the car isn't checking the DPF for this 'on the fly.'

There's an idiot light for a major DPF malfunction, but I'm not sure you'd want to wait until that goes on.

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Ain't that the truth! No dash lights on and no codes were found. Even though this is certainly an expensive repair, I think just letting it go and continuing to drive it would most likely turn out to be a worse disaster and even more costly. Can't afford to take that gamble so gonna bite the bullet and just get it done.

I've already been re-thinking diesel, since there are FINALLY getting to be some nice good-mileage small-car gassers out there. Like the Fiesta ST.

This has me questioning diesel even more. If a DPF replacement costs $2400.... I was expecting more along the line of $1500, because the price I'd seen for the DPF (alone) was ~$800. And normally the labor cost equals roughly the parts cost.

At $2400+, that's eating a lot into our fuel savings. tadurkee, that's about a year of your fuel savings, and about 3 years of mine.

tadurkee said:

I've driven several 2013 Passats (loaners) with very nice 8 way power seats. Maybe when I have the DPF job done next week I can switch the seats without anyone noticing?

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Passats only have 6-way power seats, unless you're counting the lumbar adjustment.

frugality said:

I've already been re-thinking diesel, since there are FINALLY getting to be some nice good-mileage small-car gassers out there. Like the Fiesta ST.

This has me questioning diesel even more. If a DPF replacement costs $2400.... I was expecting more along the line of $1500, because the price I'd seen for the DPF (alone) was ~$800. And normally the labor cost equals roughly the parts cost.

At $2400+, that's eating a lot into our fuel savings. tadurkee, that's about a year of your fuel savings, and about 3 years of mine.

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after reading this thread i am in the same boat. did not expect dpf replacement to be thousands of dollars. this is sort of laughable. it almost whipes out any fuel savings from gassers if dpf requires replacement every 120k-150k.

Doing it at the dealer might not be the cheapest way, but for the poster (tadurkee?) it's also a question of car availability, if I understood correctly; it might cost him more than the price difference in lost business, if he can't rent another car.
I would probably pay an independent shop to take it out, and try to reverse flush it with water first.

$2400 over 240,000 miles adds a cent per mile, so about 10% of the fuel cost.

Hey there frugality! Yep, within the past couple years there's been quite a few small cars on the road with gas mileage of 34+ (with small engines to match, 1.2-1.6L, with a couple exceptions), but not with the cargo space of the JSW. My son bought a 2013 Chevy Spark this past July for $9999. Although it's definitely fun to drive, even with the 84hp 1.2L engine, and averages about 35mpg (which is what I'm averaging right now in the cold weather with my lead foot), he's lucky to get 3 bags of groceries in the rear hatch area. Yeah, I know the Spark is one of the smallest cars on the road. Just throwing that out there. But I need cargo space, and the JSW still has the largest cargo capacity and best mpg for a similarly priced wagon. But for someone who doesn't need the cargo space, I agree there's alot more gassers to choose from now.

Coming back to the ash load and warning light question: according to this post the ash load is computed, not measured:http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.php?p=3948694&postcount=15
Have you noticed any change in frequency of regenerations, or fuel mileage slowly getting worse (beyond summer/winter effect)? If the filter is really loaded with ash, the pressure difference trigger for regenerations should go off much more often.

Sorry to go off topic there. Yes, I've noticed a bit of a drop in mileage. Normally I average about 40mpg in summer and 37mpg in winter, but over the past month or so it's been more like 35. I attributed this to the colder than usual November and December we've been having here in Michigan, and my non-conservative driving habits. (Yes, I do drive over the limit on the highways, even when they are snow covered! That's what fuzz busters are for, right?)

As far as regens, can't say I've noticed any more than usual. But again, with the mileage I have, I'm just gonna go ahead and get the DPF/cat converter replaced and then hopefully not have to worry about it for another 200,000 miles.

I bought the 2009 JSW TDI for fuel economy and overall quality and ride quality. The ride quality is there (if you replace the worn LCA bushings regularly), but the overall quality and economy is not there.
There are a few choices that will handily beat the JSW on economy of operation.
When you factor in the gotchas - DFP, HPFP, etc along wilt less than stellar locks and latches, and poor quality sealing of the Plano roof etc. I think this choice could be questionable.
However my wife loves the car and it is a great road car, but definitely not economical operation.
Now with the filling of the DPF and the cost associated it is even a more questionable choice. My car is at 189 at 182,000 miles.

redbarron55 said:

I bought the 2009 JSW TDI for fuel economy and overall quality and ride quality. The ride quality is there (if you replace the worn LCA bushings regularly), but the overall quality and economy is not there.
There are a few choices that will handily beat the JSW on economy of operation.
When you factor in the gotchas - DFP, HPFP, etc along wilt less than stellar locks and latches, and poor quality sealing of the Plano roof etc. I think this choice could be questionable.
However my wife loves the car and it is a great road car, but definitely not economical operation.
Now with the filling of the DPF and the cost associated it is even a more questionable choice. My car is at 189 at 182,000 miles.

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timing belt + DPF + 3x DSG servicing; if all three are required at 120k it costs $5k!

That alone adds up to $0.04/ mile. I think that is pretty high for just this maintenance in addition to oil changes etc.
This is not an economy car by any means. The fuel savings is not impressive when factoring in the additional cost of diesel.
It is a nice road car, but not cheap. I would guess the total cost would be in line with the government estimates of around $0.56 / mile factoring in the fuel, maintenance, and depreciation or more. Especially if you take it to the dealer for service.
I can get by since I do my own work for most service and repairs, but I would not do it again.

The maintenance schedule says, at 120k miles, to "check DPF for ash loading, and replace if necessary.

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Which is all fine and good so long as it doesn't fail on you before 120K

limbwalker said:

Which is all fine and good so long as it doesn't fail on you before 120K

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Like any other part of the car.....

Just dropped off my 2010 JSW TDI ~53000 on the odometer at the dealer because the CEL kept throwing P0104 codes, the tailpipe was totally black and the mileage has been dropping noticeably the past year. The EGR valve is bad and the DPF is cracked. Fortunately it is still under warranty and I am driving a 2014 TDI Passat (I'm not impressed with the de-contented interior compared to the JSW) loaner while it's in the shop.

I, too, am worried about the long-term cost of ownership and am debating about selling it/trading in when it is paid of in the spring. Has anyone heard of any early issues with the Chevy Cruze or Mazda 6 diesels? I was hoping Mazda would have come out with a CX-5 diesel this past year since I would like something that has a higher platform than the JSW but with similar cargo space.

Was reading on another thread that increased oil consumption might also indicate DPF ash overload. I definitely have been adding more oil in between changes. Started noticing this about 50,000 miles ago. Use to add 1 litre, now it's up to 2 or even a bit more.

My appt is scheduled for Jan 2. Most likely will not get my JSW back until the following week. Will update mpg, oil consumption, etc, as I approach 300,000 on the odo.