P0401 code and soot on exhaust tips

So last week the check engine light came on so I scanned it and came up with the P0401 code. Read up on it and wasnt to worried. Then I was washing my car on Friday night and noticed soot on the tips, which was never there before the code. Went on a 300 mile trip yesterday and only averaged 30 mpg's running 75(averaged 35-36 before). Is it a good guess the dpf is shot? Egr also shot too? On a 2010 jsw tdi.

EGR relies on DPF back pressure to achieve requested recirculation rate. More than likely, DPF got cycled out and failed to regen, ECU cranked up EGT to regen DPF, DPF overheated and cracked, EGR fault followed. You need a DPF and an EGR 'beer can' filter.

So if I need to get those replaced, would it be worth it to just delete them?

And how long can I drive with them bad? I don't have extra money right now due to changing jobs. Was gonna do the deletes at tax time but don't know if it will make it that long.

wow... you're going quite far on a guess. Get it checked out.

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/16785/P0401/001025

I emailed a local shop that specializes in vw/audi to see what they thought so hopefully they can look at it and diagnosis the problem.