No owners manual, got "Diesel-particle filter instructions!"

Hey guys, last night I had "Diesel-particle filter instructions!" show up on my dash. What I was able to look up is that I need to follow the instructions in my owners manual, which may vary depending on the vehicle. The problem is I don't have an owner's manual. So would anyone with a 2009 Jetta TDI be kind enough to look that up for me?

Also, does anyone have a source for a pdf version of that manual? I remember when I bought the car used last year I had a fun time trying to chase one down and came up empty (hard to find TDI version, many versions misprinted or had publishing mistakes, etc.) so if someone could just hook me up with that instead that would be great too.

Thanks.

Jeff7 said:

Also, does anyone have a source for a pdf version of that manual? I remember when I bought the car used last year I had a fun time trying to chase one down and came up empty (hard to find TDI version, many versions misprinted or had publishing mistakes, etc.) so if someone could just hook me up with that instead that would be great too.

Thanks.

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1) To the best of my knowledge, there is no PDF version of the owner's manual.
2) There is no "TDI" version of the manual. There was ever only one Jetta owner's manual. It sorta covered both gas and diesel models.
3) Misprints and mistakes are pretty much normal in these books. My car came with about 50 pages missing and a different 50 pages in it twice. I took it back to the dealer and they just traded manuals with another new car. The guy said that most people don't ever read the manuals so the buyer of that car would probably not even notice.
4) (finally) - all the manual says is that when you get the DPF light you should go for a nice drive. Try to keep the rpms over 2000 for at least 15 or 20 minutes. You can do this easily at highway speeds, or you can just keep it in 4th gear and do it at slower speeds (don't get a speeding ticket).

Do you do mostly short trips with this car? If yes, this could be your problem. If you normally do longer highway driving, it would probably be a good idea to find someone near you with VCDS and do a proper scan of your car to find out exactly what is wrong.

Have Fun!

Don

Yea I had read that some say just go for a longer drive (15+ minutes) and some say drive for 5 minutes at over 3000 RPM, so I wanted to know for sure what it said. Usually I do longer drives with this car, but lately the norm has been different. Jan 9 I drove 1200 km in one day, since then I've barely driven it. A few short 5 minute trips, but last weekend I did drive on the highway for a good 50 minutes both ways. Either way I've got that 1200 km trip to do on Saturday again so hopefully that'll make it go away haha. I'll keep in a lower gear for the first 5 minutes to try and get that heat up.

Would an OBD-II scanner tell me what I need for this or no? I've got one at home so I'll able to use it Sunday.

Jeff7 said:

Would an OBD-II scanner tell me what I need for this or no? I've got one at home so I'll able to use it Sunday.

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A generic OBDII scanner might give you some information, but it will not tell you everything that VCDS can give you. Let us know what it says (if anything) and we will see how useful it is.

Have Fun!

Don

Yea if it doesn't clear up on my long drive I'll be back haha, thanks.

The 2009 owners manual says the primary notification is the DPF lamp, and that messages such as you mention may also be shown

instructions are to:

is your dpf lamp lit?

Yea the light and the notification both came on at the same time. Saturday night I drove back on the highway, so about 110 kph for 50 minutes, then when I went to go to town on Wednesday they both came on before I left the parking lot.

Thanks for that extra info BobnOH. Gave it a read and I've done nothing out of the ordinary. My car is at 150 km (about 93 miles) so I should be good there since it says replacement could happen between 200 and 300 miles. I also buy my oil and filters directly from the dealer, didn't want to be messing around with that. I'm thinking maybe if this doesn't burn off I got some bad fuel, I filled up (about 1/2 a tank) just before driving that 80 km on Saturday.

Is your check engine light on too?

It is possible that one of the temp sensors needed for control of the regeneration cycle is not working.

there could be some other reason the dpf is not regenerating.

the owners manual also says to get proper diagnosis if the drive does not relieve the situation.

it is important to figure this out quickly, because if you go too long there are fewer choices. (and the repairs can get more expensive)

Check engine light is not on, only the DPF and the written status. Took the car out for a good drive and no luck. I've got some time tomorrow so I'm going to get ahold of the nearest delearship and see if they'll at least read the code without charging too much.

So just brought it to a guy with a VCDS, it was just saying it needed to regen. So we went for a drive at 2000 RPM until it was calibrated (the VCDS told us to pull over and idle for a couple minutes) and then we drove on the highway some more. The light is still on. But since it's not saying anything else I'll just do my long drive tomorrow, it'll be a lot of time at about 2000 RPM so if it's going to regen it will do it then.

with a VCDS, would want to know the measured and calculated soot levels,

and any logged errors in the engine controller.

So when the guy was looking yesterday I'm pretty sure there wasn't any errors, that's why he told me to just do some more highway driving. Did 12 hrs yesterday, almost all of it at a steady 120 km/hr (so about 2300-2500 rpm) and the light is still on. Is there anything else I can do before trying to find someone here with a VCDS? And when/if I do find someone what do I want to look for?

With a VCDS, first step would be to run an auto-scan,

check the OBD screens for any error codes (pending or stored)

and get the soot values (measured and calculated soot)

these can be selected from the advance measuring screen looking at the engine controller.

You can also use advance measuring values to check requested regenerations, and miles since regeneration. this will show how long since the computer has seen a completed regeneration of the DPF.
also look at the temperatures before turbo, and before and after DPF.

get the measured soot with the engine running.

both calculated and measured soot should be known.
http://www.natef.org/NATEF/media/NATEFMedia/VW%20Files/2-0-TDI-SSP.pdf

see page 65 (on page bottom) page 69 of 90.

this chart lays out soot values vs the indicator lights.

VCDS can be used to start the service regeneration where that is indicated.


The VCDS can also be used to check operation of the input throttle valve, which is used to reduce flow and increase temperature, much like reducing the chimney flow on a wood stove lets it heat up.

I would think such problems would be noted as errors in the controller logs.

how many miles are on the car?

Awesome, thanks Mike. Once I find a VCDS to use I'll post my results.

Currently the car has 155000 km, so just short of 100 miles.

Alright so since I posted last I've done 2 300 km drives and another 1200 km drive, all highway I'm not counting around town, and the light is still on. Before I did that 1200 km drive I found someone with a VCDS and he said there is nothing coming up as far as errors go. He said none of the sensors were coming up as bad and there were no other faults. This is the info he saved and sent to me:

0.0 Successful Regenerations
1.0 Requested Regenerations
0.0 l Fuel Consumption Since last Regen
0 km Mileage Since last Regen
3.6 Soot Load(g) Calculated
0.0 Soot Load(g) Measured

So it seems like it has never done a regen, which doesn't make sense. Also, with it saying the soot value at 3.6 g there's no reason for the light to be on according to that graph in the doc Mike posted.

Anyone know where I can go from here? Does it maybe seem like it's stuck constantly regening?

I have never seen any value in the successful regens.


the low requested regen number, and the low calculated soot load, and the 0 km since last regen makes it look like it just completed a dpf regen

if you had continued access to a VCDS, it would be interesting to log over a couple drives and see if those soot values increase as you drive.

(and how the various exhaust temps behave)

I do not have any more bright ideas for this

If I wake up with one, I will let you know.

do you need to make that light go off for an inspection or something?

it is hard to diagnose if there really are no error codes registered anywhere.

does the speedometer and odometer work ok?

Ah OK that's good to hear about the requested regens. I wonder if it's just constantly trying to regen. And no I don't need it off for any specific reason other than I want to fix it haha. I'll see what I can do about trying to rent/borrow a VCDS for a day and do some driving. Try and figure out how to use it myself instead of someone else doing it. I just don't want it to turn into something worse, odd that the light is on with only 3.6 soot value though.

Hey so my check engine light came on today right when I started it, so hopefully that helps sort this out.

P2004
P2006
P2015

Jeff7 said:

Hey so my check engine light came on today right when I started it, so hopefully that helps sort this out.

P2004
P2006
P2015

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You are in luck. All three codes are intake manifold related and they are probably all caused by that P2015 issue. Luckily there is an easy fix for this problem. See here: https://www.dieselgeek.com/P2015_Intake_Manifold_Flap_Position_Sensor_s/1900.htm
There is also a thread here that discusses this issue: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=418195


Have Fun!

Don

P.S. Jim (Dieselgeek) also has a nice how-to video on YouTube to show you how to install this little fix.

Awesome, thanks a lot everybody.

Quick question, could anyone explain how this check engine light and the DPF light are connnected?

Alright just figured I would do a final post on this thread. I ordered the bracket from diesel geek and that got rid of my CEL and my DPF did a successful regen and the light went out after a very short drive. So that was awesome, cheap fix and did it in about 10 minutes.

Glad you got it fixed. The car requires a couple of components to be working in order to successfully complete a DPF regeneration. If one of those components has failed, it won't be able to regenerate the DPF and you run the risk of clogging the DPF and doing permanent damage to it if you keep driving for long enough.

It's important to repair the vehicle as soon as possible when there is a check engine light and/or a DPF light.