Cold weather and short trips

[TDIBone]

With the cold weather and the fact my new job is only a ten minute drive from home, neither of these are great for TDI engines. Is there anything extra I should do to help preserve my engine?

I already had a DPF warning, which I cleared by taking the long way home over 40mph.

Thanks!

 

[kjclow]

find a way to get it out and run it on at least a bi-weekly trip. Gotta blow those cobwebs out.

 

[Lightflyer1]

There are apps and a OBDII dongle that will let you monitor them and what exactly is happening. I would start using one of those. VagDPF is the one I use. Android phone needed but they are cheap used.

 

[TDIBone]

Thanks!

 

[TurboABA]

Just take a good HWY rip every weekend to allow a regen to take place and you'll be fine. Hop on the 403, take a cruise down to 401, exit 59 and loop back while drinking a coffee on cruise control.

 

[Lightflyer1]

That might do it but for such a small cost why not know it is getting done when needed? Save some fuel on unnecessary trips.

 

[TurboABA]

I'm not discouraging having the insight by any means, but 10min drives will never allow regens to complete.

 

[Cuzoe]

Yup... It's not cold where I am but I have a sub 2 mile commute, and go home for lunch half the time. I like my car more but the wife's car is nicer so mine rarely gets driven on the weekends.

If I notice a regen (high idle, weird sluggishness off the line) I'll keep driving or even let it finish in the parking lot if I'm getting to work. If I'm nearing the end of a tank without having felt one of these regens I'll take a "long way" home and get on the highway for 20 minutes or so. Even if it doesn't complete the regen on the highway that always gets one started and it will finish on the way back home.

 

[TurboABA]

That might do it but for such a small cost why not know it is getting done when needed? Save some fuel on unnecessary trips.

Furthermore, there aren't really any fuel savings to be had, as continued attempted\failed\interrupted regens attempts due to his use pattern will increase his daily consumption as a result. It's much more efficient in my view to just waste $5 of diesel on the weekend to go for a constant cruise rather than to commute all week in an attempted regen state.... or let your vehicle idle for 30min with the hopes that it will finish the regen.

Frequent short trips
For the regeneration process to be initiated in the diesel particulate filter, the exhaust gas temperature is increased
by the engine management system.
In the event of frequent short trips, the exhaust gas temperature cannot reach a sufficient level. Regeneration
cannot be carried out successfully. Subsequent regeneration procedures that are carried out with excessively high
levels of carbon soot deposit can lead to overheating and damage to the particulate filter. The filter could become
blocked due to a high level of carbon deposit. This blockage in the filter could cause the engine to fail.
In order to prevent these cases from happening, a diesel particulate filter warning lamp will be activated in the
dash panel insert once a specific limit is reached in the filter storage capacity or after a certain number of
unsuccessful regeneration procedures.
The driver is thereby requested to drive the vehicle at increased speed for a short period of time in order that the
required exhaust gas temperature can be reached for purposes of diesel particulate filter regeneration

 

[Lightflyer1]

Having the app to monitor, lets that not happen at all. You can see when a regen is needed and take action only then. No need to waste time and fuel driving around when not needed, hoping a regen happens. Continual short tripping can be a severe detriment to the car. Monitoring the status and taking action only when needed will save fuel from just indiscriminately driving around with your fingers crossed hoping it will happen this time.

 

[TurboABA]

"I" need zero apps or monitors to tell you that he will NEVER have an active regen complete if he only drives 10min.
He can't even reach operating temps in 10min up here during the cold season.

The system also has distance dependent "triggers" for exactly this purpose.... users who don't meet the regen criteria due to their use pattern. So regardless of what the user knows (in terms of a regen is needed, or soot load values off a monitoring app), the systems attempts to make things happen..... however, if the user keeps interrupting them, they simply can't.

This is why you are eventually greeted with the DPF warning lamp, just as he already has, which tells you that you need to go waste some fuel and time to allow it to complete that regen.

I stand by my statement. Take a weekly or biweekly (if you're worried about wasting fuel unnecessarily) 20min drive at constant hwy speeds and you should never see a DPF light or have to worry about how many attempted regens you've interrupted during your normal weekday use, until ofcourse something fails and needs replacing. (like an EGT probe, etc)

 

[Lightflyer1]

He will have a regen if monitoring and taking action when needed. You are correct that short tripping will eventually clog the dpf "if" some action isn't taken. My point is go ahead and short trip but monitor and take action when required. The knowledge gained from monitoring is useless if you don't act on it when needed.

 

[Cuzoe]

I don't use any monitoring app regularly. I only used it once to see if the car completed a regen while in the parking lot (a regen that started during my sub-10 minute commute). It did complete. And I understand there are triggers, but in my case it seems the threshold for the triggers relaxes as a regen becomes more necessary. I could also be completely off base, but I have never seen a DPF light, and my commute with no "traffic" can be done in 4 minutes.

As a general practice if the idle is high, as during a regen, I don't shut the car off. Admittedly I'm more vigilant about this given that I know how bad my commute is for a TDi.

 

[TurboABA]

Your HOT climate driving is very different than the OP's COLD climate, and this is a major contributing factor.

 

[kjclow]

Just take a good HWY rip every weekend to allow a regen to take place and you'll be fine. Hop on the 403, take a cruise down to 401, exit 59 and loop back while drinking a coffee on cruise control.

Most of the time I make that trip I average around 30 kph. Not going to get too many regens at that speed.

 

[TurboABA]

Not sure what you're doing driving like a granny on our HWYs, on this side of the border.... stay down there granny!

 

[Cuzoe]

Your HOT climate driving is very different than the OP's COLD climate, and this is a major contributing factor.

I'm with you, mentioned it in my first post. But I never see oil temp on my drive (using performance monitor and/or dash) because it's too short. Coolant temp needle rarely moves either, and it was 55 degrees this morning. We call that freezing .

 

[TurboABA]

14f or so around here this morning, so as you can imagine that wouldn't help any.

 

[Lightflyer1]

21F here this morning in Central Texas.