My first regen?

[Daugen]

As I parked my TDI in the garage, the fan kept roaring away. And there was an odor, the best I could describe it as the smell you get when you are running the self clean cycle on the oven. Definitely something burning, but not strong. The fan ran for about five minutes, then shut off.
And the smell went away slowly.

I'm guessing this is all normal. But as a newbie, I'd like a sanity check here please. I have a concrete floor, btw. Thanks

I have a portable gasoline can and two full propane cylinders in the opposite corner of the garage, near the door. Having been a volunteer fireman, I'm pretty sensitive to ignition sources and keep those nasty but necessary items as isolated as I can. The gas can and propane cylinders are in first class condition and don't leak, very careful about that. paranoid actually, retired insurance agent and underwriter.

So now this little furnace of activity comes into the garage, where there's a bit of volatility concerns. Should I leave it parked outside to finish its work?

 

[Revpeach]

From an emission point of view it would be better if you left the car outside during the regen shutdown. I doubt if you have a fire hazard. Better yet, get a scan gauge so you can tell when a regen is happening and leave the car run until the regen is over. A lot easier on your turbo. (Running the car outside, of course.)

 

[Daugen]

From an emission point of view it would be better if you left the car outside during the regen shutdown. I doubt if you have a fire hazard. Better yet, get a scan gauge so you can tell when a regen is happening and leave the car run until the regen is over. A lot easier on your turbo. (Running the car outside, of course.)

I feel like a little kid asking why? why? why?
Does a dash light come on during regen? Any oem indicator? Or are you saying I need a plug in diagnostic tool to determine this?

What I don't know is when I pull into the garage and hear the fan whirring, is it because it had come on during normal operation, or does it come on only during regen? It's cold out, and the temp never goes over what looks like 190 degrees.

Why does the regen process involve the turbo bearings? Thought it was further down the line...have a lot to learn here. I have owned turbo diesels for many years, understand not cooking the oil in the bearings during shutdown, need to idle the engine for awhile. But I've never owned anything with an automated cook cycle to it.

I had a friend who used to live in Teaneck NJ where they constantly have cars parking on piles of leaves in the Fall, because it all gets dumped on the street. How close to the ground is the highest heat source?

appreciate all the info. I don't want regen-interruptus either.

 

[Lightflyer1]

Please go read in the forum for your particular car. This has all been covered many times and a search should educate you a lot. A search first before asking is always a good idea as you will usually get an answer immediately instead of waiting for someone to answer an often asked question.

 

[Daugen]

this is a general discussion area and I had a general question about what to expect during regen, which I assumed applied to all late model VW's.
I'll certainly take your suggestion, and thank you for the newbie idiot lecture.
I've been on forums a long time, and did try, unsuccessfully to search.
Your advice is good and I will take it.

Are you a newbie (new to the forums). Feel free to post your question here.

 

[akjdouglass]

Best indicator of a regen (besides fans whirring) is engine idling about 200 rpm higher than normal after you stop. I always check the tach before I shut down. Regen is in progress if idle is about 1000 rpm instead of idling normally around 800 rpm.
I tell my wife to drive drive a few more miles if she stops in the middle of a regen, to allow it to dissipate the insane temperatures created in the exhaust.

 

[Lightflyer1]

Searching the site for "regen" in the title yields:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/search.php?searchid=14770064

over 99 threads and with it in the post is even more. I don't know how you were unsuccessful. Welcome to tdiclub! Almost every question you could ask already has an answer here. I wasn't trying to call you an idiot, just point out that you could get an immediate answer from the many postings already. No one knows what the experience level is of newbies when they come aboard. I was just trying to help.

 

[Daugen]

Welcome to tdiclub! Almost every question you could ask already has an answer here

Well Lightflyer, if you had said welcome first, I think I would have responded differently, and I am a little saddened that I guess there isn't much point of posting questions and enjoying comradery here because it's all been done before. And I sure wouldn't want anyone to suffer the potential indignities of repeating their wisdom to a new person.

Ok, we've both made our points. Sorry to be a bit oversensitive.
I explain searching to lots of new members on another forum, tractorbynet.com so I understand your trying to help. And appreciate it.

 

[Lightflyer1]

I am a little saddened that I guess there isn't much point of posting questions and enjoying comradery here because it's all been done before. And I sure wouldn't want anyone to suffer the potential indignities of repeating their wisdom to a new person.

Plenty of room for camaraderie here without continuous repeat threads that have been answered many times already and clog up the search engine. We already have 10,000 threads on "Which oil do I use?" and the like and the answers almost never change. When there are already over 100 threads on regens, why rehash all that over again? As a forum user you should have some idea about this already. Some members with huge amounts of knowledge choose to stop answering questions because of this. This is a loss to us all. Part of the reason it is hard to find things here is the million returns when searching and members not willing to read through all of them to find one simple item. This is a recurring issue here and myself and others have been through it too, it isn't just you. Most newbies here tend to post first and ask later (if at all). I am not picking on you just pointing out that you can find most answers almost immediately without posting a new thread. If you still have an issue add to one of the existing threads so the info stays confined to as few threads as possible. Enjoy yourself and hope your time here is informative and worthwhile. I won't trouble you any more.

 

[MontrealTDI]

The fans whirring loud and the smell are completely normal during an interrupted regen. As long as the regen gets to complete eventually you have nothing to worry about. I could not care less if a regen is on or off.

The only time you MUST care is if you do not go out on the highway often enough (or it has not succesfully completed a regen in a long time) and this indicator comes up on your cluster

Then you have to take it out and drive until it goes off.

But as I stated earlier, 99% of people will never see this indicator light.

 

[Cogen Man]

http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q/vw-jetta-tdi-golf-dpf-filter.htm

Daugen
Above is a link to some good info on regens for you. And I didn't say go search

 

[Daugen]

I appreciate the info, and what I read is no indicator while operational but the above light comes on if it is unhappy, and likely needs a good run out on the highway.

Would a couple of full throttle Sport mode accel runs help, the old blowing out the carbon routine? Always need a good excuse for a run through the gears...

I'm slowing learning the DSG; it really is different but oh so fast.
Just feel like I'm lugging the thing at 1400rpm around town, but the Sport mode makes it pretty buzzy at lower speeds. The thing has so much torque using the paddles seems to be just playing, but I'll give them a try too.

Different forums do things differently, this is clearly a tech oriented group who seem to want to get to their info promptly, without wading through unnecessary and time consuming banter. I tend to wander and digress and that clearly won't cut it here...and I fully understand and appreciate that.

 

[Lightflyer1]

A run through the gears won't do it. It takes sustained temps of 1200 F or so for 10 or so minutes after the car is warmed up completely. If you let it go too long a forced regen may be needed. If it is too sooted up for that DPF replacement becomes necessary.

 

[Cogen Man]

I appreciate the info, and what I read is no indicator while operational but the above light comes on if it is unhappy, and likely needs a good run out on the highway.

Would a couple of full throttle Sport mode accel runs help, the old blowing out the carbon routine? Always need a good excuse for a run through the gears...

I'm slowing learning the DSG; it really is different but oh so fast.
Just feel like I'm lugging the thing at 1400rpm around town, but the Sport mode makes it pretty buzzy at lower speeds. The thing has so much torque using the paddles seems to be just playing, but I'll give them a try too.

Different forums do things differently, this is clearly a tech oriented group who seem to want to get to their info promptly, without wading through unnecessary and time consuming banter. I tend to wander and digress and that clearly won't cut it here...and I fully understand and appreciate that.

No problem. Some Italian tune-ups are good for these diesels. But as Lightflyer1 said above won't help in the regen situation. Just don't do them on a cold engine. And probably clock a few 1000 miles first. Let the engine break in a bit. I tend to drive in S mode more than D. Or use the Tiptronic mode and upshift myself to keep her out of the lugging range.
Welcome to the madness of the TDI diesel engine and enjoy.
Also. If your a gadget sort of person. Take a look at getting a Scangauge II. You can create what they call an Xgauge to read EGT temp. This will show you when a regen is taking place. Great little tool. helps one avoid shutting the engine down in the middle of a regen and having the 2 cooling fans blasting away and burning your ankles when you exit the captains seat. Revpeach mentioned the scangauge in his/hers post. Below is a link.
http://www.scangauge.com/

 

[Lolas Dad]

It's to bad the DPF light was not programmed to illuminate when a regen is taking place. Less people would ask questions about the regen process and more people would just continue to drive until the light goes off.

I've shut down only to hear the fans running so at that point I start the car again and take it for a 5 mile or so drive in sport mode. When I get back and shut down again the fans are no longer running.

 

[Daugen]

I had to laugh at a comment by the VW dealer, who I called to review prior maintenance on my Golf and when I told him I had joined TDIClub, he chuckled and said something like "oh boy, those TDI guys"...

Since I invoked regen-interruptus, I'm going to drive it this morning for the first time since then and make sure when I stop where I'm going that the fans aren't running.
If they are, well, I guess I'll sit there. Uh, how long?
Let's see, I'll sit in the attorney's lot past my appt time with the clock running at 250 an hour...

 

[Daugen]

Lightflyer, I read this all again, and I think I owe you an apology. I'm new here and have to learn the ropes. My wife passed away three weeks ago and I'm still pretty shook up from that and I overreacted. sorry.

Your advice is always welcome and appreciated.

 

[Lightflyer1]

Not a problem. I never meant any insult at all. This is a heck of a site and has tons of info here. I am still reading and learning myself after 9 years here. Lots of good people here. Sorry to hear of your loss!

 

[Lightflyer1]

Here is what a regen looks like graphed by the Torque app using my Android phone. EGT is pre turbo temp, Bank1 Sensor 1 is pre dpf temp and Bank1 Sensor 2 is post dpf temp. It lasted about 12 minutes. EGT swings with throttle inputs.



and my setup for my phone using a ProClip powered mount:



It is very handy having some kind of gauge to see what is happening.

 

[Cogen Man]

Neat graph and pic Light. That shot must have been taken in the summer by the look of those toes.
Oops. Just realized your in Texas.

 

[Lightflyer1]

Yep. Not much winter down here. Every now and then a cold front makes it down. 85 today and freeze warnings by Thursday night.

 

[MontrealTDI]

It's to bad the DPF light was not programmed to illuminate when a regen is taking place.

VW probably does not want to deal with a gazillion calls asking what the light means. Most people are clueless and would not even know an owners manual if it hit them on the head.

 

[tadawson]

Yep. Not much winter down here. Every now and then a cold front makes it down. 85 today and freeze warnings by Thursday night.

The way I like to state it is that here in Texas, we have two seasons:

"Hot" and "Damn Hot"

or "Summer separated by a six week combination of fall and spring that we shall call 'fling' and no detectable winter."

Freeze warnings . . .pfffffttttt! Who cares . . . .

- Tim