Diesel Particulate Filter Advice

[scott_d]

"As there are allot of experts on here just wanted to sound out having had mixed advice in google about whether to bother with a diesel or not and whether it varies from manufacturer. Short story is that I'm looking at either a BMW 5 series, nothing fancy, 10 years old and some of them tax is as low as £35 for a diesel. Problem is I do allot of small journeys and not many long journeys, so I hear that I need to be mindful of cleansing the DPF with a long drive every now and then. I could go all week without driving and then do 4-5 short journeys 3-4 miles at the weekend but once a month I'll do a round trip of about 25 miles. Will this be sufficient or do I need to factor in some more longer drives if thats the option I want? I don't mind so long as I don't have to find an extra 100 mile journey each week as that will defeat the object on the tax and fuel costs saving. I will also do a long journey of about 3-4 hour round trip once every few months too. Thanks for all the excellent and helpful advice in advance from an incredibly supportive group."

[PwoperNaughtyButNot]

Halfords flush dpfs for about £30 BMW will no doubt have a sequence you can initiate to auto clean it also - usually driving for at a set speed for 20mins or so and it will start the sequence. VW have that so I assumed bmw will too

[Don Ravioli]

Don’t buy a 10 year old 5 series bmw either. We had one and the engine went. There’s a common fault with the chain/belt at the back of the engine. We had to get the engine rebuilt and then sold it on webuyanycar Nice cars but not good enough compared to what you expect.

[zebthecat]

Just don't. Apart from the other issues a 10 year diesel is far more likely fall foul of whatever the next of iteration of emissions standards/zones might be.

[scott_d]

"cheers, makes sense to me, will avoid the diesel for now!"

[bruuuno]

Just don’t buy a diesel is my advice

[charleyfarley]

"Yes think that would be a good move scott as especially the EGR valve also gets clogged up which means a new one or a good clean out, so you could end up with a new DPF and EGR valve, both very expensive"

[scott_d]

"cheers charley, it does sound like I'm just better off getting a petrol for what I use it for. The savings on fuel and tax might be outweighed by the cost of cleaning or replacing the DPF if I am not driving it far enough regularly enough."

[charleyfarley]

"scott you will definitely have to do more long trips or your Enginge management light will keep coming on and it will go into limp mode and eventually the the dpf will clog up. At least once every couple of weeks give it some welly down the motorway, be prepared for a boat load of black smoke coming out of your exhaust"