Amarok DPF issues

[Transfercase?]

Can you delete the DPF? Anyone done this, and what was the outcome?

[lloydus67]

Go to the modrok fb page and you will find plenty of people that have.


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[Lucas_R]

Can you delete the DPF? Anyone done this, and what was the outcome?

Yes you can, but....you should know:

1) Its illegal because you have removed factory fitted emissions equipment from the vehicle.
2) Its quite possible that your insurance would be void due to the car technically being illegal/not roadworthy.
3) You need to spend $1000-1500 on top of the replacement exhaust pipe section to have the cars ECU tuned so that the car knows that it no longer has the DPF fitted, otherwise you will have lights and messages on the dash constantly and the car may go into a limp mode because it thinks something is wrong with the DPF.
4) The exhaust sound will be louder and you will blow black smoke out of the exhaust when driving.

In saying this, lots of the modified utes and 4wd's getting around have had their DPF removed. So lots of people do it, but it comes with some expense and also some risk.

[lloydus67]

Have look on facebook, it doesn’t cost as much as a replacement dpf when (and it will) it fails a well tuned diesel doesn’t need to smoke, chipped and poorly tuned vehicles smoke.


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[Mk1_Citi_Golf]

Can you delete the DPF? Anyone done this, and what was the outcome?

Hello. We bought a 2017 Ultimate new and had issues at 2500kms half way between Adelaide and Melbourne (loaded car and decent hwy speed). VW came out and said it needed to go on a long drive (I thought Melbourne to Adelaide was a long drive!?), and that it needed to be thrashed! The lights came on again at Nhill. This time it derated completely. VW Assist were useless, and had no way of getting the car and it's 5 occupants back to Adelaide. I ended up taking our truck and old ute to Nhill and collecting them myself! We sent a $2000 bill to VW and they paid it! Our local Barossa dealer was fantastic and said that it was a known problem and that a revised DPF was being sent to suit Australia. A few month's later and the new DPF in away we went. All was well until 60000kms (Car being used daily on a 1 hr commute from the Barossa to Adelaide and then back daily).The DPF light and glow plug light came on again and the car went into limp mode again, rendering my wife stranded again!Enough was enough. The problem had to go. With the DPF removed and the EGR blanked off, and the ECU given a mild tune (to increase torque and lessen the gearbox lag when leaving a junction or overtaking) at the same time it transformed the vehicle. The fuel economy went down from a long term average of 9lt/100km to 7.5lt/100km. The remap got rid of that frustrating and sometimes frightening gearbox lag when changing gears, and most importantly within two oil changes, the oil was starting to stay clean between services! The vehicle now has 130000kms on it and has not faulted since. The sump oil stays clean and has lost that carbon content that the EGR was throwing back into the engine, and the tailpipe is still surprisingly clean. It emits no black smoke (which is something I stipulated when it was being remapped).

So to round up, the fuel consumption has gone down (better for the environment and our pockets), the lifespan of the engine has gone up (also better for the environment and our pockets as it's not being thrown away or needing work at 200000kms). They are an awesome ute made unreliable with emissions systems that ultimately make the vehicle unreliable, consume more fuel, and shorten the engine's lifespan. Do I think the risk is worth it? Yes, because we bought a new vehicle that needs to be reliable, especially when out on remote touring. It is now a reliable & trusted vehicle. Just a pity we had to take that risk!

[Transfercase?]

Thanks for the insight into your experience. I too need my cars to be reliable, no point in having a car that you cannot have trust in! I have just bought our first Amarok, if it starts playing up then I will have to consider making changes and if those changes are DPF delete well then so be it. I do not have much faith with VW coming to the rescue when out in the bush!

[lloydus67]

Town driving seems to be the cause of many dpf issues, people who carry big loads, tow heavy trailers or do lots of highway miles regularly tend not to have much problems with thier dpf.


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[Lucas_R]

Town driving seems to be the cause of many dpf issues, people who carry big loads, tow heavy trailers or do lots of highway miles regularly tend not to have much problems with thier dpf.

This is correct. Unless there is an underlying issue already, vehicles that that are allowed to get to operating temp for a good period of time regularly are unlikely to have issues. Modern diesel engines do not short trips, traffic, idling and not being able to get to operating temperature and doing regular drives in these conditions will almost certainly lead to the DPF not being able to regenerate = DPF issues and limp mode.

I do a mix of shorter and longer drives in our diesel which is why I use my Carista device periodically to monitor how full the DPF is, and then when its close to full, ill trigger a regen using Carista and drive the car along a local bypass at 80+kph in 5th gear to let the DPF do its cleaning cycle. Not exaclty an ideal situation (taking the car for a pointless fuel and time wasting drive for 20 mins) but its better than having expensive DPF issues and appointments with my mechanic.

Also, it's important to note that DPF's often get the blame for the issue and get a bad wrap, but in most cases its something upstream (boost leak, injector issue, 02 sensor issue etc) that is causing the issue but the DPF is the what cops the punishment and alerts you to the issue. So you get the DPF cleaned and then 500km later the same issue has occured because the root cause has not been identified/addressed which is causing the DPF to get blocked/not regenerate, which is more often than not - a separate component.

[vs355]

Hello. We bought a 2017 Ultimate new and had issues at 2500kms half way between Adelaide and Melbourne (loaded car and decent hwy speed). VW came out and said it needed to go on a long drive (I thought Melbourne to Adelaide was a long drive!?), and that it needed to be thrashed! The lights came on again at Nhill. This time it derated completely. VW Assist were useless, and had no way of getting the car and it's 5 occupants back to Adelaide. I ended up taking our truck and old ute to Nhill and collecting them myself! We sent a $2000 bill to VW and they paid it! Our local Barossa dealer was fantastic and said that it was a known problem and that a revised DPF was being sent to suit Australia. A few month's later and the new DPF in away we went. All was well until 60000kms (Car being used daily on a 1 hr commute from the Barossa to Adelaide and then back daily).The DPF light and glow plug light came on again and the car went into limp mode again, rendering my wife stranded again!Enough was enough. The problem had to go. With the DPF removed and the EGR blanked off, and the ECU given a mild tune (to increase torque and lessen the gearbox lag when leaving a junction or overtaking) at the same time it transformed the vehicle. The fuel economy went down from a long term average of 9lt/100km to 7.5lt/100km. The remap got rid of that frustrating and sometimes frightening gearbox lag when changing gears, and most importantly within two oil changes, the oil was starting to stay clean between services! The vehicle now has 130000kms on it and has not faulted since. The sump oil stays clean and has lost that carbon content that the EGR was throwing back into the engine, and the tailpipe is still surprisingly clean. It emits no black smoke (which is something I stipulated when it was being remapped).

So to round up, the fuel consumption has gone down (better for the environment and our pockets), the lifespan of the engine has gone up (also better for the environment and our pockets as it's not being thrown away or needing work at 200000kms). They are an awesome ute made unreliable with emissions systems that ultimately make the vehicle unreliable, consume more fuel, and shorten the engine's lifespan. Do I think the risk is worth it? Yes, because we bought a new vehicle that needs to be reliable, especially when out on remote touring. It is now a reliable & trusted vehicle. Just a pity we had to take that risk!

Appreciate the proper opinion there
I have a 2019 v6 amarok (3 mths of warranty left) - and last night it came up with teh dpf warning. Did a 25min drive on the highway, as the dpf light turned off - the glow plug flashing light greeted me.....
A call to VW assist - and someone coming out to scan the codes - confirmed it needs to go to the dealer for a forced regen. Whilst this is still warranty, apart from teh inconvenience - then so be it. HOWEVER, with the warranty almost done - I assume if this happens again (this occured once before a couple of years ago), it would be another trip to the dealer - at my expense for it to have a forced regen. As such - I assume it leaves 3 options
1 - Pay the dealer to do a forced regen when it happens (struggle with this idea, as it seems a bit of a joke to have to do it because their system requires it - and the end user cannot do it themseves
2 - Delete the dpf etc. A bit unsure on this one - had an egr delete and tune etc on a 2013 by one of the 'Gurus' of amaroks (I wont name them) - and it was just a bit off (minor surging etc etc)
3 - one of the OBD modules? (frustrated on this, I bought a VCDS for the old amarok, but as it isnt suitable for the newer v6 rok - its basically worthless, and I am up for more $$)

Really interested to hear peoples opinions on what option the have - or will do once the warranty is gone.

[lloydus67]

I’m just about to buy an ODB 11

It’s not restricted to a particular vin or car model, suits all VW/ Audi group vehicles as well as bmw.
It can do a forced Regen and much more. The pro licence (just pay an extra fee) allows you to change as much as vcds.
To be honest though, I would delete and tune using CRD Tuner, they do very reliable tunes and are all over the country.
I’m very happy with my V6 since I had it fixed
I had my 4 cylinder tuned by Roo systems and had to get it deleted after 5 attempts to have it fixed. I wish I knew about CRD back then.
Join modrok facebook group for extensive information and like minded Amarok owners
Lloyd


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