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MINI, Diesel & DPF maintenance in city driving conditions

29681 Views 107 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  Xenon, 
M
Dear MINI owners,

It's been two weeks since I bought a used 2013 (63 plate) 1.6 Mini Dooper and so far I love it! :big_grin: As a first time DIESEL owner, I'm concerned about its driving routine, as well as how to keep it in tip top shape. It only has about 40k miles and it's fully serviced, so everything inside it is like new, and I'd like to keep it this way. Reading so many things about DPF problems and what could go wrong I am a little worried, as I mostly use it for city driving (4-5 sub 5 mile trips). Of course, I do my occasional trips (perhaps once or twice a month - I'd say maybe 50 miles each way in highway driving), but I'm not sure if that's enough.

From what I've been reading, the last example is ideal for maintaining the DPF at its best condition; not so much, however, the former. First of all, is there any rule of thumb regarding its use (miles in the highway per month, speed, revs etc.), or how often it regenerates? Moreover, is there anything I can do to maintain it at its best even in city driving conditions? e.g. Any additives I can purchase (either from MINI or from other manufacturers that MINI recomments)? Higher revving maybe, or something else? I've been reading some nice reviews about Wynn's DPF cleaning solution (an additive you put in the tank)

Any other Dooper owners using it mainly in city driving conditions or any suggestions? :big_grin:

Thanks to all of you in advance!
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@mike1967 Isn't diesel only potentially ending in the oil (thus contaminating it) only in the case of unsuccessful DPF regens? If that's the case then this poses no problem as they are successful (and controlled). yep on a brand new filter as filter gets older this increases ie on first part of regen when the heat is low and carbon build up is high some blow past happens some cars are worse than others, most car dpf filters are part of exhaust manifold to help lower this time span, but some are not ie further down the exhaust where it struggles to get as hot as fast, car makers redesigned this on euro6 diesel and adding add blue as well. psa try'd to deal with this with additive tank but was not that successful really,
vauxhall have had this issue with all their 2.0cdti engines and 1.3 fiat shared engines. tell tail signs are oil always thin oil always above full mark when checked, as another little trick is engine will burn off the build up so looks to the owner like never uses oil etc, have seen many peoples disbelief when explained the engine is nailed due to this, but after they see the crankshaft bearings damage they then get it, better to be aware of it keep eye on it change oil more and know its a bi product of the systems
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right back to every week/500 miles a 3000 revs run for 60 minutes from cold ie 30 minutes of that is car warming up.
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Mark Swaysland said:
Basically your revs are not high enough for passive regeneration, you can’t have economy and get the exhaust hot enough for passive. Completely stupid design but seems to be the same on just about everything out there


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yep on every level, dpf filters were a knee jerk reactions to EU emissions testing all over ie all citys were in their eyes to high of diesel soot particulates.. yes when they are brand new work very well at 40k not so much at 100k deffo not
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i do some work for a local mapping company and have deleted many over the years in a way that cant tell of course ho yes for off road use only nudge nudge wink wink lol, transforms them drive around at 1500 revs all day long never miss a beat ironically they go through the gas tester under what they should be with the dam filter in and done right increase power no turbo lag and clean oil even after 10k, got my vauxhall done 2.0cdti estate car does well in the 60s to gallon on run before barely 50mpg and thats on pump and mileage workings not on car workings out etc, plus its gone up around 200bhp at top end where i never go anymore
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i see all the trouble it causes and its fairly big on all makes of cars, fiat and vauxhall their little party trick is to melt hols in heads and to melt away the block between 3 and 4 cylinders, they also and most dpf cars do this push unburnt diesel in to the engine oil in the sump and thins it so much it destroys the crankshaft bearings, even vw engines from 2006 onwards do this, see the filter stops carbon from coming out the tail pipe so it ends up stuck to anything metal before the dpf filter this causes all kinds of failures with vnt turbo and piston rings and wear of timing chains etc on top of that is the high temps forced on anything behind the filter when it turns in to a furnace to clean its self, keeps me busy so not all bad but the 2-3k bills customers face at worse when it all lets go is not nice,
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Xenon said:
Thanks for info.

I have checked, for thet mini with 180000km, at my official bmw garage.At 110.000km,it get all new engine, in warranty period in 2017 year.
Am i safe now???


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180,0000kml so 111.847 miles hmm that seems to be top end of when they do the chains and destroy the engine, ie snap or slip teeth saying that see a lot at around 80,000 miles on all n47 diesels, did they replace the dpf filter at same time if not would deffo need doing
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minimeD said:
Hi Xenon,

Mike will give you a better answer, but in my brief experience, I'd tell you not to buy a Diesel in that case. Sure, the 2014 model will be a EURO6 one, so you will be exempt from potential diesel flat rate charges being introduced in major cities in the future (not from London's ULEZ though, there you need to go electric or hybrid to be exempt in any case); but, you will have to monitor your DPF from time to time and clean it.

At 180k kilometres (~112k miles), the car should have had a DPF change already, otherwise don't bother buying it, unless you have some good skills to change it yourself, or be prepared to pay for a replacement at a good mechanic (stay away from dealerships at any cost, they charge a flat's price to change it).

I can't tell you a figure, as we're talking for a different car (2.0L engine), different technology (DPFs in the post 2013 models has been moved closer to the heat source to be more efficient), and I don't know your capacity, how aggressively you drive and how many start-stop conditions you're facing daily. In my case ('63 registration, 1.6 Cooper D, 43k miles, 21 grams of Ash in the DPF), I need three weeks of smooth city driving (2 x sub-5 miles trips daily, locally with no heavy start-stop city traffic) to fill it halfway through and I manually take it for a ride forcing a regeneration via Carly (unless I'm planning a trip, where I'm monitoring the soot levels and whether the car requests regeneration itself on the way back - otherwise I'm doing it manually) and it seems to work OK.
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euro 6 came in September 2015 is a better system but still must treat the filter as a service item,

www.autoexpress.co.uk

Euro 6 emissions standards: what do they mean for you? | Auto Express

Since their introduction in 2015, Euro 6 standards for exhaust emissions have had a big impact but what are they?
www.autoexpress.co.uk www.autoexpress.co.uk
www.whatcar.com

What is AdBlue and does your diesel car need it?

If you own a new diesel, you’re likely to have to keep it topped up with a special liquid that eliminates NOx emissions
www.whatcar.com www.whatcar.com
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Xenon said:
They have just replaced engine in 2017 at 110.000 km.
DPF has not been changed.
All km, 110.000 km+ 70.000 km, with new engine, was out of city driving.
If DPF will make problems, i will delete it.IT will cost me 140 euros.
Or to delete DPF+EGR+ Remap it to 199HP?
What do you think?


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take my word for it delete dont wait for it to kill another engine off, we doing remaps and deletes etc have done for years so see both sides of it all, ie main after feedback is better mpg and also goes from mot on gas check lower and also the engine oil stays very clean after which is the best point clean oil dont wear the chain as much, also when car regens it adds diesel to engine oil thins it and this also damages things over time, believe me if your at that point with it that delete is fine with you its prob the best job you will ever do for the future life of engine and costs of dealing with the damage its causes
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yep would always have both deleted as they share a lot of the ecu function for emissions and also with egr deleted and blanked with a blanking plate,, and more importantly the dpf filter its self must be done in a way that cant tell if been removed,, ie cut around the welds that are already there and re-weld so looks factory as such this avoids issues with mot in uk ie visual check, filter must be removed internally,, i have in past cut the outlet pipe off them and used a long 500mm masonry drill bit works best and just keep drilling it away,,on some cars the cat is part of dpf filter and that also needs to come out,, its possible to map out ecu ie post a ecu and have it programmed but better for it all to be done on the car as such, that said on new bmw ecu's now they will lock out any non genuine software to read write them in this case its a ecu out and desolder the chip and write it in a special holder as such,
this all said you could contact john on the uk number below and ask whats possible etc might be poss to post it etc.
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Xenon said:
Thanks for all Mike.

I have just one more question.

Mini is from 2014, last production year for N47 engine, and thet engine has been failed in 2017 year,after 110.000km( what to say for older N47 engines).New N47 engine, with new chain ,has been put into Mini, and have new 70.000 km, with thet second new chain.
Does i need to go for another, third one, new chain, after 70.000km????
Just can not belive, thet there was not, some new chain redesign!!!!
One BMW official garage, told me thet there were new chain redesign, and part number was changed.Do you maybe have some infos ahout thet?


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well my trust would be more in the people like bbc tv watch dog program and how they really got to bottom of it as being a issue on all n47 diesels, as for they saying these chain kits now have different part numbers from bmw main dealers could be true but bmw have a nasty little habit of avoiding the facts ie the endless failed chains form 50,000 miles to just over 100,000 miles and most seem in the 70.000 miles to 90.000 miles bracket,, and when you also add this counting to all the other cars that engine is in and how many of them fail, and most fail out side of the warranty time so thousands not go through bmw main agents workshops anyway, but the low mileage failures ones ie under 3 years old bmw shovel this off as drive abuse wrong oil low oil drive abuse,, as they toad the bbc tv program they also told them they had revised the tensioner ie prob given it more travel so the problem of the rattle before snapping would be further up the road or get no warning and engine of engine as many did, i've noticed that early n47 diesels gave more warning than the later ones, i've done a fair few of them in different bmw mini cars and use after market chain kits in them and have always been able to fit same kit whether first engines or the very last, very easy to change a part number without changing the part its self two second job at the factory on a pc. as for when it needs a new chain kit again thats just the game or Russian roulette that stopped me from ever owning another one to be honest,, would not have been so bad if they had just left the chain at front of engine so could be changed a lot faster than the stupid chain at rear of engine. the engine before it m47 had a few weak points but could be sorted easy ie swirl flaps being a must do job on them,, but seen many of thise do over 200.000 miles in fact my daughters one ie 320d compact was 150bhp standard and i mapped that and some other stuff around 200bhp and just kept going on and on.
in the past 6 months i have seen at least 6 mini cooper d spares repairs on ebay with timing chains failed between 2011-2014 guess the if was true the chain was revised in some way it never worked lol. or might just be the owners using them lol as bmw point out
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tell you all what rather than do the guess route etc below link is what the RAC say about dpf filters and how long should force them with heat etc
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Xenon said:
Hi Mike

Thanks for the link.I read all mini manual, but never seen, anything about DPF.

For procedure, i was thinking about Carly, is it simple, just hit the highway,put it around 120 km/h, and press Carly regen button?

I can do Dpf off, like you prefer, and it is 100% correct, but i dont know if i can pass MOT.In my country ,there is some new rules plans for diesels, and i am afraid to go for DPF off.

For now, i plan to use Carly, to see if it can be safe , and conviniant for me.If dpf ,will make problems, i will delete DPF.





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the RAC is independent and accurate to how the filter work and also the time and pressure needed to force a passive regen as they all do every 500 miles or so if everything is working correct and also the car is driven long enough to clear its self, 10 minutes at 2000 revs is never enough when they get some miles on them for a new car then yep that would be about it in a perfect world,, guess i just see dead ones and aftermath of what ot all causes from turbo failures to piston ring damage from washed bores from trying to regen an filter that is blocked the extra diesel washes the bores it also gets in to engine oil thins it down,, really bad sign on any diesel is the never needing to add oil but oil always looks thin,, in uk at present is a visual test for mot so if all outer cases are there with part numbers and no weld marks and the car goes through gas checks,, if when deleted the fuelling is checked and altered within the map restrict fuelling to pass the gas test,,
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wont comment on any apps dont ever get involved with them as from past experiences with people telling me they have used such things and tell me whats wrong with someone thing to then plug it in with scanner that will do the job and i know will to find its not what they say it is, also someone on here said the app tells them or the weight of soot in the filter,, hmmm cant see how it can know that, all we have in the trade is pre and post pressure sensors that tell us how blocked it is, also when was last regen ie passive and also when replaced to reset the ecu ,, a few years a go i used one on a car as was in middle of know where and my laptop had taken a crap,, sot of it i took what it was telling me as being what was happening with a piloted thermostat and what the temp sensor was reading ie it told me was -48 below zero,, was not until scanned with a good scanner again that found for some reason it just did not like that car. so i only ever based my views on faults with scan tools that i would know will scan all codes and correctly
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Steve Zodiac said:
I have been reading this info with horror! The whole idea of a diesel is longevity and economy but these BMW diesels are so expensive to maintain that any savings over petrol are more than lost, I am a mechanic and work on diesels a lot, I have a mate that had a BMW X3, it broke down all the time and cost such a lot in parts DPF cleaning tyres etc that in the end he bought a different make of car and has saved a fortune. So I have come up with some simple rules for every day drivers of motor cars, 1. Unless you drive high mileages/long trips, never buy a diesel 2. Never buy any modern diesel car, the engines are now so complex that when they go wrong it will always cost a fortune...and they always go wrong a lot! 3. Never buy a diesel car, even the best ones are not as nice to drive as a petrol, most people forget until they drive another petrol and remind themselves how quite and smooth it is!
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thats totally where i am with them we see a non stop dpf related damages better off with a mapped cooper s petrol mapped for for mid range torque and running cost reduces a tad more just timing chains to think about . or get LPG converted car, also the parts are so expensive injectors that last 50-100k £150 each high pressure pumps £600-£1200 dpf filter genuine £400 turbo charger £500 egr valve £300 later n47 diesels timing chain around 70-100k £1800 ish fitted then dmf flywheel and clutch kit £1000,, plus all the labour and hassle and diagnostic costs,
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Xenon said:
Hi Mike

Where you have found a new DPF for £400?

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think they have gone ie not on ebay anymore or not on ebay to uk buyers maybe, next cheap option is a cleaning company who pressure clean them off the car with heat and back pressure etc,, ie they use extreme heat and air pressure in other direction to remove the soot and residue,, on news today the uk government have said they are bringing forward the ban on diesel and petrol cars ,, dear of them another unworked out plan that will cause so much aggro for everyone i guess,, then the double road fund taxes will start ie just keep edging it up and up,, someone told me that 2003 r53 cooper s is £350 per year or going to be increased to that,, was a time i enjoyed cars and now i've just about had enough nothing but hassle and tax on tax on tax everything is made of shite,, and its mainly EU built stuff, maybe now the uk is coming out japan will start bringing all their own market cars here and boy they have some really nice stuff reliable as well, even Korea build better cars than EU built stuff,, German cars were once one of the worlds best and now they all share engines and chassis and faults
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Steve Fuller said:
Yes, diesels have become money pits due to over complexity of trying to make the quiet and smooth likea petrol. The Gov are also talking about banning hybrids if so EV's will need to progess a lot to be any good, If you waych Harrys Garage on YT you can see an EV test that shows just how useless they are at present.
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uk government have released a press thing staying they are now bring forward plans to stop selling all petrol diesels and hybrids from 2035 on latest unplanned thing to do,, 15 years to find and build enough power sources to run a country full full of battery powered cars, also the world needs to produce enough batteries to do that as well,, more like all cars will be only for the very very rich and working class people have a few options bus push bike electric bike maybe that will have the hell taxed out of them like cars do,, as when you remove all them cars you remove all that tax on tax on tax source, and governments and the very rich will find away to make us all pay ,, pity the next generations they have some really hard years a head of them,, one good think will come of it greed for oil form countries we dont really need to be messing with should stop,,
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Xenon said:
Hi minimeD

Thanks for all infos.
You have BMW N47 1.6 D , or Peugeot ?
Dont know is 63 plate BMW engine.
Via Carly, DPF regen, can be done only while driving, or it can be done like force regen, on parking place?





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2013 will be the bmw n47 diesel and not the cheaper dpf filter options ie for the psa 1.6 hdi engines,, big price difference ie psa ones are a element and £120 bmw n47 is a lot more
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knt said:
Will most likely to get pushed back and further back as they can't meet the target date nearer the time, unless the gov and private companies puts loads and loads £££££££££££.

Just look at the state of transport and trying to get that up to scratch, compare that with other countries with good reliable transports, how many years have they been trying?

Maybe, if someone from the Greenpeace party was Prime Minster!!!

www.theguardian.com

Boris Johnson doesn’t get climate change, says sacked COP 26 head

Claire O’Neill says prime minister’s promises of action are not close to being met
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
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what ever they do some people will win and some will lose i'm getting to that point ie another 15 years and will be looking for the door with no cars behind it lol...
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Xenon said:
Thanks minimed

I am on holiday trip, and for the first time , i have DPF warning massage on the screen.I just hope, i can drive it to my home, next 300 km.
Just do not know what to do, not to stop , on the road.


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i would keep going and it should hopefully force it to regen as long as no fault codes in ecu form any faults, long run should clear it over 2000 revs etc
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Xenon said:
Thanks minimed

I am on holiday trip, and for the first time , i have DPF warning massage on the screen.I just hope, i can drive it to my home, next 300 km.
Just do not know what to do, not to stop , on the road.


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i would keep going and it should hopefully force it to regen as long as no fault codes in ecu form any faults, long run should clear it over 2000 revs etc
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