Ask a Shiter

[dave21478]

The accident may be deemed half your fault, so your insurers will pay half of the other parties repair bill. This will count as a claim against you, with the resulting loss of NCB and you will have to declare it in the future when getting quotes.

 

I obviously dont know the circumstances, but is there any way you can fight the claim? any way it can be proven you were not at fault?

[skattrd]

I am currently disputing their claim. If me/my insurer are expected to pay for any of the damage to the other car then that is not acceptable to me.

I have asked the insurer to define exactly what they mean with 50/50 settlement as well.

[dave21478]

Sadly, what is acceptable to you is rarely acceptable to the insurers. They just want an easy, quick solution so going 50-50 is pretty common.

 

Fight it, but prepare for the worst.

[Lord Sterling]

Right, I'm sitting here in the dark browsing Autoshite when I came across DaveAsply's (or should that be Aspen, as in Mondeo Aspen) thread about his new Mondeo when the question of DPFs came up, so it got me wondering about them.

 

Now, I know what a DPF is and what it does, it's basically (a bit, or much) like a Petrol car's Catalytic converter.

 

Here is what one looks like:

 

And when one gets clogged up:

 

And here is what it can do when it fails:

 

Why are they such a problem to fit and why are they so (allegedly) so prohibitively expensive? They seem to render a lot of these TDCi type vehicles off the road/loose out on price and such forth. There are many places now offering to remove DPFs.

 

I'm guessing that that they aren't easy to change, DPFs fail a lot faster than Cats as they collect more deposits over a shorter space of time and the vehicles they are often fitted to will need to be plugged up to some computer to have the fail messages deleted to bring the car out of limp-home mode?

 

Just interested to know, thats all.

[steve_earwig]

They're not like a catalytic converter, I think they all have a cat upstream of the DPF. Yes they collect particles and burn it off when the sensors say the filter is getting blocked..

 

I'm only really up to speed on PSA ones, they use an expensive (and highly toxic) catalysation fluid to improve regeneration. Other cars (bimmers etc.) inject extra diesel.

 

I'm sure you can Wiki this stuff if you're after more detail.

 

The main issue seem to be they need a fairly constant motorway run in order to regen properly, so if your ma has a diesel fitted with one just to go to the shops and library the filter will block up, which will need regular ($$$) visits to the dealers to force a regen. If it gets left too long the filter might not regen any more and then it'll need replacing ($$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$). Or it might not regen anyway, they don't last forever.

 

Oh, and as a driver you have no real control over when the regen will occur, the car will try and engage as much electrics as it can to increase the load on the engine (heated rear window etc.) and fuel consumption will drop through the floor. And turning it off half-way through a regen is disastrous.

 

Inside the PSA DPFs is a ceramic honeycomb structure to hold all the soot. Current (PSA) cost for a new DPF is 540 quid. And then there's the additive (cerene/eolys) which costs about 40 quid a litre, refilling also involves a trip to the dealer's to reset the counters as the system doesn't measure (well it does, sort of) how much fluid there is, only how much it uses.

 

Oh, and the additive tank seems to be an afterthought on a lot of cars so it hangs down somewhere daft and often gets punctured or ripped off by road debris (most common complaint on the 4007/Crossdresser/Outlander).

 

There's a lot of DPF deletion out there, standard practice is to smack the guts out of the DPF but leave the cat and tell the ecu that it doesn't have one. The problem is it invalidates the emissions ratings (obviously) so is a criminal offence. AFAIK the it's still just a visual check during the MOT and the cars should still pass the present emissions checks but no-one knows for how long.

 

And this is for Euro V which is bad enough, I reckon Euro VI will mark the beginning of the end for privately owned diesel cars.

[saucedoctor]

I think GM have developed a fluidless one, with some form of electric heater element. Can't remember the details.

 

I was talking to a Bosch rep a while ago, and he told me that it's their view that diesel passenger vehicles have had their day, and that small-capacity forced induction petrol is the future. Indeed, I was shocked to learn that you can get a 1.6 Supercharged C Class. Bet that's lively.*

 

[cort16]

The issue is them not getting burned off. Nissan got their arse felt by watchdog as folk but the qashqai or juke to drive around town so the dpf doesn't get burned off. Another reason to buy a petrol unless your doing 20k a year

[steve_earwig]

And that's up and down motorways.

 

I was talking to a Bosch rep a while ago, and he told me that it's their view that diesel passenger vehicles have had their day, and that small-capacity forced induction petrol is the future. Indeed, I was shocked to learn that you can get a 1.6 Supercharged C Class. Bet that's lively.*

 

 

Oh lord, my worst fears confirmed. I wonder how long before petrol engines follow and we're forced to drive electric cars, bleurg. I think I'd rather walk. Or buy a horse.

 

You know old horses have one big advantage over old cars, you can't eat old cars...

[Pillock]

I've gone from an Eloys based Ford DPF to a GM one which I believe is fluid-free.

 

First thing to point out is that my Focus was moved on purely for DPF reasons. I got to 105k on the clock and it lit the warnings up like Blackpool. From then the only thing that was going to fix it was a new DPF fitted at £1400 (dealer price)

 

So my understanding is the honeycomb catches soot, and uses heat to burn it up - either by using catalytic fluid or just motorway runs. There's loads of conflicting information out there, some say you have do do 30 mins at motorway speeds in 4th to get the turbo singing and generate heat. Others say if you do that, it creates more soot anyway. I was told both to drive gently around town, and to hoof it. One way doesn't make soot, the other makes it and burns it too.

 

Actually what seemed to kill mine was the EGR failing. This then dumped black soot wholesale into the DPF so badly it split one of the pressure hoses. Think of any fault that would temporarily kick out black smoke (air leaks, split hoses etc) and instead of being a quick fix, a DPF turns it into a nightmare.

 

You can physically remove them, but it's not likely to pass emissions tests. There are companies who will jetwash them, too early to know if that works.

 

 

Diesels are shit for passenger car use.

[catsinthewelder]

We don't seem to be having much bother with DPF's in the rental fleet,  I'm guessing that could be a recommendation for thrashing the life out of modern diesels on a regular basis.

 

We had a bump in the first BX that was put down as 50/50 and I understood it that each insurer fixed it's own car.  The BX was 3rd party only insured so I couldn't have claimed if I'd wanted to (I didn't anyway) no I've never bothered to mention it.

[Luckythirteen]

Flippin eck. Politician admits mistake.

 

How long will it take the entirety of France to go on strike?

[Richard]

It was the French who brought diesel into the mainstream in the first place.

[spike60]

Since I care for neither diesel or electric cars it would quite a result for me getting 10k Euros from Segolene Royal to swap over!

[NorfolkNWeigh]

A few weeks ago I was getting something out of the boot of my 530d and noticed that the exhaust gasses were about as hot as a heat gun . This was after a gentle(ish) 100 mile motorway run, purely as a scientific experiment I then caned fuck out of it for 10 miles on empty dual carriageways, then pulled into a layby , the exhaust was normal , this after redlining in every gear except 6th because sport* mode locks that out,so was as hot as the engine can get. Presumably some sort of DPF shenanigans .

[skattrd]

A bit more of a tangent, but I think diesel passenger cars are already banned in China.

 

I like diesel cars (late 90's was their peak imo) if they start to talk about banning them here I may have to find a way to to 1 or 3 somewhere.

[Mr Lobster]

I am currently disputing their claim. If me/my insurer are expected to pay for any of the damage to the other car then that is not acceptable to me.

I have asked the insurer to define exactly what they mean with 50/50 settlement as well.

If it goes 50/50 then your insurer pays half of their claim and they pay half of yours. You'll potentially lose some NCB and have to declare it in future. Had a similar issue last year which ended up as 50/50 much to my disgust.

[skattrd]

Additional stupid insurance question.

 

The car I was using when I had the accident was not on the policy with my NCB.

My NCB was used on a different car.

 

Come insurance renewal time can I still say I have 10 years NCB and declare the the incident that was 2 years ago?

[spike60]

I can't see diesel cars getting banned, the tax will just get ratcheted up on either fuel or road fund licence or whatever its called at the moment. That'll clear the bulk of them off the road as it already is the big petrols made after a certain date. You'll still be able to run one already made, they just won't be the default cheap(?) to run car.

[dave21478]

Additional stupid insurance question.

 

The car I was using when I had the accident was not on the policy with my NCB.

My NCB was used on a different car.

 

Come insurance renewal time can I still say I have 10 years NCB and declare the the incident that was 2 years ago?

 

If I follow right, you had two policies, one with 10 years NCB and one with none, and had the accident driving the car with none?

If so, when you need to renew the policy with 10 years NCB you will not loose it. Should you declare the accident......probably should. Everything is on record everywhere so best not hide anything, but make it fully clear to them that the claim was not on that policy.

[Stroller133]

DPFs have pushed me back to petrol! My C-Max TDCi had a unsuccessful dpf delete resulting in it running down on power and periodically pushing out clouds of white/grey smoke. Strangely it didn't effect the economy and I always got 45+mpg whereas my wife's identical (but non DPF) probably does a couple mpg less?

My company issues Astra Diseasels and I've heard that when the DPF light comes on you have to drive for 10mins at over 2k revs, not as easy as it sounds.

[The Moog]

If I follow right, you had two policies, one with 10 years NCB and one with none, and had the accident driving the car with none?

If so, when you need to renew the policy with 10 years NCB you will not loose it. Should you declare the accident......probably should. Everything is on record everywhere so best not hide anything, but make it fully clear to them that the claim was not on that policy.

I bet you that it will effect the policy no matter what. You had the accident therefore it will be a strike against you. I had 3 non fault claims including minibus reversing into my car in a park when I wasn't there. All effected the policy.

[cort16]

When I just took out the insurance on this CL the company I used reflected the NCB I had on my daily even though they knew it was a 2nd car.

The whole trade insurance NCB thing is a right pisser also. I've not made a claim in 20 years yet because my insurance was on trade insurance for 2 years it's not disregarded. What this means is i have not made a claim on my car insurance dis regardless of what car I was driving. Why should it make a difference.

 

I've heard people have similar issues moving between vans and cars. 

 

Insurance used to be a friendly local business ran by district branches or agents now it's ran my call centre sharks with cut throat targets trying to upsell useless products.

[skattrd]

Painting a concrete garage floor, what's cheap/quick easy to use to use? I know there are special paints for this, but are they worth it?

Would I need to seal the floor with PVA or something first?

 

My thought is that painting the floor should hopefully stop it from getting dust all over the place.

[Asimo]

The special floor paint is worth it because it dries so quickly and is really easy to put down.

 

I have used ordinary gloss which works ok but it takes weeks and weeks before it is properly dry enough all over a floor. Guess how I know.

 

I didn't seal my present shed floor before using floor paint, but it was very old concrete, new concrete might be different.

[Craig the Princess]

Last week the Rover 200 put it's ABS light on, turned the ignition off and it reset. Not done it since but every time I reverse it comes on and the ignition needs to be turned off to reset it? Why would reverse cause OMGABSFAIL?

[myglaren]

New concrete needs an acid wash to neutralise the natural alkalinity of the concrete.cement or the coating will just flake off quite quickly.

A thin 'primer' coat to bond with the flooring then two thick coats.

[TimothyClaypole]

In my garage the car Corrado VR6 at the time just to pull the paint off wherever the tyres were no matter how many times I painted it.

 

I'm moving said garage to my house and have some beige tiles picked out already.

 

I'll risk slips and shite people mention with tiles rather than a painted floor.    

[Inspector Morose]

A quickie for the MoT men out there. Is there any maximum height a fog light can be at? I've done a bit of electrickery with the rear lights on the BX astate so now it has separate brake lights (we're the fogs) and the fogs are now with the tail lights. The new fogs are as bright as they were before but just a bit higher up in the cluster.

Have I done wrong?

[320touring]

Painting a concrete garage floor, what's cheap/quick easy to use to use? I know there are special paints for this, but are they worth it?

Would I need to seal the floor with PVA or something first?

 

My thought is that painting the floor should hopefully stop it from getting dust all over the place.

I find brushes work well;)

 

Seriously though, floorpaint ftw. And machine mart swll it

[Noel Tidybeard]

the dpf thing- on a polio slowmotion the idiot book says to drive @45mph in 4th for 15 mins minimum

seems to work on 406 hdi90 as well

 

on the olop and the poojoe you can hear a definate change in zorst tone as the engine does its burning soot cycle and the start/stop wont work