Domes latest millstone-E65 BMW 730d dpf troubleshooting

[dome]

5 hours ago, Bren said:

I am surprised you bought an elderly BMW considering the E61 you had.

I hope you sort it with minimal outlay.

Did I mention I'm an idiot? Also I've always liked the E65 and the M57 engine. 

Plus most importantly this is not the daily driver like the e61 was so I won't get stressed about it. 

[JJ0063]

As you’ve said, if there are codes for the glow plugs/module then it won’t regen hence the back pressure 

Also check it’s getting up to temp as these are common for thermostats (both stats, people often forget they have two) and that will stop it regenning too if it’s not getting hot!

[N Dentressangle]

They've aged really well, I think. Still look good today.

Shame about all the electronics - they'd be a great bangernomics choice otherwise.

[cort1977]

It certainly fills the eye, nice one.

[Noel Tidybeard]

 

[dome]

Ok, so getting underneath this confused me, here's why. 

Please feel free to critique my logic...

It has a receipt for the dpf being removed and cleaned.

Sure enough, under the bonnet and there's writing on here.

And underneath the 2 bolts holding that to the rest of the system are new. 

However, here's realoem for my car. 

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partgrp?id=HM22-EUR-11-2005-E65-BMW-730d&mg=18#10

The part right after the turbo is the catalyst, the DPF is in the middle of the car and looks, to my old eyes, like a cat. 

So, have the garage removed and cleaned the wrong thing?

Tomorrow I'm pulling the dpf off and going for a drive...

 

[bigfella2]

I'm guessing it's this one then, looks like the previous owner hasn't deleted the ad.

[dome]

3 minutes ago, bigfella2 said:

I'm guessing it's this one then, looks like the previous owner hasn't deleted the ad.

Yep, that's the badger

[JJ0063]

4 hours ago, dome said:

Ok, so getting underneath this confused me, here's why. 

Please feel free to critique my logic...

It has a receipt for the dpf being removed and cleaned.

Sure enough, under the bonnet and there's writing on here.

And underneath the 2 bolts holding that to the rest of the system are new. 

However, here's realoem for my car. 

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partgrp?id=HM22-EUR-11-2005-E65-BMW-730d&mg=18#10

The part right after the turbo is the catalyst, the DPF is in the middle of the car and looks, to my old eyes, like a cat. 

So, have the garage removed and cleaned the wrong thing?

Tomorrow I'm pulling the dpf off and going for a drive...

 

Parts catalogues often refer to the DPF and cat as the same thing, the DPF is definitely off the turbo, before the cat - the middle diagram

[jonathan_dyane]

No I think Dome is right. BM 'shit catalysts' sell a replacement dpf and the image is of the thing in the middle of the exhaust.

https://www.bmcatalysts.co.uk/catalogue/details/BM11030/

Also the think on the downpipe looks like a E39 cat and they don't have dpf.

[dome]

Yeah I'd be inclined to agree with you @JJ0063 from my limited knowledge but here's what Darkside developments sell as a dpf delete for my car Vs the realoem dpf. 

Same angles etc and that's  definitely not replacing what's after the turbo. 

[SiC]

Remember DPF was retrofitted on this age car to meet Euro 4 regs. So it wasn't designed in to be in an optimal location. Usually that means somewhere under the car as there is more room there to shove a big filter in. 

What this means is it's far away from the engine exhaust and cooler exhaust flows. Not great for doing a regen on. Hence why so many diesels of this age had DPF issues and why DPFs got a bad name.

Later designed vehicles had them right out of the engine manifold and usually in the engine bay. These close coupled DPFs got hot quickly and could easily regen at most speeds and revs, even slow ones. 

So I could completely understand if a garage thought the cat was the DPF. Although you'd think they would have realised by the fact you can look through it. Looking from the parts diagram it looks like the back pressure sensor pipe attaches to it too. 

[dome]

Well, it's off. Whatever it is. 

I undid the clamp at the front that had been off before. The 2 sections were held together pretty tight but prying them apart a wee bit saw the back  pressure go from 200mb to 80 odd. 

I guess this isn't how it should look inside. 

 

[SiC]

Going to do the ol' pressure washer with detergents trick?

I think I've read even compressed air from the exhaust side towards the engine side works well. 

[JJ0063]

That looks nice and easy if a hammer and chisel were to fall into your hands…

[Noel Tidybeard]

finger round the tailpipe- if it's sooty = fucked dpf, not sooty = ok dpf and give it a clean

[Noel Tidybeard]

 

[jonathan_dyane]

That would certainly explain why it don't go

[dome]

It never did this before 👀

[jonathan_dyane]

Bet it sounds good and loud with no exhaust 😁

[dome]

7 hours ago, jonathan_dyane said:

Bet it sounds good and loud with no exhaust 😁

Tis most uncouth and not becoming of a gentleman in the ultimate driving machine...

But yes, with the DPF relocated to the garage the exhaust back pressure is down from 200mb at idle to zero.

It drives a lot better like this and instead of having to drive it in manual mode and keeping the revs below 2k rpm I can let the autobox do it's thing. The engine feels healthy but it was always going to after being so strangled.

So, the poor guy had paid £400 a year ago for a garage to clean the dpf and they cleaned the cat instead 🤦‍♂️ 

 

 

[jonathan_dyane]

Mind could they not have cleaned it but it's blocked back up again if the fault wasn't resolved?

[dome]

No, the bolts holding this on were absolutely rotten. I had to grind them off. The cat up the front had been off though with fresh bolts and had marker pen on it from getting cleaned 

[juular]

14 minutes ago, dome said:

So, the poor guy had paid £400 a year ago for a garage to clean the dpf and they cleaned the cat instead 🤦‍♂️

This is priceless.

Professionals at work again.

[Schaefft]

26 minutes ago, juular said:

This is priceless.

Professionals at work again.

Agreed, this sounds about like the right level of competence you can expect nowadays.

[jonathan_dyane]

I don't know who is more incompetent, the garage who removed the cat or the 'professional' DPF cleaning firm who apparently didn't realise what they were cleaning wasn't a dpf (although I suspect the type of firm they used is some guy who blasts them through with a pressure washer in his back garden)

[big_al_granvia]

gut dpf, blank egr, map them out, free flow air filter and a possil mot.. sorted

[EyesWeldedShut]

That's an awesome looking beast - nice motor mister.
These cars have a Bosch EDC16C35 ECU - that's easily read and remapped - even by Big Al's puppy - a new DPF is a couple of hundred quid.

If you have a mate with the kit then I'd go for dumping the ECU, compare the read with a vanilla copy to see if it's got any other remapping on it. Then it's your ethics - bolt in a new DPF or gut the existing one and get the puppy to map it out.
Or you could just bolt in a new one and live with whatever mapping is already under the bonnet?
Given the fitting location - I'd fling in a cheap new DPF and see what happens?

[SiC]

Pouring in some DPF cleaner or even sending it off to be cleaned is probably going to be cheaper than a replacement or mapping it out?

Also I'm biased as I've cycled behind enough gutted diesels and it's fucking grim to be behind one. Invariably because they also have some other preexisting emissions problem which caused the owner to gut it. Thankfully doesn't really happen now with the Bristol CAZ as post 2015 diesels struggle to get past even the MOT smoke test with a gutted filter. 

[dome]

Cleaned out the car today, this collection tells of a desperate previous owner...

Took it a decent run, these figures seem pretty healthy for something the same size and colour as a small frigate. 

Am undecided on a permanent fix yet, part of me wants to keep it original but part of me would like to get the dpf to fuck. 

It's got a couple of months MOT, I need to see what it's chances are of getting another one are and decide from there. Hopefully it'll be saveable though, it's got a fully stamped service book and a pile of receipts from the last 2 owners. 

It my well need 4 tyres for it's MOT going by last years advisories, that's a healthy chunk of cash in itself. 

These things aren't worth fortunes and they are popular breakers as the M57 engine is a popular thing to swap in to everything from Transits to Land Rovers. It'd be good to give this one another chance though.