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There have been a couple of developments regarding my Prado today.
Firstly, I had a call from one of Toyota’s customer service people who had contacted their technical staff on my behalf. Their explanation, as to the most likely cause of the DPF blockage, was that I had done too much driving in slow traffic conditions before the trip and that the fifth injector carboned up and became blocked so preventing an active regeneration. I don’t buy this explanation as this is a country car with the vast majority of its travel being done at highway speeds. Secondly, whilst I did do about 500km city driving before this trip, it was mainly on motorways at speeds generally around, or above, 60kph. Lastly, if the injector was blocked, as they suggest, then the forced generation performed by the dealer would not have worked as this operation requires the fifth injector to be functioning.
I took the car to the dealer today for its 10,000km service. It was not due yet but I figured it had had a hard start in life so I had it done at 7,500km. On the 30 km drive to the dealer, at highway speeds, I noticed an intermittent roar (not loud but noticeable without the radio on) which I was certain was an active regeneration taking place. I had tripped the fuel economy meter at the start of the trip and recorded 11.4l/100k which is way above what my previous 150 D4D used to do for the same trip. Sure enough, when the data was checked, the DPF level was at 8% as it had just performed an active regeneration. I have done this trip many times in my old Prado and found that it would achieve almost identical fuel figures in both directions. After the service, I checked the economy for the return trip and guess what, 8.4l/100km. Now that is more like it. It is evident that the active regeneration process really mucks with the economy due to the amount of diesel required for the process. Of course, the difference is not going to be nearly as dramatic over a longer run.
The other interesting point was that the data taken from the car last week, at the end of our 1500km return trip from Port Augusta and with van in tow, indicated that the car had not performed even one active regeneration throughout the trip but that the DPF level was only around 30%. This would seem to suggest that the elevated exhaust gas temperatures, due to the car working relatively hard, were sufficient to keep the DPF in a state of passive regeneration without the need for clearing with active regeneration. This trip included the haul out of Talbingo and over the Snowy Mountains which has to be a challenging test for any vehicle with a good sized van in tow. The car was actually quite impressive in the manner in which it handled it, although still significantly less economical than my previous 150 series for the same trip.
Toyota technical staff have described my experience as a “unique” event that they feel is unlikely to happen again. I wish I could be so confident. Many larger vehicles have an indicator that gives a reading of the DPF status and a button to press to force a regeneration. I found this quick reference guide for the DPF in a Hino motor fitted to small buses in a thread regarding the DPF in a Toyota Coaster. It makes interesting reading.
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=h..._reference.pdf
I would be happy just to have some indication of the status of the DPF. Does anybody know if this is possible with a ScanGauge?
Firstly, I had a call from one of Toyota’s customer service people who had contacted their technical staff on my behalf. Their explanation, as to the most likely cause of the DPF blockage, was that I had done too much driving in slow traffic conditions before the trip and that the fifth injector carboned up and became blocked so preventing an active regeneration. I don’t buy this explanation as this is a country car with the vast majority of its travel being done at highway speeds. Secondly, whilst I did do about 500km city driving before this trip, it was mainly on motorways at speeds generally around, or above, 60kph. Lastly, if the injector was blocked, as they suggest, then the forced generation performed by the dealer would not have worked as this operation requires the fifth injector to be functioning.
I took the car to the dealer today for its 10,000km service. It was not due yet but I figured it had had a hard start in life so I had it done at 7,500km. On the 30 km drive to the dealer, at highway speeds, I noticed an intermittent roar (not loud but noticeable without the radio on) which I was certain was an active regeneration taking place. I had tripped the fuel economy meter at the start of the trip and recorded 11.4l/100k which is way above what my previous 150 D4D used to do for the same trip. Sure enough, when the data was checked, the DPF level was at 8% as it had just performed an active regeneration. I have done this trip many times in my old Prado and found that it would achieve almost identical fuel figures in both directions. After the service, I checked the economy for the return trip and guess what, 8.4l/100km. Now that is more like it. It is evident that the active regeneration process really mucks with the economy due to the amount of diesel required for the process. Of course, the difference is not going to be nearly as dramatic over a longer run.
The other interesting point was that the data taken from the car last week, at the end of our 1500km return trip from Port Augusta and with van in tow, indicated that the car had not performed even one active regeneration throughout the trip but that the DPF level was only around 30%. This would seem to suggest that the elevated exhaust gas temperatures, due to the car working relatively hard, were sufficient to keep the DPF in a state of passive regeneration without the need for clearing with active regeneration. This trip included the haul out of Talbingo and over the Snowy Mountains which has to be a challenging test for any vehicle with a good sized van in tow. The car was actually quite impressive in the manner in which it handled it, although still significantly less economical than my previous 150 series for the same trip.
Toyota technical staff have described my experience as a “unique” event that they feel is unlikely to happen again. I wish I could be so confident. Many larger vehicles have an indicator that gives a reading of the DPF status and a button to press to force a regeneration. I found this quick reference guide for the DPF in a Hino motor fitted to small buses in a thread regarding the DPF in a Toyota Coaster. It makes interesting reading.
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=h..._reference.pdf
I would be happy just to have some indication of the status of the DPF. Does anybody know if this is possible with a ScanGauge?
Whitey
but you are right - legally there is not much an owner can do about this. In reality vehicle manufacturers should be held accountable to a poor design - unfortunately this will never be the case. Big corporations always win.
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