Sorry to start a new thread where there are a lot of similar ones out there. But I've learned a lot about the FAP system while fixing my car and I wanted to share the success without making people hunt through lots of posts discussing how disgisted we all are before finding some answers.
The technical information in this post is generally extracted from the Fiat Ulysse wokshop manual as issued by Fiat. I have tried my best to avoid giving my opinion as fact and have tried to be clear when I'm giving my view rather than fact.
I have a 2004 fiat Ulysse 2.2JTD.
The FAP additive too low warning came on after running out of diesel. However it was also after 90K miles. A full FAP additive tanke is only supposed to last 75k miles so it's likely the tank was empty.
The exhaust system has a diesl particulate filter. If you clamber under the car and tract the exhaust from the end, you have the back box followed by a run of about 2" pipe and then it widens out to around 5" pipe for a foot or so. This foot of 5" pipe is the particulate filter. You will see a small tapping into the side of it which is the additive injection point. Close to the same area you'll find a plastic tank which holds 5l of additive.
The additive exists to reduce the combustion temperature of the particulate which gathers in the particulate filter. The car waits until it thinks the filter should be full of particulate and also until the car is at running temperature. Lots of sources have reported that the car also waits for 2 other conditions, a long motorway drive, and at least 1/4 of a tank of fuel. I don't know either is true. However when it's ready it injects the additive and a diesel rich fuel mix. This results in the particulate being burned out of the particulate filter.
Since the car uses a fuel rich mix it makes sense to wait for constant revs of 2-3000 and that may be how it detects a motorway drive.
this process is called regeneration. My MOT emmissions test gave a result of 2.5 against a limit of 1.5. This dropped to 0.37 after regeneration. so it works.
Now to dispel some myths, despite posts saying that the additve tank has a level sensor, I can confirm it does not have one. The car works out how much additive it has from:
1 being told how much additive is in the tank to begin with.
2 knowing how often the car is refilled because of the petrol cap open sensor
3 (presumably) knowing how often it injects additive.
It is possible to replenish the additive yourself, the procedure for it in the workshop manual appears really quite simple. But the additive (EOLYS176) is nasty stuff and I wouldn't want to be crawling around under a car with it leaking. Also, since there is no level sensor. you need the FIAT computer to reset the system, so it's a dealership job.
The quote I got from the dealer was an hour of labor to refil the tank and £60 for 3L of the additive. That was my 4th call, the previous 3 had quoted £400-£500 and had stated that it was a tricky job mo guarantees on final price.
the dealership I went with were able to refil the tank no problem, though it cost a little more since I needed 5L of the additive not 3.
they were not able to get the computer to talk to the car. Peugot design, Fiat computer. It took them a long time with Fiat technical to get all the downloads they needed, but they did get it working, there was nothing wrong on the car side.
They then had trouble persuading the system to reset. A bit of analysis indicated that the computer thought the fuel cap was open. We debated replacing the fuel cap sensor but settled with belling out the wiring thinking this was a more likely cause. Fortunately for me, when the car was next turned on, it was happy to reset the level. Running the regeneration then took about 30mins to an hour.
The technical information in this post is generally extracted from the Fiat Ulysse wokshop manual as issued by Fiat. I have tried my best to avoid giving my opinion as fact and have tried to be clear when I'm giving my view rather than fact.
I have a 2004 fiat Ulysse 2.2JTD.
The FAP additive too low warning came on after running out of diesel. However it was also after 90K miles. A full FAP additive tanke is only supposed to last 75k miles so it's likely the tank was empty.
The exhaust system has a diesl particulate filter. If you clamber under the car and tract the exhaust from the end, you have the back box followed by a run of about 2" pipe and then it widens out to around 5" pipe for a foot or so. This foot of 5" pipe is the particulate filter. You will see a small tapping into the side of it which is the additive injection point. Close to the same area you'll find a plastic tank which holds 5l of additive.
The additive exists to reduce the combustion temperature of the particulate which gathers in the particulate filter. The car waits until it thinks the filter should be full of particulate and also until the car is at running temperature. Lots of sources have reported that the car also waits for 2 other conditions, a long motorway drive, and at least 1/4 of a tank of fuel. I don't know either is true. However when it's ready it injects the additive and a diesel rich fuel mix. This results in the particulate being burned out of the particulate filter.
Since the car uses a fuel rich mix it makes sense to wait for constant revs of 2-3000 and that may be how it detects a motorway drive.
this process is called regeneration. My MOT emmissions test gave a result of 2.5 against a limit of 1.5. This dropped to 0.37 after regeneration. so it works.
Now to dispel some myths, despite posts saying that the additve tank has a level sensor, I can confirm it does not have one. The car works out how much additive it has from:
1 being told how much additive is in the tank to begin with.
2 knowing how often the car is refilled because of the petrol cap open sensor
3 (presumably) knowing how often it injects additive.
It is possible to replenish the additive yourself, the procedure for it in the workshop manual appears really quite simple. But the additive (EOLYS176) is nasty stuff and I wouldn't want to be crawling around under a car with it leaking. Also, since there is no level sensor. you need the FIAT computer to reset the system, so it's a dealership job.
The quote I got from the dealer was an hour of labor to refil the tank and £60 for 3L of the additive. That was my 4th call, the previous 3 had quoted £400-£500 and had stated that it was a tricky job mo guarantees on final price.
the dealership I went with were able to refil the tank no problem, though it cost a little more since I needed 5L of the additive not 3.
they were not able to get the computer to talk to the car. Peugot design, Fiat computer. It took them a long time with Fiat technical to get all the downloads they needed, but they did get it working, there was nothing wrong on the car side.
They then had trouble persuading the system to reset. A bit of analysis indicated that the computer thought the fuel cap was open. We debated replacing the fuel cap sensor but settled with belling out the wiring thinking this was a more likely cause. Fortunately for me, when the car was next turned on, it was happy to reset the level. Running the regeneration then took about 30mins to an hour.
