Technical multipla 1.9 jtd - dpf light - How to Identify ECU?

[babaton]

Hello,

The dpf light came on tonight on my way home, my car's hardly revving at all now.

I took it on a 200 mile drive a week ago, surely the cleaning cycle should have run then?

I've read it's possible to trigger the cleaning cycle using fiatecuscan, I'm not sure which ecu I have though and which set of cables I need to buy.

If I can get the cycle to start do you actually drive the car or is it enough to just rev the engine for a while?

Thanks, Kevin

 

[Devious]

Doesn't a DPF have to reach approx 600 deg cel before it burns off? Isn't this most effective @ 3500rpm for 30 mins or till light goes out?
I'd guess you were sitting at 2.5k all the way, thus not reaching temp.

As for cables, obd2. EBay has loads but search here for the most effective.
Ta

 

[babaton]

Most likely, I've done a lot of miles lately but I've had canoes on the roof rack so I drive pretty slow on the motorway.

If I sit outside and rev the hell out of it for half an hour will that do the trick? Is regeneration simply the fact that the exhaust gets hot or is there more to it? Does the ecu have to "start" regeneration?

I watched a video of someone using fiatecuscan to clean the filter and it looks like the software just tells the ecu to rev the engine for a while.

At the moment it's hard to even get it into 4th, if I take it for a loong hard drive will that be enough to get the engine temperature up?
Surely if I tear around in 2nd or 3rd for long enough it''ll get just as hot.

 

[babaton]

good video on dpf here - youtube.com/watch?v=fNO-oUHmKXU

he talks about some cars raising the filter temp by injecting fuel into the exhaust, is this how the multipla does it? and if so is that what fiatecuscan does?

 

[momoe]

Heat is generated by revs and by load, simply revving the car probably won't generate the heat required.
Hill climbing is good as the engine is working hard and cooling airflow is less for the engine load, if you can keep an eye on the fuel consumption - should drop significantly when the regeneration cycle cuts in.
Having said that if you're in the Fens, you could have a bit of a drive!

 

[babaton]

ok, I might take it for a drive this evening and see what happens.

What triggers the regeneration though? Is it based on mileage, fuel consumption or does it actually measure how clogged the filter is?

I want to get the cable so I can connect to the chip and see if the regeneration has run, is the obd2 cable the same as the VAG-COM one? There seem to be different versions.

How can I identify which ecu I have? the fiatecuscan site has a chart that'll then show me exactly which cable to get.

 

[momoe]

Probably based on a number of metrics, engine speed, throttle settings, run time and temperature for starters.
I believe that the regeneration process is triggered by high >2.5-3k revs for a minimum duration, i.e. Prolonged high speed driving.
Anyway, if you've no other issues, a good thrash doesn't do any harm except to the fuel consumption!

 

[babaton]

ok, I took it for a long drive down the M23 on friday, after about half an hour the revs suddenly picked up, the dpf light stayed on though. I stopped at the petrol station on the way home and when I restarted the car after filling up the light was off. Excellent.

When I went out later that evening the light came on again ass soon as I started the engine, low revs again too. The power came back after a while but the light stayed on.

On saturday I went on another long 2 hour drive to the coast, again, low revs when I first started up but the power came back pretty quickly this time 10 minutes or so, the light went off after a bout an hours drive. The next morning the light was back on again. The power came back even quicker this time, about 5 minutes.

So it looks like it's slowly cleaning the filter out, 'm not sure what's going on with the light, I've ordered the cable kit so I can see what's going on.

The car seems to drive fine once the power comes back so I'm not sure if the ECM is limiting the car.I'm a bit confused about it all.

 

[widemouthfrog]

Just a thought - might it be worth taking it to a rolling road/dyno if there's one near you? That way you can guarantee the load and high temps needed to get the regeneration triggered (a dyno session is about the hardest thing you can put an engine through). It will also give you a good idea as to whether your car is down on power. Chances are, the people at the rolling road will be able to read the engine operating parameters as well, which might help pinpoint the problem.

 

[babaton]

Sounds like a good idea, expensive though I imagine. I just don't have the funds, I have a set of cables arriving soon so I'll see what error codes show up and try to regenerate the filter and reset the counter.

I took the car out again today, low power and the light on again, the low power took ages to go away today so my theory that the filter is slowly getting cleaner isn't looking too good.

What would cause the engine to switch to low power mode like that? When power does return it drives fine.


I've read that the egr valve can cause loss of power too so might take a look at that in the morning. Is the dpf light in the multipla also the engine management light? I've read it is in other fiats so maybe the light could be for a faulty egr?

 

[momoe]

Engine management light is a red engine block, can't imagine that they'd bother putting in a separate DPF light.
There are a couple of fuel additives that purport to assist DPF regeneration plus some firms offering professional DPF regeneration (DPF has to be removed and couriered).

However, a DPF isn't a legal requirement (Yet), and the other option is to remove it and have the ECU remapped so you never have the problem again.

 

[babaton]

I am toying with the idea of having it removed, I'm worried the mot test could get stricter in the future though.

This is the light I have on my dashboard......

BTW, I found a short guide on this forum to removing the egr valve, the image on the guide ewas for a different engine though.

This is my engine, can anyone point out the egr valve for me?

 

[momoe]

Look underneath the top right mount for the accoustic cover, on the back of the cambox - you've got the 120hp GM engine which I'm not familiar with.

If it's not obvious, try looking for the outlet from the EGR into the inlet manifold, this is probably metal as exhaust gases would rot out anything else.

The light you've depicted looks more like an injector to me, anyone else with a 120 Multi clarify this?

 

[babaton]

yeah, I thought it was an injector first of all,put some redex in today and actually the light has gone off a few times today immediately after starting the engine, came on again though but no low power mode. I'll head outside in a bit and see if I can find the egr.

cheers

 

[martyc5674]

I had that light on my ducato.. Bugged me till I got fiatecuscan which revealed it was just a "catch all" light.
I was certain I had an injection issue.
Any problem on the ducato would illuminate this very light. Mine was a damaged harness to a fan relay which I found handy enough.

I bet it's nothing to do with your dpf.
Hook up to ecuscan and you'll have your prob identified

Marty.

 

[babaton]

ok, the cables have arrived, now where exactly do I plug it in? Somewhere in the fuse box under the right hand side glove box?

 

[martyc5674]

Yes.. There is a hatch/door cover thing under the steering wheel to the right hand side. Pull that off, there will prob be a dust cover over the socket so pull that off too.

Make sure you've done all the other stuff for fiatecuscan to work.
Turn down the latency speed in the com port, search for the vag unit via fiat ecuscan... Then try and connect by picking your multi from the list.
Marty.

 

[babaton]

Thanks, I found it. Managed to connect ok, no dpf error thankfully, instead there's one for the TP Sensor, attached to the accelerator?
l
Sounds like an easy fix....

 

[martyc5674]

What's the error code??
Throttle position errors well covered on the forum... Luckily I haven't had to deal with them yet!!
Marty.

 

[momoe]

With thanks to Qinteq, who while no longer a Multi driver contributed much wisdom to the forum, hopefully still lurking.

"Picture it, sitting in the driving seat, foot on throttle.

Now you have a LHS and a RHS glovebox. Under the RHS glovebox is the potentiometer. Under the RHS glovebox is a white connector.

If you follow the metal throttle to its top you will find a round metal thing with wires coming out called a potentiometer. These wires go directly horizontally left behind the radio and gear stick to a white connector under the LHS bulkhead where they connect to the ECU. This connector needs to be eliminated before even taking it to a garage let alone spending an English penny.

It may not be your problem .. .. but Fiat dealers make a mint charging parts when all they do is clean this connection. Give it welly with switch cleaner / good old scrape / rewire new spades in / whatever. Or just plug and unplug 6 times to make a good electrical connection, its this connector that provides all the info to the ECU that results in so many spurious error codes.

I made a post on this covering technical voltages and OHMS values a couple of years ago, I've no idea where it is but I'll find it if your stuck ! "