DPF Clogged
 

Hi all, I am the very proud owner of a 2014 A8L 3.0 TDI. I absolutely love this car, and feel the engine was a perfect compliment to it, it is a crying shame they can't/don't offer this option any longer.

Today I was moving my car from one building to another on the same campus and got a message saying there was an issue with my DPF, then a CEL along with the glow plug light flashing. I scanned it with OBDeleven, and it mentioned three faults (sorry I forgot to get the actual codes) one was for a overloaded DPF, another for a Nox sensor issue, then a third related to the DPF (I forget now). Anyway, I also experienced reduced (a lot!!) power while driving. Needless to say I took it straight to the dealer who is going to investigate the issue.

I was wondering if anyone else has had an issue with similar in this engine? It also got me thinking how easy it is to pull the DPF out permanently (once the extended TDI warranty expires of course!) to prevent this issue possibly occurring in the future?

I will update here with what they find, I am hoping it is just a simple DPF clean, and I can get my car back! ☺

Edit: I also notice a rattle one start up sometimes, like the timing chain tensioners need to activate? It only lasts a couple of seconds, and doesn't happen at every start up, I was wondering if this is also normal for this car? I mentioned it to the dealer to look into while they have the car anyway...

Take it to the dealer and see if the issue is covered by the EPA warranty.

I dropped it straight to them. I don't see why it wouldn't, it is definitely an emissions component issue...

I agree. It should all be covered.

They had to replace my DEF on my '14 A6, first they tried replacing a sensor (I think the just cleaned it because I didn't see a sensor part on the invoice), that didn't work so they replaced the filter. If I remember right it was a big job but they covered it, this happened before the diesel fix was done so I also would like to know why this happens and what can be done to avoid it in the future. Right after the recall fix, like on the way home from the dealer, we got a CEL for a NOX sensor, long story short they tried to charge us for the repair??? On the way home from that fix we got a low DEF fluid message. I guess they are are looking for loopholes to charge for anything that is not written specifically into the recall. I always used name brand fuel and every so often used Stanadyne fuel additive. Recently I read about "top tier diesel fuel", not sure how important it is though, they always said that all diesel fuel is the same. Almost 2 yrs. ago I ran a VCDS scan and got the NOX sensor code, when I ran it by the service dept. they said they can't fix anything without a CEL...another???

I have still to hear anything back from the dealership about what they have found. I am sure they will reach out soon enough. I am more than happy to put miles on the little loaner SUV (Q5) than my car for a few days while they fix it. I figured if they were trying to push blame or worn their way out of covering it, I would have heard something pretty quick?

They kept my car for 10 days before hearing from them...2 weeks total.

So I wanted to post an update to my post. Apologies for the long gap, I have just been busier than a one armed paper hanger here of late..

They had my car for a few days, then called to say that they could find nothing wrong. The check engine light cleared itself (although the codes were still there when they checked) the SA tried to tell me it went into a regen, to which I replied I seriously doubt it did say there in the parking lot not running. Regardless, driven the car a few weeks now, no further issue, and like the SA mentioned, I have the 10/120 warranty for a good while yet, if anything were to rear up again in the future.

I hate leaving threads out there hanging. For now I will leave it at this, but will update this if anything changes in the future!

Oh and zero cost for anything they did as far as testing and troubleshooting, a pleasant dealer experience all round!

Awesome information! Thank you for sharing! Hopefully it doesn't come to that, but good to know we have protections in place if it does start becoming an ongoing issue ☺