URGENT HELP NEEDED. I have a 2012 diesel freelander and know nothing about cars i simply drive them. It keeps going into limp mode and loosing power. A message appeared on dash saying DPF full. The auto electrician has looked today and has changed the filter but it hasnt done the trick. he's told my husband it may need a new turbo. Ive looked online and it says this is rarely the case and there are lots of other things that need checking first. Please can anyone tell me what needs checking as we really cant afford a new turbo. also for info we have no smoke anywhere and prior to it driving sluggish last week and then the message coming up at the end of the week we have had no problems. It has around 95,000 and has been re-mapped. the EGR (?) has been cut out when it was re-mapped. urgent suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance

Hi, you say that the auto electrician changed the DPF filter, are you sure he didn't just change a sensor as the DPF is part of the exhaust system if I'm not mistaken, it's also very expensive to replace. Hopefully the invoice he left should give you a better indication. The DPF generally gets full if the vehicle is used for short runs, taking your Freelander on a decent drive (motorway is always best) should help to clean it out

Simple version

The Diesel Particulate Filter is a section of the exhaust that catches the small soot type particles from the exhaust gasses.
From time to time the filter needs clearing out. To do this the exhaust needs to be very hot (think 20minutes above 50mph), the car then injects fuel into the filter, this raises the temperature high enough to burn the soot and it is exhausted as a gas.
Hooray all the environmentalists are now happy.

The system has a couple of major flaws
1) You need to drive long distances at high speeds at regular intervals - not exactly saving the planet.
2) If the regeneration starts (you will not know if it has), and you then hit traffic or come off the motorway, then the regeneration fails.

The solution is to take the car to the dealer, who will put the cat up on a ramp, get it nice and hot and force the regeneration using software. For which he will charge you handsomely. Eventually the DPF filter will become so clogged that it will need replacing at great expense. This is not restricted to Freelanders, most modern diesels have similar systems fitted.
There will be a pressure sensor near the DPF that senses that the exhaust pressure is high, this means that the exhaust gasses cannot escape, usually from a partially blocked DPF. It could be that your electrician has replaced this sensor in the belief that a high reading = faulty sensor.

Several options
1) Drive long distances on the motorway - not great if you live in Orkney
2) Buy a petrol car
3) Rip the innards out of the DPF, have the software changed so that it doesn't throw up an error - will still pass the MOT emissions test.
4) Resign yourself to buying DPF filters at regular intervals, knowing you are saving the planet all on your own.

Option 3 is of course illegal - but only if you tell the MOT examiner it has been done, because no one else will be able to tell.

Before you ask, mine is a 2008 car, so no DPF filter, and it's 40 miles each way to work, mostly on the motorway, so even if one was fitted it wouldn't be a problem. But I do know several minicab drivers, who like diesels for the economy, drive mainly in town, and don't give a monkeys about the environment. Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

Good explanation Andy

Wow! Thanks for the explanation. Most weekends we drive 90 miles to East coast and 90 miles back to our caravan and we aren't slow drivers averaging 70-90 mph. Wouldn't this be enough? Could it be other things. I've read on forums things such as a leak/bend in some kind of pipe. Or debris in the turbo for example?
If I do half an hour on motorway tonight at a fast pace could this clear the problem or has it gone beyond that?

The sad bit is with a little thought it can be made to work.

Take the last of the Defenders as an example, these spend a lot of time at or just above tickover, and might not see a motorway for years. So mount the DPF as close to the exhaust manifold as possible, where it is hot all the time.
Now you can regenerate whenever you want. Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

I don't believe it had to be a fast pace, more high revs for prolonged time, maybe legal motorway speeds in 4th/5th will help clear it and keep the license clean Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Also we had the mother done last month and it passed with no problems. So we still have a year left. But even if we did your point 3 then surely we would still have the same problem of a lack of power especially up hills and it going Into limp mode which makes the car u driveable? Do you agree?

When it was last driven how did you find the performance, did it feel as it normally does or did you find yourself having to drive it hard to get good response? If the turbo had failed you would have noticed a big drop in pulling away and getting up to speed

Not mother - MOT. flaming predictive text!

The power was hit and miss when pulling away or going up hills. I could have my foot to the floor and a definite loss of power but when I moved up a gear it gave it more power then dropped again until I kept going up in gear. No smoke or burning smell. Would it just come on suddenly too? If did it a couple of times intermittently over 3 or 4 days then engine management light came on. Then the day after the DPF FULL message appeared on the dash!

Take a look here for a similar issue, may be useful

http://www.freel2.com/forum/topic11021.html

90 miles each way every few weeks should be more than enough.
So driving around for an hour tonight shouldn't be necessary.

You do really need to get the car to LR specialist and get the codes read - they will usually give you a printout.
A faulty turbo should not give a DPF error, more likely under-boost error, and even then, the actuators are more likely to give trouble than the turbo itself.

Halifax is an hour away, but you are welcome to drive past and plug in the Hawkeye diagnostics if you want.
PM me - I will be in after 8pm. Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner