Anyone had forced GPF regens yet?

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MattHGR
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Re: Anyone had forced GPF regens yet?

Post by MattHGR »

X11x11x11 wrote: Thu Jul 15, 2021 12:09 pm Just got back from my VW dealer as my 2019 Polo GTi+ 3k was running strange. Stop/start unavailable & he guessed at the filter doing a regen & he was correct. All ok now. I put super unleaded fuel in thinking dirty fuel/ not liking ordinary unleaded. Am I wasting my money on super unleaded?
I exclusively use Shell v power.
I doubt it provides any more power, but I notice it is way smoother in the low to mid rpm range.
I'm quite confident it's not a placebo effect too, as occasionally I'll put standard fuel in (cheaper for long journeys) , forget I've done it, and then wonder why my car feels a tad more hesitant at those lower speeds and rpms.
X11x11x11
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Re: Anyone had forced GPF regens yet?

Post by X11x11x11 »

Cheers for that 👍
Andy Beats
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Re: Anyone had forced GPF regens yet?

Post by Andy Beats »

MattHGR wrote: Thu Jul 15, 2021 12:21 pm

I exclusively use Shell v power.
I doubt it provides any more power, but I notice it is way smoother in the low to mid rpm range.
I'm quite confident it's not a placebo effect too, as occasionally I'll put standard fuel in (cheaper for long journeys) , forget I've done it, and then wonder why my car feels a tad more hesitant at those lower speeds and rpms.
I'm going to try this.
Low down hesitancy is bad in my car, especially when cold when it's becoming a bit of a pain to drive smoothly.
I'll report back as it's low on fuel and ideal experiment time.
SRGTD
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Re: Anyone had forced GPF regens yet?

Post by SRGTD »

I had a GPF regen in my GTI+ this evening - or at least I’m assuming that’s what it was. I was travelling at 60 mph at the time and the exhaust note was noticeably deeper and louder than normal and when I stopped at a set of traffic lights, there was a slight smell that I could best describe as a ‘hot’ smell. I was around 12-15 miles from home at the time and by the time I got home, everything seemed to be back to normal.

I didn’t experience any of the other symptoms that some other owners have experienced (e.g. lumpiness or hesitancy, noticeable increase in fuel consumption).
mirko
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Re: Anyone had forced GPF regens yet?

Post by mirko »

Gueron wrote: Sun Nov 29, 2020 7:04 am SUCCESS !!

At last sorted. Yesterday was a mild day before a cold spell today. Also we entered a "relaxed" lockdown in France with more
shops allowed to open. I drove 25 miles at a mostly constant 50 mph on the B road to a nearby town, then sped along the
bypass /motorway for 15 miles at 80 mph. Stopped to do a OBD11 readout and I was down to 0mg... When I left home I was
at around 1740mg. Did some christmas shopping, and drove "normally" back home, with 4mg added.

So at least now I know, my head scratching lasted too long. Next time just go staight there, do the etra 70 miles or so
including the high speed motorway spurt and clear the filter. These weeks I did probably 300 miles partly blocked with +15 to
+20% more fuel used and little change in the filter state. This could have gone on quite some time with the colder weather in
the winter.

Gueron
Hello gueron,

I have same problems with my 1.5 TSI 110kW and only now I found your posts - after I passed 45000 km my fuel consumption increased significantly
more than 20%.
I checked everything (sensors on intake...)but without any success.
I want to try your procedure to clean my GPF.
From your success try your recommendation is to have a trip about 40km at speed about 80km/h in order to reach working temperature of oil and engine and after to go on highway
with distance about 25km and speed about 130km/h?
Can you recommend me something more? Some people is writing to depress gas pedal in order to get more oxygen into exhaust....

I waiting to your recommendations in order to repeat your successful try :-)
mirko
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Re: Anyone had forced GPF regens yet?

Post by mirko »

Hello gueron,

I already passed regeneration, currently I have ash and soot mass to zero, but I still have higher fuel consumption....in your case consumption been decreased original value or still kept higher like before?

Thanks
Gueron
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Re: Anyone had forced GPF regens yet?

Post by Gueron »

Hi,
just saw your post, yes once regen was passed my fuel consumption was back to normal.
And the engine run smoother.
Are you sure it was a needed gpf regen that was causing the initial extra fuel ?
Other regen symptoms are the car asking you to change gear down to keep motor
revs up ?

Gueron
mirko
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Re: Anyone had forced GPF regens yet?

Post by mirko »

Hi Gueron,

I passed GPF regen, I checked it on VCDS, soot and ash dropped to zero comp=letely, but fuel consumption remained high.

I have no idea where I could find a problem.

Do you have any idea?

Miro
SRGTD
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Re: Anyone had forced GPF regens yet?

Post by SRGTD »

Had the third forced GPF regen in my GTI+ yesterday. I knew what was happening as soon as I set off on my journey as all the tell-tale symptoms were present;
  • Deeper, louder exhaust note
  • Slight hesitancy and lumpiness when moving off from rest and a slight reluctance to accelerate
  • A ‘hot’ smell once the engine was up to temperature
  • Significant increase in fuel consumption - not what I wanted as I’m running low on fuel, and because of the actions of the protesters at the fuel distribution depots disrupting deliveries to retailers and the frenzied actions of the panic buyers, there’s no petrol at the 6 filling stations near to where I live. Thanks protesters and panic buyers! 😡
It took around ten miles of driving for the regen to complete. I’d not really noticed the increased fuel consumption with the previous two regens, but it was very noticeable this time at low 20’s. Last forced GPF regen was in August last year, so hopefully no more for around another eight months.
ad_182_uk
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Re: Anyone had forced GPF regens yet?

Post by ad_182_uk »

Guessing it’s ‘illegal’ to take these GPF’s off and map out the sensors?

Sounds like a right ball ache. Guessing the car just gets worse and worse until it becomes full then it almost dies until you drive around pointlessly to get it clear.

Do all new petrol cars come with them? Seems like the dumbest thing ever and is putting me off a new car purchase since it sounds like you spend more time babying the car than enjoying it. Good for the turtles though I suppose

Will a sept 2019 registered gti+ likely have the GPF?
SRGTD
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Re: Anyone had forced GPF regens yet?

Post by SRGTD »

ad_182_uk wrote: Sun Apr 10, 2022 11:10 pm Guessing it’s ‘illegal’ to take these GPF’s off and map out the sensors?

Sounds like a right ball ache. Guessing the car just gets worse and worse until it becomes full then it almost dies until you drive around pointlessly to get it clear.

Do all new petrol cars come with them? Seems like the dumbest thing ever and is putting me off a new car purchase since it sounds like you spend more time babying the car than enjoying it. Good for the turtles though I suppose

Will a sept 2019 registered gti+ likely have the GPF?
I think it would be considered illegal to remove the GPF. It probably also invalidates your insurance - e.g. if you’re involved in an accident and the insurance company needed to inspect the vehicle to authorise repairs and discovers it’d been removed.

Particulate filters are nothing new; diesel cars have had particulate filters for many years; two of the Golfs I owned had them and I knew when they were performing an active regen, but I never had any issues with them in nine years of ownership, other than having to have a new sensor fitted on the mk5 Golf.

I’m not sure if all new petrol cars (in the UK) have GPF’s - they’re not required in some overseas countries, so it probably depends on how stringent emissions legislation is in a particular country and how ‘clean’ an engine will run without a GPF. During normal day to day driving you won’t be aware of any build up of soot over time in the GPF and performance is not affected so no; the car doesn’t get progressively ‘worse and worse until it becomes full then it almost dies’. If you’re driving mainly longer journeys when the engine can get up to optimum operating temperature, regeneration should be mainly passive and you shouldn’t notice it. It’s if you’re driving predominantly short distances on a cold engine that you’re likely to experience forced regens. My driving is around 2/3rds longer journeys and 1/3rd journeys up to 7-8 miles long, although anything less than 3-4 miles if I don’t need to carry anything heavy then I’ll walk; better for my health and the health of the planet! 🙂).

I’ve experienced maybe three GPF regens in 18 months of ownership and I can live with that. Come to think of it, the one at the end of last week may have actually been the only forced regen - with the previous two, I only really noticed a deeper exhaust note and a ‘hot’ smell - no lumpiness or hesitancy and no high fuel consumption, so the previous two were probably passive regenerations. So one forced regen in 18 months isn’t an issue with me.

A September 2019 registered GTI+ will have a GPF; their introduction coincided with the move to the WLTP test procedures for fuel consumption and emissions testing. A member on this forum had to have their GTI+ (one of the later / last non-GPF equipped cars) registered by the end of Aug 2018, which was the deadline date for registering new non-WLTP compliant vehicles, so a Sept 2019 registered GTI+ will definitely have a GPF.

Living with a car with a DPF isn’t a big deal at all IMHO - and you shouldn’t have any issues with sooty exhaust tips on a GPF-equipped car; mine stay spotlessly clean 😎. Owners of GPF-equipped mk7.5 Golf GTI’s over on golfgtiforum.co.uk also have very shiny exhaust tips too 🙂.
Johntheo1
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Re: Anyone had forced GPF regens yet?

Post by Johntheo1 »

I believe non turbo charged petrol engines are no longer available now.
Do all versions now have GPFs installed?.
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OomStu_ZA
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Re: Anyone had forced GPF regens yet?

Post by OomStu_ZA »

Johntheo1 wrote: Mon Apr 11, 2022 10:55 am I believe non turbo charged petrol engines are no longer available now.
Do all versions now have GPFs installed?.
None of the new Polo's in South Africa have a GPF installed but suspect it will be included in all EU/AUS vehicle exports.
SRGTD
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Re: Anyone had forced GPF regens yet?

Post by SRGTD »

My GTI+ went through a GPF regeneration this evening. I think it’s the second in just over 28 months.

I was aware of;
- an unusually deep, ‘throaty’ sounding exhaust note (those owners wanting more exhaust noise would like it! 🙂).
- engine not running smoothly at town speeds (30 mph speed limit) - there was a noticeable hesitancy and lumpiness.

I checked for status messages in the ‘Car’ menus on the infotainment screen (I didn’t do that last time there was a regen) to see if there was anything telling me a regen was happening, or to tell me to keep the engine running until the regen had been completed. There were no messages. There were no warning lamps displayed on the instrument display either. I forgot to check the fuel consumption for the journey I’d just completed, but I’d anticipate it was pretty poor. After I’d put the car in my garage and switched off the engine, I noticed the cooling fan was running and you could feel the heat rising from under the car from the regeneration process.

I’m pretty certain the regen hadn’t finished before I put my car away, so I’ll take it for a run tomorrow to make sure the regen is fully completed.

I can understand why an owner experiencing this for the first time might think there is something wrong with their car. There’s very little information in the owners manual on GPF regenerations and if my VW dealer is anything to go by, no information was provided in relation to regeneration symptoms / signs during the handover process when I took delivery of my car.

Hopefully the information in this discussion thread will be useful to other owners, so they’ll be aware of the signs when they experience their first GPF regeneration.
SRGTD
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Re: Anyone had forced GPF regens yet?

Post by SRGTD »

SRGTD wrote: Thu Jan 26, 2023 11:08 pm My GTI+ went through a GPF regeneration this evening. I think it’s the second in just over 28 months.

I was aware of;
- an unusually deep, ‘throaty’ sounding exhaust note (those owners wanting more exhaust noise would like it! 🙂).
- engine not running smoothly at town speeds (30 mph speed limit) - there was a noticeable hesitancy and lumpiness.

I checked for status messages in the ‘Car’ menus on the infotainment screen (I didn’t do that last time there was a regen) to see if there was anything telling me a regen was happening, or to tell me to keep the engine running until the regen had been completed. There were no messages. There were no warning lamps displayed on the instrument display either. I forgot to check the fuel consumption for the journey I’d just completed, but I’d anticipate it was pretty poor. After I’d put the car in my garage and switched off the engine, I noticed the cooling fan was running and you could feel the heat rising from under the car from the regeneration process.

I’m pretty certain the regen hadn’t finished before I put my car away, so I’ll take it for a run tomorrow to make sure the regen is fully completed.

I can understand why an owner experiencing this for the first time might think there is something wrong with their car. There’s very little information in the owners manual on GPF regenerations and if my VW dealer is anything to go by, no information was provided in relation to regeneration symptoms / signs during the handover process when I took delivery of my car.

Hopefully the information in this discussion thread will be useful to other owners, so they’ll be aware of the signs when they experience their first GPF regeneration.
EDIT;
Update; took my car for a run this morning so it could complete the GPF regeneration, which took around 14 miles of driving. Observations;
  • Stop Start was inactive - this was expected, as the engine needs to keep running so the regen process isn’t interrupted.
  • Exhaust note - quite an unpleasant booming, droning noise once I got onto dual carriageway and I was up to speed. The booming / droning was worse when accelerating.
  • Fuel consumption; shocking! 😮; low 20’s until the regen was complete.
When on the dual carriageway at 60 mph, I adopted the practice of changing down to 5th gear using steering wheel paddles, accelerating up to 70 and then lifting off the accelerator to draw air / oxygen into the exhaust while the car decelerated, to help the process of burning off the accumulated soot in the GPF. I repeated this process a few times.

Once the regen was complete, everything was back to normal pretty much immediately. Mpg rapidly improved too.

So for anyone yet to experience this - don’t panic; it’s normal, even though the symptoms might suggest there’s something wrong 🙂.
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