interesting. IIRC the counter only tallies successfully completed regens, I wonder if something is causing them to be cancelled before completion?

 

Regen truncation



Yes...me! Can you blame me when the darn thing starts a regen as I turn into the driveway? :icon_biggrin:

Having said that, most start with a few klms of journey's end (~20-25mins to work) and usually complete enough to *NOT* start next journey.

With this current issue, I have noticed if the "regen" runs for a few minutes and I stop briefly e.g. to get a coffee, when I restart the engine it is in the same 'regen' mode at idle, as I pull out in first there I can feel a *slight* change and normal running resumes.

 

Sorry for stealing the topic a bit...

I don't know if anybody has done it on this forum or if there has been any discussion about it, but in Finland we have a lot of Diesel Boxers with Ecutec re-mapping, DPF removal and EGR disabling done.

We have had quite a lot of problems with DPF's because of our cold weather, as the filter don't much like short trips at winter time.

I suppose Ecutec is available in Australia as well, so the DPF removal shouldn't be any problem anymore.

Some comments about the car at the current state (Outback 2010, we also have punch of Fozzy's with the same treatment):

The engine is now really great, power is around 190-200 hp, torque restricted to about 430 Nm, as the flywheel can't take more. Clutch is totally fine. Earlier the power went down pretty bad after 3600 rpm, now the engine won't suffocate at all, and revs easily and with full power up to the redline. The stock map is totally ridiculous, Subaru engineers still have much to learn about diesels.

The bottom end is better with some extra torque, and as the boost demand is practically at full all the time, spooling is noticeable better. Max boost is 1,7 bar (stock 1.5).

As the EGR is disabled, I cleaned the boost / charge air temperature sensor, and suppose it won't get clogged anymore (we have had problems with that). Also the intake manifold will stay much cleaner.

Fuel consumption has dropped a bit (around 0,5 liters / 100 km), mainly because of missing regenerations. As the engine now makes good power and likes to rev, I tend to used the power more than earlier. Maybe because of this the consumption hasn't dropped so much.

I can only recommend this treatment to you car if possible, the engine now works as it should have been from the factory, and the annoying DPF won't be a problem anymore.

I have done 14 000 km with my can tuned, and have had no complaints. Of course I'm careful in letting the engine warm well before pushing if, and avoid too low revs at big load, as flywheel would not like that.

 

@Peacemaker76, Thank you for this useful info!
And yes, don't worry about these Australian guys, because that where Ecutec comes from
May I ask you a couple of questions:
what is the total mileage of your car?
what was the cost of your mods, I assume it will be more or less the same here in Sweden?
I guess you're leaving black clouds behind you, without the DPF, can this be a problem at the annual technical check (bilprovningen)?

 

My car has 53 000 km at the clock. We have much more driven cars modded here as well, no problems at all.

The cost was around 1300€ with DPF removal if I remember right.

Not much black cloud, just a little grey smoke when you really step on the pedal, after that no smoke even on full throttle.

At the inspection check, at least in Finland you rev the engine at neutral, smoke value was 0 for my car even after the mods. The test measures smoke with optical instruments, DPF catches small particles that are not measured.

 

DPF regens, holidays and logs

Holiday weekend here in Oz (Australia Day) so no info from Subaru about the logging until at least Tuesday.

In the meantime I've logged an extended (3+ hrs) trip myself including a (assumed) DPF regen. When I get my mind together (and it's not early am) I'll post details and deductions up. It's only very basic OBD-II type data but there's still things to be seen.

 

'DPF Regen' logging info- Runs 1 and 2

Well, no information from Subaru so far. Dealer is (was?) chasing it up.
In the meantime, I’ve done some basic OBD-II logging of my own on some extended drives. The upshot is the ‘DPF Regen’ again is far more prevalent between ~20-30°C than 10-20°C.

Here are some deductions and info about the logging I’ve done.

Data logger device: EBay VGate Mini Auto Bluetooth OBD2 OBD-II EOBD-II CAN BUS Diagnostic Scanner

Program used: wOBD v1.5.0 / obd2crazy

Parameters Logged:
PID Parameter
0104 Calculated Engine Load (%)
0105 Coolant Temp (°C)
010A Fuel Pressure (kPa, no data)
010B Manifold Air Pressure (kPa)
010C Engine RPM (rpm)
010D Vehicle Speed (km/h)
010F Intake Air Temp (°C)
0110 Air Flow (g/sec)
0111 Throttle Position (%, NOT accelerator pedal!)

Some conclusions from the logged data:

• Logged vehicle speed is quite accurate. The Vehicle Speed vs Speedo reading vs GPS speed: showed a close correlation between the Vehicle and GPS speeds, about 1km/h at 100-110km/h (~1%). This is quite good considering the variance in tyres that must be fitted: mine are ~1/2 worn 215/65R16 Geolandar A/T-S. The Speedo reading (not worthy of being called a speed) is, as per just about everyone else it seems, ~8km/h high at 110km/h (GPS) and neither precise nor accurate as it scales with speed. As I assume the vehicle odometer is linked to the vehicle speed I’ll assume the odometer is also quite accurate.
• Basically a ‘DPF regen’ is indicated by the following order of events:
• No ‘DPF regen’: The throttle position reading normally stays at ~87%
• IAT (Inlet Air Temp) rises w/o any other observable changes in the logged data as ‘DPF regen’ approaches.
• The ‘DPF regen’ issue can be indicated by the throttle closing to “5%”. Value will vary depending on running conditions but is less than the normal 87% except under heavy acceleration.
• There is a drop in IAT under ‘DPF regen’ resulting in noisier running (rattly/’nailing’) as per what dpm said (and makes sense). Can I speculate this means the turbo is effectively being bypassed and straight inlet air is being inducted and this is the throttle reading?
• Under acceleration during a “DPF regen’ (pedal to the floor):
  • Throttle starts to open again, takes some seconds.
  • IAT starts to rise- as the temp response takes a while I suggest it’s a bit hidden as accel is usually over by the time the temp starts to rise.
  • Can I speculate this is caused by the turbo being ‘reincluded’ into the induction system and the time this takes is causing the substantial lag?
  • Changing gears recycles this whole acceleration sequence issue as the throttle snaps closed again.
• Roughly ~12.2mins per regen (similar to what dpm posted)

Descriptions of the drives in the next two posts by me. Both drives have been completed on the same tank of diesel.

 

Drive 1: Canberra – Sydney (suburb) – Sydney (suburb 2).

Description: Freeway/motorway 287km - urban highway 26km. Basically: onto the freeway at 110km/h for 2.4hrs, 100km/h for 0.3hrs, urban for 0.2hrs, break for 0.3hrs, urban 0.6hrs.

Trip Time: Logged ~3hrs before laptop battery exhausted.

Weather: Cool, humid, isolated light showers, temp ~12-18C

Number of ‘DPF regen’ events: 1 during logging.(unnoticed due to tangling with 4 lanes of traffic under cruise at the M31/M5/M7 interchange). ‘DPF Regen’ occurred around the 110-100km/h transition. By that stage the distance between ‘DPF regens’ was approx 400 km.

Comments- Post-logging trip: After logging there was approx 2hrs break then ~0.5hrs - break (~20 mins) - 0.5hrs of urban/urban highway driving to our final destination. The next ‘DPF regen’ occurred almost at the end (typical!) of this time. The temp had risen to mid 20’s C and distance between ‘DPF regens’ was 80km. Regen started just before the end of the trip.

Please see the attached graph image.

 

hi pitrack - what software are you using to log??

cheers

Description: Freeway/motorway 287km - urban highway 26km. Basically: onto the freeway at 110km/h for 2.4hrs, 100km/h for 0.3hrs, urban for 0.2hrs, break for 0.3hrs, urban 0.6hrs.

Trip Time: Logged ~3hrs before laptop battery exhausted.

Weather: Cool, humid, isolated light showers, temp ~12-18C

Number of ‘DPF regen’ events: 1 during logging.(unnoticed due to tangling with 4 lanes of traffic under cruise at the M31/M5/M7 interchange). ‘DPF Regen’ occurred around the 110-100km/h transition. By that stage the distance between ‘DPF regens’ was approx 400 km.

Comments- Post-logging trip: After logging there was approx 2hrs break then ~0.5hrs - break (~20 mins) - 0.5hrs of urban/urban highway driving to our final destination. The next ‘DPF regen’ occurred almost at the end (typical!) of this time. The temp had risen to mid 20’s C and distance between ‘DPF regens’ was 80km. Regen started just before the end of the trip.

Please see the attached graph image.

 

Drive 2: Sydney (suburb) – Canberra. Basically a reverse of Drive 1

Description: Brief unlogged 5 min urban drive (unlogged due to comms problems) 95% Freeway/motorway – some urban highway at beginning and end, one brief stop. Basically: onto motorway at 80km/h, then 100km/h, then freeway at 110km/h, brief stop (~30 mins), resume 100km/h on freeway/highway, urban highways for 0.2hrs.

Trip time: Logged ~3hrs.

Weather: warm, dry, temp ~22-28°C.

Number of ‘DPF regen’ events: 5 logged, 4 noticed.

Comments:
At 5 regens per ~3hrs (and approx 272km) that’s:

• 1 regen every ~35 min or ~64km at 110km/h. One spacing was as small as 35km (noticed). Compare to Drive 1 which had ~400km between ‘DPF regens’.
• At 12min/’DPF-regen’ that leaves ~24 min ‘normal running’ per ~35min cycle for a 1:2 ratio of ‘DPF-regen’ to normal running.
• First regen appears shorter due to starting the logging a tad late (comm. problems)

Note all these cycles have completed properly as during this Drive the car was only stopped once on the way (lunch) ~2/3 of the way along and at the end.


Please see the attached graph image.

 

You'll be needing to log DPF delta-P and exhaust temps to see whether the regen demand is real or spurious. I'm wondering if the pressure sensor is drifting at high ambient temps, or such.

 

Pitrack,

This is a great thread, pls continue to keep us informed.

I have qualitatively experienced what i understand you to be representing here.... except this year (in summer) i have been more interested in it as my warranty is about to expire. Basically i did a 5000kms trip North at xmas and the performance was markedly different between ambient *hot* vs *cool*. Hills i would power up on the Hume in winter became sluggish in summer.

Need to get me-self a data logger!!

 

I am noticing increased regens myself (every 100 km or so) over the last tank or two. Thought it might of been dodgy diesel (as the source was different) but it seems to have continued. Very interested in the cause.

 

Time drags on...

Hello again all, sorry for the delay. Other stuff plus procrastination has meant I haven't really followed up recently on my logging.

The regens still occur in as little as 70km especially between ~20-28C and that's not all city driving either.

It's been a while since I had my Forester logged... since Jan 22 to be exact. And I haven't heard anything back from the dealer/service agent who logged the data. That's in spite of chasing it up at least a couple of times, including in person. Actually, when I rolled up I felt sorry for them seeing the piles of job card/sheets on the table. The service manager was actually on the floor doing the servicing...

Still 7-8 weeks is enough so I rang Subaru Aust. today (Thu). A young lady is chasing the service manager up for me. She actually rang back in the arvo to say the dealer hadn't replied...bit of a worry if even Subaru Aust. can't get them to ring back! :biggrin:

Anyway, see my next post for what prompted this. I pointed out to Subaru that the 8 week wait may have contributed to the current issue. I may yet chase up further by asking/advising our road service organisation (NRMA) too, just for our (and their) interest.

 

Blink, blink, blink... I think!

Well, didn't I get a rude shock when I hopped in the car to go to work this morning (Thu). I started the car, to an immediate "blink, blink, blink, etc." of the DPF light. :icon_eek: I had to get to a meeting at work and I needed the car to collect my daughter in the evening. Driving to the dealer or my work is basically the same trip of ~15km, so off I went under a self-generated thunderstorm :icon_evil:.

The blink indicates either a massively overfull DPF requiring a dealer regen OR oil dilution at an unacceptable level.

No problems noticed driving, certainly no regen. I stopped ~halfway as usual for my coffee. Setting off again a few minutes later, I didn't even get to the 80km/h zone to enable some sort of regen (if needed) when...it's gone! Off!! Not even steady (on the way to off)!! This wan't really good 'cos now I couldn't show the dealer.

This evening I'm now not sure I even saw it; was it a figment of my imagination (for 10 mins)??!

The wife had just returned yesterday evening from Sydney, the standard 110km/h freeway drive. She was already gone and needless to say, she'd taken the other car... She swears there were no lights when she drove (and I must say it's rather hard to miss).

Given the freeway run beforehand and the immediate flashing on startup, I'm surmising that it was the oil dilution hitting 10% (as pointed out by subdiesel.com) rather than a DPF soot clogging which would have had the steady amber first.

I guess the DPF light going off again was the oil dilution just dipping back below 10%- this time, and likely to come back again shortly.

However, when I connected on though EOBD2 this evening at home, the DTC P1468 Oil Dilution code is NOT seen. In fact, no codes are stored (at least that I can find at the moment). But following some good work by "Ghostgum" on another site ('cos dumbo me couldn't read Subdiesel's site properly), I called up the following parameter using wOBD and my dodgy generic Bluetooth OBDII interface:

V 22114E 0A [.] 10

This is the code for the Oil dilution and shows 10 (%, 0A is the hexadecimal number for the decimal number 10 located after the [.])

Now I'm going to be a bit shi**y if this is caused by the delay in getting back to me after the Jan 22 logging- this was the whole point of it.

 

Flashing DPF lights, regens and returned phone calls

Well, good news from Friday which it seems was my yearly 'networking' day.

1. After Subaru's call, the service manager rang me back so i was able to fill him in (and he me).
2. My flashing DPF light was confirmed as the oil dilution level that afternoon and reset. No need of oil change currently.
3. He said there had been a spike in this issue at the dealership in the past three weeks- from approx one a month/week to one a day, including vehicles with no history of any issues. Something funny's happened common to all and the only thing we can think of is fuel. Ours had been fueled in Sydney not Canberra but that's where Canberra fuel comes from (I think). Due to the recent spike he thinks my DPF light issue is separate to my ongoing regen/loss of power issue.
4. The ongoing regen/loss of power- the vehicle has been requested for further investigation and the car is now booked in next week for dealer logging, possibly overnight.
5. Subaru also rang me back to check on progress so I was able to fill the customer service contact in; she is keeping a log. So far she has been quite helpful.

So progress, albeit a bit slow given it'll be 2 months since the last logging.

 

Very interesting story Pitrack. Which brand of fuel are you using? Do you know it the supplier is the same for Melbourne?

 

Oils ain't oils...



I use either Caltex/Woolworths or Shell/Coles. Don't know if the supplier is the same as from Melbourne. What/where are your refineries (Altona, Geelong?) and import terminals?

(Off-topic soapbox diversion follows)
I'm surmising the following (I'm no expert): as our refineries shut down (in Sydney Clyde's gone, Kurnell's going) and become import terminals only we are becoming dependent on imported supplies. Whether that's better or worse remains to be seen but once it happens it's likely that any difference between brands will simply be even more of an additive blending exercise than it is now. Imported fuel almost certainly will come from S. E. Asia (closest area, prob. from Singapore) where any number of brand spanking new refineries are being built to supplement the current ones. Fuel quality is also dependent on the distribution and storage systems to prevent contamination. Given the recent, proven issues with fuel transportation in NSW (unroadworthy vehicles, see here), recent rain, and elderly refining, storage and transport equipment I suppose end-user issues are to be expected.

I went on-site briefly at Clyde and at other Sydney chemical/petrochem. sites around 2005 and in parts it really was like time travel back to the 1950's.

It also generally takes a lot to wind up a public servant, let alone a major government department (Roads and Marine Services NSW), to the point where they say "To hell with NSW's fuel supply- you've got two weeks to show cause or you're gone" (see here).

(Standing down from the soapbox now before y'all kick it out from under me anyway :biggrin

 

Diesel diagnostics and Impreza impressions: Preliminaries

"Where's the white car? Why's the white car in for service?"

And so it went on from my almost-3-year-old this afternoon when I picked her up in an unfamiliar blue Impreza loaner.

So the Forester's in for diagnostics (Thu) and kept overnight into Fri. I'll do a quick comparison/review of the loaner 2013 CVT Impreza vs my current cars a bit later. But two impressions first up:

• A nice, if slightly boring/anonymous vehicle that I could possibly live with
• The CVT freaks me out (and I think it's reciprocated)!!! :icon_eek: :bigeek:

More later on both cars.

 

What's that noise?! What's that noise??!

So asked my ~3 y.o. daughter as I reversed out of the driveway. How do you explain to a ~3 y.o. that the runaway blender noise is our loaner Impreza's CVT whine? :biggrin:

Just briefly, we've got the Forester back after being in at the dealer and I have logged a CBR-SYD-CBR trip again. The regens are there, just not as noticable and perhaps further spaced. The work involved decarbonising.

It's late (make that early) so details to follow soon (a day or two).

Oh, and we had one minor DPF shudder event- my wife noticed it as well.

 

The "more later" bit on the white car (diesel)

Been a bit distracted so it's taken me the week to get to this.

The Forester was in and the dealer kept it overnight. They seemed to do a bit of test driving (judging by the klms), no doubt logging and in the end they 'decarbonised' the engine by squirting Subaru Upper Engine Cleaner in through the glow plug ports.

I believe it's a bit of a job to get to those glow plugs?

At any rate, the vehicle has been returned after all this, out of the warranty period, at no cost to me (so far), except for a bit of diesel. So, in my case, well done to Subaru and the dealer- where the Service Manager has pretty well overseen the handling himself.

The result? The car drives OK...general performance seems unchanged although there *may* be some economy increase. There do seem to be slightly fewer regens, they are smoother and they are now harder to pick in general driving esp. with cruise control. However, they do still cause performance lag and can be quite noticeable on certain occasions. I'm beginning to believe that the performance varies as the DPF regen itself varies.

Some graphs are attached highlighting my CBR-SYD and SYD-CBR trips last weekend. Trips are similar except for the weather being mild to very warm and humid, with some rain. Temps varied between about 20C and 30C. As you can see, excluding regens (based on commanded throttle actuator) at the beginning of logging, one trip had 2 regens and the other 3.

I'll have to drive it more to evaluate further.

 

More and less...

I'll have to drive it more to evaluate further.

Lots of Canberra based driving this weekend. Regen every 60 kms or so. One left me stranded in a merging manoeuvre, lucky the other vehicle didn't insist on maintaining his speed (all of 60km/h).

So why is it regening that often in what should be passive regen conditions?

Perhaps: If it's in (passive) regen conditions, why is it initiating a (active) regen at all?

 

So why is it regening that often in what should be passive regen conditions?

 

Definitely not right. Even at my high miles I still only see a regen every 200+ miles. Can you log exhaust pressure differential or either exhaust temperature?

Either the filter is being blocked by poor combustion, it thinks it is due to a dodgy sensor, or the ECU is getting it's miles/time between regens calculation wrong.

 

Logs and interfaces



Will have to invest in some extra hardware. My VAG-COM KKL cable has the 'wrong' chip in it- won't talk, physically checked the chip too.

Will probably get another cheapo USB cable (with correct chip: FT232BL). Plus perhaps a better interface- OBDKey (with BT) looks the go as it claims to do both OBD-II and SSM (just $$$).

 

The "more later" bit on the blue car (Impreza loaner)

Here's a quick opinion/comparison between and old(sh) apple and a new orange, although the Subarus parts commonality makes it reasonably acceptable...

Impreza Petrol CVT vs 2010 Forester Diesel

Summary:A short-term loan of the (base?) Impreza was enough to put it on my evaluation list for a Mazda-3-type replacement. Composed, quality behaviour, much improved quality interior, acceptable performance. And the 3-y.o. liked it!

Interior: After being scared off by the previous model Impreza which was even more downmarket than the Forester Diesel, this Impreza was a marked improvement. Better quality plastics, esp. finish-wise, better displays with even lighting (except the real el-cheapo LCD in the dash...what's with that?). Stereo better than Forester. Good rear boot for a hatch. Seating OK. The climate control behaves in the Impreza, unlike the Forester. Impreza's stereo seems better (still not great), centre display top-notch to read, switchgear better but steering-wheel-mounted controls can be fiddly and buttons very cheap (worse than Forester's) and no mute button for the stereo. No temp gauge and fuel 'gauge' a damn hard-to-read bar on the dodgy LCD screen. No courtesy light on map lights made interior really dim (and may not have had a time delay, either- can't remember). Fit and finish looked typically good apart from the dodgy steering wheel buttons (esp cruise).

Steering, Handling, Roadholding: Not tested to any great extent, but the Impreza pushed into understeer quite early, which took away from the experience and my confidence. Smaller wheels/tyres may have played a part. Apart from that, it was far more refined, damped, quiet, flat and generally composed that the Forester, which was a noisy, bouncy, roly-poly, rough, utilitarian thing afterwards. But the Forester remains neutral, probably due to the drivetrain drive split. The Impreza's understeer prevalent in cornering (compared to the Forester) I'll attribute in part to the different 4WD system and slightly different drive split (60:40 Impreza, 50:50 Forester). The Forester remains more neutral in corners, esp under (some) acceleration. But the Forester will be bumped off line, roll and jiggle whereas the Impreza remains quiet and well composed. I need to try a manual Impreza.

Engine and transmission/drivetrain: The CVT takes some getting used to but I can see how it will replace automatics. Idiosyncrasies include whine (esp. low speeds), unusual (compared to std. autos) shift patterns, holding constant revs, and noise/drone resultant from these. I encountered some tactile anomalies that need rectification, probably a result of the CVT trying to be 'intelligent' and guess my driving pattern: In the city the response is overly touchy to zero or very minor throttle- the type used gliding along at 20-40km/h. Sink the boot once gliding (e.g acceleration to merge, into a gap, to overtake, or behind another vehicle at the lights) however, and it all collapses as the CVT and engine try to reconfigure themselves to do something meaningful. Large/full throttle take-offs provide much better response (front vehicle at the lights). The 'intelligence' seems to kick in when you get a run at things (e.g. corners) and use the throttle/brake several times- it all becomes more responsive, but that's not consistently possible in city driving. I think basically we (the CVT intelligence and myself) ended up fighting each other until we arrived at an uneasy truce broken by occasional throttle-provoked skirmishes. Oh, you also get shifting paddles if you wish to play that game. A real handbrake still prevails. A Diesel CVT Forester could be a seriously good combination.

Fuel Economy: Driven gently, Impreza fuel economy is reasonable with approx 8l/100km reported in gentle city driving. Forester: ~7-7.5l/100km measured (8+ when my 'better half' gets at it). The Impreza has an auto stop-start: Now this one's weird. Unless deactivated, it will stop the engine when you hold the brake on at lights, but only for 30 secs or so. the A/C will restart the engine, but so will something else, as it restarted with the HVAC turned off. The slight delay restarting exacerbates CVT delays at attempted quick take-offs and it will shut the engine down (to immediately restart it) as you attempt a parking manoeuvre. Worst is the engine stops when parked, restarts as you apply the park brake and remove your foot from the foot brake, only for you to immediately shut the engine off with the key! None of these shenanigans happened in a VW Passat I drove overseas. Easy fix: turn it off.

 

Update: My latest tinkering and fiddling- what's done and what's to come

Well, after a hiatus ('cos someone was given a clean car and brought it back filthy..grrrr! :icon_evil from driving the thing, Easter and ANZAC day coming with the time off in between (meaning: some long trips) have provided me with an opportunity to get stuck in.

It's also helped to let the 'dust' in my mind settle a little. Now I have a better grasp of what's going on and should go on. I'll post more updates including details and screenshots in the next week or two, so stay tuned (sorry, another bad car pun) as I endeavour to work this in whilst actually trying to have a family holiday! Deep breath, here goes...

Done/Achieved

• Hit a limit with my PC software, so switched to Torque Pro on Android, as per Ghostgum earlier (and elsewhere).
• Able to get the Extended/European OBD (E-OBD) parameters relating to DPF regen/oil dilution all running qualitatively, if not all quantitatively.
• Confirmed I could read out the DPF Active Regeneration Switch, showing active, during a regen.
• Configured the Parameters under Torque Pro for display and logging.
• My replacement/new VAG-COM-type cable, purportedly with the proper serial chip, has arrived!

Of course, the vehicle has sensed it's under surveillance and I'm doing something constructive, useful, important wink and likely to catch it out, so it has steadfastly refused to misbehave. However a regen isn't far away now (60% soot, 65% should be the kick-in) so it's a matter of time.

To Do/To Come
I think what's coming may actually produce a tangible, useful output. Which would be a contrast to all my (mostly) hot air that's gone before...

• Snapshots of what I've done.
• Descriptions of what I've done, on what I've done it, how to do it, with what equipment and what $$$ it may cost.
• In particular, I hope to show how to set up a DPF regen warning device/lamp/light (plus other assorted info).
• Perhaps show the Subaru dealer. :lildevil:
• Fix some of the quantification issues. In particular, one of the parameters returns two bytes, not one so I need to do a bit of testing so it scales more-or-less properly.
• Test my new VAG_COM cable with FreeSSM.

And just to whet your appetite see the attached image, which was taken just after a cold start.

 

Look forward to hearing more! Especially the new VAG cable, as I've never been able to get mine to work with FreeSSM.

 

Just J2534-passin'-thru the CAN-CAN...



I received my new cable a few days ago. I have been able to install the drivers and get it recognised as a J2534 pass-through cable (using VAG-COM).

But I haven't been able to get it to work with my 2010 Forester Diesel using SSM. From memory now I seem to remember (and confirmed elsewhere) that these newer vehicles are CANBus-only, and SSM doesn't deal with CANBus- as freessm states on its help pages:

14.) Does FreeSSM use/support the CAN-Bus ?

No, because it's not necessary. Of course, the newer vehicles are working with a CAN-Bus system, but it is not used for diagnostic purposes at manufacturer level or rather the communication between engine/transmission control unit and the diagnostic equipment.

However ROMRaider apparently does so that's next on my list to try- hope it can work with the cable I've got. Testing in a day or two.

 

It can be done! But...

...firstly:

Do not try to control, manipulate or change the logging device whilst driving. Get someone else licensed to do the driving for you.​

Secondly: and this is my long-held based-on-experience paranoia as a techie...Performance of any useful action on a system will be actively opposed by the system. I reckon it actually comes back to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, basically that the entropy (disorder) of an isolated system always tends to maximum. So by trying to measure, control and manage the system I am actually opposing the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, therefore the system tries to stop me...Feed me the medication now!

To wit: Since I figured out what to do, with what to do it, how to do it, when to do it and actually did it,

• I've had 2 regens when before I had (and logged) 8-10 regens.
• Required another driver- my wife (i.e. doubling the waste of person time).
• Had my screenshots (taken by simultaneously pressing the 'Volume down' and 'Power' buttons) destroyed by a perfectly placed volume bar which didn't seem to be there
  • when I took the screenshot
  • and on the icon representation of what was taken.
• My pre-regen warning alarm has already been falsely triggered by the Soot level wandering up there and then going back down again.
• Note the image posted yesterday of the glow relay wasn't harmed.

I apologise for the screenshot vandalism below. A soon as I can get the *&^% vehicle and $#@! tablet to comply I'll get proper screen shots posted.

Details

• The display setup is mine, so I can watch and get an idea of how things change.
• Parameters are also logged for future plotting/analysis.
• Note the EGT@DPF value is incorrect, although the qualitative behaviour is correct. I need to rescale the calculating equation, I'm probably only ~20% out.
• DPF regen starts at a Soot level of 65%, driving/vehicle conditions permitting and proceeds for approx 12.5-13mins.

I'll post more info later about what parameters to set up and how.

Basic screen setup:

Just after a cold start:

Just after DPF regen initiation. Note the temps.

During DPF regen: Note the temps and soot level now.

Immediately after the end of DPF Regen. I was literally trying to press the screen capture buttons when it turned off. Note the temps and soot level again.

I've also set an alarm to warn me before the regen starts. Note this isn't foolproof (as has already been shown)

More to come.

 

Details

• The display setup is mine, so I can watch and get an idea of how things change.

When you say this, do you mean you've put it together from the available options in Torque Pro?

If I was using Torque Pro could I put the same display together?

 

See if the soot ever comes down lower than that 32%.

 

DPF soot values and behaviour



Ahhh, dpm, you've smelt a rat all the way along- I just haven't been able to present it to you!

The soot does decrease below 32%, all the way to 0%. But how and when it gets there is the interesting bit.

That 32% was driven (sorry again!) by a regen in city conditions. Only the last minute of that regen had freeway (80km/h plus) conditions, so that 32% was like 45-52% a minute or so earlier.

Very quickly after being able to watch the soot level I started to suspect the cause of my problem is the soot level measurement, effectively what I think you've suggested all along. This is because the soot ratio behaves in rather inconsistent and somewhat unpredicatable manners. I do not believe the reading is reliable, at least in my case.

It generally likes sitting in the region of ~52-64%
The best way to explain is probably to outline what conditions relate to either decreased or increased soot levels, at what rate, and by how much.

Increased soot levels

• Acceleration, e.g. getting up to speed from traffic lights. Usually adds 1%
• General increase during urban driving
• When engine's cold. This is often a quick and substantial increase
• When coasting down. This can be as quick as 1%/sec and add 10-15% for a coast down from freeway speeds. Note the l/100km is reading 2.0l/100km (min possible readout) during this and no regen is taking place.
• The DPF temp being somewhere about ~190C?
• A low soot level tends to rapidly rise

Stable soot levels

• A soot level between ~50% and ~64%. The soot value seemingly can stall in this range for 100's of klms.
• 110km/h on the freeway.

Decreased soot levels

• Harder driving, e.g. ascending a climb
• Sometimes, just freeway driving (esp undulating)
• Engine braking with the revs up whilst descending a steepish mountain pass. This drove the soot value down to 0% quite rapidly. Now why would that be when other coasting increases it ?!!
• Regenerations

Now if my logger had logged today, I would have been able to show all this...

 

Ha! Finally!

And here's the proof you can monitor a DPF regen using an ELM-327-type OBD-II adaptor and an Android device with Torque-Pro...

The regen...note the temps!

The DPF regen imminent warning...which is a really bad idea, at least until we can get some control e.g. of hysteresis levels, time outs, silencing, etc. Note this is the actual DPF regen warning. The DPF imminent warning is similar but triggers off a 63% soot level.