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As you may have seen from my ramblings on our Twitter account and our Forum, I’m now the proud owner of a 2015 Skoda Octavia VRS Combi TDI 184 (DSG). As with all Euro5 and Euro6 diesel cars it’s equipped with a dreaded diesel particulate filter to help stop it belching cancer causing diesel particles into the atmosphere.

Unlike my Nissan Qashqai, getting information on the DPF and the conditions needed for a DPF regen have been a little more easy to acquire. So for all you lucky Octavia owners out there – below is the DPF section from the Skoda owners manual.

Diesel particle filter (diesel engine)

The diesel particulate filter separates the soot particles from the exhaust. The soot particles collect in the diesel particulate filter where they are burnt on a regular basis. If the warning icon lights up, soot has accumulated in the diesel particulate filter.

To clean the diesel particle filter, and where traffic conditions permit

  • Drive for at least 15 minutes or until the warning icon goes out as follows
  • 4th or 5th gear selected (automatic gearbox: Position D/S)
  • Vehicle speed at least 60 km/h
  • Engine speed between 1800-2500 rpm

If the filter is properly cleaned, the warning icon goes out.

If the filter is not properly cleaned, the warning icon does not go out and the warning icon begins to flash. The following message is shown in the information cluster display. Diesel particulate filter: owner’s manual! DIESEL PM FILTER OWNER MANUAL Seek help from a ŠKODA specialist garage.

WARNING
The diesel particle filter achieves very high temperatures. Therefore do not park in areas where the hot filter can come into direct contact with dry grass or other combustible materials – there is the risk of fire!

Always adjust your speed to suit weather, road, region and traffic conditions. The recommendations indicated by the warning light must not tempt you to disregard the national regulations for road traffic.

CAUTION
As long as the warning DPF icon lights up, you must take into account an increased fuel consumption and in certain circumstances a power reduction of the engine.

Using diesel fuel with an increased sulphur content can considerably reduce the life of the diesel particle filter.

A ŠKODA specialist garage will be able to tell you which countries use only diesel fuel with high sulphur content.

Note:
We encourage you to avoid constant short journeys. This will improve the combustion process of the soot particles in the diesel particulate filter.

If the engine is turned off during the filter cleaning process or shortly afterwards, the cooling fan may turn on automatically for a few minutes.

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My browsing of various owners clubs has shown that the Octavia DPF management system seems to deal with DPF regeneration and cleaning in a much better way that Nissans of old. There’s also been some concern of what some have described as a burning rubber smell and fans continuing after the car has been parked. These have been attributed to a DPF regeneration that is underway, even with engine no longer running.

The newer VW group common rail engines have the DPF and OxCAT assembly attached to the turbo outlet. This allows for maximum heat retention to ensure the most efficient regeneration. Common rail injectors don’t rely on the camshaft position. This allows the fuel injection system to be much more flexible when it comes to adding fuel later in the combustion cycle (post injection).

** Update 12/9/2016 **

I was very surprised to see a fellow MK3 VRS tdi owner with DPF issues. The unfortunate owner had posted on the Octavia VRS owners club Facebook group explaining that it’s happened to him a couple of times since he’s had the car. Obviously I helped as much as I could but my advise was to seek help from his local dealer as I suspect that something more is at fault. We’ll keep you updated.

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We’re looking for further information regarding the effectiveness of the DPF filter in the new Octavia range and especially those of you who have a diesel tuning box or have had your Octavia or vehicle remapped.

We’d love to hear from you and your experiences with the Octavia so please leave a comment below.

Thanks to dstev2000 from the Briskoda forums for some of the technical information above.

Update!

This article has proved to be hugely populate with Skoda VRS owners – we’ve now create another FAQ for the Skoda Octavia Mk 2 ii (2004 to 2012). We hope this proves to be as popular and helpful as this article.