[MickyRoo]

I have read about many different poeople fitting a led to the heated rear window circuit to be able to see when the cars regenerating the dpf. Is this possible on a 64plate stop start ecoflex diesel corsa D?

 

[Koicarpkeeper]

If the heated door mirrors come on when a regen is underway then connect into that circuit, if not connect to the HRW circuit.

 

[MickyRoo]

I don’t think it’s got heated mirrors but I did notice
The hrw came on when button not lit up I’ll defo be doing this mod it will be good to know when it’s blowing it’s nose haha

 

[Boroboy]

I've retro fitted a 12v regen light to 3 Astra's up to now, 2 J's and a K. Although I took a feed from the de-mister circuiy from close to the passenger's side sill. Had to track down the wire.
When your car goes into a regen have you ever noticed steam coming from the inside of your hatch window? If so, then you know it's sharing the same circuit. Also your s/s function won't work when your car is having a regen. Your tick over revs would also increase whilst your car was in a regen.

 

[Mjsroofing]

The heated rear windscreen comes on to adjust your mpg on computer, if you have the option kn clocks that show you when you have heaters etc on and how much fuel it uses, top consumers is it called. Leave on that option and you'll see rear heater come on.

 

[Richy62]

Brilliant, I was never sure how these lights worked, I didn't realise that when the car went into regen it operated the rear window and door mirror heaters. I have ordered an amber light and next time my Antara goes into regen (confirmed by the fuel readings) I will check that the mirrors/rear window heaters are working then I will wire my light to the mirror heater feed and fix a light on the dash. Should make regens a lot more straight forward. I do a lot of short runs, so when the car does decide to do a regen I will just keep the run going along a local dual carriageway until it goes off. Now all I need to sort is transmission vibration at 2000rpm. Richy

 

[Fred Bassett]

Brilliant, I was never sure how these lights worked, I didn't realise that when the car went into regen it operated the rear window and door mirror heaters. I have ordered an amber light and next time my Antara goes into regen (confirmed by the fuel readings) I will check that the mirrors/rear window heaters are working then I will wire my light to the mirror heater feed and fix a light on the dash. Should make regens a lot more straight forward. I do a lot of short runs, so when the car does decide to do a regen I will just keep the run going along a local dual carriageway until it goes off. Now all I need to sort is transmission vibration at 2000rpm. Richy

Their switched on to put a load on the engine & help increase the heat.
Under normal circumstances you’ll never notice a regeneration of DPF taking place as it should happen seamlessly behind the scenes , however this catches many drivers out because they get home to find the cooling fans whizzing around & the car was doing a regeneration after turning off the engine & it’s for this reason only that some drivers fit LED lights to let them know a regeneration is being undertaken so they don’t turn engine off until it’s completed the operation.
In the 3 years we’ve owned our Mini Countryman I’ve never noticed a regeneration of the DPF ever , nor did we with our old Corsa D.
Fitting of a light to tell you a regeneration is taking place won’t stop you having regeneration issues if a fault develops in the system , it’s just that some owners prefer to know when a regeneration is taking place.

 

[Richy62]

Thanks Fred

Your last sentence "it’s just that some owners prefer to know when a regeneration is taking place" is spot on. I think that resolves 90% of my DPF concerns. Similar to your mini before retirement I had an XF which did 22 motorway miles to work and the same home. For the two years I had the car I never aware of it doing a regen, its what it was designed for, however now in retirement I rarely go on long runs except holiday so the DPF light would be so useful. I don't understand why they didn't put them on cars from new with a facility to switch off if not required. Richy

 

[Boroboy]

Fitting a regen light would help to maintain your dpf system for longer if a lot of your trips are not suitable for running a diesel. Most of your journeys should be longer ones, if not, then a diesel is not really the ideal vehicle for you. I know this as I've owned 3 dpf equipped vehicles without any dpf problems. I've also made some unnecessary trips to complete a regen. Which basically is just a waste of fuel, one of the reasons my next vehicle will be a petrol. You really need to be covering over 12k a year to make running a diesel financially viable.
Misguidance from governments and manufactures has not helped the situation either.

 

[Valer]

Which brings us on the petrol equivalent,the GPF, the petrol exhaust runs hotter than diesel so in theory it should be seamless with no need for any intervention or monitoring,there should be zero oil dilution with petrol as it should evaporate.

So far i've not managed to establish if the petrol engines are loaded by using the HRW and mirrors.
i'm keeping a close eye on mine at the moment but after 3 months and less than 400 miles travelled
it was showing just 1% saturated with the pressure reading low and within spec,
gds2 also shows no regens done in that time so hopefully they'll be a lot less of a problem than diesel

For anyone interested
The following conditions must be fulfilled for GPF regeneration to begin:
• Engine running since start > 2 min
• Calculated soot load >100% (value dependent on variant and MY)
• Coolant temperature between 50°C and 115°C (=normal operation temperature), other component temperature as well
• No GPF-relevant faults stored in system
• Moderate dynamic driving profile/load changes but no full load driving during active/dynamic regeneration

Important: To assure active regeneration a durations below 30min with moderate speed > 60 km/h is recommended. Prolonged low speed driving may lead to a much longer active regeneration.

 

[Boroboy]

i'm keeping a close eye on mine at the moment but after 3 months and less than 400 miles travelled
it was showing just 1% saturated with the pressure reading low and within spec,
gds2 also shows no regens done in that time so hopefully they'll be a lot less of a problem than diesel

That looks like a good sign, I'd of had one regen by now, after 400 miles covered with my diesel and the extra fuel used associated with it.
So generally speaking does the GPF work as a filter without an active regen taking place? A bit like a CAT?

 

[Fred Bassett]

That looks like a good sign, I'd of had one regen by now, after 400 miles covered with my diesel and the extra fuel used associated with it.
So generally speaking does the GPF work as a filter without an active regen taking place? A bit like a CAT?

Electric power can’t come quick enough lol 😂

 

[Valer]

That looks like a good sign, I'd of had one regen by now, after 400 miles covered with my diesel and the extra fuel used associated with it.
So generally speaking does the GPF work as a filter without an active regen taking place? A bit like a CAT?

It works much the same as a DPF,so you can have passive,active or forced re-gens

 

[Richy62]

I can't quite see electric working when towing, might be ok if the camp site is within 10 miles. Might have to stop twice to let the cells cool down.

 

[MickyRoo]

Hi I had noticed the rear window coming
On by itself with no light on switch a few times I have put the only coloured 12v led I had spare under the dash and wired it to the door loom heated mirror it works off the button just waiting to see if it comes on by itself

 

[Richy62]

I have never noticed my heated rear window coming on during a regen but I going to check on the next one. I can see from your pic that it puts the little light on. i need to make sure the antara is programmed the same as the other cars. cheers Richy

 

[MickyRoo]

I have never noticed my heated rear window coming on during a regen but I going to check on the next one. I can see from your pic that it puts the little light on. i need to make sure the antara is programmed the same as the other cars. cheers Richy

Yeah the day before I put that light in I had allready noticed the back window was warm when I put car away so I think it had done a regen god knows how long till next one

 

[MickyRoo]

Update it works great came on today as I got was almost home so took it for a little above 2000rpm driving. took about 7-10 min and it went off. Need to no more about the regens on these like is that kind of regen one that if not completed would dump diesel in the oil? Or is it the flashing glow plug regen that does that?? Any info be great thanks.
p.s pic of the regen light on with the switch not illuminated.