MACAN DPF PROBLEMS

[nsm3]

Mine is at 8200m and no sign of the AdBlue light to date. That is some 'turning up the wick' on the dispenser!

Interestingly, Audi tweaked our Q5 software to increase the AdBlue consumption, due to dieselgate, but in their case, they are providing the Refills, free of charge for the life of the vehicle.

Well, I spoke too soon - went through 8,675 miles yesterday and the AdBlue warning came on, so I'd better dust off that old lemonade bottle!

Edit to add, thanks Mark for the Eurocarparts tip, 10l for £7.99 - It may as well be free at that price!

[On-Track]

I complained to Porsche GB about having to clear my DPF filter every 3 or 4 weeks by giving it a Motorway blast. Porsche say that there is a newish DME software upgrade campaign that reduces the clogging of the filter. Have booked my car in for the upgrade in December. Hope it is better than the DME software upgrade in 2017 that was applied to my last car. The OPC say that those customers that have had the new DME software have been happy.

Interesting to hear how that goes Mark.
Just a shame the software isn’t being applied a bit more pro-actively and that you had to complain to find out about it.

I had to complain to Porsche GB before I was told about the campaign. For those interested the campaign code for the latest DME upgrade is AJ07. The campaign in 2017 was WG22 - it was that software “upgrade” which was the retrograde upgrade.

For some reason, I managed to avoid WG22 being applied to my car. AJ07 was applied last Wednesday while the car was in to have the winter wheels fitted (which is why the cold snap ended on Wednesday ). I've never seen the DPF warning light on my car in over three years and 32k miles. I'll have to watch the consumption with the new software.

[mark-yorkshire]

Interesting to hear how that goes Mark.
Just a shame the software isn’t being applied a bit more pro-actively and that you had to complain to find out about it.

I had to complain to Porsche GB before I was told about the campaign. For those interested the campaign code for the latest DME upgrade is AJ07. The campaign in 2017 was WG22 - it was that software “upgrade” which was the retrograde upgrade.

For some reason, I managed to avoid WG22 being applied to my car. AJ07 was applied last Wednesday while the car was in to have the winter wheels fitted (which is why the cold snap ended on Wednesday ). I've never seen the DPF warning light on my car in over three years and 32k miles. I'll have to watch the consumption with the new software.

You were very lucky to avoid the WG22 “upgrade”. I suspect AJ07 will be better for me but maybe slightly worse for you.

[Giz9]

I just had the update on my SD for the current campaign. Apparantly, it updates the PDK as well as the engine settings. I pushed for what the update was for and eventually and reluctantly they read me the Porsche info for the update which was basically to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions as they were found to be too high. Quelle surprise!

There is an immediately noticeable difference in Sport mode. Prior to the update, the car would almost never select 7th gear for A road driving and only after a while on the motorway. Post update, it shifts up to 7th at around 50mph at the earliest opportunity. Overall, Sport mode doesn't feel very different to ordinary mode. Fortunately, Sport Plus mode is still "aggressive". Ordinary mode seems much as before.

[mark-yorkshire]

I just had the update on my SD for the current campaign. Apparantly, it updates the PDK as well as the engine settings. I pushed for what the update was for and eventually and reluctantly they read me the Porsche info for the update which was basically to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions as they were found to be too high. Quelle surprise!

There is an immediately noticeable difference in Sport mode. Prior to the update, the car would almost never select 7th gear for A road driving and only after a while on the motorway. Post update, it shifts up to 7th at around 50mph at the earliest opportunity. Overall, Sport mode doesn't feel very different to ordinary mode. Fortunately, Sport Plus mode is still "aggressive". Ordinary mode seems much as before.

My software upgrade is being done mid December as that was the first time my car could be collected.

[On-Track]

I just had the update on my SD for the current campaign. Apparantly, it updates the PDK as well as the engine settings. I pushed for what the update was for and eventually and reluctantly they read me the Porsche info for the update which was basically to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions as they were found to be too high. Quelle surprise!

There is an immediately noticeable difference in Sport mode. Prior to the update, the car would almost never select 7th gear for A road driving and only after a while on the motorway. Post update, it shifts up to 7th at around 50mph at the earliest opportunity. Overall, Sport mode doesn't feel very different to ordinary mode. Fortunately, Sport Plus mode is still "aggressive". Ordinary mode seems much as before.

I've also noticed a difference in the first few days since the upgrade. In "Normal" mode when the engine is cold the car holds onto lower gears much more than it used to.

[mark-yorkshire]

Last Thursday morning the grey coloured dpf regen light came on but unlike previous warnings within one mile a yellow engine management warning light came on and the car went into a reduced power mode. My car had already been booked in for the DME software campaign upgrade to software version AJ07. Porsche Assist sent out the AA who diagnosed the soot level in the dpf at 80%. Not sure why no previous regen warning lights had come on. The car was trailered into Leeds Porsche who carried out a forced regen to clear out the dpf and also cleaned the O2 sensor which was misreporting 02 readings. Once done the AJ07 software was installed. Porsche Assist loaned me a Mercedes C200 via Enterprise. Car seems to be running fine now and have not noticed that the PDK has been reset. The Service advisor at Leeds said that they has done a few campaign upgrades and no one had come back to report any further dpf issues. Time will tell.

[Paul]

Strange that the dpf was at 80% but you’d had no previous warnings come up?

[mark-yorkshire]

Strange that the dpf was at 80% but you’d had no previous warnings come up?

I agree it’s most odd. Quite used to the grey dpf warnings which I always deal with as required ie a spirited 2000+ rpm run for 30 mins. As far as I understand it there should have been repeated warnings once over 40% dpf fill but had absolutely no warnings until 1 mile before the yellow engine management light came on. Just hoping the latest software does the trick. It would however be helpful if the driver could see the % dpf fill at any time so as to know that something was going amiss. I also hope that the new GPF software for petrol engines will be better resolved than the software for DPF. Having said that the software for the Macan SD up until 2017 was just fine - it was only the WG22 software and subsequent revisions that buggered things up.

[mark-yorkshire]

I do wonder if the new gasoline particulate filters on the petrol engines will be any better than the dpf.
Extract from the Porsche press release for the facelift Macan:

“The soot particles collected in the filter must be burned off from time to time. This is known as regeneration. But it must also work in low outdoor temperatures and on short journeys. In such cases, the engine control unit ensures that the filter heats up by increasing the exhaust gas temperature—for instance, through another combustion or a higher engine speed.
With long periods of frost and a lot of short drives, a somewhat longer drive can be necessary for regeneration. “But in real road traffic we can usually get by without these protective measures,” emphasizes Werner. His team put in several hundred thousand test kilometers to put the system through its paces. The result: the cleanest Porsche models of all time”