2015 VRS TDI DPF replacement - OUCH!!!

Car went into limp mode and DPF light on, took into the dealer service center and they did their diagnostic and said the DPF is full of soot and needs replacement,

Good thing I was sitting down when they told me the price, $7,850. and there are no parts in Australia.

Problem started wen the missus was cold at the football and went and sat in the car with the ignition on engine not running and the seat heaters on which flattened the battery.

Ever since then the car has been doing excessive active regenerations to the point where it constantly thinks it needs to do it.

Of course I didnt pay the ransom that they wanted and took the car thinking i could remove the DPF myself.


I have been using a bluetooth OBD dongle and the VAG DPF app on my phone and i could see that it was trying to regenerate and the soot levels would decrease, but the back pressure was increasing over time.

Anyone done this before? went through and removed all retaining bolts and clamps except the one that clamps the EGR cooler to the DPF outlet. the numpty in the factory must have thought it would be funny to install the clamp with the head of the bolt facing inward towards the engine such that there is no access to it. see item 6 in picture
Attachment 53335
Lessons so far, don't leave the ignition on without the engine running.

if it turns out the DPF is knackered I will be looking for a wreck with one that could be reconditioned.

For a $7k replacement cost - i would definitely look into a DPF doctor type service where the DPF is either removed and physically cleaned using chemicals and high pressure air and water, or a chemical can be sprayed into the DPF while its fitted to the car.

A 2015 year car should not have a irreplaceable DPF.

Soot can be removed easily, but ash is harder to remove (but can be done).

I have physically removed the DPF off my Audi SQ5 and cleaned the soot out (i had an issue which resulted in the regens not taking place resulting in limp mode and about 3x times the normal soot level being in the DPF). Once physical cleaning had taken place I used VCDS to reset the DPF parameters in the ECU and the car has been fine for about 2.5 years now and does regular regens every 450-500kms or so.

The issue with the DPF’s in front wheel drive vehicles is that they are a pain in the ar$e to remove and require dropping the subframe and will cost a decent amount of money in labour.

I see you are in Adelaide, you might want to try:

Car Service Salisbury - Adelaide's Best Car Service Center |

Diesel Particulate Filter Cleaning Specialists | Particulate Solutions SA – Diesel Particulate Filter Cleaning Specialists

This will you an idea of the procedure. Same engine as yours in a Mk7 Golf.

VW Golf 7Th 2.0TDI DPF,Injector Cleaning the DPF injector - YouTube

Managed to get the DPF out, instead of dropping the subframe and taking it out from underneath i managed to get it out through the top.
Have dropped it off at Car Service Salisbury - Adelaide's Best Car Service Center to see if they can work their magic on it.

Will see how it goes when i get it back.

Certainly much cheaper than fitting a new one ($440)

Good work getting the DPF out - ive seen videos of DPF's having to be removed from the front wheel drive models and it looks like a nightmare. Im surprised you were able to get it out past the turbo too be honest.

Fingers crossed Car Service Salisbury get it good as new for you.

Unless you have done 150,000km+ kms, I cant imaging a 2015 model car will have too much ash in the DPF. Im sure your issue will mainly be soot which comes out easily (even a high pressure cleaner does a very good job of removing soot).

Picked up the DPF and they commented that a lot of crap came out of it, and is now flowing freely.
My car has done more then 225,000km so I would suspect the ash content would have been high.
The guys at Salisbury car service said that as these units fill up with ash the effective area to collect Soot decreases proportionally so the soot appears to build up quicker causing more frequent regenerations.

Getting it out was a job, had to undo the engine mounts, support the engine on a couple of jacks, lowered it down and pulled it forwards to get the DPF out, also removed all the intake plumbing to gain access to the EGR cooler which I have removed and cleaned.

I also dodged the bullet with all the Hailstorms we had the other day, was expecting to come home to major hail damage as all the suburbs around where I live were effected.

Good job to hear they were able to successfully clean the DPF out. Man you have done some kms in the space of 5-6 years...wow. Knowing you have done 225,000kms then that's about the lifespan of a DPF (most are in trouble around 180,000-200,000kms) so you did well.

Got the car back together this week, dash lit up like a Christmas tree until i was able to clear codes.
Followed the VCDS information on resetting the DPF , took the car for a drive, it successfully went through a re-generation and all seems to be working well.
All up it took about 20 hours labour , some odd gaskets etc and an oil change on top of the filter clean, much cheaper than the dealers cost.
Funnily enough I personally know the service manager and she asked if i wanted a job there.

Now to do the cam belt.

Good to hear you got it all sorted. After doing a similar job myself a few years back it was certainly a bit nerve-racking dealing with the error codes and resetting the DPF parameters via VCDS. My car was in full blown limp mode (seriously it was dangerously slow) so to clear the codes and have full power back with no more error codes was very satisfying.

Well done.