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2014 Cruze diesel DPF error

12K views 54 replies 11 participants last post by  Cursed 
#1 ·
Hi everyone I'm new to this site and the whole forum thing as well. I need some advice. I have a 2014 Cruze diesel and bought it new. At 28000 Klm upon start up I had a message come on stating diesel particular full followed by a CEL then advising engine power reduced. I had no prior warning that the particular filter was full or close to or advising me to drive the vehicle which I was told it does this. My average drive at the time was 200 Klm per day 100 Klm one way all highway average speed 115-120 Klm/p/h which in my understanding should be purging the system. I took it to the dealer they changed an 02 sensor and flashed the ECM by the way took 2 weeks to get parts. Less than 1 year later and 10000klm more the exact same thing I start the car the information centre says diesel particular filter full CEL comes on and says engine power reduced again no prior warning my commute has changed I now do the 100klm one way drive and 100klm back once a week. I took it to the dealer and they advised me that the vehicle requires a manual Regeneration of the DPF system not covered by my warranty? I tried to tell them that I get no prior warning of this no message to continue driving or that it's almost full and that my driving habits wouldn't contribute to needing this done as it should be done on my drive as I meet all the requirements for it to perform it automatically. They wanted to charge me $320.00 to have this done even though the vehicle is less than 2 years old with only 38000klm on it. Has anyone else experienced this problem any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
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#2 ·
Member <diesel> has written about the likely causes of this.

A few people have had it. But not many.

Hopefully @diesel will chime in sometime in the next 24 hours.
 
#6 ·
I see people on here are able to see there soot level is that through a scan tool? As well of what I'm reading people can see when there vehicle is performing an auto regen during a drive? is there a light on the dash or a setting or something that tells me that the vehicle is performing this action. Both times that I had this code have been on initial start up with no prior warning and the dealer doesn't believe me that this is the case sighting that that's not what the vehicle will do when it's exactly what it has done. I read the posts from previous but they all seem to have much higher milage than me mine happened at 20000 miles and then 6000 miles later?
 
#7 · (Edited)
As I understand it, and pending @diesel contribution, if you interrupt a pre-regen, you will cause the symptomology you describe.

Only a scanner can tell you if you are in a regen. There is no dashboard light used in North America.

We're all learning. Even the dealers. There were only ~17,000 CTD produced. GM is engaged on helping us. But not all dealer service technicians are created equal. You need to find a GM diesel specialist and not rely on Jack of all trades technician. Living in the GTA this shouldn't be a problem.

These are amazing cars. My wife drives the piss and vinegar out of hers. But they are quirky and have a personality. They are not mindless camcords. So like the most interesting women they take some effort to win over.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Sorry, been away for a couple days. The pre-regen is likely what happened to you and yes you need an aftermarket tool to tell. Odds are slim that it will happen, like 1/1000 but it does happen. it happened to me twice before I figured out the root cause. Ever since then, I've never caught the circumstances exactly right to duplicate the issue, but have come close.

Ford offers an option to do a manual regen on their cars. Hopefully Chevy will offer this on the next Cruze diesel.

A Scangauge II calibrated for your diesel would be a good idea.

Welcome to the forum by the way! Let me know if you have any other questions.

By the way, I would push to have this covered under warranty. It was a check engine light and an error to no fault of your own. This needs to be covered by warranty in your case. it didn't happen to me the first time until 115K miles or so, so it was out of pocket for me. GM customer service could assist in working with your dealer to get this covered.
 
#10 ·
Hi thanks everyone for the advice, just to make it clear my oil changes are done at the dealer so not an oil issue and I only run diesel from branded gas stations only. I did get this covered under warranty as I lost my **** in the dealership trying to explain to them that this occurred on start up and there was no prior warning of the filter being close to full or any messages advising to keep driving. The idiot kept telling me that the car goes through phases before setting the CEL and I kept telling him that it didn't and there's no way to prove in either argument that it did or didn't so to fix the problem. Needless to say I'm no longer taking my vehicle to that dealer and will take it to another dealer and complain about the issue of it not advising me to keep driving or DPF almost full to put it on record that there's an issue with that system. Hopefully by having a complaint will keep me covered by warranty next time this happens as it's happened twice and I'm sure will happen again. Is it a generic scanguage 2 that I need and just set it to Diesel engine via online update or programming? FYI my milage is only around 900 Klm per tank mostly highway driving 120 kph is that low? Thanks everyone for the help.
 
#11 ·
There's a thread on here with more details abotu the scangauge II. I think there may be a discount code or something you can use to get a discount and have it programmed for the diesel Cruze. I would call or email them to make sure they know to configure it for your car. I keep RGN (regen status), MAP (Manifold Absolute Pressure), STM (Soot Mass) on mine as the most important. You need the MAP to determine if the car is getting readt to go into pre-regen, as per the above post.

I agree it's a flaw in the system. The "keep driving" message needs to come on in pre-regen. That would solve these issues 100%.

As for your MPG, it seems reasonable. I don't know the metric translations, but 27 MPG city and 46 MPG highway seems to line up with what you are getting.
 
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#14 ·
Thanks everyone the reason I wanted a scanguage is to see for myself if the car is going into regen mode. When I bought the car my wife was driving from Toronto to Barrie 100klm one way daily her work and that when this occurred the first time. Over the past year her job has changed so she works more from home than from the office and only makes that trip once a week I now use it to go to work in Mississauga 26 Klm one way all highway and I don't commute during peak hrs of the day. I also believe that the vehicle shouldn't encounter this problem as the drive should be adequate to regen. I tried to get the dealer (Roy Foss) to drive it and see through there scanguage if it's going into regen but there awnser was we are able to manually do it so it should be doing it automatically. He did offer to drive my car for 10000 Klm to see if he can duplicate the problem (jack a$$). I think it pissed them off even more when I told them that I am actually am a licensed automotive and truck coach technician so to stop trying to screw me. (I worked the trade for 11 yrs then left 12 yrs ago to peruse other interests). I guess I will take it to another dealer and hopefully I can get them to confirm the regen is actuating automatically. I rather not buy a scanguage but as Diesel said it's cheaper than a manual regen.
 
#16 ·
#15 ·
Oh and I do love driving the car it handles well performs amazingly on the highway. I actually wrote to GM when I first got the vehicle asking why they didn't put this engine in an impala or Malibu something a little bigger with more space for a family. The engine would make for a great road trip car with a family of it was in a larger car
 
#21 ·
The day before my wife had done her trip to Barrie 100 Klm one way and back all highway a 45 minute trip doing 120-125 kph she parked the car on the driveway. The next morning I started the car to go to work I haven't even put it in gear when I hear "bing" first thing on the info screen was diesel particular filter full followed by the "bing" CEL and message of engine power reduced. I asked my wife if she had any messages on the screen advising her to keep driving or anything about any filters her answer was no. The first time this happened I had drove the vehicle to my work 26 Klm one way all on 407 so no traffic issues parked returned to my car to go home started the car and again had the same sequence of events happen. This is why I questioned the dealer in regards to my vehicle if it's even doing a regen automatically. I do work close to Addison on Eglinton and Dixie Rd I will take it there and see what they say. The first time it happened to me I googled the message because believe it or not the dealer didn't give me the owners manual as they used it in the shop and said they would mail a new one out to me. I forgot about it and the dealer never sent it to me. I read that the vehicle needs to be driven over 40kph with RPM's over 2000 until the light goes out. I drove on 407 for 50 Klm at 120 in manual mode 5th gear one way and back nothing. Apparently once the CEL is on you can't do a regen unless manually initiated by the dealer. Amazon .ca sells the scanguage 2 for $200.00 CND I don't mind purchasing it but there are other things I rather spend my money on. I will take it in on Thursday and will let you all know what they say.
 
#22 ·
This is exactly what I experienced. Once you cross the 32 gram threshold, there's nothing else you can do but get a manual regen. Also, don't drive it too far in this state. Soot will accumulate quickly and you can eventually plug the DPF to the point where a manual regen cannot be done.
 
#23 ·
Once you're above the Magic 24 # (+ or - 2), there's NOT much saving you from having to get a manual regen. The Soot Grams will rapidly rise from 24 to about 32 and that's when you get the DIC message. I suspect you were at 32 or above when the DIC went BING on your start up and all the driving in the world to get it up to temp and force a regen won't work. I'll bet this is an EPA reqt to prevent people from driving around with clogged DPF.
 
#24 ·
The manufacturer should make it visible to see both your soot level and when your vehicle is in regen mode as well as the ability to perform a manual regen. Hopefully this emission recall flash with o2 sensor will add something like that I guess we will have to wait and see but I doubt that.
 
#28 ·
I agree oilburner found an interesting way to see when regen is occurring but he is watching to see when it occurs hence why the mfg should make it visible live data. I agree following your instant milage is a lot of work especially explaining that info to my wife to follow. I do plan on getting a scanguage just going to see if the price comes down around thanks giving.
 
#29 ·
Call the owner directly and tell him you want 2014-2015 Cruze diesel firmware. That's what I did and also got a discount.
 
#31 ·
This is what I do ( in regards to oilburners post ). Sometimes it shows fuel being used only for a very short time, I think its in a regen but its not and I keep doing what Im doing. My CTD gets a vibration I look at the Instant with foot off and its always a regen, or an extra fuel shot not sure why the fuel shot happens, it can last 5 - 10 secs then stop.
 
#33 ·
a question for the Noth American diesel owners. Has anyone here seen the DPF warning light come on? Other than at first start?
It's an amber light on the right side of the gauges looks like a sideways puff of smoke blowing through a rectangle.
I personally have never seen that go on aside from at first start. Having the issue that I have had I would have expected it to.
 
#34 ·
I think this light is disabled for the American market.
 
#36 ·
I will have to check.
 
#39 ·
I'm thinking that the reasoning not to activate the regen light had at least something to do with not confusing owners who are comming from gasoline and to make the transition seamless and without anything needlessly unfamiliar. So as not to have resistance to change or further lower acceptance and adoption of something that GM had not offered in more than a generation.

The glowplug light, the green diesel fuel cap and the DEF tank were probably already deemed enough change by GM's human factors people.
 
#40 ·
Yeah and when VW was getting away BS-ing the world with their "German engineering" making the Cruze look like a more complicated vehicle to operate and maintain I guess adding that one extra thing could be seen as the straw that would break the camels back.
 
#45 ·
Actually with a gas vehicle if it is doing something like misfiring badly in one or more cylinder and catalytic damage will occur the CEL will flash to advise you to stop driving. Manufacturers are supposed to make the vehicle ownership as simple as possible and not to be complicated. Can anyone driving a North American Cruze diesel advise if there DEP light comes on at any time even at start up again it's an amber light on the right side cluster. It a picture of a vertical puff of smoke with a wavy line under it?
 
#46 ·
#50 ·
Thanks Diesel for the video just wanted to confirm that it doesn't illuminate on start up. There's not many Cruze diesel owners to find someone easily to do a live comparison check with. I have been driving the vehicle now for the last couple days trying oilburner's foot off accelerator to watch live fuel consumption data and not once at any part of my trips did I see anything but 0.0 with foot off. I'm going to borrow my buddy's scan tool to see if I can see regen mode and do a few more tests before taking it in to the dealer. I will keep you all posted
 
#53 ·
I get that weird pictogram light up upon cycling the key.
 
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