Exhaust mod with DPF

Hi all,
My D40 King Cab has the DPF, does anyone know if you can fit a performance exhaust/chip etc with this bugger of a thing in place?
Would like a few horses if possible, although i'd really like to get my economy down, 19litres/100km at last fill.
Nissan say nothing wrong

Not that I'm in the know about the chips although I guess someone makes them it's not like Nav's are the only cars in the world with DPF's, but I'd definitely be suggesting that you find another dealer or decent mechanic.

While we all drive differently and we will all get different economy 19lph is rather high unless you have an excessively heavy right foot or you constantly tow a heavy load over rough grounds.

Just cause one dealer says they can't fix it or they think it's normal take it to another dealer and see what they say. I'd bet someone elses left nut you wont get two answers the same. I'll also go the persons right nut that three out of three still gives you three answers. It's a pain chasing dealers around the place but just think you might one day find a good one and never have to look again

Best the chips manufacturers claim is a 10% increase in fuel ecomony, thats not really going to help your fuel bill, that's IF the claimed figures can be achieved. I average 14 with my truck, loaded most of the time. Think you need to trade up to a manual Kingcab.

Do a fuel reset and see if that improves economy.
I went from 14 lts/100 k,s to 12 lts/100 k,s Now 11.5 lts/100 k,s
I have run 2 different chips a race pro chip and currently a steinbauer.
Plenty of power economy so so. Goes harder so you tend to drive it that way.
You did not mention how many K,s you on the clock.
Rick

Rickstar said:

Do a fuel reset and see if that improves economy.

Click to expand...

I'd be interested on the method of doing this.

I'm getting 18l/100km when I'm towing. I've about 300kg on the Nav over and above the bare weight, plus 1.8t behind on twin axles. I get much worse economy on BP and Mobil fuels, marginally worse on Caltex. Shell seems to provide the best fuel for my Nav. I refuse to buy from Liberty or any other "cheapy" station because they add up to 20% biodiesel and it's not always obvious. I am not convinced that biodiesel is the best thing to use in our diesels.

As for exhaust mods - the DPF is a choke point, and really anything changed beyond that point is not going to have a major impact on the vehicle's performance. Given the penalties for removing emission control devices, I'd be wary about taking out the DPF.

You'll probably find that a chip could give decent improvements in power, which will - if you drive for economy's sake and not the available power - provide you a noticeable improvement in fuel economy. There's a good chance that the engine is detuned in order to comply with emission standards too - tuning that up may bring your vehicle above the specified limits for emissions, so be careful with that too.

Good luck!

I'll wade in here...

I have the dreaded DPF and a chip and a zorst.

At the moment the 3" exhaust is only from the DPF back and there is a noticable difference even before the chip was fitted. Mainly that the turbo spools up a little quicker. There is no increase in exhaust note (which I don't like) but turbo whistle is louder.

I fitted the exhaust first coz everything I read told me to do that before fitting a chip to aid in dissipating the extra heat.

As for the chip well I fitted it coz my fuel consumption was no good (13.8). Now that I run the chip fuel consumption remains the same but I just love driving it hard especially when its just on boost as it now flies. Also a bonus when you are pulling out into oncoming traffic as the turbo lag is certainly less.

Future improvements, I am going to put a larger dump pipe in and I may make some mods to the DPF at the same time

Given that world wide different manufacturers have been using DPF's in road going vehicles for 14 years and non road going vehicles for a lot longer than that I'm still treating the DPF like the government want me to treat terrorism. Be alert but not alarmed. But given their wide spread usage I still wouldn't be worried about adding after market mods like chips and exhausts providing I did my home work first.

Forgetting about legal or illegal mods (thats for other threads) if you do your research and check each mod you want to fit and always ask questions like, "does it work with a DPF", etc then you can atleast make some what of an informed decision. There is enough bad press out there about the DPF and while peoples experience can be a good yard stick from which to measure things your best measuring stick is still the manufacturer who has to provide the warranty on the part you buy. Of course this does mean using reputable manufacturer but that goes for everything you buy these days.

Given the sheer number of DPF engines that must be out there in 14 years of world wide production manufacturers must surely be making mods that play well with the DPF, and as more engines get them in the mainstream markets I'm sure you wont be the first person to ask one of them directly if their toys play well with others.

Just a slight side note on DPF's

An owners manual for a 2010 Toyota 22 seat mini bus crossed my desk this morning and just for any of you out there that think you're hard done by having a DPF consider yourself lucky you don't own a Toyota bus.

Their method for regen is also automatic but if the automatic regen doesn't work manual regen is required. But unlike the Nav manual regen requires the vehicle to be stationary for the entire 20 min cycle. Dropping a gear and running the higher revs is not an option as touching the accelerator at any time during the process cancels the regen and it must be restarted. There is both a switch light and a dash light which both have to flash before this is called for but if it's ignored for somewhere between 100 and 150k (their approx figures) then as well as the lights they get a buzzer and if the buzzer is also ignored the engine light comes on and the engine drops to under 2000 rpm to protect itself. They don't suggest that once the engine light has come on it's a Toyota repair only but they do suggest it's worth talking to them if that does happen.

Not sure why Toyota's works in this manner and I don't know if Hilux's and Prado's etc have the same system but I'm much happier knowing I can drop a gear and pick up the rev's and still continue on my way monitoring this rather than having to pull over somewhere to sit and watch the Nav waste diesel. Then again maybe the Toyota system was designed by school kids since this particular bus will be ferrying school kids on a regular basis and they probably don't mind being late for school when the bus stops to do a regen.

The Toyota manual regen actually sounds better than the Nissan one, especially if you can do it yourself.

Nissan have to do it on ours, you need a Consult III device to start a manual regen. It takes about 40 minutes to do, and you need to change the engine oil and filter after the cycle is complete.

I can't imagine it'd be light on the fuel either, I bet the ECU does a lot of exhaust stroke injection during that cycle, once the EGT rises.

Ok different definitions of manual.

I was referring to being able to drop gear and run higher revs in the Nav but keep going where as the Toyota must be stationary and nothing can be touched for 20 mins.

Oh, not the factory one ... my bad.

Surprising that Toyota don't have that intermediate regen cycle. I wonder if the conditions for a regen cycle are less strict though, meaning increased chance of an automatic regen? The Navara's cycle is only triggered when engine temp is not high, load is light, rpm is > 1600 - and that's the automatic cycle. Driving it constantly with the rpm high may just give the ECU more time to trigger the regen cycle.

I'm not sure what conditions Toyota expect their busses to be driven under but when you consider so many of them become hire drives maybe they do expect it to run at higher RPM's because nothing drives harder than a rental.

I'm going to get my mate to keep me updated on the way the Toyota runs and if they get any adverse effects from running a DPF engine with a driver who wouldn't know what engine is let alone a DPF. I think as registered Toyota service agents they are going to get more technical info on this bus given it's their only DPF fitted vehicle so I'll be keeping a close on on the info that comes through as well.

So how do you do a fuel reset?
Just had it serviced, mechanic said the airfilter was a bit dirty so replaced it, he re-set the ecu and fuel economy got worse, was doing 17l/100km, now 19l/100km. fuel econo got worse when I put the muddies on it (fair enough), although I have alloy tray & toolboxes, wouldn't have a huge amount of weight although it is there all the time. I do most of my Km's at low speed in town, with a lot of low speed stuff.
On the highway I can't do better than 14l/100km, puts the fuel at worse than my V6 Rodeo, was thinking if I could get the turbo to spool up quicker I wouldn't have to work it so hard to get it moving.
Nissan told me the computer says it's fine, the mechanic that did my service said same thing, also said there's no way of manually tuning it for economy.
Maybe I just have to deal with it.
Oh yeah, if I tow my boat (1.5 tonnes ish) I would probably get 150km's from a tank!

justdrinkbeer said:

So how do you do a fuel reset?
Just had it serviced, mechanic said the airfilter was a bit dirty so replaced it, he re-set the ecu and fuel economy got worse, was doing 17l/100km, now 19l/100km. fuel econo got worse when I put the muddies on it (fair enough), although I have alloy tray & toolboxes, wouldn't have a huge amount of weight although it is there all the time. I do most of my Km's at low speed in town, with a lot of low speed stuff.
On the highway I can't do better than 14l/100km, puts the fuel at worse than my V6 Rodeo, was thinking if I could get the turbo to spool up quicker I wouldn't have to work it so hard to get it moving.
Nissan told me the computer says it's fine, the mechanic that did my service said same thing, also said there's no way of manually tuning it for economy.
Maybe I just have to deal with it.
Oh yeah, if I tow my boat (1.5 tonnes ish) I would probably get 150km's from a tank!

Click to expand...

That is bad, cant help ya there sorry but id be spewing myself with those figures.

I cannot understand why the Auto has DPF and the manual misses out

TO RESET

To carry out the reset carry out the following

Turn ignition on so all dash lights come on.

Wait 3 seconds

PUMP accelerator pedal 5 times within 5 seconds....

with foot now OFF accelerator wait 7 seconds...

After 7 seconds press and hold down accelerator pedal for 10 seconds...

After 10 seconds the Engine Management Light will start to flash, at this point remove foot from accelerator.

the Nav is now in diag mode, so let the EML flash for a bit. the press and hold the accelerator pedal down for more than 10 seconds..this will then reset ECU and fuel pump etc......and put them into learning mode.

NOTE: When the EML light is flashing, this is listing possible fault codes... so if you know how to read the fault codes or know the sequences then you can figure out any possible faults with your Nav with out getting the dealer to do it!!
Hopefully this should help
Rick

Rickstar said:

I cannot understand why the Auto has DPF and the manual misses out

Click to expand...

i understand its due to the suddenly and repeated load the torque converter puts onto the motor. changes the emissions enough in the typical driving cylce to require the DPF.

See the new facelift model coming out has a new style DPF that actually has a 5th injector in it to do the burn off so it can be done at anytime, any rev's not just run at above 1600 rpm. Sounds good and should fix all the problems people have been having with there DPF's getting blocked.

While the 5th injector may go some way to helping the DPF clean itself better there is still no way to stop owner ignorance, whether it's using the wrong oil, not following correct procedures or just ignoring it altogether. I don't really see the DPF as a problem that needs to be fixed but for those out there that think it's the biggest problem a diesel faces I doubt this news will comfort them much.

As for "fixing all the problems" with the DPF those who really don't like DPF's will still find fault with it, the new injector will add weight to the car, it will use extra fuel, take power off the engine, be another part that can fail, any excuse will do for some people. Just because they make it better doesn't mean the doomsayers wont still bag it.

Ya can't please everyone all the time.

I actually think the DPF is a great idea. I wouldn't mind them being made compulsory on all diesel vehicles - no more clouds of black soot.

Using extra fuel to conduct a regen is probably only necessary right now because they haven't figured a better way of doing it (eg a particle diverter that simply redirects particles larger than x nanometres back into the combustion chamber for another go).

Who knows what the future will bring, but less emissions = more air that's breathable. I gotta say that's a big plus.

You don't like sitting on your garage sucking down mouthfuls of thick black exhaust? What's wrong with you?

No matter what engines you run they all produce fumes but having worked in a bread depot where we used to start 5 trucks inside a tin shed, (some times with the doors closed because some people just can't be taught), I'm all for anything that cleans up the crap that comes out the exhaust pipe.

The fact that I can start my Nav in the garage as well as reverse it in and not fill the place with black smoke makes me happy I have DPF installed.