Agree with Rob, at the very least i'd buy a 25l drum of engine oil and be doing oil changes regularly meself in the meantime, maybe using the old litmus test on the oil when it first goes in and then doing similar every 1000 miles so you have some idea of fuel content, i don't know of any reasonably cheap accurate way of measuring the fuel contenapart from that, maybe someone else does.

The densities of lub oil and diesel are different enough to tell by weighing measured volumes of fresh oil and suspect oil, if you have a sufficiently accurate measure and weighing scale.

Viscosity should also be different but may not be proportional to the amount of contamination. There are lab hydrometers that cover the density range but these are £21 plus, and by the time you've drained enough oil for any of these tests you may as well just do a full change as GB suggests.

Hi gordonbennet

Now looking at second hand Hilux's. You sure the 2007 model is free of the DPF? Not finding it easy to work out what vintage I need to look out for.

Thanks

It is still under warrante and I have another 3 1/2 years on that so not panicking yet.

The warranty will not cover the DPF unless its failure is due to a manufacturing defect. Since you are using the vehicle in an inapropriate manner which is the cause of your issues the warranty will not apply to the DPF in your case.

I have the DPF worry now i am looking for my new car again.

I currently have a AUDI A1 diesel with a DPF.

I do short journeys (6-10 miles) and are on the reccommended limit for a diesel with DPF.

The reason i think your oil is contaminated is due to incomplete regenerations done by injecting up to 8 times the amount of diesel in to your engine to get the dpf hot enough to burn off soot.

Not completing these REGENS doesnt help, as the fuel then gets put into the sump.(i think)

My suggestion is to do longer journey once a week or so OR more importantly when the car is doing an ACTIVE REGEN.

You should know when this is happening due to vehicle getting to operating temp alot quicker (from cold) than normal/ high idle speed/stop-start not working (if fitted)/ smell and from the radiator fan running.

If you know when an active regen is being done then you can take the measures to make it complete. Drive at highish rpm (2k+) for anything from 15 - 30 mins above 40mph. Use a lower gear if nessasery to keep rpm up.

I make a point of finishing an active regen when i know its doing one. (dont stop) Worth the extra 10miles or so drive to complete for piece of mind.

Try it. You may find that the oil level stops increasing if you complete every Regen.

This is what works for me. My A1 doesnt use / add an drop of oil between services. Now done 38K miles in 4 years.

Best advice is to ask your dealer if this would be helpful as i am no mechanic, but just researched DPFs alot.

Also one of my employers has a 2012 version(not sure has dpf) of yours with 78K miles done, mostly short journeys on most days and his has had no problems.

Edited by kwakaman39 on 19/02/2016 at 20:00

Even better post-gorden.

My audi does give good symptoms of doing a active regen but from what i have heard a lot are more difficult to detect.

A dash light would be great and a switch like you mentioned is a VERY good idea to activate one manually if required when you know you are going to do a longer journey.

DPFs are clever but shame the manufacturers dont add a simple solution like you mentioned to help out. Guess they want us to fail so they can charge for a forced regen?

Lets hope the industry will improve soon. After all using MORE fuel and having to drive MORE to do a regen. How can that be greener?!!!

Also many a time i have done a longer journey only to find the car doing a regen 2miles from home.

Yet again reconsidering apetrol even though prefer a diesel.