DPF on E350
I want to avoid DPF issues as I will be using the car for quite a lot of town driving.
I have been told that I will need to take the car for a run on a regular basis to let it regen the DPF
What exactly do I need to do to start the regen process (how far to drive and at what speed) and will the car tell me it is doing it?
thanks and excuse my ignorance!

From what I know no the car wont tell you, you can get a monitor which will be a good idea which will show you. Ya can monitor it and if its going into a regen or getting close ya know to go for a good freeway drive.
Unfortunetaly they dont have a way to start/stop one, most semi modern diesels I know of require dealer electronics to trigger a forced regen (not sure if MB has that or not).




also what do you mean by Urea?
Last edited by djneils; Nov 9, 2022 at 11:54 AM.
I'd also recommend not turning the car off mid-way through a regen. The car should do a DPF regen every 200-300 miles, and there are a few telltale signs that it's doing a regen:
1) Car will idle at ~800rpm instead of ~550rpm (a bit like in the winter when the car is cold/warming up)
2) Car will hold onto gears for longer and change gears at higher rpm
3) There will be a lot of heat generated when you stop (i.e. when you open the door you'll feel it under the car)
4) There will be a burning plastic/rubber smell when you stop and get out of the car if it's mid-regen.
5) The exhaust tone will be quite loud/droney/boomy/kind of awesome during a regen (as opposed to the usual silence)
The car will not (usually) regen if it's low on fuel or if the EML is on. So if you ignore the EML for a while for some other reason , the DPF could well be getting clogged up.
Cheers,
Ed
I'd also recommend not turning the car off mid-way through a regen. The car should do a DPF regen every 200-300 miles, and there are a few telltale signs that it's doing a regen:
1) Car will idle at ~800rpm instead of ~550rpm (a bit like in the winter when the car is cold/warming up)
2) Car will hold onto gears for longer and change gears at higher rpm
3) There will be a lot of heat generated when you stop (i.e. when you open the door you'll feel it under the car)
4) There will be a burning plastic/rubber smell when you stop and get out of the car if it's mid-regen.
5) The exhaust tone will be quite loud/droney/boomy/kind of awesome during a regen (as opposed to the usual silence)
Cheers,
Ed
when you say long journey could you be a bit more specific? - time/speed etc
is it worth getting a code reader that could tell me the state of the DPF and possible force it to regen if needed?
A car mostly used for in town (stop and go and shut it off) driving is best fueled by gasoline - diesels are made for long running trips. DPF emissions systems don't like short trips that barely heat things up and rarely allow time for regens. Side note: This annoys the hell out of my wife because I won't let her take the ML diesel on said short trips (to the mail, grocery, etc.), but we have a big enough stable of autos where that's not an issue.
A scanner will be essential to the ownership of the car, diesel or no. Scangauge makes one that can stay in place, icarsoft makes a Mercedes specific version (plenty of talk about that on these pages), or you can go for the Xentry clone and be done with it.
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