Hi

I have a French Mazda 3 (2007) with DPF owned from new. The car is great but I am a little worried about the servicing and the DPF. Mazda in France want to change an oil for the DPF that they say costs 234Euros a litre in this year's service, 30000 Miles approx, and for the 4th year they want to do it again and change the DPF!

Mazda UK say they do nothing like that, the car will tell you when there's a problem with the DPF - who is right please? It is being serviced in the UK at Mazda this time as much cheaper. Does anyone know if this is true about the DPF please on the 3?

 

I've never heard of needing oil for a diesel particulate filter... I don't know if it's different on passenger cars vs. pickup trucks and commercial trucks, though.

I found a website that has some information about the Mazda3 DPF. It's a maintenance free filter. So basically, at certain intervals the filter will burn at a high temperature to clean itself out. I have never heard of needing an oil change on a DPF lol.

http://www.carpages.co.uk/mazda/mazd...3-11-04-07.asp

I wish I knew more but Mazda doesn't even sell a diesel version of the Mazda3 in America, so I'm not sure who else might know either.

 

Hi and thank you for getting back to me on that. I does seem odd and quite possibly false and a way of getting the service charges up here in France.

I have taken a look at your link but it is the 2.0L which is a slightly different engine (thanks for looking it up though) (I think) but Monday next it will be in the garage for the service so I hope to find out from them and I will keep you posted!

As long as it is serviced by Mazda it shuld be fine but I will be buying petrol next time as the savings we used to have in Europe with cheaper diesel are now lost with the cars and servicing being more expensive!

many thanks once again

Regards

Rob

 

Yeah I remember seeing that a lot of European cars were diesel. So petrol is becoming more popular then?

Since you don't have the 2.0L I'm guessing you have a 1.6L? I did a little more research. On a page on Wikipedia it says the 1.6L using a DPF uses a catalytic additive that gets refreshed every 60.000 kilometers (as per Euro Stage IV emissions requirements).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_Diesel_engine#Y6

I know the DPF is dependant on burning a little bit of dumped fuel into the filter and it burning at a high temperature to incinerate the clogged soot, but I'm guessing since the 1.6L is smaller it needs a fluid to help burn it off since it must not be able to burn a high enough temperature? I'm going to do some more research on how that works, 'cause now I'm curious.

 

Yep, you are right about the diesel vs petrol. The diesel engines have become too complicated, I guess this is for emissions and to get the power, they are really quick now and still get good MPG.

The link you supplied is a great help and I will see what the English garage says Monday as it will be in there for the service - we spend time between UK and France so can juggle a little but that also causes confusion they both countries have a different way of attacking the service

As I am only at 45000 km it should be left anyway until 60000. I believe in doing all you can to keep a car in good order but not paying for stuff that does not need doing.

I'll be back to you as soon as I know the result.

Rob

 

It is the 1.6 (109bp) by the way

 

That's alright... I have a 2008 with just over 64.000 miles... or I should say... about 103.000 kilometers!!!

 

Hey... quick question: There is an addition to some diesel exhaust systems here in the US that just started to be implemented currently. It is some urea fluid. It's called AdBlue. I also read it is popular in Europe and widely available in some places. Is this the catalyst fluid or something different to help in addition to current DPF function?

 

I don't know a tremendous amount about it either. I do know that the technology was first used by Mercedes Benz (they may have been the ones to develope it too) and that it reduces emissions in a diesel powered car by feeding the fluid into the exhaust system. It's claimed to be more effective than a diesel particulate filter, a new requirement for diesel powered vehicles here in the States.

 

OKm my Mazda 3 is all serviced and rolling again and no expensive additive added. I saw the car up on the ramps and had a good look over with the service guy and service manager. The special liquid goes in when needed, they say they have cars that come in with high mileage and have not been topped up yet. It is after 37,500miles/60,000km that they wait to see. It goes in to a reservoir located by the rear axle and is injected straight in to the exhaust system.

You would have a job to change yourself unless you had seen it done I think, they tell me it is a messy job as there's no real drain off, just a plug you pull out.

So, there you have it, thanks for all your help on that, spot on. I am richer for getting the car serviced away from my French dealer, it is Mazda stamped so in warranty too so we'll see where that takes us.

I have ordered some of the oil so I can give it to the garage if they need it in the future.

The only good thing in all of this is the fact that I don't have to go and blast the engine all the time to get the DPF to regenerate like on other models.

I'll keep you up to date though on how things go - it seems to be the future and me, I am out of diesels after this one, shame but tooooooo complicated now.