The Common Fiat 500 Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) problems
Since the arrival of the Fiat 500 1.3 Diesel Multi Jet engine we began working on a solution for the Diesel Particulate Filter because as with other vehicles fitted with the similar engine it was quite an issue, however, it has turned out to be a bigger issue than we first anticipated. Some owners of the Fiat 500 1.3 Multi Jet have reported having to have up to 4 oil changes in a matter of 10,000 to 15,000 miles. This raises major concerns as to the effects the Diesel Particulate Filter of the Fiat 500 has on the turbo charger and injectors.
Other common problems are:
A little history of how the Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) works
A Diesel Particulate Filter is often referred to as the DPF (also known as a Filtre à Particules (FAP) and some people even dealerships refer to it as CATS (Catalytic Converters) however, they should not be mistaken as although both work to clean emissions, they clean them differently. The DPF is designed and integrated into the Diesel Engine exhaust systems to trap & remove Diesel Particulate Matter or Soot from the exhaust gasses of the diesel engine. Much like the Catalytic Converter of conventional petrol engines, the Diesel Particulate Filter works to remove harmful toxins and lower the emissions of your diesel engine making it more environmentally friendly. For more information on Diesel Particulate Filters and how they work, check out our DPF Removals article.
Removing the DPF should be a pleasant and simple procedure, however, more and more vehicles are becoming harder and harder to work with as the infrastructure becomes more complex and the encryption of the data strings are harder to crack into. To date we know of no other company able to access the data of the Fiat 500 1.3 Multi Jet engine DPF settings. In normal circumstances, a tuner would reprogram the engine ECU to delete the DPF settings and then go ahead and remove the particulate filter from the exhaust system physically. When they are unable to do so via OBD programming, they would proceed to remove your ECU and flash it on a bench tool to program the chip more directly, however, the main problem here is that no software can currently read/detect or rewrite the DPF data and for some time yet, this will be the main problem for all tuners across the country – if not across Europe!!
How SINSPEED can help with your Fiat 500 1.3 Diesel Multi Jet DPF Removal
Much like our breakthrough on the Mazda 6 DPF removals, we’ve yet again succeeded and moved forward with technology. Since the launch of the Fiat 500, our team of highly skilled and qualified engineers and technicians have been studying the data structure and encryption of the Fiat 500 ECU software and we are pleased to inform the launch of our latest service.. the Fiat 500 1.3 Diesel Multi Jet DPF Removal Service – We can communicate directly with the Engine ECU and delete the DPF entirely with no repercussions, that’s right.. No warning lights, No loss of power and No Limp Mode. To add to this service, as with any other DPF removal we carry out a full Smoke Correction service to ensure the vehicle will still pass an MOT guaranteed – this is something NO other company is currently offering in the whole of the UK.
The benefits of removing your DPF are clear:
So where are the flaws in removing your DPF?
It’s all about finding the right company to put your trust in. Removing the DPF itself carries no negative results, however, if the DPF removal is not carried out by a specialist company then the results can be devastating. We’ve seen many horror stories of engines failing, MOT’s failing, turbochargers failing and so on. You can only have the DPF removed once and it’s in your interest to have it done professionally. We take pride in our work and always ensure that every DPF Removal carried out is to the highest of standards.
There are now dozens of new “companies” appearing all over the country and many of which are a “one-man band” offering DPF Removal services. A vast majority of them are nothing more than a man at home with an inexpensive piece of “automated” software. The problem here lies within the software and not so much the programmer. The automated software helps anyone to start their own business removing DPF’s because quite simply all the user has to do is plug in their laptop to the vehicles OBDII diagnostics port, download the ECU data and then follow the on-screen instructions. The Automated software will then attempt to read the data, scanning through it using the pre-set parameters whilst finding & erasing all DPF related data strings. When doing so, it is possible that the software can delete data structures which are important for the vehicle to run correctly because many of the data strings for the DPF are interlinked with other sensors such as Fuel Rail Pressure, Exhaust Temperature, Lambda, Airflow and so on.. The automated softwares in some cases do have parameters in place to stop it from deleting these data strings but then this also causes problems because it’s leaving partial DPF data in the ECU mapping which can then go on to cause more problems and errors later on. – However, with the Fiat 500 1.3 Multi Jet engine it will be impossible for ANY tuner to successfully remove the DPF without problems due to data encryption.
We can now, confidently offer a complete “DPF Removal” service whereby we turn off the DPF settings from the ECU and successfully remove the DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) from the exhaust system with zero errors – That’s right, your vehicle will NOT fall in to LIMP HOME MODE and you will NOT suffer any error messages ever again!
We launched the release of this service at the beginning of January and since then, we have successfully carried out Fiat 500 DPF removals on 27 cars in just one month with no problems at all.
Removing the DPF will not cause you to fail an MOT, we can guarantee this. It will not bring up any error messages and the car will not go into LIMP mode. Also, you will never experience any Regeneration messages where the ECU normally attempts to clean the DPF – this is because the DPF is no longer existing.
We manually scan through and delete all DPF data strings and where data strings are interlinked, we recode the data to ensure that other sensors will still operate as they should whilst removing all possibilities of the DPF ever becoming an issue again.
Finally, you will experience an overall increase in performance, smoothing out any flat spots and safeguard the life of both your engine & turbocharger.
A new DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) will range from £1500.00 – £2500.00 (+Labour & +VAT). We can remove the entire DPF for a fraction of this cost and you’ll never have to worry about it ever again.
For more information, please call us on 0203 815 9441.
Ajaz is a seasoned automotive electronics engineer with deep expertise in remanufacturing vehicle electronics. He has developed skills in all areas of the automotive field, from rebuilding hydraulic steering components, and mechanical gearboxes and reworking intricate vehicle electronics. Ajaz also acquired Bodyteq, a London-based vehicle bodyshop where he has developed extensive knowledge in automotive refinishing.
Alongside his automotive career, Ajaz has built a career in the IT industry, gaining accredited certification as an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, Cloud Architect, and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) specialist.
