Tom's TDCi Titanium X...

[Toms306]

Yeah but Foobys doesn't count as a normal house lol.

[Toms306]

So I came off the kerb a bit sharpish this afternoon and heard and almighty twang from up front, thought I'd snapped a spring! Turned out its the DPF lower pressure pipe hitting the heatshield and ringing like a tuning fork lol. Need to work out a way to secure that somehow! Also need to get that fan cowling back a bit as it touching to top pressure pipe. I think I'm gonna cut half the bottom clip off. Should give it enough clearance to drop back into the holder. I know it wont clip back but I can't see the fan coming out anyway tbh.

[procta]

Tom see if you can get the fan back into place, rather than cutting stuff up! be better to strip it back down again and do it properly.

[1616six]

I'll see your 65mpg and raise you, 80.7mpg slipstreaming a fuel tanker for 9 miles at ~48mph on cruise tonight.

Since fitting my non RFT's I now get almost 700 miles to a tank



Sorry for the blurry pic, my dog took it because I obviously had both hands on the wheel whilst driving.

[Toms306]

That's no way to talk about Amber, Jordan!

I haven't bothered slip steaming or eco driving or anything like that. That mpg consists of at least half hour of town traffic yesterday (not seen traffic like it, must've been for Black Friday deals!), ~20 miles on cruise at 70, a twisty B road blast and then a few 'eco' miles through the 40 limit where I set the cruise instead of keep creeping and backing off. I'm not interested in 'on a run' or 'eco driving' mpg myself, want to know what I'll average over a tank roughly every time.


Procta - I had to bend the fan cowling to get it out, I can't bend it to get it back in (nothing to push against). To do it properly I'd have to remove the rad, which involves removing the grill, which involves remove the anti-tamper bonnet release - these are well known for failing after being disturbed which leaves the bonnt stuk closed. I'd rather cut a little lump of plastic than go through all that lol!

[Toms306]

So, had some car time today (yay) and spent most of it tidying the garage after the mess from the DPF change. Anyway had a look at the old DPF and its considerably different. Not sure if I should just accept that something a quarter of the price of OEM will be noticeably 'worse' or if I should complain about it?

Heres the top pipe, its bent to account for the fan cowling, unlike the replacement -



The captive nuts are much better secured, the replacements were just 4 tiny blobs of weld -



And this bracket is a completely different angle and has a second hole for locating the bolt-on bracket



Is that sort of stuff just to be expected from an aftermarket part?


Also what to do with the old DPF, are they worth anything in scrap? Or as 'blocked' to be reconditioned or anything? Was gonna keep it as spare or gut it but if its worth a bit I could do with the money now for the tyres instead.

[Niall]

Its to be expected mate especially with cheap replacements.

Some scrap yards buy them for quite a bit of money. Some will just take the piss and say oh its worth about 5 quid.

[Toms306]

Hmm, fair enough then. I expected less precious metals inside, and thinner grade steel for the can, but I was expecting it to fit properly really lol.

Any idea how much it'd be worth at a decent scrap yard? Are we talking like £20 or £200 lol? I got £40 for the cat on the Golf but not sure how this compares.

[welshpug]

I'd jetwash the fooker out and bung it in the oven it it'll fit to dry it out, then tape it up and keep it in the garage/shed.

[Toms306]

Look at the shape of it though, jetwashing wont work as both ends are bent over. That was my original plan otherwise!

[Seb_Ryan]

Look at the shape of it though, jetwashing wont work as both ends are bent over. That was my original plan otherwise!

Ram it as far in as it will go, or even better a steam cleaner? Spray f*ck loads of oven cleaner down it? Lol bound to be a way

[Kezzieboy]

Pretty sure you won't get it clean with a jet wash, it's a porous ceramic structure inside, not honeycomb like a cat.

Should be worth a fair whack really, there's a lot of precious metal in there, I'd shoot for a ton.

And I think your aftermarket one is pretty typical.

[Toms306]

I have seen them jetwashed before Kez, or 'blown' with compressed air. Obviously it'll never be perfect but loads does come out.

This ones just completely the wrong shape though. I really wanted to see inside it as well lol, sad I know.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWVW_Q4wyWU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdYqSlzrNck

And my personal favourite....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AixffdL-V8

[Kezzieboy]

I looked inside one with an endoscope at work on Friday, coincidentally. It's interesting for 30 seconds :-P

[Toms306]

Lol, I just hate not being able to prove it was blocked without seeing inside.

[procta]

tom id just weigh it in, if its f*cked or shite.

[Toms306]

Well it's not completely dead. I just don't know the costs of cleaning it (professionally lol, not jetwashing) so don't know if its worth someone buying to clean.

Was supposed to be going to the scrappy today and would've asked what its worth. Unfortunately that plan majorly failed.

[vtec power gt]

Out of interest is the problem fixed now and mpg back up to normal or does the problem still happen.

[Toms306]

Well its not regenerating all the time - hasn't regen'd at all since fitting it but that was only 100 miles ago lol. Its also not brought the fault code back up.

No idea what the mpg should be but I'm averaging just over 60 now, roughly 5mpg more than before but will wait for a whole brim to brim before saying for certain.

[procta]

Well it's not completely dead. I just don't know the costs of cleaning it (professionally lol, not jetwashing) so don't know if its worth someone buying to clean.

Was supposed to be going to the scrappy today and would've asked what its worth. Unfortunately that plan majorly failed.

I wouldn't bother, just see what the price is at the scrappy and if it sounds ok to you then weigh it in.

[Toms306]

Just a quick MPG update...

Went on a 70mph cruise to Felixstowe yesterday, didn't gain any mpg on the average, but more importantly didn't lose any either!! Still 62mpg when I got home (about 150 miles from this tank so far). So guess I was getting 60ish at 70 which is fine. Was only 53ish at 70 before!

[Eeyore]

Just a quick MPG update...

Went on a 70mph cruise to Felixstowe yesterday, didn't gain any mpg on the average, but more importantly didn't lose any either!! Still 62mpg when I got home (about 150 miles from this tank so far). So guess I was getting 60ish at 70 which is fine. Was only 53ish at 70 before!

An MPG update.... GAAYYY.

[Toms306]

[Toms306]

Sooo,

Done oil and filter change today. Cable tied the DPF pressure pipes together to stop them rattling and cable tied the missing heatshield bolt. More cable ties on the Focus that the 306 atm haha! But hopefully that's all sorted for a while now.

I decided not to fit the EGR blank, partly as I didn't have time, and partly because I cba with the EML on for it, but it seems to be working ok atm anyway. I also didn't fit the magnetic sump plug as it didn't fit...was like waving a stick in a bucket. So I've emailed the seller to try and get that returned as well.

Doing well on wrong parts for this car lol. So far I've had a damaged DPF returned, damaged oil filter and now the sump plug will need returning.


Next job is tyres. And tracking as there isn't really any inner edges left, or much outer edge since I've started driving it, possibly cornering a little harder than the elderly previous owner lol. Probably explains why the ESP is jumping in at every junction pull away atm. Just need to make some dollar so I can get the new tyres ordered!

On another note, while updating the service book I came across the MOT certificate. So decided to do the history check that I probably should've done a while ago lol. Anyway, it failed its first MOT on headlight aim (hmm, saw elderly owner coming I think!) but after that its passed every one, only advisory was on the current MOT and that's for tyre edge wear, so not bad!

[procta]

I have had that too, buying the wrong parts, have you not thought about fitting a nice panel filter to it?

[Toms306]

Nah, its a cylinder not a panel on these, but I won't bother with a performance one, didn't make a difference on the 180bhp Golf so I doubt it would on the 110bhp Focus lol, plus I'm keeping it totally stock for the cheapest possible insurance.

I have the '6 for noise anyway....tempted by a Pipercross cone for it...don't think I'd hear it over the exhaust though haha.

[1616six]

Nah, its a cylinder not a panel on these, but I won't bother with a performance one, didn't make a difference on the 180bhp Golf so I doubt it would on the 110bhp Focus lol, plus I'm keeping it totally stock for the cheapest possible insurance.  

I have the '6 for noise anyway....tempted by a Pipercross cone for it...don't think I'd hear it over the exhaust though haha.

So you've not declared your cruise control and different steering wheel?

[Toms306]

Why? It should've been there from the factory anyway and could've easily been fitted before I bought it. I can't imagine anyone declares changing one standard factory fit part for another... I also don't know what was an optional extra to start with, I didn't buy the car new and don't have the original receipt. One example is the tints, I thought all Titaniums had tints but I've parked next to one or two that didn't...so has mine been specced up to include them, or have the others been specced down to remove them? Who knows...

End of the day, its a standard car, I haven't added any power mods because the insurance companies are greedy bastards and I haven't added any visual mods because I don't want to... Fair enough if I had a set of Wolfrace chrome 17s and a massive IC hanging out of the bumper, but its a factory optional cruise wheel ffs.

[procta]

Nah, its a cylinder not a panel on these, but I won't bother with a performance one, didn't make a difference on the 180bhp Golf so I doubt it would on the 110bhp Focus lol, plus I'm keeping it totally stock for the cheapest possible insurance.  

I have the '6 for noise anyway....tempted by a Pipercross cone for it...don't think I'd hear it over the exhaust though haha.

So you've not declared your cruise control and different steering wheel?

OEM extra, like fitting ford focus alloy wheels, from steelies

[1616six]

Why?  It should've been there from the factory anyway and could've easily been fitted before I bought it.  I can't imagine anyone declares changing one standard factory fit part for another...   I also don't know what was an optional extra to start with, I didn't buy the car new and don't have the original receipt.  One example is the tints, I thought all Titaniums had tints but I've parked next to one or two that didn't...so has mine been specced up to include them, or have the others been specced down to remove them?  Who knows...

End of the day, its a standard car, I haven't added any power mods because the insurance companies are greedy bastards and I haven't added any visual mods because I don't want to...  Fair enough if I had a set of Wolfrace chrome 17s and a massive IC hanging out of the bumper, but its a factory optional cruise wheel ffs.

Optional factory extras are different to fitting OEM extras once the car has left the factory.

I'm just telling you the facts  It's up to you what you do but technically you should declare any modifications fitted after the vehicle leaves the factory. If you use a specialist insurer you won't be charged extra for cosmetic modifications, in fact they can be cheaper than standard insurance policies.

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Nah, its a cylinder not a panel on these, but I won't bother with a performance one, didn't make a difference on the 180bhp Golf so I doubt it would on the 110bhp Focus lol, plus I'm keeping it totally stock for the cheapest possible insurance.  

I have the '6 for noise anyway....tempted by a Pipercross cone for it...don't think I'd hear it over the exhaust though haha.

So you've not declared your cruise control and different steering wheel?

OEM extra, like fitting ford focus alloy wheels, from steelies

Yup, needs declaring!