Does our Mercedes-Benz C220 diesel need a new DPF?
We have had a 2004 Mercedes-Benz C220 CDi automatic diesel in Spain for the last 10 years. All was fine until a week after its annual MOT last May, when the Engine Management Light came on and remained on. We took it to an 'English' garage and he put the car on a Mercedes-Benz 'Star' scanner and after this the light went off. We only do short trips now, the longest run is about 35 mins to and from airport, but during these runs we go up hills (not so much steep but long drags uphill) we have to drop a gear manually as the car just hasn't got the pull/power. The garage say we need a new diesel particulate filter and have suggested we buy it and they will fit it. Please could you advise us if this is correct and if we should order any other spare parts.
Reads as if the car was fitted with a DPF and the DPF is now full of ash. They can be cleaned out by the Ceramex process, but I don't know if this can be done in Spain. Probably can be because DPFs of diesel HGVs are routinely cleaned by this process every 80,000 miles or so. That will cost about £350. The alternative is a new DPF which, from Mercedes-Benz, is likely to be the wrong side of £1000.
Answered by Honest John on
