Interesting that you should mention the ambient temperature. I've had a TDV6 for almost 2 years and being of a certain age I have monitored my regens using the Kot Kit.
In Winter my distance between regens was 250 to 300 miles but during Summer it drops to around 180. Same type of runs but different outside temps. Also experimented with premium fuels and additives which made no noticeable difference.

Recently noticed that my 2012 4.4 TDV8 dpf was filling up quickly but assumed it was because I've only been taking short journeys recently, unfortunately.

Managed to get on the motorway the other day just as the yellow dpf light came on at 23.5g and within about 10-15 minutes the value was down to 4.5g. Came back home on the A roads which was about a 20-30 minutes journey and had a reading of ~8g, but I was sat in non-moving traffic for a part of it so thought that might be why.

Next time out I took it on some nice country roads at reasonable speeds that were about 12 miles or so away from home, and stopped for a few hours before taking the same route home. When I got home I checked the dpf and got a reading of 14.9g.

I've managed to read about 23 pages of this thread and various others, and just wanted to ask a couple of questions.

Firstly, I presume I am correct to be concerned at the rate this is filling?

Second, I decided to check the egr valve position (commanded and actual) via the gap iid and from the moment the engine starts they are at 15% and 11% respectively. Is that expected? I have read elsewhere that it's usually shut initially, but if the commanded position is open then would that indicate something unusual is happening?

I have limited mechanical experience but I am pretty practical. I'm more than willing to inspect the inlets and MAF sensor etc, but I won't have time to do so in the immediate future. I've bookmarked the various steps suggested in the parts of this thread regarding troubleshooting steps and I'll go through them when I can. However, I wondered if there is any data that I can collect with the iid for now as I've got a longer journey I need to take?

Hardy,

By chance my L322 regenned earlier so I screenshotted it for you for reference so you can see what a good regen looks like. I have highlighted the important fields.

Notes:
1) I was in traffic for a while after it went through the trigger point 19.7grams so it demanded 2 regens (numbers 471 and 472).
2) It successfully regenned but you will note the Successful Regen field does not tick up. Do not use this field.
3) When you are figuring this out it is a good idea to keep this on the whole time. You will soon understand out what is going on (steve2347 this applies to you too!).
4) Noting the resolution on the pics is not ideal:
Top Row Left is DPF soot concentration - inferred.
2nd Row Left is Exhaust Gas Tem Bank 1 sensor 2 (goes up to 640º) The main temp guage you want.
3rd Row Left is Number of Demanded Regenerations This tells you when a regen is happening.
3rd Row Right is Number of Successsful Regenerations This field does not work.

steve2347 wrote:

Recently noticed that my 2012 4.4 TDV8 dpf was filling up quickly but assumed it was because I've only been taking short journeys recently, unfortunately.

Managed to get on the motorway the other day just as the yellow dpf light came on at 23.5g and within about 10-15 minutes the value was down to 4.5g. Came back home on the A roads which was about a 20-30 minutes journey and had a reading of ~8g, but I was sat in non-moving traffic for a part of it so thought that might be why.

Next time out I took it on some nice country roads at reasonable speeds that were about 12 miles or so away from home, and stopped for a few hours before taking the same route home. When I got home I checked the dpf and got a reading of 14.9g.

I've managed to read about 23 pages of this thread and various others, and just wanted to ask a couple of questions.

Firstly, I presume I am correct to be concerned at the rate this is filling?

Second, I decided to check the egr valve position (commanded and actual) via the gap iid and from the moment the engine starts they are at 15% and 11% respectively. Is that expected? I have read elsewhere that it's usually shut initially, but if the commanded position is open then would that indicate something unusual is happening?

I have limited mechanical experience but I am pretty practical. I'm more than willing to inspect the inlets and MAF sensor etc, but I won't have time to do so in the immediate future. I've bookmarked the various steps suggested in the parts of this thread regarding troubleshooting steps and I'll go through them when I can. However, I wondered if there is any data that I can collect with the iid for now as I've got a longer journey I need to take?

That does help, thanks.

I'm often guilty of losing myself in rabbit holes, so if I can avoid looking for answers when there's nothing out of the ordinary then I will.

I will collect some data though, just for the sake of having it going forward to see if anything changes. I believe there was a subjective difference with the car when I drove it less often and on longer journeys, compared to the frequent short journeys as of late. Would have been interesting to have tracked that.

Thanks again

Different engine Steve but some of my ramblings might be of interest.
I monitor and record all my regens (L405 TDV6}.
Regen is triggered at 18.8g of soot or 51%. They normally take about 9 minutes and if conditions are all ok the soot drops to between 2.8 and about 4.8g depending on driving conditions.
Soot build up is normally around 11 miles per gram or 3.5 miles per %.
My average miles between regens is 170 but it has been as low as 130 and as high as 300 with no logical explanation for the difference.
If you read the Now I'm a regen nerd thread there's loads of good stuff and I find the Kot kit most convenient for watching regens. I have a Gap tool but haven't tried it on regens yet.
I became obsessed with DPF valves for a while but as previously stated, if it isn't happy it'll tell you.
Good luck and Happy regens.
Pete