Hi mate, have a look at the tailpipe and give the throttle a good few stabs when stationary, if there are any signs of black soot whatsoever then yes it'll have been gutted.

 

Tried that but no soot could be seen coming out of the tail pipe.

 

If the car has iDrive you can check the remaining life of the DPF.
If the DPF was gutted but not mapped out it will show an error after about 15 minutes of driving.
If the DPF was gutted and mapped out it would not show any error messages.
To be 100% certain you will have to force a DPF regen and watch for the signs the DPF is going through regen or ...
Remove the O2 sensor and with the engine cold insert a snake camera through the O2 sensor hole and look around.
This is not 100% guarantee as the DPF is not just a DPF. The first part, the part closer to the turbo, is the catalytic convertor and the DPF sits below that.
Some only gut out the DPF and leave the catalytic convertor alone. The catalytic convertor part is made of metal honeycomb and is not ceramic like the DPF.
You can remove the exhaust from the back of the DPF and again, with the engine and DPF cold, insert a snake camera through the exhaust into the DPF and have a look around.
I'm someone here with more experience will offer a more sure way of checking but I only know the above ways.

I have thought about leaving the DPF gutted but the more I think about it, and especially after reading the article on BBC News about diesel filters, the more I want to put everything back original. For me this means I will need to purchase a new DPF from the dealer as I don't believe cleaning is a long term solution. My DPF was gutted and I only found out about it after I bought the car.

 

Do you know what are the signs that DPF is going through a regen? If he finds out that DPF has been gutted then he will most likely look for another car and PX his to avoid any trouble later on.

 

A rough guide.

If the exhaust outlet is clean, it has a DPF, that is catching the soot.

If the exhaust outlet is sooty/black, then it is probably gutted.


It does sound like you friends has been gutted and mapped out.

 

Yes, his exhaust outlet is black inside right up to the tip.

If it's true why didn't anyone pick up on this whilst running his car through MOT?

 

Until very soon the MOT is a visual test only, so it it looks like it is there then that will do.

Time to move the car on I'm afraid, or he could price up a new dpf being put in.

 

Thank you for your input guys. So it seems that his DPF is gone.

Does anyone know when by he needs to get it fixed or sold? Anything set in stone in terms of enforcing new rules?

 

If it was gutted, it was gutted early. Your friend bought the car only 4 years old.

I am guess it was really low miles to kill the DPF or previous owner just wanted to remap the hell of the engine.
The following BBC new will give you some info.
Personally i would get rid of it before your friends is hit with £1500 bill to fit a new one.

'Thousands' driving without crucial diesel filters - BBC News

 

Depends on how comfortable he is at passing on a potential wallet emptying problem to an unsuspecting buyer. When I sell a car on, I want it to be right and if it isn't, I would be upfront with the buyer with any issues before he/she decides to part with their cash because I'm honest. Me personally, seeing as you're not a million miles away from London, I would consider a second hand dpf and a trip to BWChiptune @bwchiptune for it fitting, programming back in and they can then check for and fix any underlying problem that caused the dpf to block in the first place.

 

We have seen so many bmws with the dpf removed or someone who calls us because the customer has been given some BS that they will get more power with the crap remap they are buying or a garage doesn't know how or why a bmw will not regen the dpf system so told the customers to remove it

These are all ways these companies use to make extra £££££
From you

Just look on FB for the cheap tuners



I've been telling people on forums and who calls us for many years


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