Hello.
My car is a 2006 S-Type 2.8 diesel sport. I bought it from our local dealer when it was 8 months old, previous to that it was owned and retained by Jaguar Cars. I began having problems with it going into 'restricted performance' mode, and it went back to the dealer 5 times for this over an 18 month period. Each time they told me it was just a problem with the turbo, and even said that the vast clouds of white smoke that billowed out when I started it of a morning was perfectly normal even though I had to wait for this to clear before I could see to drive!

In April 2009 my car engine began making the most incredible loud clattering noise causing me to limp home immediately. The dealer collected it to investigate and announced that the engine had suffered terminal failure and would need replacing, and because the car was now 5 weeks past being 3 years old it would cost me over £6,000.

I was told at this point that the cause was me neglecting to maintain the Diesel Particulate Filter and not driving the car correctly.

When I queried whatever were they talking about? I was given a handy print out from their computer detailing this part, it's purpose, and the fact that I was supposed to be driving the car at over 40 miles an hour for 20 minutes or more on every trip, otherwise the DPF would cause problems such as terminal engine failure.

I asked why I was only being told this just now, and the chap replied that they didn't as a rule inform customers of this otherwise they wouldn't sell any!

The long and the short of it is I have now spent a further TWO years fighting with our local dealer and Jaguar Cars under The Sale of Goods Act, but they do not want to know. Primarily their defence was the terms and conditions of the warranty, but this has subsequently proven to be flawed when they produced the defence statement including an excerpt from the warranty terms and conditions which state that the warranty begins at the point of registration by the FIRST RETAIL CUSTOMER.

(Myself) So the warranty still had another 8 months to run, and yet they are still delaying everything whilst my car is languishing away in their back lot, with it's engine and gear box dismantled, going green with algae and moss. The dealer even produced an invoice for 10,000 recently for storage! They did retract that when challenged but how underhand can you get?

During these two years of fighting this I have done hours and hours of research only to find this DPF is a massive problem for the motor industry. Some owners have suffered terrible fires in the engine. I have found garages who get all their work from removing them from cars because they are so problematic. I also discovered a landmark case in Germany where a gentleman sued Opel in court and won.

This whole situation has been extremely disappointing and stressful. Previous to my S-Type I owned a lovely X-Type (petrol) and so I was very excited to upgrade to my second Jaguar, only to be treated like this. I have even written directly to Dr Ralf Speth the CEO of TATA detailing my predicament, and telling him how distressed I have been now that I no longer have my beautiful Jaguar, but my two letters have been to no avail.

My main gripe is that Jaguar know there is a problem and yet they conceal it. My car was one of over 8,000 cars recalled by VOSA for problems with the DPF, and yet cars are still succumbing to this day to the same faults. They try to say that there are warning lights that come up in the display telling me to 'regenerate the DPF and/or service is due', but I just got 'restricted performance mode' and had not a clue what was going on.

If my car, like thousands of others, has faulty warning lights, then how would I know? I certainly don't appreciate being batted away like an annoying fly.
I look forward to hearing if anyone else has had similar problems, and how if at all they resolved them.

I apologise if I have brought up a subject that has already been covered, but there is no search facility on the boards so I can't see!
Thank you for reading my small novel!

 

Moving this to the S Type section for better coverage.

A sorry tale indeed, can't understand how they say it can be your fault, when you say that you had taken the car back to them on numerous occasions before it blew up.

If you have not already done so, I would take all your paperwork etc to your solicitors and have them fight for you.

(PS, there is a search feature in the toolbar at the top of the Forums, it even has an advanced function.)

Hope that you get things sorted and can drive your Jaguar, or at least sell it.

 

Thank you Richard.
Yes we have already been fighting with solicitors, unfortunately they were so spectacularly useless they have actually gone out of business! We have just been to see a new chap, but it all takes time. My husband has informed the court that we are representing ourselves in the meantime, and has tried ringing the legals for both Jaguar and our dealer to point out that there is a window of opportunity to settle now that our own legal costs have been removed at the moment, but they still have no proposal for us. And so it drags on.

 

There have been a number of serious posts about the diesel cars on the UK-based forum Jaguar Forum.co.uk • Index page including about DPFs and smoke (which is usually the fuel-fired heater).

Diesel-specific problems include at least the DPF (early cars don't have one), turbos, oil cooler & fuel-fired heater. Not all cars are affected or affected by each (or for all I know any) of those.

The diesel was not sold into USA/Canada so although there are some members of this forum who have a diesel, they are few.

Both forums have a good Search facility but if you wish to search for DPF on this or that other forum, it is TOO SHORT so you have to use a workaround - such as a different name or in google try:
site:www.jaguarforum.co.uk DPF

BTW, I think you mean 2.7 not 2.8

 

+1 on a good reply by JagV8 with good info and advice to check out the uk site as there are not many diesel burners here, more's the pity.

I'm an oil burner myself though and this problem has been covered many times on the Audi site with many having similar issues.

Basically being told that it is necessary to drive the car for reasonable distances getting it up to temperature etc etc or these issues may well occur, or words to that effect.

So sorry that I don't think we are going to be able to offer much help on this one, but I wish you good luck with your case

 

I have a 2008 S-Type diesel Jaguar (last of the model). I bought it new and todate taking it for a long run when the dreaded DPF light came on seemed to work. However, now a long run (until the orange DPF light goes out) isn't fixing the problem and it goes into Restricted Power Mode shortly afterwards. After a trip to the dealer I am told there is nothing wrong and that they fixed it by initiating 'high-burn' or something similar.
Now I have researched the problem I see that many others are suffering the identical problem and are being told by Jaguar that it is "their fault" for driving short trips and not properly burning off the Particulates when the oragnage DPF light comes on. That the S-Type Jaguar can't handle short trips is certainly true (I wish the sales person had told me this when selling me the car). However, when we follow the instructions in the manual when the DPF light comes on and take it for the required long run at 40MPH and up and it says the Particulate Filter is 'cleaned' when it obviously isn't (that's when the restricted power mode comes on) this is not the owner's fault. It is a failure of the process.
To me this looks like a failure of the sensors or burning off mechanism. My car is now nearly 4 years old and out of warranty so it looks like Jaguar dealers have been told to just lie about the true nature of the real problem.
I love the car so would like a solution to the problem. Does any other S-Type Diesel owner have a solution other than having to take the car to the dealer every time it drops into restricted power mode? If so, I would love to hear about it.

 

Bear in mind there are almost no diesel owners here. But plenty on the UK forum, so I'd ask there.

Views are very polarised on there. Some will not hear a word against the DPF (or diesel) no matter what troubles people have - some have had destroyed engines (be sure to check your oil level does not rise, and check often).

A revised calibration (software version) was made and it seems clear that it is required, simply to make it more likely that imminent failure may be detected. I don't beileve it was a recall so who knows which cars don't have it...

 

Seems to me there's plenty of missing information. For one thing; one of these cars moving at "above 40mph for 20 minutes" will be very lightly loaded. Light load equals almost no pressure on or stress for the DPF. So whatever it is that cleans out the DPF, it's likely to be a software issue or a sensor issue. Seems to me like Jaguar don't yet have their story straight.

 

The speed is a threshold, nothing to do with load or pressure.

The system injects extra fuel into the cylinders later than the normal burn so that it is forced to burn as it exits the cylinders and thus burns the contents of the DPF.

Rather than guess, if interested please read the detailed jag doc about how it all works. (When it does, which is "mostly" or "almost always", and that's the big problem.)

 

Hi,

I have had the same problem on my S Type. Apparently these cars are designed to be driven by 17 year olds (I have a good memory) and not genteel pensioners. The first dealer I phoned told me to bring in the car for a 180 Euro (plus tax) plug in diagnosis (which would probably lead on to a bill in the 1000s, replacing parts). The second dealer suggested I drive the car for 50 kms at 3000 rpm and if this failed, to bring it in for a plug in forced regeneration. So, keeping the car in low gear, I made my way to the nearest autoroute. The light actually cleared half way there but just to be sure, I did the full drive. In France the speed limit is 130 kph (80 ish mph), so keeping the car in 5th and 2750 rpm didn't over stress the car, whilst giving me the impression (in my head) that I was cleaning out the pipes. So, fingers crossed that this lasts and I shall try and be a bit "boy racer"ish in the future. Haven't diesels changed? I'm going to have to charge around in my S Type to keep it happy whilst a gentle burble around in my XK8 is necessary because of my fear of petrol stations.

 

Diesels don't really make sense unless you do a lot of miles regularly, in which case the DPF ought to have a good chance to regenerate. Really Jag ought to make this clear to potential buyers and there's a case for prominent warnings (maybe in the handbook and on the sun visors and everywhere else people might look).

Be glad yours hasn't written off the engine and because that is a real risk do make sure yours has the latest software.

(This is DPF-equipped diesels only.)

 

Hi Guys, I have just purchased a S-Type D and when amber warn comes on I almost immediate goes to restriction, driving does not clear! I must stop and wait a moment then restart.
As a solution I have purchased an EGR blank kit to try improve burn and make cleaner as this is not a requirement for UK but was intended for US markets. I am not sure of location of the particale container or cat on S-Type exhaust route but would appreciate if anyone can advise/confirm following?
1/CAT is not an MOT requirement for Diesel
2/DPF is not an MOT requirement
3/Can they be replace with full flow pipe containing the required sensors (for EMS) ?
If answer is yes is there a company that fabricate these pipes?

 

The diesel was never sold in USA so your assertion about EGR is weird!!

Probably better to find the actual problem and fix it. Can't see it being the EGR but why do you think it is? You do not appear to know why EGR is used...

 

And just that there be no confusion, the engine should be described as a 2.7Ltr and not 2.8. The XF also used the 2.7 Diesel for a while, but this has since been replaced by an updated 3Ltr version, which seems to suffer less with DPF issues.
Regards,
Telfer.

 

Jaguar have had 2 BIG thorns in their side with the 2.7D engine - the EGR going faulty and being very expensive to replace, and the excessive failure of the DPF to work correctly (not that its use proceedure is good or was a good one in first place - many got car unaware of proceedure because if they had know they would not have got the car). The request I made was placed to any European owners who have found resolve to these issues. The EGR system is not in the owners favour - returning to the mouth of the engine what has just been passed (this contains soot and debre) and causes severe sludge buildup in the inlet manifold and engine works well without - so yes I am well aware of the EGR system and its faults. I know what to do to resolve the issues in general but need advise from an owner who has completed modifications and where they obtained the parts. The excessive systems on the engine for emission are not for UK requirements and I asumed wrong to suspect US but am aware the certain states in US are very strict on emission.

 

EGR is there to reduce emissions and as a byproduct improves MPG.

DPF is there to reduce particulates and seems not very good at it.

All the USA is tight on emissions and I think the diesel cannot pass. It's debatable about whether it actually passes EU but is apparently deemed to do so.

I expect hardly anyone messes with the EGR so the chance of any member on here doing it to a 2.7D is small.

 

hi all ive had dpf removed and egr mapped out and a sports remap witch has increased hp to 236 from 207 and torque is up 58nm has made a big differance to how it drives and more miles to the gallon happy days

 

Be sure to tell your insurer (it's a mod.) or you're breaking the law.

Actually you're breaking the law even if you do (it's illegal to remove emissions equipment) but at least you'll be insured.

 

Bulic, that's the story that nightmares are made of! Maybe the worst I have ever heard.

The Dealers seem powerless, Jaguar is offering no support and accepting no responsibility, and your lawyers don't seem to rank in the top 10.

This might be the time to launch a Facebook and Twitter campaign, so the whole country will get to know, not just the Jag forum. At least that won't cost an arm and a leg.

 

4 year old post from Bulic, he's probably not here any more