DPF Nightmare: Challenger Belching Black Smoke

Hey there! I had a pretty similar issue with my 2015 Mitsubishi Pajero diesel (I have some experience working on cars, but nothing too advanced). The symptoms were exactly like yours, black smoke, check engine light, jerky acceleration, the works. Took it to my trusted workshop where I've been going for years, and yep, it was a failed DPF. Unfortunately, cleaning wasn't an option as it was internally damaged. Had to replace the whole unit, which set me back about 1550 Euro. Not cheap, but it fixed all the issues immediately. Can you share more details about your Challenger, like the mileage and your typical driving patterns (city/highway)? This info would help me give you more specific advice based on my experience.

Thanks for sharing your experience! Yeah, my Challenger's at 115022 KM, and just had its service last month. I mostly do city driving, lots of short trips which probably isn't helping the DPF situation. Your symptoms sound spot-on with what I'm experiencing. That price for the replacement is rough, but I guess it's better than letting it get worse. Did you notice any warning signs before it completely failed? Just trying to figure out if I caught it early enough for a cleaning, or if I should brace myself for a full replacement.

Hey again! Thanks for those details about your driving habits, that explains a lot. Yeah, with my Pajero, I was doing similar city driving patterns before everything went south. Looking back, I definitely had some warning signs about 2-3 months before it completely failed. Started with occasional white smoke on cold starts, then gradually got worse. The black smoke and jerking didn't show up until pretty late in the game. By the time I noticed those, the damage was already done. The thing with DPFs is they really hate short trips, the filter never gets hot enough to burn off all that soot properly. In your case, with 115K on the clock and those symptoms, I hate to say it, but it's probably heading down the same road as mine. When my mechanic showed me my old DPF, it was properly clogged and had some internal cracks. If you're getting black smoke and jerking already, cleaning might be a bit of a gamble. One thing I learned the hard way, if you do end up replacing it, try to change your driving habits a bit. I now make sure to take my Pajero for a good highway run at least once a week, helps keep the new DPF happy. Have you had any luck with forcing a manual regeneration? That might give you an idea of how bad the situation is.

Thanks so much for all that detailed info! That's really helpful to know about the warning signs you experienced. No, I haven't tried forcing a manual regeneration yet, honestly didn't even know that was possible. I'll look into that before making any decisions. But yeah, sounds like I might be looking at a replacement rather than a cleaning, especially given my driving patterns. I'll definitely take your advice about the weekly highway runs if I end up getting a new DPF, don't want to be dropping another 1500+ Euro anytime soon! Guess I'll be calling my mechanic tomorrow to get this sorted. Really appreciate you sharing your experience. It's made me feel a lot more confident about what I'm dealing with.