Toyota Landcruisers DPF problems will give you a headache especially if you purchase those assembled in Europe, Australia, and Japan. Emission laws have ensured that Toyota implements these exhaust filters to limit the amount of diesel soot that enters the atmosphere. Owners of these vehicles are the ones that are having to pay for the heavy costs that come with the maintenance of these emission systems.

The situation has particularly worsened for third world countries especially here in Zimbabwe and Africa as a whole because our fuel quality is poor. DPF failure may also result from other factors like the driving habits of the vehicle owners and a situation of deteriorating air to fuel mixtures in the engine. You can watch our video that explains more here.

Signs of Failure

You will experience any combination of the following when your vehicle has a DPF malfunction;

DPF Warning Message – A message will show in the instrument cluster that will read “DPF FULL SEE OWNERS MANUAL”

This may be the only  message that comes from the instrument cluster but sometimes a check engine light may show. In such a case you will see any of the following fault codes;

 P2002 diesel particulate filter efficiency below threshold 
 P2463 Diesel Particulate Filter Restriction - Soot Accumulation 
 P2003 Particulate filter efficiency below threshold 
 P242F Particulate filter restriction - Ash accumulation 
 P2458 Particulate filter regeneration duration 
 P2459 Particulate filter regeneration frequency 
 P2464 Particulate filter Restriction - Soot accumulation

Power Loss – You may also start to experience power loss from the vehicle. This is its way of preventing further damage. If you continue to drive with a DPF full or malfunction, it will cause more harm. Watch our video here that explains the dangers that follow should you carry on driving with this condition.

Occasional White Smoke – If you have breached the DPF i.e hollowed or cut it; white smoke will occasionally (but not always) puff out of the exhaust. When this happens you will usually be in traffic or idling; note that this has nothing to do with an engine being worn out. The vehicle is now excessively over-fueling as it is desperately trying to resolve the DPF issue by squirting diesel into the exhaust. This is its normal process of cleaning the DPF.

Increased Diesel consumption. – Fuel consumption of a vehicle with a DPF problem will generally be higher due to deliberate over-fueling as described above.

Solutions

So to resolve Toyota Landcruiser DPF problems you basically have 3 solutions available. I will go through each one;

Option 1: Regeneration – This is probably the cheapest solution. A mechanic with an advanced diagnostic tool can put the vehicle into regeneration mode for the car to clear soot by itself. The problem with this solution is that it can be short term. For those in 1st world countries, you can go for months or years. However, in third world countries, this solution can last weeks, days, or just hours. Sometimes this might not even work. As I mentioned earlier there are factors causing DPFs to clog.These factors when addressed the method of regeneration works . For people in 3rd world countries, regeneration may not work as desired. The quality of fuel will keep causing DPF to clog due to contaminants.

Option 2: Buy New DPF – If Option 1 has failed next option on the table would be to buy a new DPF. These systems are quite expensive. This will probably be a good option for those in 1st world countries. In Africa buying a new Toyota Landcruiser DPF is probably a waste of money unless you start using the same quality of fuel used in Europe or America. If not you are probably going to buy more than one DPF in a short period of time as they will continue to fail.

If a car gives you a DPF problem once and you buy a new one the likelihood of those problems to resurface is 90%. DPFs are meant to last the lifetime of the vehicle. If that is not happening it means there is an underlying issue like problematic air to fuel mixture, bad driving habits, or contaminated fuel.

Option 3: Convert to Non – DPF – DPFs were forced upon by lawmakers as a way to limit soot. Obviously the engine doesn’t like this DPF system. This third option is a more permanent solution that will come with profound benefits to your vehicle. The exhaust will be changed to free-flow. What follows next is a conversion on the Computer system which operates the Toyota Landcruiser DPF system through a Software algorithm. Similar cars manufactured from South Africa(SA) do not have DPF on the exhaust and inside the engine computer. This is why SA assembled vehicles are often believed to be more powerful.

The conversion to Non-DPF will make your vehicle’s system to be the same as those South African assembled vehicles that come without a DPF system. That DPF message will disappear, power will increase and fuel consumption will improve. This option isn’t available for those in Europe, Japan, Australia, or America. It is illegal in such countries to circumvent laws that forced manufacturers to put these emission systems in such countries. This is the solution that we provide here at The DPF Team.

Other Solutions you may hear of

Emulators – At our workshop, we have seen Toyota Landcruisers with DPF emulators. These are very dangerous devices grafted onto your electrical system so as to mimic and falsify signals to the ECU to make it believe everything is fine (when it isn’t). The danger lies in that most of these emulators are untested and not certified professionally. Here in Zimbabwe we have seen damaged ECUs and engines due to inconsistent signals fired by emulators. The result is usually a malfunctioning ECU that ends up destroying the engine or hindering its optimum performance. Based on what we have seen our professional advice is stay away from emulators

DPF Fluid Additive– There are companies that sell additive that you mix with your diesel. The job of these fluids is to cause your exhaust to get hotter than normal so as to cook the soot that blocks the DPF. Sadly, these additives come with very negative consequences for the sensitive 1KD injectors and usually melt away the DPF itself instead of clearing its soot. When a DPF is melted the exhaust will be blocked badly. This will lead to back pressure which ends up destroying the turbo and/or EGR valves as well. Based on what we have seen our professional advice is stay away from these fluids as well.

We are able to assist you with your Toyota Landcruiser DPF problem in most parts of Africa. Visit our contact page for information on how to reach out to us.