We have no problem emulating sensor signals of any type and have been using various methods for many years. Being involved also in electronic automotive equipment design we have access to many types of equipment not normally used in most garages.

My question was posted to see which vehicles out there were simple to fool into regeneration without their DPF's in place. We know that on some vehicles using the correct scantool you don't need to re-set the soot fill counters but simply tell the ECU that a new DPF has been fitted before re-mapping it. The problem however is when you don't have the correct tool or such a function isn't supported by the ECU, or, if it is, it's only available after a regen has been carried out or attempted without success, and not when the brick has just been knocked out.

As for making the ECU see what it needs to see by using emulation, this can prove to be very difficult unless someone else has often spent hours on a particular vehicle and are willing to share the information. There may be for instance up to two DPF pressure readings and up to three exhaust gas temp sensors, all of which are expected by the ECU to generate voltages within certain parameters. These parameters may also require the sensors to generate different voltages over a pre-set time period whilst the DPF back pressure decreases and core temperature increases proportionately to the amount of additional diesel being injected through the engine during the exhaust stroke. Also, i forgot to mention, some regens are only possible when the vehicle is being driven, often above a certain road speed, hopefully this only requires one road speed signal to be emulated and not from all four ABS sensors, otherwise that would require a lot of sensor simulators Mark, all on the go at the same time.

As for trying to regen a DPF with the brick removed, I've never achieved this, due to the core temperature of at least 500 degrees not being reached inside an empty container. I'm not disputing that some garages claim to have successfully regened vehicles with their innards removed, some ECU software versions or scantools may allow this, and this is exactly the reason why i wrote this post. If anyone has successfully managed to perform regens with the DPF or catalyst also removed then this would be welcome information

Finally Ian, thanks for sending us the DPF problem Ford Focus taxi and the useful pre-warning information, i'll let you know the outcome.

Regards Eddie Zyla.

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