Why you need to look after your diesel during the UK lockdown - Select Car Leasing
4.9 out of 5 35,563 reviews

Mon to Fri: | Sat:

Why you need to look after your diesel during the UK lockdown

IF you drive a diesel car, you need to prepare for THIS Coronavirus complication, according to experts.

And it’s one of the hidden side-effects that could hit UK drivers when the country emerges from the unprecedented nationwide lockdown issued last week.


James O’Malley, of leading UK firm Select Car Leasing, is warning diesel drivers to be aware of something fitted to their cars called a Diesel Particulate Filter, or ‘DPF’.


James explains: “There are real benefits of owning a diesel car. They’re known to rack-up huge mileages and the engines themselves are often blessed with lots of torque, making them great family load-luggers.

“Chances are your diesel has a DPF fitted into the exhaust. These became mandatory on all new diesels in the UK in 2009, and many cars - particularly automatics and 4x4s - were fitted with DPFs long before that.

“The filter does a brilliant job of stopping soot passing into the atmosphere, making your car more eco-friendly

“But the trade-off of enjoying a frugal diesel is that the soot caught in this filter has to be ‘burned off’ in order to regenerate the DPF.

“And the best way to burn off the soot is to make sure you regularly treat your car to a good 30-50 minute blast on the motorway at sustained speeds.

“Short runs are the sworn enemy of the DPF.

“However, due to the Coronavirus outbreak it’s our worry that many diesel owners will end up using their cars for short, sharp journeys to and from the nearest supermarket or pharmacy rather than cars being used for long commutes.


“Doing lots of short 10 to 15 minute drives, and only one long run a week, simply isn’t enough.

“And we could end up with a DPF failure epidemic on our hands.”

The DPF is normally able to regenerate itself when the exhaust reaches a certain temperature - hence the need for a long motorway run to get the system nice and hot.

Often your car’s ECU - the internal computer - will try to aid the process through what’s known as ‘active regeneration’, where extra fuel is injected to raise temperatures further. But that doesn’t always rectify the issue.

And you could end up shelling-out more than £100 at a garage for a process known as ‘forced regeneration’ in order to clear the DPF.

James adds: “There’s a number of ways you’ll know you’ve got a DPF problem. You might see a filter-shaped warning sign on your dash, you might notice stilted performance or strong smell from the exhaust, or your car might even go into limp mode.

“In fact, it might not start at all. And remember that if there’s a warning light on the dash, it’s an automatic MOT fail.”

It pays to maintain your DPF - a new one could set you back up to £3,500, leading to write-offs for older motors.

You should also be wary not to turn your car’s engine off when it’s in the middle of a DPF regeneration - as you’ll stop the process and cause further complications.


You’ll know when a regeneration is taking place as you’ll typically hear a slight change in engine note, the cooling fans might kick in, and you might notice an increase in idle speed and a hot smell coming from the exhaust.

James reveals: “The regeneration itself can take up to 10 minutes. With trips now limited to essential only, drivers face the unavoidable likelihood of their diesels running into problems in the future. Ultimately, not using your diesel at all by this point may be better than giving it a very quick run to the shops. If drivers do continue using their diesel cars for short trips - we might expect to see some very garages by the end of the year"

To find out more about which type of fuel is best for you, check out our handy fuel guide here: https://www.selectcarleasing.co.uk/guides/fuel-types/ 

Useful links

Don't just take our word for it. We're rated at 4.9/5 on independent reviews website Trustpilot from over 35,563 genuine customer reviews
I had a great first experience with leasing from Select car leasing and am so happy with my new car David talked me through the whole process and answered any questions I had..he explained everything in basic terms so I knew and understood everything We waited a few days for the credit checks to come back and I asked David if it usually took this long..he assured me it did so I think it was about 5 working days and he rang with the good news The paperwork side of things then took over and once that was all completed,it was just to wait for a date The whole process was done over the portal so you could keep up to date with any developments but if you had any questions, then David was reachable by phone We had a date for the car delivery and the driver turned up after giving me a ring, earlier in the morning to confirm a time..the car arrived and I checked it over as we had to sign to say say everything was OK with the car. All is great and am so happy with my new car I would highly recommend this company for your lease car
Mrs. Alison Pedrazzini

Thursday, 28/03/2024