Morning all

I bought a MY2016 4.4 SDV8 Long wheelbase SV Autobiography approx. 4 months ago and all has been going well considering! No Restricted performance faults and nothing logged on my IID tool.

I do a lot of motorway miles interspersed with a small amount of local A/B road driving, however as I have done 13K in the last 4 months I wouldn't say I am a low miler and hence should suffer from DPF issues (I've never had even an orange DPF warning).

I was talking to a local indie yesterday and mentioned that my oil servicing intervals are occurring around the 10-11K mark (AdBlue consumption is normal).

He reckons this is not right and said if there is any soot whatsoever in the tailpipes then something is wrong. I dutifully shoved my finger in my pipe and sure enough they are both sooty.

I also have a L494 SDV6 with DPF and the tailpipes are clean as a whistle, maybe adding some credence to what the indie was saying? So, seeing as I have no RP faults, no intake air leaks and the car runs fine am I now worrying about nothing? If this is the case, then I'm happy to just keep doing oil changes as required, whoever if it is a problem, I'd like to get to the bottom of it!

I've logged regens on my IID tool and these can occur anything from under 100 miles to over 400 miles, depending on my usage pattern, unfortunately I cannot log failed regens as it does not seem to be supported for MY 2016.

So, if any of you fancy popping a finger in your pipes and letting me know what yours are like, I would be more than grateful!

Many thanks

Mike L405 SV Autobiography LWB SDV8, finished in Aston Martin China Grey by ETO division.

Soot can only accumulate in the exhaust, if the DPF is not functioning correctly. We see a lot of this with the early 2.0 Evoque/Disco Sport

We had one in with and EML (also a 2016MY), and it logged faults for the L.P EGR restricted, NOx emissions and sooty tailpipes

Not a cheap repair, so customer has decided to live with the fault for the time being

Hi Mikey

Many thanks for the reply, I would have thought that if the DPF is not functioning as it should then I would get some sort of DTC, whereas in my case all seems ok? As the vehicle was second hand I obviously don't know the full history (even though it had main dealer servicing until recently).

Guess I better go and check the DPF hasn't been modified in any way - I'm assuming if I check the pressure differential across the DPF, that will give me an indication?

Cheers L405 SV Autobiography LWB SDV8, finished in Aston Martin China Grey by ETO division.

Maybe it's an historic problem that is now sorted?

Never even thought of that! Looking back through the service history it failed it's first MOT at the MD for emissions and then passed the following day, so could well be related as I guess soot in the tailpipes is never going to burn off.

Anyway, I've cleaned them out till they're all nice and shiny and will monitor over the next few DPF regens and go from there! L405 SV Autobiography LWB SDV8, finished in Aston Martin China Grey by ETO division.