2013 Volkswagen Jetta TDI - DPF Light and Glow Plug Flashing

Question

My Jetta TDI has been great until last week when the DPF light came on. Shortly after, the glow plug light started flashing and the car lost all power. I noticed some black soot inside my tailpipe, which usually is spotless on these cars.

I'm getting P2002 for DPF efficiency below threshold. I tried driving it at 60 MPH for 30 minutes to trigger a regen, but it won't start one. My soot load is reading 45g on VCDS. Am I looking at a new DPF?

ShopForemanShane · Accepted Answer

✅ Confirmed fix: The DPF was indeed cracked, but the root cause was a faulty Exhaust Pressure Sensor (G450) that was giving false readings, causing the car to skip regens until the pressure blew out the ceramic core. I had to replace the DPF, the EGR filter, and the G450 sensor. If you see black soot in a DPF-equipped TDI tailpipe, the filter is 100% compromised and must be replaced.

MisfireMatt · Answer

The soot in the tailpipe is a dead giveaway that the DPF substrate is cracked. A healthy DPF should catch 99% of soot; if the pipe is black, the filter is physically broken. You likely have a P0401 (EGR flow insufficient) because the EGR filter is now clogged with the soot that bypassed the cracked DPF. You need to replace both the DPF and the EGR filter.

2013 Volkswagen Jetta TDI - DPF Light and Glow Plug Flashing

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