Only mazda diesel here have strong preference to euro 5 and the SC will mention it to you. Other brands all made some adjustment to accept euro 2 without too much issue.

Since you are using sorento, it would do fine with euro 2. I ran santa fe same engine for euro 2 for initial 60k km, only after that then switched to euro 5.

But euro 5 will do well on all non commercial vehicles here nonetheless.

This post has been edited by wkc5657: Jul 24 2017, 01:50 PM

Catalytic converter kong is not really much of an issue, won't even show check engine light or whatever error message on car screen. The main concern is the diesel particulate filter and also most of our driving is low speed city crawl, euro 2 produces lots of this particulate. Unless we have mandatory exhaust test like developed countries, most don't even know the catalytic converter is already dead.

DPF clear the crap in it by "burning" it off inside the build in chamber, and the system uses diesel. This is called regeneration. The process utilises the exhaust heat to light off the diesel. If we don't have extended fast driving rpm above 1500 and lot's of traffic crawl, the exhaust temperature in the DPF chamber isn't high enough to burn off the crap in it. Some cars with more advanced ECU won't let you shut down the car and let the engine run till this regeneration process is completed.

But most don't have such advanced system control. If off engine while regeneration, the DPF will be soaked in "unburned" diesel and will back flow to your engine oil sump. And after sometime, the DPF don't need to be fully clogged, but there's a point of no return where unless someone did a very very long drive, the DPF just cannot fully regenerate. Anyway, after sometime also, the DPF will deteriorate anyway unless the car is purely long distance drive.

That's why, diesel cars with DPF usually have 2 indicator on their engine oil dip stick. One for regular oil change, the other upper limit is the max sump capacity inclusive of the "diesel backflow". After reaching the upper limit, like it or not, must change engine oil. Fuel dilution inside oil sump is very bad for lubrication and protection properties in the engine oil. A DPF set isn't cheap to replace...

So, to avoid all the hassle, almost all diesel engined vehicles in malaysia have no DPF installed.

Don't worry, got great news in the future, all direct injected petrol engines will need to install particulate filters and all motorists will suffer together, whether diesel or petrol

The mazda skyactiv diesels and some of the grey imports that didn't undergo the "DPF" delete conversion.

Even in europe with euro 6 fuel (and even higher grade "super diesel"), diesel vehicles still have problems with failing DPFs because most drivers aren't educated on how to properly maintain a DPF. Meaning, need a weekly trip with minimum at least 30 minute highway fast driving, and minimal cold starts/short distance driving/frequent start stop traffic conditions.

As from what I read about how some people maintain their DPF (other than what stated), they underwent a process by a company called Ceramax to "wash" the DPF. Costs around 200 pounds for that, big sum for us, but we can at least expect a minimum of (maybe) RM500 if introduced here. The alternative is to replace the DPF set which easily starts from triple the amount of Ceramax.

But most diesel car owners in the europe are fleet/company cars. Their lease terms are around 3-4 years. So usually near the end of the lease, the DPF almost time liao....just nice to renew lease with facelift/new model. Other than those who thinks of keeping long term, no one cares to properly maintain their cars. For most of us here in malaysia who keeps the car longer, with our traffic condition, the DPF also last at tops 5 years (if you're damn lucky). Most likely 3 years on average from those UK drivers with better engine oil, better fuel quality, and better traffic (on average) than us. Mazda Malaysia is actually hiding a ticking time bomb, but the saving grace is that, due to the lower than average compression ratio of the skyactiv diesel (compared to other diesel peers), the soot produced is lesser.

Seems good for you so far. There maybe (can't confirm on this, just my speculation) the possibility that bermaz somehow manage to disable the regen totally, but leave the DPF there as it is an extra job/additional parts for them to refit the exhaust without the DPF. In any case, just check your dipstick bi-weekly to monitor any oil sump buildup.

I understand that anyone has a choice for their cars. Just that there is a need for the car makes (in this case, Bermaz) to educate on some unique peculiarities on diesel cars with DPF. Can pretty much presume that DPF is something totally new to us. Well in your case, hope the warranty also covers this.

Yeah, it's great car you have. Nice choice, enjoy the drive

Idle revving does have the same effect as driving the car high speed. But few seconds really enough? What i read and understand was that it takes time to really burn off the crap in the DPF. And hence an extended drive at least once a week is a good practice.

I'm not sure how much is the bluechem solution cost, but i personally used this before on every 5000km, the cost is reasonable :

http://www.fasmoto.com/bardahl-crdi-cleaner?search=bardahl

Ah i see.....

Diesel engines work best at long distance cruises, and where the fuel economy is better than petrol. In stop/start heavy traffic, there is no significant fuel economy advantages against petrol. And further, there are no small diesel cars in malaysia market, further disadvantaging the fuel economy factor.

If it is the car you like, no harm getting it despite being diesel engined. But if you choose it mainly because of the fuel economy factor, you'll be kind of disappointed with your driving condition.

This post has been edited by wkc5657: Jul 25 2017, 09:38 AM

For that range of cars, (bar the grand carnival) the Sorento is the largest of 3 rows SUVs in that price range.

My family owned the sorento equivalent santa fe diesel (albeit previous generation, which actually has slightly larger interior space than the current one), the NVH is half a notch better than counterparts. Car feels rather planted even i reached 170km/h. The new Sorento should have a step up on NVH further.

You can have a perspective from a car blogger here regarding the sorento diesel :
http://kensomuse.com/blog/2017/02/06/new-k...ence-inspiring/

Just that if you get the low spec diesel, the last row has now air conditioning vents like the high spec version.

My family owned santa fe diesel used euro2 diesel for the 1st 60k+ km (4+ years), no problem pun. Being diesel, the engine oil go black very fast (saturated with more soot).

So either change engine oil more frequently, or use good quality diesel engine specific engine oil.

This post has been edited by wkc5657: Jul 26 2017, 02:12 PM

Under warranty, so change every 5000km. The last change was around 7500km, using 15w-40 ZIC semi synthetic HDEO. After that, used Kendall Super-D 10w-30 semi synthetic for 8000km before selling the car off.

In short, other than mazda skyactive diesel range and some continental diesels, 99% of the rest would work fine with euro2 diesels.

Euro2 exhaust stinks more and can see more smoke.

While euro5 exhaust is less smelly and the exhaust smoke is much reduced.

On the long term, maybe. Sulfur acts as lubricant for those older engineering.

Diesel is heavier than petrol, so it sits below petrol in the fuel tank where the fuel pump pickup usually sits. For those who actually did misfueld petrol into a diesel engine (small amounts, less than 25%), please continue to keep the tank above half and constantly top it up with diesel until the petrol portion fully vapourise (could take a few months). Diesel and petrol will not mix unless you add additives (usually those fuel system cleaners) that will mix them up.

Petrol and diesel lubricity is different, will damage the components if too much.

Depends on how old is "old", but generally within 15 years old, euro 5 should work fine.