Cleaning a DPF with heat?

[BrokenBiker]

@mtt.tr - you hit the "nail on the head"...

I take my hat off to you...

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The X type in question is most likely "high mileage - no C3 oil changes" - dead EGR valve - leaking turbo - tired injectors.

The DPF has been working like a "blackpool donkey" and is tired - end of life - dying...

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And we looking/debating for is "a miracle to go"....

Wouldn't consider 150k on a 17 year old car to be high mileage...the egr is only 8 months old, Genuine replacement part, injectors were refurbished at the same time and the turbo shows no signs of any excessive wear...and the actuator works as it should as well as the variable geometry side of it...all I'm trying to do is drag a few more months out of it, im not expecting it to feel like it's had a full rebuild

 

[premmington]

Wouldn't consider 150k on a 17 year old car to be high mileage...the egr is only 8 months old, Genuine replacement part, injectors were refurbished at the same time and the turbo shows no signs of any excessive wear...and the actuator works as it should as well as the variable geometry side of it...all I'm trying to do is drag a few more months out of it, im not expecting it to feel like it's had a full rebuild

Your quote "Wouldn't consider 150k on a 17 year old car to be high mileage..."

Pre DPF's being fitted - I would agree with you...

But 150k is about the service life for a DPF on a good X type sadly...

Someone previously has suggested gutting the dpf and mapping it out - while I don't agree with this process - it maybe your only cost effective route.

 

[Turbo]

It was a regular task on my Bil's Pug 307sw to remove the dpf and give it a steam wash with my hot washer and plenty of tfr.

To wash it properly you need access to both ends end of the dpf to give it a blast through with the jetwash.

You could cut the pipe at the dpf, wash it and then weld it back on or if you are going to keep it add in 2 joints for future cleanings.

 

[knighty]

Last quote i had for dpf remap was £280+vat for the dpf and a further 200 for the egr

try phoning round for prices

local garages to me all use the same guy, it's pretty much always £130 for a plug in job, bit more if he needs to remove the ecu (but not loads more)

 

[dobbslc]

Really? I thought it was more likely to be driving style than anything else, too many short trips that don't allow the engine to get up to temperature or re-gen.

My Zafira diesel had lots of trouble with bad EGR valves even though it was getting a good blast up the A1M three times a week.
There's a small pipe that commonly snaps that will cause a non regen of the DPF and the valve itself just gets full of sheit
I put at least three new valves on it but at least saved the DPF from dying.
Crap car.
Mitsubishi Outlander split an intercooler hose that caused a non regen but luckily that was still under the 5 year warranty and they sorted it out free, big job as well having to drop the front subframe etc.
Pretty good car.
Vauxhall Combo van has just got the full range of disco lights come on at 47k and that definitely gets the required thrashing every day.
Crap van.
Modern diesels are a massive liability to anyone who owns them after the warranty runs out.

 

[Keithmac]

I watch O'Rileys Autos on YouTube.

I'd suggest watching a few of his videos.

As said if it is full of Ash then removal and pressure back flushing may save it, or if just soot then a DPF treatment injected into the DPF may work (not in fuel tank).

If you some how manage to reset a DPF full of soot and force a ReGen you will more than likely destroy it.

We had a Vapouriser fault on the Kuga, luckily wife caught it early enough. A new Vapouriser fitted then a 20 mile drive and the car recovered it's own DPF (this will not happen if differential pressure is too high though).

Just be careful forcing a regen, you can do more harm than good..

 

[BrokenBiker]

Update, the DPF is off, cant honestly tell by eye whether it's clogged or not, but I started it with the dpf off to blow any crud of from the down pipe and I now have no codes, no lights and no warnings...so im considering taking it round the block, if it doesnt flag a code im chopping the flanges off, making a link pipe and calling it a day...if it does flag codes again im taking the Mrs car to get some cleaner and will soak it for a while then stick it back on

 

[m_c]

It'll usually take a bit more driving than that to trigger a dpf fault if it's not there.

You can't really tell the condition from just looking at it, unless there's something physically failed with the core.
If you're not planning on keeping the car for long, then just give it a flush with some cleaner.

 

[BrokenBiker]

Been to the local retail park and back...screams like a dying owl but drives fine...still saying dpf is full...differential pressure obviously now reads 0 as its not connected to anything but soot load is saying 200%...not sure where it's picking that up from...egt 2 has been disconnected as thats still in the side of the dpf as its seized...going to flush this now, stick it on and see how it goes on the way to work monday...

 

[m_c]

Soot loading is calculated over the long term from various values, so won't suddenly change.

 

[BrokenBiker]

Well...soaked in cleaner, rinsed through a few times both ways, plugged the outlet and stuffed an airline into it to blow through backwards, let 10bar loose and got 2x 25ltr bucket full of horrible black foam out of it...just cooking it dry now then will refit and see what the correlation between maf and differential pressure says, see if it shows any improvement

 

[premmington]

Well...soaked in cleaner, rinsed through a few times both ways, plugged the outlet and stuffed an airline into it to blow through backwards, let 10bar loose and got 2x 25ltr bucket full of horrible black foam out of it...just cooking it dry now then will refit and see what the correlation between maf and differential pressure says, see if it shows any improvement

DPF Soot is black = unburnt carbon

DPF Ash is lighter in colour - grey/white/rusty/brick red = byproduct of good combustion

 

[octo0072000]

can you see both ends, if so I used a long masonry drill to drill a hole through mine never had another problem that was on a C8 Citroën just go gently as you are drilling as not to break up the DPF

 

[premmington]

can you see both ends, if so I used a long masonry drill to drill a hole through mine never had another problem that was on a C8 Citroën just go gently as you are drilling as not to break up the DPF

I have seen this done before on several vehicles we have stripping in our workshop.

I have seen them with one 16mm hole ish thru middle of mulitple smaller 8/10mm ish holes in a pattern.

 

[BrokenBiker]

Update...great success

Got it back on and went for a run to Chepstow, about a 30 mile continous round trip...smoked a bit for about 5 miles, dpf light went out after about 15, regen kicked in shortly after and finished by 25 miles...no lights, no warnings, no codes, no reduced power...for a total cost of 22 quid