Cleaning a dpf

[Turbo]

My brother-in-law had a pug 307 HDI with a blocked DPF and he was quoted a crazy price for a recon one from the dealers. I got advice from a guy on a car forum to wash it out with a steam washer and plenty of detergent! He worked in a pug dealers and that's all they do to 'recondition' a DPF!

Luckily the DPF is a separate unit and once off I could get a jet straight at the ceramic honeycomb. Loads of reddish-brown fine dust came out of it but it worked and cleared the lights on the dash. We did it every year before MOT and never had any more problems with it.

 

[F.J.]

Would that help? Many have the air pump on the belt so you'd actually start pumping low-lying DCM gas sooner into the mask than if you breathed it direct.

I have an air fed mask for spray painting that is fed from the compressor but i know what you mean. My air fed welding mask is as you explained

 

[F.J.]

@F.J. - Does your sprinter have an Adblue tank?

No, why? I know trucks use it but had no idea vans could but what would that do to the dpf?

 

[ukracer]

http://www.ecuflash.co/adblue-remov...-JnYkGHYwmaezmmjITTe1e5xW_Emgv7-fEaAu1i8P8HAQ

 

[Pid]

The problem with washing it out it can damage the DOC which will cause problems later from unburnt diesel getting into the dpf. They can be baked but it's as much hassle having to remove the DOC as it is to to move the dpf completely. Anything is worth a go though before spending out on a new one.

 

[dunk]

fj, forgot to say you will know when your sprinter is regening on passive the exhaust note changes to a lower base noise (like exhaust has a blow in silencer) and there is a slight hesitation on the throttle

 

[sparkysy]

If you do take it off completely then be careful who does the re map! My brother took his dpf off his 07 plate sprinter and had it re jigged and it never ran properly after that, even when he fitted a new merc dpf and had it re mapped it still wouldn't play ball. He ended up going round in circles with it, eventually he had to have a new ecu fitted to get it to run properly at 1200 quid was a steep learning curve. And that was a supposed reputable campany that re mapped it for him!
Sy

 

[F.J.]

The problem with washing it out it can damage the DOC which will cause problems later from unburnt diesel getting into the dpf. They can be baked but it's as much hassle having to remove the DOC as it is to to move the dpf completely. Anything is worth a go though before spending out on a new one.

Whats the doc? Thanks

 

[dunk]

If you do take it off completely then be careful who does the re map! My brother took his dpf off his 07 plate sprinter and had it re jigged and it never ran properly after that, even when he fitted a new merc dpf and had it re mapped it still wouldn't play ball. He ended up going round in circles with it, eventually he had to have a new ecu fitted to get it to run properly at 1200 quid was a steep learning curve. And that was a supposed reputable campany that re mapped it for him!
Sy

thats the trade off if you mess with dpf`s and remapping, not a problem in most cases if you keep the van, problem comes when selling or sold it and needs reverting back.
trouble with dpf`s they dont like stop start journeys, if you can get on motorway often enough and have a good weight in the back and a good run they will in most cases clean themselfs, mine and others lads who had these overpriced motors never had probs with dpf`s it was the lads running around stop staring all day and low mileage, newer models from most makes are using adblue ( urea ) now, mercs is bluetec which is added to reduce nox, so again another exspense to keep topping the pee tank up.

doc is.. diesel oxydation catalyst

 

[F.J.]

Just for an update, ive just ordered 5 litres of Dicholoromethane and will hopefully be taking the dpf off on Saturday

 

[sg66]

I know a few garages that have used different commercially available chemicals and the product of choice currently is cheap coke from asda.

 

[cumbriasteve]

The local guy who sold 2nd hand cookers used to put oven grills in coke overnight, came up like new and some of them were caked thick and had been burnt on for months or even years.

The cheap stuff works but the good brand is even better.

 

[F.J.]

Unfortunately I got called down to Birmingham on Saturday so didn't get round to doing it, will hopefully get round to it next week now as I have just bought another van so this one can come off the road while I sort out all its niggles.

Its crazy what coke can do yet people still drink it!!