DPF Cleaning

[Lightflyer1]

That product is for accumulated soot not ash. More than likely a forced regen without it would have done the same thing.

 

[frugality]

That is good news, and consistent with the many reports on the DPF data collection thread, two over 200kmiles/200 ml and tadurkee's report of 300 ml before she lost her car in an accident.

Replying to an old post, since I'm going through this thread for the first time.

To clarify the story, tadurkee wasn't on the forum until problems with her car arose, and she came here, and realized she'd never had the DPF checked. When she had it checked, ash was over 300ml. She had seen her mileage drop and had experienced more frequent regens. She had the DPF replaced at a dealer for $2400 (included some EGR bits, too, as I recall), and her mileage went up and the regens were less frequent.

Then maybe 6 or 12 months later the car was totalled.

 

[meerschm]

I double-checked my memory of tadurkee's experience, (using the search function) and while she at first thought the mpg went up with the new DPF, after a little more driving she posted:

Since replacing the DPF/cat at 283,000 miles, I've unfortunately not seen better MPG's, but HAVE noticed less oil consumption.
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http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.php?p=4560281&postcount=79

 

[meerschm]

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.php?p=4965490&postcount=23

story here is use of one of the spray DPF "cleaner" fluids to move the soot around and treat so that passive regeneration drive will lower the pressure and reduce measured soot levels.

calculated soot still needed to be reset.

this process likely did not remove any ash (could be wrong) but did allow recovery from a soot condition over 45 grams without removing the DPF from the car.

 

[Matt-98AHU]

I had a customer's car where the DPF was clogged due to a massive boost leak. No cracks, no EGR flow codes, not a hint of soot in the exhaust.

The soot accumulation was so bad that the ECM refused to allow me to force a regen using the scantool (45g measured).

I found a place in Los Angeles that baked and cleaned the filter for $255. They cut the downpipe off just below the DPF and used that for access to blow it out. Then welded the pipe back on when done. Worked quite well.

I put it back on the car, cleared the DPF values in adaptations as you would with a new DPF, then drove it for a while. The car eventually automatically engaged a regen cycle and when all was complete, the numbers looked great.

But yeah, most DPFs seem to require replacement as the more normal failure mode is to crack and allow soot to bypass the filter.

 

[shawna74]

Has anyone tried or known anyone who used Wurth DPF cleaner.

 

[kweisel]

Shawna, this is funny. Im considering using that cleaner on my '10 Jetta. So i search the forum and your post from last year is the only result(for Würth). Sigh. Dealer seems to believe my DPF is filled with soot; have not had a regen is over a year and a half. Car drives fine. Lit up like a christmas tree(DPF, glow plug blinks, check eng on) gets great mpg as with its normal operation(when regens were happening). Local dealer wants to replace my DPF, before going ahead with the EPA fix.

 

[kweisel]

That product is for accumulated soot not ash. More than likely a forced regen without it would have done the same thing.

My soot count per dealer tech was high (45?) Pretty sure my turbo is leaking oil, increasing dirty combustion and 'clogging' the dpf. But tail pipe is quite clean. My mpg has not suffered. I dont get it. See pictures. I cleaned out throttle plate. Egr valves. And some of intake. But i suspect it will continue until i remedy the source. I did also use the Würth cleaner. Through the upper level O2 bung, stain on driveway was all that was the result, no smoke on start up or under hard acceleration. See link for photos. (http://s176.photobucket.com/user/kweisel/library/Vehicles/VW tdi)

 

[Tankbuster]

This is really great reading and lots of good info. After reading this post I'm thinking I will get my 2011 TDI fixed now. I'm pushing close to 150k and was worried about a future replacement of my DPF but sounds like they last much longer than I thought.

 

[yadic]

Never seen a TDI DPF that was clogged and needed "cleaning".

Seen plenty of 'em cracked and leaking internally, though. No cleaning is going to fix that.

So at this point, I'd say this discussion is useless.

FWIW, I have four CR TDI customers with over 200k miles. None of those have clogged up a DPF. We are doing one on a Sprinter this week (replacing, not cleaning), and it went 440k miles. The fleet management company that controls the pursestrings for this particular vehicle doesn't allow cleaning on lighter duty stuff, because it is labor intensive and doesn't last.

On the TDIs, given the work involved to R&R the DPF Fixer, and the relative low cost of them on the 4 cylinder cars (with the exception of the as-built 2009 models), and their tendency to NOT clog, and instead CRACK, I'd say cleaning them is probably not the wisest choice.

Now on big trucks, and farm equipment, etc. where the DPF is typically out in the open and easily removed, AND a replacement that costs THOUSANDS of dollars? Yeah, clean them all you want. That makes sense. But on little Volkswagen? Nah.

I have now had my DPF filter cleaned twice and while so far the second clean appears to be working I am not confident of its complete success. I am trying to discover if LR have modified the DPF from its initial fittment in the Velar and if so does anyone have any information on the changes? What have other members had to pay for a replacement DPF. I see from surfing the Internet there are a number of companies offering to replace DPF units and it seems their prices vary enormously from the "genuine LR dealer prices"

Does anyone have any experiences of fitting LR Dealer DPF and the prices charged?
Does anyone have any experiences of fitting 3rd party DPF and the prices charged?

 

[YakdOff]

Yes. And a forced regen brings them back into normal operation. I've never once had a TDI DPF clogged to the point it needed to be replaced, even on all the cars that have had catastrophic turbo failure (and there have been quite a few of those).

Now cracked DPFs causing sooty tailpipes and clogged EGR filters? Yes, that is quite common.

My DPF has ~60g of soot and my local shop said they can't force regen that. Are they wrong?

 

[YakdOff]

Last night i got a chance to work on my car, and i happy to say it's fixed. After reading the forum i followed the instructions and reset soot level to 0 and and regen started. When temperature reached 666 C' i knew i'm burning hell out of the DPF. After driving the car for 50 -60 ml DPF light is gone. Thanks to every one on this great forum.

Did you reset the calculated or measured soot level to 0 and what scan tool did you use?