If you own a diesel car, you likely have a diesel particulate filter, however you may not know exactly what it is or how to maintain it. Diesel particulate filters (dpf) have been installed in diesel cars for nearly two decades – but if they are not maintained or if they are tweaked, there can be serious consequences for your car. Here, we explain exactly what they are, what they do, why you need them, and how to clean dpf filter.
What is a diesel particulate filter?
A diesel particulate filter (DPF) is a filter that captures and stores soot from exhaust gasses (some refer to them as soot traps) to reduce diesel car emissions. But since they only have a finite capacity, this trapped soot must periodically be emptied or “burned” to regenerate the DPF.
This regeneration process cleanly burns off excess soot deposited on the filter, reducing harmful exhaust emission and helps prevent the telltale black smoke you used to see from diesel vehicles, particularly when accelerating.
Exhaust emissions legislation to help reduce CO2 emissions from cars effectively made DPFs mandatory, and since then, more diesel vehicles are getting this filter.
Are diesel particulate filters illegal to remove?
Yes, it’s illegal. Removal can also end up harming the operation of your vehicle, which can impair consumption and leave vehicle components exposed to damage.
How do I know if the particulate filter needs cleaning?
If the DPF is clogged with soot or a system failure occurs, an orange light will normally appear on the dashboard. They usually look like a piped box with dots in the middle, although they can vary slightly by manufacturer.
How to clean the diesel particulate filter?
The diesel particulate filter cleaner is designed to give your engine a good clean from the inside out. It is a chemical treatment that helps to reduce the soot emissions generated by your engine, regenerate the diesel particulate filter and clean any existing soot particles.
This will result in reduced fuel consumption overall and help make the DPF last longer, delaying the need to pay for an expensive new filter. It’s a great way to clean your diesel particulate filter without having to remove and disassemble the filter itself and manually clean it manually. It will increase the efficiency of the regeneration process, burning more soot particles that accumulate in the filter and taking less time to do so. This is particularly useful for drivers who use their vehicle primarily for short distances in the city and therefore rarely rely on passive regeneration to clear the DPF in their car.
The cleanser works extremely fast, so you don’t have to sit around and wait to see fantastic results. The vacuum cleaner is extremely simple to use. All you need to do is pour the correct amount directly into the fuel tank before filling up with diesel. It is therefore recommended that you drive for about 15 minutes on a quiet stretch of road with a reasonably high speed limit, trying to keep the revs between 2 and 2.5 rpm. This will give the cleaner enough time to get to the DPF and help burn off any excess soot that has built up there. The cleaner works best if you use it in an empty tank and fill it up completely right after you spill it.
Keep a bottle in your car so you don’t forget to put it in the next time you fill up. The DPF cleaner comes in handy bottles specifically designed to make it easy to pour the cleaner directly into the fuel tank. Some cleaners come in bottles with an anti-drip feature, so you don’t spill the cleaner all over the car while tilting it upside down to fit it into the fuel tank feeder. Diesel particulate filter cleaner will only be completely effective if you add it to diesel in the correct proportion.
The cleaner works by reducing the combustion temperature of soot particles. This means that the exhaust does not need to be so hot to burn off the particles that have built up in the diesel particulate filter. Therefore, passive regeneration is much easier, even on vehicles that do not travel at high speed for long distances. This also means that the combustion of soot particles happens much faster, so a complete regeneration cycle will take much less time. This greatly decreases the chance of getting a blocked filter. Again, this is particularly useful for city drivers, who without the vacuum cleaner might not be able to make regular trips long enough to complete a full regeneration cycle.
Exhaust gasses will flow much faster through a DPF that is emptier and not filled with soot particles. This will reduce fuel consumption and means you can travel further without having to fill up your tank. The DPF Cleaner is not expensive, and is a much cheaper alternative when completely replacing your diesel particulate filter. Most drivers find that if the DPF warning light comes on in the car, after applying a dose of DPF cleaner to the fuel tank, the light will disappear in 10-15 minutes, with no need for mechanical intervention.
What is the maintenance of a diesel particulate filter?
The best way to maintain a DPF is to ensure that it is fully capable of regenerating itself when it is full of soot (when the warning light comes on and you should know about how to clean egr valve).
Passive regeneration and active regeneration are both types of regeneration.
- Passive regeneration
Passive regeneration occurs when the car is at high speeds on long highways, which allows the exhaust temperature to rise to a higher level and burn off excess soot in the filter.
Therefore, it is advised that drivers regularly run their diesel vehicle for 30-50 minutes of racing at a constant speed on a highway or A-road to help clean the filter.
- Active regeneration
The ECU of the vehicle injects extra fuel when it reaches a predetermined level (usually around 45%), which raises the exhaust temperature and burns off the stored soot.
Problems can occur, however, if the journey is too short, as the regeneration process may not be completed completely.
In this case, the warning light will continue to show that the filter is still partially blocked.
You will know if active regeneration is taking place by the following symptoms:
- Changing the Mechanism Note
- Cooling fans working
- A slight increase in fuel consumption
- higher idle speed
- Deactivation of automatic stop / start
- A hot, acidic exhaust smell
