Dpf cleaning or buying

[trevorbayliss]

My van has failed again on its emissions.

Done 78.5k miles. Citroen berlingo.

I changed the oil this time before the test but it still failed. They recommend I have it cleaned.

It’s £200 to have someone come out and regen it plus do an avid clean.

Looking online I can buy a dpf for about £200.

Is it a big job to swap them out? I’ve been told it’s about £1k to change them at a garage. So that’s £800 labour.

Anyone know if the cleaning is effective plus if replacing really should cost so much?

 

[trevorbayliss]

Its 2015 so the year before ad blue came in. So it is not rated that highly as as non polluting van.

The data from the exhaust should be 0.7 i think.

I have an average opacity of 1.18.

He did it after the test as well to see if the engine being on would have lowered the value, but it went to 1.26

 

[Belle427]

Cheap aftermarket dpfs are not very good so just take care with what you buy if you do.
The cleaning may work fine done properly.
What sort of mileage are you doing?

 

[Mottie]

New air filter and fuel filter, a bottle of dpf cleaner, take it somewhere quiet and hold it at max revs for 20 minutes.

 

[trevorbayliss]

Cheap aftermarket dpfs are not very good so just take care with what you buy if you do.
The cleaning may work fine done properly.
What sort of mileage are you doing?

Im doing 15k per year, but i dont rev the engine that much.

Got a company coming tomorrow to clean the DPF. they will use some acid and put it into regen. Its £200 and i just want it sorted.

I have just changed the oil and air filter and the oil prior to testing. Looking back on my thread from this time last year i can see the emissions this time round are much lower, but still to high. They were about 3 something last year.

 

[thomp1983]

If the emissions sticker that shows the opacity level was unreadable or missing then the garage has to test it at a level of 3.0 which you would pass.

Your fail figures don't look like a blocked dpf to me, a proper Italian tune up would likely get you there.

 

[Brigadier]

m doing 15k per year, but i dont rev the engine that much

I drive a 2 litre diesel avensis, and do (did) a lot of motorway miles, in sixth gear.
Low revs.
Currently on 108k miles.

Last summer, the dpf warning came on.
So I called the main dealer, where it is serviced, via the hands-free.

Mechanic advised me, as I had best part of 100 miles to go, to just stick it in third, and sit at 70-odd for twenty minutes or so.

Warning went away, and hasn't returned

 

[Stivino]

2 litre diesel avensis

BMW engine?

 

[Brigadier]

I'm guessing not, as it has never played up

 

[Avocet]

80,000 miles isn't a lot for an original fitment DPF. Are you sure there isn't some underlying problem? I think PSA diesel of that era used a chemical called "Eolys", which lives in a tank under the car, and is supposed to last quite a long time - 72,000 miles, rings a bell? It is used in tiny quantities to help with DPF regeneration. Are you sure there isn't a problem with the Eolys dosing system (or simply that it has run out of the stuff)?

If there is such a problem, cleaning the DPF will only get you another 500-1000 miles, depending on how the car is driven, before the DPF will block up again.

The other thing I'd mention, is that some manufacturers recommend doing an oil change after a forced regeneration, as it gives the oil a hard time (dumps loads of diesel into it). I DON'T think this is as much of a problem on a PSA car, as they use Eolys. VAG cars tend to regenerate the DPF by injecting extra fuel into the exhaust, but might be worth changing the oil afterwards anyway, just to be safe?

 

[trevorbayliss]

Ive been down to the test centre this morning and they said dont go for the filter clean as i dont have any lights on the dash board about it.

Ive added the diesel DPF cleaner and will run with that in 3rd gear as mentioned on here for 1/2h.

I dont think my van has the Eolys system, that came in the year after in 2016 i think.

So just going to see how this goes today and hopefully get it retested on sat morning.

My fail was at 1.18 opacity value average and you need 0.7.

Fingers crossed it works.

 

[Mottie]

So just going to see how this goes today and hopefully get it retested on sat morning.

You'd be better off doing the run just before the test. Ask them to test it the minute you arrive - don’t let it sit around cooling down.

 

[trevorbayliss]

Yes will do they said don’t turn the engine off when I go

 

[Burnerman]

Canned DPF cleaner only raises the temperature of the DPF to allow soot burn off - it works to some degree. I don't think your van has this issue.
However, my magic formula is Forte Diesel additive.......it really does work and I'm the worlds No.1 sceptic with stuff like this.
I added some to a troublesome motor and you could see the emissions coming down.
Getting yours red hot prior to the test will sort it.
John

 

[Mottie]

However, my magic formula is Forte Diesel additive.......it really does work and I'm the worlds No.1 sceptic with stuff like this.

We used to use Forte products in a garage I once ran. Oil flush and fuel additive. They demonstrated on a car we had in - warmed engine up, used oil flush, changed oil and added fuel additive. Oil flush de-gummed the piston rings and we saw an increase in compression and the emissions were better too.