DPF Regen ??

AndyPix

Hi all,
My car (BMW 520d) has started to suffer with a bit of lag in the acceleration.
I have had it at a garage on the computer and apparently the DPF is blocked and requires regeneration.


This is quite expensive so i was wondering if anyone has had any results from the various fuel treatments that can be added to the diesel tank ??


Thanks in advance

neilmcl

TBH, fuel treatments do very little for DPF issues. How many miles do you drive a year and what sort of journeys do you do?

AndyPix

Thanks for the reply ..


I do ~ 15k miles per year .. Mostly motorway.


Im aware the car should do the regen its-self during a decent run but obviously this hasnt been good enough


Looks like ill have to bite the bullet and get it heat treated

daveyjp

It will have regen during the runs, but DPFs can only regen so many times before getting blocked with ash from the combustion process.

AndyPix

^^ Yep


Have you any input on the various fuel additives that claim to help with this ?

motorguy

AndyPix wrote: »

^^ Yep


Have you any input on the various fuel additives that claim to help with this ?

I think to a greater extent they're snake oil. If you DPF has got that clogged up that its impacting performance it would be little short of a miracle if one of these potions cleared it.

I had similar with my Passat. Light coming on relating to DPF, VW dealer forced a regen but ultimately VW put a new emissions unit on it (DPF and catalytic converter i think) which had it not been under warranty would have cost a cool £2,200. :eek:

I did try a potion but it ultimately made no difference.

I think your best best is having it removed and cleaned properly - there are companies out there who will do it.

AndyPix

^^ Thanks for that - I thought as much ..


If found a decent garage near me that can do it "in situ" (still on the car) by heating it up extremely hot and monitoring it carefully during the process ..


They say this will be roughly £135 plus the dreaded (maybe a little more depending on the state of some seals and whatnot in my engine)


This seems good to me as most other quotes have come in around the £400 mark but that involves removing the unit from car ..


Do you see any drawback to doing it this way ?
(apart from risk of setting car on fire obviously)


I like to save a quid where I can

forgotmyname

So they will heat it up and run the engine to flush the DPF and only charge you £135+vat?

So basically the same as jumping on the motorway and keeping it in a lower gear to keep the revs up, 50-60mph but in a lower gear than you normally would.

I do wonder about these snake oils that are supposed to clean items after going through the combustion chamber at over 1000 degrees C and yet still manages to clean soot out of an exhaust.

Plenty of snake oils for sale yes, but look how many have been pulled after consumer groups actually tested them.

The cleaners appear to be mostly paraffin based, add a cup of paraffin to your diesel.

Gloomendoom

forgotmyname wrote: »

The cleaners appear to be mostly paraffin based, add a cup of paraffin to your diesel.

It might work. It will run hotter, although I doubt a cup full would make a lot of difference. Perhaps a tank full?

AndyPix

forgotmyname wrote: »

So they will heat it up and run the engine to flush the DPF and only charge you £135+vat?.

Basically ,yes, I think so .
Or they may apply external heat, blowtorch, blow air through ?? I don't know

forgotmyname wrote: »

So basically the same as jumping on the motorway and keeping it in a lower gear to keep the revs up, 50-60mph but in a lower gear than you normally would..

I guess so, but more like lab conditions
ie it wouldn't be under load, and could be precisely monitored


Id almost certainly blow it up if I tried to do this on the motorway

forgotmyname wrote: »

I do wonder about these snake oils that are supposed to clean items after going through the combustion chamber at over 1000 degrees C and yet still manages to clean soot out of an exhaust..

Yes, it does sound rather unlikely when you say it like that

forgotmyname wrote: »

The cleaners appear to be mostly paraffin based, add a cup of paraffin to your diesel.

Is that a serious suggestion ?

Gloomendoom

Someone on a motoring forum I used to frequent had a problem with a DPF that was so blocked that the engine wouldn't run (he had driven the car with the MIL on for a few weeks). The garage he took it to removed it and cleaned it out with a pressure washer in the yard. Probably breaking all kinds of environmental regulations in the process.