SERVICES - Diesel DPF Cleaning

Diesel Particulate Filter Cleaning

Your truck's diesel engine requires regularly scheduled maintenance. Not having that work done will shorten its lifespan significantly! One important part of that process is cleaning the Particulate filter. The DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) serves to capture and oxidize soot (unburned fuel and lube oil) and convert it to ash. The "ash" gets pushed to the back end of the filter and where it is stored. Over time the ash builds up needs to be removed. Replacing DPFs can cost more than $7,000, so regular maintenance can save you big money. By being proactive with your service schedule will reduce both downtime and service costs while ensuring proper system operation.

Ideally, DPF filters perform their regeneration cycles on the truck, essentially cleaning themselves. But that's not reality! Excessive idling, cold and severe duty cycles, even a broken exhaust pipe can prevent regeneration so you can't count on regeneration alone to deliver consistent results. That's why regular cleaning of DPFs is important.

There are two primary ways to clean a diesel particulate filter. One is the thermal cleaning process which is also often referred to as "bake and blow". That involves baking the DPF filter in an oven to oxidize the soot and uses air to force the ash out of the filter.

The other process is Aqueous cleaning. This method uses a surfactant to surround the ash particles to make it easy for water to flush ash out of the substrate of the DPF. The DPF is then dried in a special drying cabinet and can be ready to be reinstalled in around 2 hours with the proper equipment.

If you do mostly highway driving and are carrying full loads you can go longer between cleanings than someone who does a lot of starting and stopping or works off road. Regeneration of the DPF filter is works better when the truck is operating at higher temperatures. The higher temperatures are achieved when driving at highway speeds and pulling full loads. Trucks that do more stop-and-start never get up to the temperatures needed for a proper regeneration of the DPF.

Delaying this regular cleaning of the diesel particulate filter will increase the chance that a diesel particulate filter will need to be replaced and that can be VERY expensive. Call us today to schedule a cleaning for your truck.