We are specialists in cleaning and removal of Diesel Particulate Filters, known as DPF or FAP (filtre à particules).
What is a Diesel Particulate Filter?
A diesel particulate filter (dpf) is a device fitted to the exhaust system to diesel powered vehicles. They were fitted to most vehicles from approximately year 2005 onward.
A DPF is designed to "catch" and "store" soot particles from the engine. After a period of time the DPF will clog up and live readings from the pressure sensors will trigger the DPF regeneration process which is controlled by the engines ECU. During a regeneration the exhaust gas temperature will increase to very high levels in order to burn off the collected particles held in the DPF.
The DPF in most vehicles are prone to causing problems.
The DPF regeneration process will generally only be successful if the vehicle is driven at a steady pace eg. motorway travelling. DPF's are not suitable for town, city driving or short journeys. They will clog up and create high unacceptable levels of back pressure which adds stress to the engine and in some cases failure to the turbo charger.
What should I do if my DPF is clogged ?
There are a few options available when your DPF becomes clogged. Initially, we will diagnose the fault codes stored in the engines ECU and analyse DPF live data parameters to determine if we can offer a forced regeneration using our state of the art dealer level OBD equipment. A forced regeneration will burn off the particles trapped in the DPF. After the process is complete the engine malfunction lamp will no longer be on and full power will be restored in the vehicle.
DPF cleaning - A forced regeneration is not always an option, particularly if the vehicle has been driving for a period of time with the engine malfunction lamp illuminated or if there is other non DPF related error codes stored in the engines ECU.
In these cases we can offer cleaning or removal of the DPF.
For cleaning we inject a special cleaning agent liquid to the DPF and after 24 hours we will manually clean out the particles from the filter.
Our other more popular option is to completely remove the DPF from the exhaust and its functions from the engine management systems. Commonly referred to as DPF delete this will mean you will never have any DPF related issues and expensive repair bills on your vehicle for the remainder of it's life.
We will remove the DPF's internal ceramic leaving a free flowing exhaust. The DPF functions will then be switched off in the software from the engines ECU and DPF related errors disabled. Please note that some competitors are switching off ALL of the vehicles error P- codes during DPF removals.
We can offer a guaranteed successful DPF removal on all vehicles. As part of this service we will switch off the EGR valve and install a custom performance or economy remap free.
Will my car pass the NCT if the DPF is removed?
Yes it will pass all current NCT, DOE and MOT testing. Contrary to popular belief your vehicle is not required to have a DPF fitted to pass the current NCT test. In the UK a visual inspection may be carried out to determine if a DPF is in place. Because we only remove the internal structure from the DPF leaving the canister and sensors in place and that our software recalibration is undectable to testers then all vehicles that have had our DPF removal carried out will always pass this test without issues.
