I have been wondering how difficult it could be to regen/unclog an old DPF. Does anyone living in the Midlands/Warwickshire have one they would like to donate? I would obviously be willing to collect, and post my findings back here.

I was thinking something along the lines of using an inflator pump and manometer to see how blocked it was (base line of differential pressure drop), then use an electric hot air gun to burn of the soot, followed by taking another dirrefential pressure reading.

Anyone?

You are overthinking it mate :) Just take it off the car, put some stove cleaning solution in it, or a very strong detergent, let it soak for a while, couple of hours, then use a pressure hose to wash it all out on both ends ;). A hot air gun is not good because you need about 600 degrees Celsius (1112 F i think) to burn the soot off (the ceramic that is used to build it takes up to 1200 Celsius), for about 10-15 minutes. In our cars, when you fuel up, Eolys fluid is pumped into the diesel tank to lower the temrepature needed from 600 to 450 Celsius. SO, a hot air gun won't do the trick :)

Mozo, the only concern is environment, I believe that the use of a pressure washer will throw contaminents into the environment, and unfortunately you could end up in a bit of trouble! I dont know what temperature a hot air gun might get to, but even if you spray some EOLYS onto the CAT then set a hot air gun on it... would this not help?

I thought you only needed about 4-500C on a regen cycle, and I have seen hot air guns claiming 600C. Would probably need to use an insulated box around the DPF to get the temperature up to that though.

My thought process is based on the number of posts about people with what they believe to be buggered DPFs, who want to remove/replace their existing DPF. I don't think I have seen a single post suggesting removing and manually cleaning it.

The idea of strong ove cleaner sounds good in principle (ignoring the environmental issues, which I know I shouldn't!), assuming the DPF part is ceramic, but what about the catalyst end of the DPF?

Hence my reasons for wanting an old one to play with.

The dpf we are using is made by magneti marelli (most dpf/fap are made by them), it is ceramic based (100%), as most DPFs are (some are called "sport" are are a bit different), the strong oven cleaner/detergent method is proven in practic, not theory ;) . I had one, so i know a few things :D, others that i know have done this.

The eco part : give me a break ... let me tell you why, again : DPFs stop 99% of particules bigger then 1000 microns, that represent 3% of total exhaust fumes. When you run the regen, you burn more fuel, EGR is closed (so no recirculation happens, you eat more fresh air), and the soot is burned ... and thus results smoke (white in this case because the soot is transformed in ashes) so enviromentally speaking it is the same thing, they say it isn't but ... it kind of is ;)

Yes, with Eolys mixed in diesel you would only need 450 Celsius, BUT there is certain amount of pressure needed also for that.

Your theory is great, in theory :) and i hope you will find a method to put in in practice, but what i can tell you is only the stuff that i know and the stuff that works.

I'm glad it works, and thats good enough for me. Maybe this method needs a bit more publicity, to try and save people a few quid. Especially in the current economic climate.

saing money is the bottom line ;). If i was to buy the car new right now, with the new Infineum fluid instead of Eolys, knowing that DPF will hold for 240k km ? I wouldn't bother with these methods. But i buy most of my cars second hand, because if you buy a new car, you have to use their services, that cost more, when you put the key for the first time you lose 20% of the value, and so on :). My opinion at least. Anyway, i wish the best luck with the project if you want to carry on, but untill then, if you're ever in trouble, try my method, it will work ;)

My car is in the garage now having the DPF changed for the one I bought from the website. I am keeping the old one and will try and clean it.

I say if anyone can try cleaning it - film the results start to end, if it works, then post it, with tutorials! the more people who could be saved from DPF problems the better!