07 6.7L @ 200K miles

[jelag]

My cousin has an 07 with the 6. 7L engine and close to 200K on the clock.



He's now getting the overhead logic to service the DPF.



As I remember from the 08 that I owned there was a way to force the ECM into a cleaning process... . to invoke the process to self clean the DPF.



Geez its been almost 2 years since I closed the shop and sold the 08 and my mind just doesn't work like it should...



Can you invoke the cleaning process, and does anyone know when your at the point it needs to be changed out???



Thanks for your input...

 

[sag2]

Useful life they told us in school was 150-180k. After that it is completely full of ash and can not be cleaned. That being said, you can pull it off, tap the inlet on a block of wood and dispose of some of the ash in an environmentally friendly way. I suppose the contents are hazardous waste, so treat it accordingly.

The alternative is a $2000 part.

 

[jgillott]

Service manager at one of our local dealerships told me that he has a customer that removes his and blows it out with a pressure washer. I had never heard that before and certainly wouldn't recommend it on second hand information. Anyone else ever hear of that?

 

[mwilson]

Service manager at one of our local dealerships told me that he has a customer that removes his and blows it out with a pressure washer. I had never heard that before and certainly wouldn't recommend it on second hand information. Anyone else ever hear of that?

I have heard that as well, don't know if I would try it or not.



I do think that Dodge/Cummins made a huge blunder by not requiring that these DPF's have a removable center section like the bigger trucks do.

We take two band clamps off and remove the center for exchange or to send out for cleaning. Very easy process.





I had made some calls to DPF cleaning facilities in the past regarding the style used on the Dodge and they all said the same thing, they don't think that a satisfactory cleaning can be accomplished because of the design.



Mike.

 

[AHarris]

As soon as she hits 100K it's DPF Delete time! Oo.

 

[mpaulson]

If you tried the pressure washer method, I would think that you have nothing to loose if you are going to have to replace it anyway as the alternative. I don't know about you part of the country, but there are lots of these sitting in peoples garages or your local performance shop that they have removed from trucks.

Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[jelag]

OK so my issue is a CA truck and a call to a dealer today in Portland OR, said that they are pulling them off, and filling the DPF with a FOAM, letting it set and flushing it out... and putting it back in the truck..... 1 day, $900, so a any good TDR guy does... .

We thought of the de-carbon foam used on the cars to de-carbon the top of the piston where you flood the engine with the foam, let it sit and than start and run it for 20 min... Than we thought of the hole drilled in the Turbo and filling that with foam and letting it sit to de-carbon the turbo...

Has anyone else heard of this method... . Sag2, Bob4x4 or someone else in the know... or is this dealer doing it on his own as a way to profit... I can't imagine any chemical treatment would cost that much.....

Your thoughts please...

 

[PTrudeau]

I talk to a cummins mecanic last year and he told me sometime they clean dpf with pressure washer.
good luck !

 

[Newt]

Search "cleaning dpf filter". You get all kinds of companies doing it.

Newt

 

[AHarris]

If your don't have emissions testing in your area, just do a delete!

 

[sag2]

When they come in so plugged the truck will not run, I have seen both tapping on the ground and pressure washing method work. If you wash it let it dry before installing, or run it a couple minutes at a time to dry it out. If you put it back on wet the water will turn to steam and ruin it when it expands.

Now understand I have never tried it, only seen it done. The environmentally correct way, and the only way I would do it is to replace the $2,000 part.

 

[MullenaxM]

I have tried both the pressure washing and blowing it out methods. With the pressure washing method you need to be real careful with the wash wand and not crack the ceramic substrate inside the DPF. Also ,like Sag2 wrote, you need to make sure the the filter is completely dry before you put it back on or it will crack when the moisture turns to steam.

You can blow it out with air pressure,but again,you need to be careful and not crack the ceramic.

The best way I have found to clean it out is to use air pressure and a shop vacuum. I use about 90psi. on the air nozzle at the OUTLET end of the DPF and blow the soot/particulate out of the inlet end of the DPF. I take a plastic bag ( a large ziploc freezer bag works well) and duct tape it to the INLET end of the DPF and the cut a hole in the end of the plastic bag big enough for the hose on my shop vac to fit in. When you blow air through the outlet end of the DPF the shop vac will collect all the Soot/particulate coming out the inlet of the DPF.



To dispose of the Soot/Particulate that are in my shop vac I put this in with my used oil.



Mike

 

[HBarlow]

Mike,

It's good to see you back posting again.

At approximately what odometer readings are you seeing full DPFs?

 

[jelag]

Have any of you tired the de-carbon chemicals on the market before the wash out. . like I mentioned in my first post the chemical that Ford used to use... but there are others...

Or maybe the product for flushing the turbos out...

 

[MullenaxM]

Hi Harvey, There is no mileage interval set to replace the DPF's. Most of the mileage numbers you are seeing in print are estimates. The only reasons the DPF would need to be replaced are:

1) The Soot load in the DPF is too much that a regeneration can not clean the DPF. Or the soot load is so high that it sets a DTC (usually a P242F trouble code) and the PCM programing will suspend Regeneration.



2) The DPF ceramic substrate is cracked. This usually manifest itself with signs of black smoke or soot coming out of the tail pipe.



3) The DPF ash load (the by-product of regeneration) is high.



jelag: I have tried a number of chemicals to try to clean DPF's, What the chemicals do are turn the soot in to a muddy/sooty mess that you cannot wash out. I have found out that if you blow it out dry you will get better results.



Mike