Is there a DIY-way to clean the DPF?

[sag2]

View attachment 101235Howdy all,
thought I would throw in my two cents on DPF cleaning. I removed DPF and EGR from my 2009 C&C almost 8 years ago and decided to reinstall them back in Aug 2017. Reinstall went well, except the DPF must have been close to needing regen when I removed it and after setting 8 years must have hardened up good (read as bad). So I researched and found Mopar turbo cleaning fluid and a special tool, used to cost several hundred dollars, but thanks to after market, cost a little over a hundred dollars. So, I removed the front pressure sensor on the DPF, connected the cleaner hose into it, ran the cleaner hose up to the engine bay, started the truck, and ran two cans of the cleaner into the DPF. After empting the two cans, I reinstalled the pressure sensor after letting the DPF cool down, and ran the truck down the interstate about 60 miles. It cleaned the DPF and now have normal regen cycles. There is an expensive German setup called Liqui Moly that would work too.

Anyway, the setup I used worked. You cans find YouTube with DPF cleaning demos too. Hope this helps, Ron

View attachment 101235

The Mopar turbo cleaner is essentially dish soap and water. It is the same solution they use for EGR cleaner, but in a pressurized can. They use non hydrocarbon product to prevent a potential run away.

 

[Wiredawg]

So, sounds like if you can figure out a way to inject soap and water into the front pressure sensor port, you can get'r done. It's interesting something so simple works so well, not just on Ram DPF, but on Ford too, although DPFs don't know what's blowing soot down their throat and out their tail. I figure my 09 4500 would have eventually completely clogged without intervention and my friends Ford was close to shutting down as regens weren't working.

EDIT: I guess the heat created by the engine, perhaps going into regen as well, worked as a catalyst with the Mopar solution.

What i think is insane is $600 for that stainless hose with fittings on the part I showed ya... I guess a few other persistent Googlers found the deal too and ran them out of merchandise. The Germans have a system too that has fair reviews. Of course, you can remove it and clean it manually, but that is somewhat of a LOT of work.

I guess the reason this worked on my truck and my friends Ford is we didn't know it wasn't supposed to work long term. Mine lasted a full year and over 8K miles before trading it in on my 2017 5500 and my friends Ford has another 12K miles on his no problems.

Please post what y'all figure out are other courses of action for cleaning and reusing DPFs that work.

Cheers, Ron