How to care for your DPF

How to care for your DPF – Central Autopoint

The unsung hero of any diesel vehicle is the DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter). This stores the excess soot produced by combustion to limit the amount of harmful greenhouse gases your vehicle produces. It then gets burnt off through a process known as ‘regeneration.’ This keeps your vehicle running smoothly and as environmentally friendly as possible. But do you know how to care for your DPF? If not, here are three simple tips to help you care for your DPF.

Treat your DPF to some motorway driving every now and then

The best way to care for your DPF is to travel at a speed of over forty miles an hour for about fifteen minutes each week. This will give your DPF time to heat up and complete the regeneration process it needs to remove the soot from your engine. The more you can drive on a motorway or dual carriageway, the better it will be for your DPF. If your normal journeys don’t include a burst on a motorway or dual carriageway, do all you can to include them in at least one. You might experience some expensive problems otherwise, as your DPF won’t be able to regenerate at all.

Keep out of town as much as possible

Regular stop-start journeys are really bad for your DPF. As mentioned above, they don’t allow it to regenerate, so the excess soot just builds up in the exhaust. This can lead to significant engine damage if you don’t take action and care for your DPF. If the DPF thinks your driving style could cause engine damage, it will cause a dashboard warning light to come on. If you ignore this, your car could be forced into ‘limp’ mode, where it moves really slowly in an attempt to get you home or to a garage. If you get to this point, then you DPF hasn’t had enough regeneration each week.

Use the right oil

Each engine needs a different specification of oil and your owner’s manual will tell you which one is best for you. Make sure you’ve been using the right one, otherwise your DPF could be struggling with a lack of lubrication. Once you’ve found the right oil for you, make sure you use it to help care for your DPF correctly.

Hopefully, you’ve now got a better idea how to care for your DPF. Although these tips will help save you unnecessary expense on regular forced regenerations or a DPF replacement, you can’t get around the fact that it will need a forced regeneration at some point. That’s where Central Autopoint in Corby can help. We provide a specialist DPF cleaning and regeneration service for when your DPF needs a little extra care and attention. Why not book online today to get your diesel vehicle running smoothly again?