No problem man !

However I see a dilemma: ? vs. USA vs. diesel ?

- Antti -

 

Thanks a lot!
Could you please spesify further what "heavy detergent (98% industrial petrol)" is?

(you wrote "Then I trickled about 2-3 liters of a heavy detergent (98% industrial petrol) into the cells and let the thing sit for 15 mins")

 

Hi!

It is just a heavy duty washing detergent meant especially to clean trucks and other big vehicles. It was said in a can; 98% industrial petrol.
I am sure you can use any other heavy washing detergent.



- Antti -

 

I think its called 'Truckwash' in the trade...

 

Another update! You may recall months ago I poured some boiling water into the DPF via the pressure sensor tube. Regeneration took place and cleaned the crap out. It's been months now and through the winter. All is still well, no errors. I can tell you guys that regeneration will not take place if the back pressure is too high even though DIS says it is under the max value. The water trick worked for me, just pour it in, enable regeneration, start up and take it for a long drive. Simples!

 

A little update from me as well!

I made a little roadtrip to Kuopio this week and I noticed that my car did the DPF regeneration twice during a 200km trip. And then the same thing when I drove back from Kuopio. This is too often so I think the DPF was about get too tight again. There wasn't any other symptoms though.

So, today I went with a friend and removed the DPF, washed it again and put it back . After that I went for a test drive. The car started the regeneration immediately and lots of vapor came from the exhaust, because I didn't dry the DPF after the wash. It could be a placebo effect, but I almost could bet some money on it, that the car felt a bit quicker especially when accelerating from a full stop.

We'll see how it goes, but I wouldn't be too offended, if I had to wash the DPF once in a year .

The process was:

- Removing the DPF by opening the 8 bolts holding it; 20 mins
- Washing the DPF with a power washer + detergent; 1h 10mins
- Putting the DPF back in place; 20mins
--------------------------------------------
Total; 1h 50mins

I didn't change the seals as they were in good condition.

- Antti -

 

Anzafin (and all others who have posted)
Thanks for a great thread. I cleaned my DPF last night and the car flies now......

The car is a dec 2006 build 520D with 98k miles. Last weekend the symptoms were:
Accelerating in 1st I get to 4700rpm before it rev limits and I can feel the turbo kick in about 3000. In 2nd it sometimes manages that but normally stops at about 4000 rpm. In 3rd its 3000 and in 4th its 2100 (ish). It seems that at the higher gears the car is being limited to just over 50mph (from other posts this seems to be too fast for 'limp home' mode). Keeping the foot to the floor does not increase the speed.

When I saw the DPF I'm amazed it even managed that as washing up liquid+water barely dripped through!

The only code I found (with Carsoft 9.0) was 4D00 = exhaust back pressure.

Seeing as the DPF is 'easy' to remove on mine (same as Anzafin item 3 in the realoem diagrams) I did it yesterday morning. The nuts and bolts probably started life as 13mm but were rusted down to 12+ so I had to use a 'rounded nut' remover on each bolt (the hardest one is the top one on the engine side so do that first). The bolts were not reusable ; two of the eight snapped.

My cleaning regime (which took about 90mins) was:

• engine side, fill with washing up liquid water and watch it just sit there for 30mins
  tip that out and use engine cleaner - this did eventually drain through
  use in total about 4litres of patio cleaner and my pressure washer - pour liquid into the inlet side, allow to sit for a few mins then blast with pressure washer on the inlet side. Reverse the unit and pressure wash from the outlet side and see the fisrt batch of loosened soot get washed out.
  Repeat above for about an hour, mainly blasting from the outlet side.
  use a full can of injector /carb cleaner into the holes on the inlet side and let sit for 10mins (by this time flow has been achieved so I cling filmed the outlet to keep the cleaner in the DPF).
  Blast from the inlet side (again to loosen soot). Turn over and flush out from the outlet side.
  By the time the water was running clear the water flow through the DPF was able to keep up with the output from the pressure washer.
  Let it drain.
  Put in the oven on 160 degrees for 3 hours (nice smell of carb cleaner!) then put in dry place overnight.
  Buy 2 gaskets and 8 nuts and bolts from BMW (total cost £21) - the main dealer only keeps 6 bolts in stock so they had to overnight order 2!
  Refit DPF (easy as new bolts but do the front top bolt first as it is easier to move the DPF to get the nut on).
  Clear the fault code (Not sure if this is needed but I did it anyway)
  Start the engine - immediately sounded quieter.
  Go on a test drive and saw wow often! expect white steam for the first few miles as the trapped water evaporates.

Total cost about £35 (£21 BMW, £5.50 carb cleaner and approx £9 for pressure washer cleaner).
total time - removal about 90mins (those bolts were very rusty!). Cleaning 90 mins, Refit 20 mins
Rough rate of return from getting main dealer to do it - about £400 per hour.
Tools used: Ramps I have a set that go about twice the height of halfords ones - it would be much harder if on lower ramps. Usual sockets (12mm, 13mm, 1/2"), ratchets, extension bars and UV joints + open ended spanners. Rounded bolt remover (as these gripped the rusted and smaller bolts). For reassembly I used 13mm open ended spanner and 13mm ratchet spanner.

Thanks again

Dave

 

Good job !

Now when you have new bolts down there and you know how everything works, it is SO easy to drop the DPF out for a re-wash if needed !

- Antti -

 

Thanks Antti - does anyone have a view as to how often it should be recleaned (either via mileage or time). I'm hoping once a year (given my wife drives about 7000 miles a year) so then I can pick a sunny warm day!

 

Nice write up dave.

Going to give mine a 'pre emptive' wash through soon.

Great to hear which bits -bolts and gasket - need replacing.