Find a clear stetch of dual carriageway / motorway, and drive continuously for a further 20 – 25 minutes at 45 – 60mph in a gear which keeps the Engine RPM of the car comfortably at 3000 rpm (automatic owners – choose “M” or sport mode)įollowing the above procedure should allow the correct conditions to be created for the DPF to preform its much needed regeneration cycle, and effectively clean itself.Switch off any automatic stop / start feature and drive the car normally in order to allow the engine to reach its normal operating temperature.
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If the DPF light is ignored and the car continues to be used for short journeys, or in traffic then the DPF will continue to block with soot to the point where it no longer functions, and an expensive professional clean or a four figure bill for the replacement of the entire unit becomes the only remedial option. If the car is frequently driven like Miss Daisy at 30mph everywhere, or used for nothing but short journeys such as the School run or in Town and City traffic then these ideal conditions are never created, and so the car computer can never obtain the correct parameters required to perform the regular, crucial regeneration cycles which it needs to do on a routine basis, and so the circle begins, with the DPF getting more and more blocked to the point where the DPF warning light comes on. In order to regenerate the DPF filter, the car has to be traveling at motorway (highway) speeds for at least 20 minutes on a fairly regular basis (every 300 – 400 miles ideally), this allows the perfect operating conditions (oil temp, engine temp, exhaust gas temp, steady rpm etc) to be created which, in turn allows the DPF to start its regeneration procedure. Usually, when the DPF light comes on, it is the result of the car being used for mainly short journeys, around town or doing the school run and these kinds of trips are now considered very detrimental to a modern diesel car, and if this is your normal usage pattern then I would recommend that you change the car to a petrol or older (Non DPF) diesel.
When the DPF light comes on, the car computer is basically telling you that the particulate filter has not been able to regenerate normally at any point during the car’s daily usage pattern, and that the filter is now becoming blocked to the point where it will affect the cars performance and MPG, and eventually reach the point where it could cause damage, causing the car to switch to its emergency / limited performance mode. So the advice is to treat the illumination of the DPF warning light as an early warning, because that is exactly what it is – a warning that a small problem may eventually grow to become one with a £2000 price tag.
However, driving with the DPF light on does not always mean that you need to put your day or trip on hold, and if this is the first time that the DPF warning light has come on, then you don’t have to immediately take the day off work, or have the car towed to a garage and in most cases the car will continue to run just fine for a further few hundred miles without intervention, although there is an increasing chance that the car will run in “limp home” mode (decreased emergency performance mode) the longer that the dpf light is ignored, as the Particulate Filter will continue to block. Given the cost of a replacement diesel particulate filter, the manufacturers may just as well replace the DPF warning light with one which illuminates a row of “£££££” or “$$$$$” signs, because that is what can happen if the DPF warning light goes ignored for a long period – a huge bill for a replacement often running into four figures, so its important that you treat the illumination of the DPF warning light seriously, and action it as soon as is reasonably possible.
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