T6 204 DSG 4Motion DPF removal
- Thread starter Cog Head
- Start date
Yesterday, I improvised a setup using the ladder to support the DPF while I flushed it with a pressure washer from both ends.
Initially, a lot of dark brown water and sludge came out which was mostly the DPF cleaner that hadn’t passed through properly.
At first, no water was flowing through the DPF during the rinse. So I alternated spraying from the inlet and outlet sides. After a few tries, the blockage started to clear and muck began to flush out. I repeated this back-and-forth process around 30 times until clean water ran through consistently.
The DPF is now hanging almost vertically and will stay that way until Friday afternoon to allow all remaining water to drain and the unit to fully dry.
The plan is to reinstall it initially without the shield and check if the sensors register properly with no error codes (fingers crossed!). if no errors Ill install the shield and then I’ll let the engine idle for about an hour and then perform a forced regeneration.
Initially, a lot of dark brown water and sludge came out which was mostly the DPF cleaner that hadn’t passed through properly.
At first, no water was flowing through the DPF during the rinse. So I alternated spraying from the inlet and outlet sides. After a few tries, the blockage started to clear and muck began to flush out. I repeated this back-and-forth process around 30 times until clean water ran through consistently.
The DPF is now hanging almost vertically and will stay that way until Friday afternoon to allow all remaining water to drain and the unit to fully dry.
The plan is to reinstall it initially without the shield and check if the sensors register properly with no error codes (fingers crossed!). if no errors Ill install the shield and then I’ll let the engine idle for about an hour and then perform a forced regeneration.
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I would be out all day cleaning it with views like that. Not jealous one bit
Absolutely, I couldn't agree with you more! The views we enjoy each day are truly stunning, and not a day passes without us taking a moment to appreciate them. I'm currently on a work assignment in southern Switzerland, near the Italian border, surrounded by the Alps. It definitely makes cleaning the DPF a 'enjoyable' task
You missed the side eyes emoji from that statement…
Good work, it sounds like you had the same experience as me, I filled the thing and left it for 30mins before any water started trickling out at all, I’m sure it absorbed a good 10L before it started filling.
I tried to fit my jet wash into it but the head on my nozzles were too big to fit.
Quick update: the DPF was installed on the car today, sensors reconnected, and the engine ran for 30 minutes to warm up. I reset the ash level… Interestingly, the range jumped from 500 km to 610 km just while idling.
No faults showing – woohoo!
Tomorrow, I’ll refit the heat shield and take it for a drive to see how it performs.
No faults showing – woohoo!
Tomorrow, I’ll refit the heat shield and take it for a drive to see how it performs.
Awesome!
hopefully you’ll get some good fuel economy out of it now it can breathe more freely, mine increased from 28mpg to 30mpg, then another 5mpg increase with the remap, it’s now happily returning 35+mpg, until I attach the caravan, but even then it returns 23mpg.
All in all, well worth doing, it cost me a couple hundred pounds, a weekend under the van shouting at it, a skinned knuckle and a sore neck.
I think posts like this will become more and more useful as everyone’s DPF nears the end of their life.
hopefully you’ll get some good fuel economy out of it now it can breathe more freely, mine increased from 28mpg to 30mpg, then another 5mpg increase with the remap, it’s now happily returning 35+mpg, until I attach the caravan, but even then it returns 23mpg.
All in all, well worth doing, it cost me a couple hundred pounds, a weekend under the van shouting at it, a skinned knuckle and a sore neck.
I think posts like this will become more and more useful as everyone’s DPF nears the end of their life.
After a couple of days driving post-DPF clean, I’ve definitely noticed improvements. Fuel economy has improved, the turbo spools more efficiently, and overall, the van feels more responsive! It’s come back to life.
Total Effort:
- 1 bottle of Wynns Off-Car DPF Cleaner
- 2 new brackets
- About a week for the full cleaning and drying process
Cleaning Method:
- I removed the DPF but left all sensors in place.
- I packed bubble wrap into the sensor end and stood the DPF upright with the blocked side down into a bucket.
- I filled the DPF with cleaner and let it sit for 24 hours, occasionally agitating it to help the process.
- After soaking, I drained the cleaner from both ends.
- Using a Karcher pressure washer, I flushed water through the DPF from both sides... roughly 30 rinse cycles (about an 90mins) until the water ran clear.
- I then hung the DPF at an angle for 2 days to ensure all residual fluid fully drained/ dried out, including from the sensors.
Disclaimer:
I chose not to remove the sensors. This obviously carries a risk. Most sources, including experts, recommend removing them before cleaning. If you decide to follow my method, you do so at your own risk.
Coming back to this – if I had to remove the DPF from my own van again, I could probably do it in about 20 minutes. I reinstalled it with all the nuts positioned at an easy-to-reach angle, which makes the job much simpler. On another van, doing the job from scratch I’d expect it to take around 40 minutes to remove.
It’s actually a pretty straightforward job overall – the only hassle is that some of the nuts and bolts are awkward to reach.
Feel free to drop me a message if you run into any issues or need help
Great thread. I've had a crack at this now.
Out of interest what readings for differential pressure are people getting for idle and what peak number are they getting when they drive hard??
Would be really interested in this please as always thought my peak pressure was to high but may well be fine.
Out of interest what readings for differential pressure are people getting for idle and what peak number are they getting when they drive hard??
Would be really interested in this please as always thought my peak pressure was to high but may well be fine.
Care to share your numbers?
Preferably sensor raw value on idle for both cold and hot exhaust. Exhaust temperature sensor readings would be useful too as the pressure is a function of temperature as well as EGR position. Also would be useful be to know soot levels or distance since last DPF as it has a significant impact. Also emission remaps affect the readings - for the worse. Vehicle mileage also alters the readings as well as ash level.
OK, I'm finally free for a bit so some information behind my van and what I've been up to:
Bought van as a write off from Copart (Cat N) - It transpired I was exceptionally lucky with it (this doesn't happen often). It had front end damage and high mileage (hence VAG DPF mileage reading) - I repaired the font end and it looks great, all tested etc, working a treat. I wasn't expecting the fact it had lots of work done before it was written off. It had a new engine (150 CXHA), turbo, clutch & dmf 14k miles ago (VW main dealer and obtained invoices to prove). There's a record about particulate filter being worked on some time ago but I hadn't got to the bottom of that so made the assumption its original (maybe cleaned at some stage).
Thought I'd keep the van and use daily forever more, however wanted to make sure the DPF is sound. I thought the differential pressure under full load was always quite high (mid-high 200's hPa (or Mbar as same)). It doesn't throw codes and drives/regens nicely but higher than BMWs I've had before - maybe just a VAG thing?? - hence my question to see what everyone's getting for the differential pressure reading??? - I would be really appreciative of any readings people could post after a wide open throttle (WOT) drive.
I had the dpf off a couple of days ago and cleaned it out. I used the "Steven B Tuner method"
WARNING - he's seems very boring to listen to, but he does his research and makes sense. I used NaOH - (caustic soda) first to remove oily residue and soot, then HCl (Brick acid diluted) to remove ash. I'll try and upload some photos also. First run removed black oily residue then second red ash as per his video. I dd this a couple of times to be sure then cleaned through with water and then the Wynns DPF cleaner (why not its only £30ish). The first steps seemed to shift stuff quickly, the Wynns didn't seem to do a lot more apart from foam. Flushed everything through and reinstalled. This was removed/cleaned/back on in 1 day. I would recommend the method above to clean quickly and cost effectively without the Winns. I left the sensors in place and back flushed without saturating sensors.
Any more comparable readings people could give me would be really appreciated
Bought van as a write off from Copart (Cat N) - It transpired I was exceptionally lucky with it (this doesn't happen often). It had front end damage and high mileage (hence VAG DPF mileage reading) - I repaired the font end and it looks great, all tested etc, working a treat. I wasn't expecting the fact it had lots of work done before it was written off. It had a new engine (150 CXHA), turbo, clutch & dmf 14k miles ago (VW main dealer and obtained invoices to prove). There's a record about particulate filter being worked on some time ago but I hadn't got to the bottom of that so made the assumption its original (maybe cleaned at some stage).
Thought I'd keep the van and use daily forever more, however wanted to make sure the DPF is sound. I thought the differential pressure under full load was always quite high (mid-high 200's hPa (or Mbar as same)). It doesn't throw codes and drives/regens nicely but higher than BMWs I've had before - maybe just a VAG thing?? - hence my question to see what everyone's getting for the differential pressure reading??? - I would be really appreciative of any readings people could post after a wide open throttle (WOT) drive.
I had the dpf off a couple of days ago and cleaned it out. I used the "Steven B Tuner method"
Any more comparable readings people could give me would be really appreciated
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