DPF Cleaners - do they work?

[nrandlexj40]

Hi Folks....

One of our Jags is a 2010 XF 3 Litre Diesel and today it came up with the Amber warning - 'DPF Full - Refer to Handbook'

The car is mainly used on short journeys which I guess is why the particulate filter is clogging. I've taken the car for a motorway blast to get the exhaust hot and this has cleared the warning - so presumably the soot blocking the filter has 'burned off' and the DPF has regenerated?

As the car spends most of it's time on short runs - is there any benefit is using one of the fuel additive DPF cleaners?
If so - can anyone recommend a good one and how often it should be used?

Thanks in advance.

[Zennan101]

Hi Neil,

I also have a 3.0 Diesel XF which does a lot of short journeys. It may be tempting fate but in 4 years of ownership I have yet to see the dreaded DPF warning. I do two things to keep the warning at bay. Firstly I only use Shell Nitro for the cleaning additives. Secondly every six months I add a dose of diesel cataclean. It seems to work for me.

Rod

[J44EAG]

Preventative maintenance in a bottle can sometimes be seen in fairly derogatory terms. People have a tendency to condemn any product from which it is difficult to obtain a definitive result. However....

Whilst diesel or in fact petrol cleaning additives are easy to condemn, is that reaction fair? All I can say is that I regularly use fuel injector cleaner, catalytic converter cleaners, oil flush additives etc and my car continues to roll along with no apparent clogging issues being noted. Had I not have used such cleaners regularly, how would my car still be preforming? Rather difficult to quantify, isn`t it?

In my opinion, any preventative chemical medication for an engine can`t be a bad thing. That said, avoidance of short journey use is probably the best way to avoid clogging issues. We all know that is a well known fact so acceptance of that fact can only be a form of important technical and sensible, cost effective action.

So to the cleaners. They are unlikely to clear stubborn blockages and it is not fair to critise them for that. If you have ever seen a well blocked cat or DPF then the reasons why a half pint of cleaner will not clean a couple of pounds of crud out of a blocked unit will be clear. Cleaners can work effectively if used regularly to help avoid large build ups of crud. If they do that, then I`d say they do what is claimed on the bottle or the tin.

Mike K

[nrandlexj40]

Thanks Guys

I guess the best option is to make sure it gets some good long runs - at least that will give me an excuse for taking it out every now and then
It's the first time the warning has appeared and I took it on a good run the same day - so hopefully the DPF should be relatively clean again now.....

On a side note - I recently fitted new cats to a 1996 XK8 I'm restoring and the fine bore of the cells in there highlights how easily blockages can occur. Hopefully the XK8 will be back on the road late Spring - so we can switch to running that for a bit