Careful DPF maintenance will boost both your uptime and bottom line.

When the diesel particulate filter was introduced with the change to 2007 engine technology, manufacturers were careful to explain the importance of cleaning the filter to remove engine oil ash that accumulates.

Visible soot is easily dislodged, but going into small passages to clean out soot, especially if it’s gooey or hardened, is much more difficult.

However, because carbon can be sticky stuff, there’s another DPF maintenance concern. A small amount of carbon may adhere tightly to the DPF’s ceramic walls, forming gooey or even hard deposits, especially if the engine is not operating properly. It’s similar to what happens as spark plugs in a car deteriorate and need to be replaced.

Cleaning this stuff out can be far more challenging than getting rid of the relatively powdery ash. Inadequate cleaning can compromise the unit’s life and warranty, while thorough cleaning may result in better fuel economy and more miles before cleaning needs to be repeated.

Due to the DPF’s complicated construction and the tendency of carbon to bond to ceramics, cleaning the DPF is a science. Even cleaning out the ash, which stays fairly loose, is a tedious job because it’s distributed through nearly all the passages.

Because getting a DPF back to 100 percent of its original performance level is so complex, picking the right service provider and ensuring use of the right equipment are critical.

When to clean