When to Clean/Bake the DPF?

The newer trucks have a soot gauge on the digital screen. It won't let you Regen until it tells you to.
Your truck is out of warranty throw that stuff in the trash. Unless you are in Cali.

 

Here’s what I can tell ya...

DPF ash accumulation is easily read with Detroit software. Our company policy is to change them at 90% and send in for a Detroit reman.....

With that said, I pull them the first time at around 90-95%. Second time around at about 80-85%. Because I I bake and blow out. Mileages work out to 250k-260k and 475k-480k. But we are considered “High Duty Cycle” (short haul).

I’m not sure where your mileages would be OTR. So I can’t help there.

As for which replacement to get. I think brand new Detroit DPFs run @ $1500-$2000?a piece (theres 2 in the one box) Detroit reman will run about $750-$1000 a piece . (These are both Detroit’s suggestion) New aftermarket are $1000 -$1500 a peice, but the old bake and blow is roughly $500 a piece. Installation is about $300 for clamps/seals and 2-4 hrs depending if they blow/vac the DOC ( also suggested)

I keep a set on the shelf (16 trucks run the same DPF), I have Detroit software, and we blow/vac the DOC every DPF change. Since I have an extra set I can save the money and do the Bake and Blow with little down time.

Bake and blow works well as long as you pull them early. But it does have the down side of waiting a week for them get returned to me. If you only have your one set.

So there’s your options, with the best “off top of head” prices. Hope it helps to get you to the right answer

 

I just had mine baked right at 400k , check engine light came on

 

I would say the salesman “sold” you “we cleaned the DPF’s” Detroit claims new filters are 100% clean, Detroit Remans throughly inspected, are baked, blown, and given a fluid wash and are roughly 95-100% clean. And the standard bake and blow can be anywhere between 80-90 % clean. But it really depends on who you have blowing them out, what type of machine they have, how packed full your filters are, and how well they check them out.

The labor part is straight forward. You break a bunch of rusty bolts to remove the shielding. You remove 2 V clamps and 2 band clamps. And pull the filters out.

To service the DOC’s you pull the bellows tube (one box inlet) I use a funnel to reduce the inlet to shop vac hose. My shop vac uses a bag, the filter type works but you have to clean it a few times. You have to cover the doc your not working on. So while that’s pulling Vacuum on the DOC. Blow backwards through them with the biggest air gun you can find. I built one that reduces my 1/2” air gun hose to a pin hole. Make sure you don’t let it contact the DOC, and go over the area a few times until it seems you’ve got it all. Heavily plugged DOC’s will blow back Showing where you need to hit again.

Now that part that eliminates most people from being able to do this themselves. You have to reset the ash accumulator with diagnostic software. You enter in the new or existing serial numbers. If you skip this step the ash accumulator will keep counting up and will eventually the computer will lock you down.

 

Very informative. That's nice of you to share the process.

 

Im glad i dont have all that crap

 

do not bake and blow. it will not take all ash out. clean it by water. Detroit factory uses water cleaning method. Ash accumulator value in DL is not correct . it's virtual number. So do not relay on it. if you run otr clean them every two years , around 250k miles. if all your loads are heavy clean them every 300-350k miles. do ash volume reset after cleaning.

 

In my opinion, around every 150K. 18 months.

Lots of options and conditions. One thing is oil consumption. That's gonna be the determining factor in much of this.

You can take an bake or take and water. I know a guy that actually does his own at his house with a hose. Not sure on the legalities or any of that stuff, I will say it makes a fairly huge mess.

Using lots of oil, I'd just opt for a new one. Not using much oil I'd clean and reuse. Clean and reuse is far cheaper, and there's places that specialize in this.