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jimh406's avatar
jimh406
Explorer III
Jun 09, 2016

Diesel Kleen to clean DPF?

I have a 2010 6.4 F450 with 106K miles on it. I was on a longer trip and on the way back home. As I was going up mountains, I started losing power and the emissions indicator came up on my dash.

I had noticed that the truck hadn't done the regen for a few days while I was driving relatively slow through Yellowstone/Tetons for hundreds of miles. The text that indicated the regen process did come on for a few seconds along the way.

I was hundreds of miles from home with plenty of mountains on my way. I felt like I needed the DPF to clean, but knew I couldn't manually trigger it. While eating supper, I read an article that was talking about how DPF cleaning additives work. That got me thinking that maybe using a lot of Diesel Kleen could possibly get the truck back to normal.

So, I bought a large grey bottle of Diesel Kleen that is supposed to treat 250 gallons and added it all to the tank and filled up the tank. Maybe a partial waste of $18, but I didn't think it would hurt anything.

I engaged Tow/Haul and started driving. After about an hour of driving, the regen process engaged and completed. We camped for the night.

I didn't add any Diesel Kleen in my next fill up since I thought it still had plenty. The truck continued to regen as normal on the rest of the way home and full power and I added a normal amount of additive on the way home for each fill up. After a few regens and restarts, the emission indicator went off on one of the restarts which implies it thought everything was ok. It stayed off the rest of the trip.

1. Have you done anything similar to the overdose of Diesel Kleen to clean your DPF and get the process going?
2. Do you think my DPF regen is back to normal now or should I have it checked out?
3. It seems like the regen process refuses to start if the DPF is "too" clogged. Is this what others have experienced?
4. What the best preventative measures to take to prevent a recurrence? Driving at higher rpms, adding more additive, both, or something else?

33 Replies

  • DEF can increase the combustion temperature according to Volkswagen, for instance. http://www.volkspage.net/technik/ssp/ssp/SSP_330.pdf At least, I'm assuming their additive is the DEF.

    System with additive
    This system is used on vehicles where the particulate filter is installed away from the engine. Due to the distance the exhaust gas has to make from the engine to the particulate filter, the required ignition temperature for combustion of the particulates can only be reached with the introduction of an additive.

    The question is "do other additives" help as well. If so, in extreme circumstance like slow driving would it be advantageous to change the amount of additive and/or change the driving method if possible to prevent a potential clogged dpf issue.
  • I don't know enough about dpf's and regens to have an opinion but, based on your results, I think I'd be adding the appropriate amount of Diesel Kleen at each fill. Hope your problem is solved.
  • Sorry but Diesel Kleen or any other additive does nothing to help clean the DPF. Only heat 1200+ degrees can do that