4 Good Reasons not to tamper with your DPF

4 Good Reasons not to tamper with your DPF

Whilst Diesel Particulate Filter ( DPF) legislation may seem onerous, apart from less pollution, here are four very good reasons not to tamper with or remove your DPF.

1. It is illegal to remove or a PDF. It is illegal to tamper with the vehicle design, and voids Vehicle Insurance. Australian Design Regulations are contravened when you change the vehicle from the tested and approved designn NSW, individual fines are up to $11,000 and company vehicle fines up to $22,000 and the EPA are implementing similiar legislation across Australia. In NSW they are preparing legislation enabling active and retrospective prosecution of repairers who remove a DPF from a diesel vehicle. Roadside Inspections are starting and will pick up PDF removal or tampering. Additionally when it comes to selling your diesel, if your buyer wants a Roadworthy Certificate, you will find it will have to be put back to correct design, or it may not be able to be sold.

2. The vehicle may not run well. Without the DPF, a diesel vehicle’s ECU will not receive the correct sensor information relating to minimum and maximum allowable back pressures, which will result in error codes and probably the vehicle running in “limp” mode. Most “DPF Delete” businesses reprogramme the ECU or trick the sensors using modules, which can be costly. We often have customers report that their vehicle has never run properly since the DPF was removed or adjusted.

3. Diesel Particulate Matter (soot) can cause lung cancer. Older diesels are bad but Common Rail diesels are worse because of the tiny partical size that can be so small that the lungs lining can’t block the entry of soot particles into the lung tissue or the blood stream.

4. Insurance policy voided. If the vehicles emission systems are tampered with or removed then the car is considered by every state authority to be unroadworthy. The fine print on your car’s insurance will state that the policy is void.

If you have any queries or concerns please call us at Call: 1300 821677 | 

or Email: enquiries@dpfsales.com.au

Assessing a DPF Issue

Initial Assessment of a DPF Issue

A couple of questions to the driver and a quick walk around the vehicle can tell a lot about the likely condition of the DPF;

What are the symptoms?
Eg: loss of power, DPF or engine light on
How many kilometres?
Typically a DPF in ideal driving conditions should reach a minimum of 200,000K before filling with ash and needing replacement
Anything much less than this usually indicates either some mechanical issue, poor driving conditions or poor servicing.
Short or long trip driving style?

If the vehicles coolant, oil and exhaust temp do not reach operating temp due to short trips the regeneration will not be able to start or will start but fail. The DPF will fill with unburnt soot.
Any recent repairs? DPF, turbo or induction system related?
Often damage to the DPF has been caused by a recent breakdown that has since been repaired such as a blown turbo, sticking EGR or leaking injectors. Any one of these type of issues can lead to excessive amount of soot or even raw fuel or crankcase oil entering the DPF and causing damage.

How many K’s since?
Has it been a small issue over a long time or a sudden catastrophic failure?
It can be a gradual build up of soot due to for example a slight induction system leak.
Or in extreme cases of over-fuelling, raw fuel or crankcase oil can pour into the DPF effectively causing an out of control regeneration, overheating and melting of the ceramic core.

Is the inside of the tailpipe have a clear oily film or is it coated in dry black fluffy soot?
There should be no soot as the DPF is a soot filter
If clean then it is an indication that the DPF is structurally intact and probably blocked.
If sooty then it indicates a damaged filter core and means that serious overheating has occurred.
Normal regeneration takes place at approx. 600 degrees C
A Cordierite core can withstand 1200 degrees C
A Silicone Carbide (SiC) core is over 2700 degrees C
So when they melt things have got really hot!

No matter which DPF you need, DPF Sales Australia have your Silicone Carbide (SiC) core model, in stock and at the best prices !

Call: 1300 821677