# Calm down and read this about your DPF...



## grs1961 (Oct 23, 2012)

If you are worrying about the DPF being some sort of Sisyphean load that is just waiting to break you, please read this handy little screed.

You will have no problems with your DPF if you follow these points or the instructions in your manual.


How to clean the DPF yourself.

Before you read any further it is important that you understand that the DPF warning light appearing is a completely normal thing to happen, the DPF warning is just advising you that the DPF needs to regenerate itself and that you need to follow the instructions in the owners manual for the dpf to clean itself.


If you cant find the instructions then follow these simple instructions which will work on most vehicles




Make sure that the Engine Management Light is NOT on.
Ensure that the vehicle has at least 1/4 of a tank of fuel
Turn on as many electrical items as you can, Air conditioning, Lights, Heated rear window, radio etc.
Find a long stretch of road where you can drive for up to 15 miles without stopping - Dual carriageway or motorway etc.
Drive the car until normal temperature has been reached
Once warm, Drive the car in any gear that allows you to maintain 2,000 RPM suitable for the speed you are driving, in automatics you will need to select sport mode if possible and select the gear manually
Drive the car with the engine speed of 2,000 RPM until either the DPF light goes off or until you have covered at least 30 miles.
 
Following the above procedure should allow the car to self clean (or regenerate) the DPF on its own.


If following the above procedure fails or the engine management or ABS light (or any other warning lights) are on you will need to take the car to someone with the skills and equipment to diagnose the cause of the problem and repair the faults.


Once any faults have been resolved you should find that in the vast majority of cases that following the procedure in the owners manual or the one above should resolve the problem.


Remember the DPF light will only come on if the DPF is becoming blocked, this is absolutely normal, that is why its there, and if you follow the procedures outlined that should be the end of the problem.


The DPF should last the life of the car without replacement and replacing the DPF without resolving any underlying causes of any problems that are either preventing the DPF cleaning itself or causing excessive soot to be produced will only result in the DPF becoming clogged in a relatively short period.


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

So there's actually a light that will come on? I thought it just did it in the background


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## Ger8mm (Mar 13, 2014)

I read this in the manual but mine mentioned something like you must drive over 35 mph and maintain speed for 15 minutes. Glad I read this post too.


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## KpaxFAQ (Sep 1, 2013)

A light comes on if you've interrupted it enough times in a row. Unless you drive almost 100% highway these will not last the life of the car, unless under 150-200k miles is your expectation of the life of the car..


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## CHEVYCRUZE RS (Mar 29, 2011)

Nice write up


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## boraz (Aug 29, 2013)

CHEVYCRUZE RS said:


> Nice write up


what eggsactly is nice aboot it?



> You will have no problems with your DPF if you follow these points or the instructions in your manual.


is this from the ozland owners manual?

none of what is posted is in the canadian manual.


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## grs1961 (Oct 23, 2012)

It is not from any Cruze handbook that I am aware of, it is just some general advice I found on the other Cruze place about living with a DPF, and as so many people here are new to having a diesel car, I thought I would re-post it.


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## boraz (Aug 29, 2013)

grs1961 said:


> It is not from any Cruze handbook that I am aware of, it is just some general advice I found on the other Cruze place about living with a DPF, and as so many people here are new to having a diesel car, I thought I would re-post it.


is there a dpf warning light down there? there isnt here


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## KpaxFAQ (Sep 1, 2013)

boraz said:


> is there a dpf warning light down there? there isnt here


I don't remember how it's worded in the US manual but I do remember it will literally come up on the DIC telling you to keep driving again if I'm remembering it correctly. I swear I read the manual cover to cover when I bought the car! lol


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## boraz (Aug 29, 2013)

KpaxFAQ said:


> I don't remember how it's worded in the US manual but I do remember it will literally come up on the DIC telling you to keep driving again if I'm remembering it correctly. I swear I read the manual cover to cover when I bought the car! lol


correct, there is a dpf message in the DIC


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

It is in my 2012 MY13 Aussie Cruze manual and it says to use a minimum of 2,000rpm and to keep driving until the light goes out. Mine has only come on once at about 5,000km and now at 18,000km has not come on again to date. Sometimes my engine fan will roar when I switch off and this indicates that the DPF has been in a rejen cycle.

View attachment 72025


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

Mine did that fan blasting thing once when I turned off my car. Maybe that was dpf?


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

money_man said:


> Mine did that fan blasting thing once when I turned off my car. Maybe that was dpf?


More than likely, if you do a large amount of highway you may never see the light come on as it only comes on when the filter is in danger of getting blocked.


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## PanJet (Jun 18, 2013)

money_man said:


> So there's actually a light that will come on? I thought it just did it in the background


It does do it in the background. The only time you will get a light (DIC message) is if the system has repeatedly tried to do a regen and been interrupted such as in the case of many short, slow trips in a row as Kpax mentioned.

This has been an issue with early DPF systems, but so far, it does not seem to be an issue with the CTD. The Cruze’s DPF is very close to the turbo outlet so there is a lot of heat getting to the DPF probably making it more efficient in passive regeneration (slowly burning off soot during normal driving simply from exhaust heat). I’ve read the new VW diesel engine has moved their DPF closer to the turbo outlet to gather more heat as well.



KpaxFAQ said:


> Unless you drive almost 100% highway these will not last the life of the car, unless under 150-200k miles is your expectation of the life of the car..


It will be interesting to see. I know VW had mentioned theirs would need to be replaced at 120,000+ miles, but they also relied more heavily on EGR creating a higher soot environment. Also, with the advent of new low-ash oils, that should help a lot. I was reading on some trucking sites that ash from the oil is more culprit to the DPF life than soot from combustion as most of the soot will oxidize away but ash from the oil will not.



boraz said:


> is there a dpf warning light down there? there isnt here


I thought for sure we had one, but I looked again in the manual and diesel supplement and I only see a low DEF light listed. I guess ours is just a DIC message.



Aussie said:


> It is in my 2012 MY13 Aussie Cruze manual and it says to use a minimum of 2,000rpm and to keep driving until the light goes out.


Our North American version says minimum 30 mph, which is about 1,100 RPM. 2,000 RPM might be rather difficult to maintain without manually shifting down as that is about 70 mph in 6[SUP]th[/SUP] gear in our model. We also have a different engine than you, however.


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## boraz (Aug 29, 2013)

Aussie said:


> More than likely, if you do a large amount of highway you may never see the light come on as it only comes on when the filter is in danger of getting blocked.


he will never see the light come on, as there is no light in his car.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

boraz said:


> he will never see the light come on, as there is no light in his car.


There is one on my IC. It's never come on though, except when all the lights come on for a brief bit when I start the car.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

I saw a video somewhere that you can more or less take the DPF off the car when it can no longer be regened and spray some high pressure water through it to clean it out. I think you have to drain it out and hurry up and put it back on the car and drive again so the water doesn't have a chance to do any damage. IIRC, it's a video on Youtube


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## PanJet (Jun 18, 2013)

diesel said:


> I saw a video somewhere that you can more or less take the DPF off the car when it can no longer be regened and spray some high pressure water through it to clean it out. I think you have to drain it out and hurry up and put it back on the car and drive again so the water doesn't have a chance to do any damage. IIRC, it's a video on Youtube


Sounds, uh, sketchy.

Although, if you've completely plugged your DPF and are going to have to replace it anyway at probably $2k, I don't suppose it would hurt to try. I don't think this is likely, however, as I believe the car will go into extreme limp mode before you get so plugged that the dealer can no longer force a regen.


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## DieselMan33 (Oct 13, 2013)

I have yet to see any message and I interrupted my last regen like 3 or 4 times.


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## Suns_PSD (Feb 16, 2013)

I work at a Kenworth dealership and we can pull off a dpf and send it out for a special cleaning making it good as new. The cost is about $300 plus the labour to remove the part. They last 500k+ miles easily however. 

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## PanJet (Jun 18, 2013)

DieselMan33 said:


> I have yet to see any message and I interrupted my last regen like 3 or 4 times.


It doesn't matter how many times you interrupt it as long as it's not all in a row. Even if you interrupt it, as long as you get a good run to clean it out, it's fine until the next time. Plus, like I said, it seems like the CTD has been pretty good about not plugging up DPFs so far.



Suns_PSD said:


> I work at a Kenworth dealership and we can pull off a dpf and send it out for a special cleaning making it good as new. The cost is about $300 plus the labour to remove the part. They last 500k+ miles easily however.
> 
> Sent from AutoGuide.com App


Aren't the ones on trucks made removable though? From what I understand, in most passenger cars and even pickup diesels, the DPF is not serviceable at all, and in many cases the entire exhaust must be replaced to replace the DPF.


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## KpaxFAQ (Sep 1, 2013)

Suns_PSD said:


> I work at a Kenworth dealership and we can pull off a dpf and send it out for a special cleaning making it good as new. The cost is about $300 plus the labour to remove the part. They last 500k+ miles easily however.
> 
> Sent from AutoGuide.com App


No doubt they last that long in a semi truck barreling down at 70mph day in and day out...

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## revjpeterson (Oct 2, 2013)

The DPF light that Aussie showed is still present on our instrument cluster, but I think it is inactive on the U.S. Diesel, in favor of the DIC message, and I don't recall it being listed in the Owner's Manual. Mine has never lit during the self-test at startup. However, right next to it is the water in fuel filter light, which is active and does light during the self-test.


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## boraz (Aug 29, 2013)

Suns_PSD said:


> I work at a Kenworth dealership and we can pull off a dpf and send it out for a special cleaning making it good as new. The cost is about $300 plus the labour to remove the part. They last 500k+ miles easily however.
> 
> Sent from AutoGuide.com App


at work 75% of our 4yo trucks (avg 14000hrs) have had the dpf replaced, half of those required new 'boxes', the entire SCR box ~$20k....warranty


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

So what you guys are telling me is to drive my car til its paid then get rid of it unless I want a $2000+ part?


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## boraz (Aug 29, 2013)

money_man said:


> So what you guys are telling me is to drive my car til its paid then get rid of it unless I want a $2000+ part?


no one knows how long it will last

just a buncha experiences with dpf's in other vehicles...does that tell us how long it will last in this car? nope.

the joys of buying a new model.


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

They don't use the same dpf set up over seas?


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## Barefeet (Jan 1, 2014)

Is there anyway to tell if a regen is taking place other than a drop in mpg on the DIC?
Also I am wondering if anyone on this thread drives primarily in the city. Would the CTD be a good choice for city?


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## boraz (Aug 29, 2013)

money_man said:


> They don't use the same dpf set up over seas?


aussie engine is different

this is a europe engine with emissions components added to it

the pieces separately have some history, but not together as a unit, in north america


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## boraz (Aug 29, 2013)

Barefeet said:


> Is there anyway to tell if a regen is taking place other than a drop in mpg on the DIC?
> Also I am wondering if anyone on this thread drives primarily in the city. Would the CTD be a good choice for city?


where the car shines is the hwy mpg

the city mpg isnt worth the price of admission vs a gas cruze, unless you really loved the tq, and/or hated the manual

the slower you drive this, the more problems it _could _​ have emissions wise


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## PanJet (Jun 18, 2013)

money_man said:


> They don't use the same dpf set up over seas?


I'm not sure, but the engine is unique to the North American Cruze, although it is used in several Opel and Chevy (Malibu) in Europe, but not quite the same setup as the N.A. Cruze.

I wouldn't worry too much about your DPF. Chevy does not list a service life for the DPF, and it could quite possibly be 150,000 or even 200,000 or more. It's probably treated a lot like a timing chain where it does technically have an end-life, but generally it is a lot longer than the average person keeps a car.

As I mentioned before VW had listed their DPF as a 120,000 mile check item and then every 10,000 after 120k until it needs replacing. However, the VW setup up until now did not have an SCR which means it relied a lot more on EGR to reduce NOx emissions which creates a much higher soot environment and requires more frequent regens of the DPF. 

In theory, the Cruze's DPF should last longer than the (now former) VW setup with advances in technology and use of SCR creating less soot and requiring fewer regens. Like I mentioned before, probably the best thing you can do to ensure a long life of the DPF is to always ensure proper oil is used. Improper oil will shorten the life of the DPF with ash that cannot be oxidized away by a regen.


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## titanman2789 (Oct 27, 2013)

I lol'd at the title of this. Calm down? I haven't read of anyone on here being concerned about their dpf at all. 

You can drive this car around for a week in temperatures below zero, all city, never get it up to operating temperature and still not see any dpf light

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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

boraz said:


> where the car shines is the hwy mpg
> 
> the city mpg isnt worth the price of admission vs a gas cruze, unless you really loved the tq, and/or hated the manual
> 
> the slower you drive this, the more problems it _could _​ have emissions wise


I've been getting 38-40mpg imp but I only have 2300km on my car so far and it has been 0°c and colder since I got it. Hoping with some break in and warmer temps to see an avg of 50mpg imp with mostly rural driving


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## titanman2789 (Oct 27, 2013)

Since this car only needs you to drive above 30 mph to regen, in my opinion city driving won't hurt it. It only takes the car about 10 minutes to regen and it's made to do this so not like you are hurting anything

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