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My car (Citroen C3 II) recently got its "DPF clogging" light on. As suggested in the manual, I have driven at lower gear / higher RPM for some time, and the light shut down. However, since I expect to have less long trips and more city driving in the future, I fear the light may come back.

I have seen fuel additives in auto shops and online which favor DPF de-clogging. They are typically called "DPF Cleaner" or "Regenerator", come in cans of 0.2 to 1 L containing petroleum naphtha (white spirit?) and isoalcanes C11-C15, and are to be added before tanking up. Reviews on amazon and similar sites are mostly positive, but I'd like a more professional opinion on the subject:

  • Do such additives really work or are they snake oil? Are there any lasting negative side effects?
  • Considering that the DPF de-clogging cycle is around 10-30 minutes, does it make sense to add half a dose into half a tank of fuel and save the rest for later?
  • Are ODBII readers useful to diagnose the exact problem, or will I only see generic error codes like P2456?
Dmitry Grigoryev
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I don't believe they can effectively clean that far down the line.
Either take the car on the motorway for 10miles or so, keep the revs and speed up. Or you could remove the DPF which could possibly fail an MOT OR there's a thing called terraclean which is looks like it does something. It's a machine with fluids that connects to the engine but when you see it lots of foam comes out of the exhaust. It has some pretty good reviews.
The cheapest and proven way is a long drive at high RPM's.
Hope this helps

DamoC
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