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November/December 2018 | VehicleServicePros.com 29
When utilizing an exchange program, Duane
Bratvold, western regional sales manager for
Webasto, suggests confi rming the core is still intact
before sending it in for remanufacturing.
“‘When you send these fi lters in, before you send
them, take a wire, go down into the cells to make
sure it’s not melted in the middle,” he says.
Webasto off ers cold-start and idling solutions
for the commercial vehicle market.
When it comes to setting a
PM schedule for DPF cleaning,
Griffi th stresses it’s important
to consider the operating
environment of the fl eet. But,
as a general rule of thumb
he has seen success with
recommending a cleaning
aft er 250,000 miles, when the
vehicle will typically still be
under warranty. During this
PM, Griffi th suggests more
than just air to clean the fi lter,
instead opting for a thermal, or
even liquid, cleaning.
“With the newer fi lters, it’s a
lot harder to get all of the ash
out of those fi lters, so we’ve
found where actual liquid
cleaning or thermal cleaning
is the way to go,” Griffi th says.
“Of these cleaners, the aqueous
types have proven far more
eff ective than the ‘bake and
blow’ method, at removing a
higher percentage of ash from
the DPF,” Ramirez confi rms.
When completing a PM for
the aftertreatment system,
Griffi th also suggests replacing
the clamps and gaskets.
“If you think about it, you’ve
got maybe 1,200 degrees F in
the exhaust, and you have
metal there,” Griffith says.
“Metal expands and contracts
with heat, so we recommend
always replacing the clamps as
well as the gaskets, just to make
sure you get a good tight seal.”
Griffi th’s fi nal suggestion
for preventive measures is
to employ the use of a smoke
machine when the system is
disassembled for the PM “so
you can verify that everything
upstream is tight and you’re
getting all the air volume and
temperature you need to make
sure that truck continues to
regen for another 100,000 or
200,000 miles without having
to touch the system again.”
An alternative to cleaning
is always to replace the fi lter
with a new unit. Replacement
of the DPF may be the most
cost-effective solution,
depending on the overall cost
of the aft ertreatment program
for the fl eet.
Looking for signs and analyzing the fi lter itself
can also prove useful to understanding issues on
the vehicle.
“Th e more that these trucking companies can
get educated at what the DPF is doing, what the
markings are or the contamination that’s on the
fi lter - then it gives them a little better fi ght to try
to off set these issues,” Bratvold says.
Regardless of the method employed for handling
DPFs, an analysis is critical to understanding the full
cost of an aft ertreatment program, stresses Griffi th.
For instance, if a fl eet implements a fi lter cleaning
program in-house, he suggests the company not look
only at the cost of the cleaning process itself.
“If you can get a better cleaning process and you
can reduce the number of fi lters you’re having to
replace, you actually save money in the long run,”
Griffi th explains.
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GS-07F-294AA 05316
Model Shown:
MCHF419U100
18,800 lb capacity per column
061015-RRL
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