DPF delete on your driveway, or repaired at JF Automotive.
Maybe the DPF lamp stays on, a regeneration never finishes, or the car has gone into limp mode. You have two ways out. We switch the filter off in software on your driveway, priced from the registration before we come. Or, if you want it fixed, the car goes to JF Automotive in Maidstone (the workshop we're part of) where the cause is found, put right and the filter regenerated. Tell us what the car is doing and we'll tell you which you're looking at.
- From £245
- Fully insured
- Fixed price before the visit
DPF fix, or DPF delete
A blocked filter is a symptom, because something stopped it regenerating. JF Automotive can find that something and put it right, or we can take the filter out of the equation in software on your driveway. Which one you go for is up to you.
DPF fix
The car goes to JF Automotive in Maidstone. They read the codes and the live data, find out why the filter stopped regenerating, put that right and run a forced regeneration to clear the soot. The filter stays in the car and keeps working, and the lamp goes out. Most blocked DPFs they see are a sensor, a sticking EGR valve, a glow plug or too many short journeys, not a dead filter.
A repair isn't a mobile job, so we don't come out to diagnose it first. Book it straight into JF Automotive (the workshop we're part of) and they diagnose and fix it in one go. A filter full of ash rather than soot can't be regenerated and needs cleaning or replacing there.
Book it in for a repairDPF delete
The engine ECU is told to stop monitoring and regenerating the filter, so the lamp, the regeneration cycles and the limp mode stop for good. It's software only, done in about an hour on the driveway from the original file, which we keep so it can go back to standard on one visit.
Priced from the registration, before we come, and the price doesn't change on the driveway. If you also want the filter itself taken out, that's physical work for a garage, before or after we do the software.
Get a price for a deleteWhat the DPF warning looks like, and what it's not
Three amber lamps share the same dashboard and only one of them is the DPF. Knowing which one you have saves you being quoted for the wrong job.
The particulate filter lamp
A box with dots inside it and a pipe at each end. On its own, amber, it usually means the filter is loaded and the car wants a long drive to regenerate. Flashing, or with a message, it means regeneration has failed and the car needs looking at.
“Diesel particulate filter: see owner's manual”The engine management lamp
A solid engine block. It covers hundreds of faults across the whole engine, DPF among them. On its own it tells you very little, and it's the stored code that narrows it down.
“Engine fault: reduced power”The AdBlue lamp
A canister or a tank symbol, often with a mileage countdown. A different system and a different job, though the two are often faulted together on a car that does short journeys.
“Add AdBlue: no engine start in 600 mi”Why a DPF blocks, and what is usually behind it
A filter fills with soot in normal use and burns it off when the exhaust gets hot enough for long enough. When that stops happening, one of these is usually why.
- Short journeys - the exhaust never gets hot enough for long enough to regenerate. This is the commonest cause by far.
- Differential pressure sensor - P2452, P2453. The car misreads how full the filter is and regenerates at the wrong time or not at all.
- Sticking EGR valve - more soot into the filter than it was designed for. Often the real fault behind a blocked DPF.
- Failed glow plug or temperature sensor - regeneration needs both of them working to start and to complete.
- Interrupted regenerations - switching the engine off mid-cycle, again and again, leaves the filter a little fuller each time.
- Soot accumulation over limit - P2463. Past a set point the car won't attempt regeneration on its own and needs a forced one.
- Ash, not soot - P242F. Ash can't be burned off. A filter full of ash needs cleaning or replacing, not regenerating.
- Oil or injector problems - wrong oil grade, a leaking injector or a turbo seal loads the filter with what it can't burn.
From the lamp to a clear filter
Tell us what the car is doing
Send us the registration, which lamps are on, whether it has lost power, any code you have, and whether you want it deleted or repaired. The form is below.
Delete or repair, priced differently
For a delete, one figure from the registration. For a repair, we pass you to JF Automotive and they book the car in.
We send you a booking link
For a delete, pick a date and a time at home or at work. Your engineer's name is on the booking. For a repair, the booking is with the workshop.
A delete on your driveway, a fix at the workshop
For a delete, we read and keep the original file and write the new one, there on the driveway, then road test it to prove the lamp stays off. For a repair, JF Automotive read the codes and live data, put the cause right, run a forced regeneration and road test it.
Before you book a DPF delete
A DPF delete means the vehicle no longer meets the emissions standard it was approved to. Under regulation 61A of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 it is then an offence to use it on a public road, and it will not pass an MOT, which has checked for the filter since 2014. A delete is for vehicles used off the public road, on private land, or being exported.
By booking a delete you confirm the vehicle's use and accept our delete conditions, which are set out in full in our terms and conditions. That's the whole of the notice. You now have the facts, and the decision on what to do is yours to make.
Read the delete conditions in our terms →What it costs
From £245, and every job is quoted on the car. A pressure sensor and a filter full of ash aren't the same work, so we quote each job on its own. Every figure you're given is fixed, and it doesn't change when we get there.
- Original file read and kept, so the car can go back to standard
- One fixed price from the registration, agreed before we come
- Done at your home or work, about an hour, no workshop visit
- Fully insured engineer, road test to confirm the lamp stays off
Get my price
Give us the registration, which lamps are on, and where you are. We come back with a fixed price, usually the same day, and a booking link if you want to go ahead.
- From £245, quoted on the car
- Fully insured, at your home or work
- No workshop visit, no courtesy car needed
DPF questions, answered plainly
Can I just drive it on the motorway to clear it?
Sometimes, if the lamp is steady and the car is otherwise fine. Twenty minutes above 2,000 rpm at a steady speed is what most manufacturers suggest. If the lamp is flashing, the engine light is on too, or the car is in limp mode, it's past that. It has stopped trying to regenerate on its own, and a drive won't fix it. That's when it needs a forced regeneration and the cause finding.
What is a forced regeneration?
It means using diagnostic equipment to make the car burn off the soot in the filter while it's stationary, with the engine held at the right temperature and the whole process monitored. It clears soot, not ash, and it only lasts if whatever stopped the car regenerating on its own has been fixed.
Do you remove the filter physically?
Not on the driveway. What we do at your car is the software side. Taking the filter out, cleaning it, or replacing one that's full of ash or damaged is physical work on a ramp, and that's done at JF Automotive in Maidstone. If you want both, the workshop visit can be before or after we write the software.
How much does it cost?
A delete is a software job from £245, one fixed figure from the registration, usually the same day you ask. A repair depends on what has actually gone, and a pressure sensor and a filter full of ash aren't the same job. JF Automotive price it once the codes are read, and you agree the figure before any work starts.
How long does a DPF delete take?
About an hour on the driveway for most cars: the original file read and kept, the new file written, and a road test. Some newer ECUs have to come out of the car to be read on the bench, which takes longer, and you're told which yours is when you get your price.
Will it come back?
Not if the cause has been fixed and the car is then driven in a way that lets it regenerate. A diesel that only does short trips will load its filter again whatever anyone does to it. If that's your driving, we'll say so rather than sell you a regeneration every six months.
Backed by JF Automotive
Remaps UK is the mobile arm of JF Automotive, a Maidstone workshop that has been tuning cars for thirty years. The files, the calibration work and the rolling road behind your job are theirs. If a job turns out to need a ramp or a dyno session rather than a driveway, it goes to them, and you are not passed to a stranger.
About JF Automotive →Related work, on the driveway or at JF Automotive
EGR delete or fix
A sticking EGR valve sends more soot into the filter than it can burn. Fix the valve and the DPF often stops blocking.
Read more → The other amber lampAdBlue delete or fix
A countdown to no-start, or a lamp that won't clear after a top-up. Switched off in software on your driveway, or repaired at JF Automotive.
Read more → Based in Kent?DPF delete or fix in Kent
The same two routes, with a named engineer and the Kent towns we cover.
Read more →