Dpf clean

[gsc1ugs]

I have a Citroen nemo in limp mode, dpf is pretty blocked, ive been told hydrochloric acid bath would do treat, could i pour this stuff in location or does it have to come off? and how long to soak?

[mickthemaverick]

That is of course diluted HCl you are referring to, purchaseable from builders merchants as Brick Acid. I have done a few of these and always remove the dpf from the car and soak in a suitable container for 45 mins. I used a baby bath!! Once soaked flush through thoroughly forwards and backwards with a low pressure hose until water emerges crystal clear in both directions. Then be sure to dry it through thoroughly with hair dryer or similar before refitting. Having carried out that procedure on a few cars I have never had a problem going forward.

[gsc1ugs]

Is it ready use from builders merchants?

[mickthemaverick]

Yes, I used it straight out of the bottle purchased in Wickes

[gsc1ugs]

Is this strong enough please ?

[mickthemaverick]

Yes looks ok

[gsc1ugs]

How much did you use? 5, 10 litre?

[mickthemaverick]

It depends on the size of your container, you need sufficient depth to submerge the DPF so try it with water to see how much you'll need in your container.

[Paul-R]

Can I post some cautions here. Firstly you need to be aware of how concentrated (not strong) the acid is. The Sika product claims that it's up to 10% but I have some hydrochloric acid here (bought as such, no alternative names) in France and it claims to be 23%. Further about the concentration, watch this video and then see if you would put acid that hasn't been further diluted in your DPF. In the first video there's a bit at the beginning where a label shows that the pool acid (another name) he uses is 32% concentrated.

[mickthemaverick]

For further clarity this is the actual product which I have used very successfully straight from the bottle. I cannot stress the importance of the post soak rinsing though!! https://everydiy.uk/p/wickes.co.uk/1537 ... cleaner-5l

[Paul-R]

Mick, the photo doesn't say how concentrated the acid is and there's no link to a specification sheet. Does the back of the container have a label which gives the concentration?

I've found a further video from the same chap and at around 2 mins 30s he says that the diluted acid he used is about 5% - 7% concentration.

[mickthemaverick]

This is the label on the back of my current bottle which does not specify strength:

Wickes brick acid

However this link does show the concentration to be less than 10% diluted HCl and as I say has worked faultlessly on my 4 uses.

https://media.wickes.co.uk/is/content/w ... 821_TECH_0

[gsc1ugs]

Great, what if i blocked all holes but top one and poured in until full?

[mickthemaverick]

Yes that may do as long as it is off the car, you don't want the acid going anywhere uncontrolled!!

[Paul-R]

I phoned the helpline number on the Wickes product label and was surprised when the welcome message announced that I had actually phoned Bostik. Anyway, I explained what I was looking for and they came back with the information that the Wickes acid cleaner was a product that they no longer made but, when they did, was 9.8% concentration.

Using the figure of 32% that the video says was undiluted, making a mix of 3 parts water to 1 of concentrate would give an equivalent of 8% concentration. This would line up with his assertion of using a concentration of 5% to 7%. Not a huge difference and undoubtedly the reason there was no untoward result with the 9.8% acid.

But it does reinforce how important it is to compare like with like and be aware of exactly what something is.