A little background about my truck... Picked it up here in Flagstaff, AZ with about 62000 miles (September 2020). Not a couple months later (middle of a drive back from CA it threw the bad def fluid threat) it went to the shop for a failed DEF Pump/Module, bad CAT and a couple sensors... Ended up costing me $1500, some of GMs dollar and 1300 miles on their loaner...I attribute that to the previous owner and it being in Flagstaff where its a small town, trips are short and the winters are sporadic and do get cold.. anyway, fast forward to January of 2022.. get the dreaded keep driving exhaust filter is cleaning warning...and I kept driving (flaw in GMs design for sure).. finally got so bad that I had to limp it to the dealer with a loud air leak from the turbo, at that point it was so clogged it wouldn't even start and they told me they had to replace that part altogether before they could even look at anything further...
Had it towed from the dealer and bought some Motor Power Care Foam DPF cleaner and DPF fuel additive... used one can of it, got it running enough to get a tank of diesel and add the additive before it clogged up and died again.. seeing some progress, I used two more cans and was able to bring the resting DPF pressure delta to about 9psi which is outrageous and still caused an awful squeal from a hose connected to the turbo...truck sat for a little longer while I was defeated and back on the hunt for the OEM replacement with absolutely no luck... My pops and I (who has a 2016 Z71 CCLB 2.8) finally got a little creative and came up with the cutting it out, flushing it with the Motor Power Care and throwing it back in before triggering a Service Regen with the Innova 5610.
Now for the step by step process:
1. Buy an Innova 5610 as it is enabled to do a Service Regen and cost me $325 or the cost of two service regens at the dealer.
2. Buy a Jug of the Motor Power Care DPF Flush Liquid, $65 or $75 if you are in a rush like I was
3. Buy two of the Vibrant Performance 1176 Band Clamps, $85
4. Unbolt or disconnect the clips of the two temperature sensors and differential pressure tubes... Unfortunately one of my pressure tube bolts was seized so I just removed the electrical clip and unbolted the entire assembly. I was also able to slide the hoses and hose clamps on and off to reuse the originals (which makes sense as my resting DPF pressure differential after the service regen is 0.2 psi so they don't really need to hold much pressure)
5. Measure up on both sides of the cartridge leaving yourself enough room for sliding the band clamps into place. I used masking tape around the pipe to make my cute a little more even, but still managed to hack one end up a little.. oh well
6. Get your Sawzall out and cut it out.. its decently heavy so having a second set of hands might be handy to avoid it falling and tweaking the pressure tubes like I did.
7. Stand the cartridge up in a bucket and pour the DPF flush through the back end.. wait for it to drain through as much as possible.
8. Move the cartridge to a second bucket and pour the liquid (now very dark and nasty looking) through the front end and wait for it to drain.
9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 until satisfied or as many times as possible in 12 hours.
Liquid definitely gets trapped and I almost dumped it every where so be cautious when flipping it end over end
10. Drain the flush liquid and pour it back in the jug.
11. Fill a bucket with about 3/4 gallon of the hottest water from your tap and begin flushing the cartridge like steps 7 and 8.
12. Give it a bunch of really good shakings to get as much liquid out as you can and then let it rest horizontally for a few minutes while you are prepping the band clamps and stuff.
13. Pour it out and give it some more good shakings before taking it to the truck.
14. Install it with the band clamps. connect the sensors. make sure everything is good and tight.
15. Start it up and expect a lot more liquid to come shooting out the exhaust pipe for probably 10-15 minutes. After the flush and before the regen my resting DPF Delta pressure was at about 4-4.5psi down from the 9 psi with the foam flush
16. Initiate a service Regen. Wait for it to finish.. For anyone not familiar, its constant 2500 RPMs with hood open for about 20-25 minutes.
17. After that, I drove mine for about 10 minutes and cleared the DTCs a couple times and my "Emissions System - 175 miles until 65mph max" went away along with my check engine light. The DPF Delta Pressure now rests at an idle at about 0.2 psi.
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