The Butts, Hampshire: Mobile DPF Cleaning
With call-out DPF cleaning, we drive out to the car. An engineer arrives at your address across The Butts, cleans the diesel particulate filter while it is still on the vehicle, runs a DPF regeneration, and you keep the filter you started with.
The visit takes typically around 2 hours, the clean begins from £299, and the price is settled by the phone before anyone travels.
Most people find us with the light showing, and the motor short of power. That is the position this page is meant for.
The DPF light is on. What now?
It might not be the DPF whatsoever. That is the main thing. A check happens before all treatment, because that same panel light has several candidate faults behind it.
It matters what you manage with the vehicle between now and the visit.
- A long even run may yet manage it, provided the light is amber and the car drives normally. Costs zero, so attempt that before calling.
- That window has closed once the motor has fallen into limp mode. Motoring will not help now.
- Stop booking long drives and get it seen to if the cabin stinks of diesel or there is black smoke when you press on.
Signs the motor has been giving you
By the time the light appears, things have normally been slipping for weeks. It is last news:
- less power, especially pulling uphill
- you find the revs fall short of where they once went
- fuel economy turning worse
- quietly, the stop/start packs in
- the interior reeking of diesel, or smoke when you accelerate
Any one of those, taken by itself, is not evidence. It is a fair assumption the filter is loaded once the light is on as well.
Blocked diesel particulate filters around The Butts, and the reason
For a DPF, the least kind use is the type you find in a residential suburb such as The Butts. The school run to The Butts Primary School, Lincoln Green at a halt at the morning rush, ten minutes to M&S Foodhall, the run to Alton — none of it goes on long enough or is hot enough for the filter to finish a regeneration. The soot banks up rather than burning away.
Save when you have a standing cause to head out to the M3, under 10 miles from The Butts, or out to Winchester under 25 miles away, weeks slip past without a long steady drive. Geography is no help.
Why limp mode prevents a DPF regeneration
What limp mode comes down to is the vehicle protecting itself. The entire catch is that a proper drive works by triggering a regeneration, and in limp mode the revs will not rise and power is held down.
So the common advice to take it up the motorway is good advice, right until it stops being. In limp mode you are the far side of that stage: treatment is what will do it, not more miles.
DPF cleaning at the motor across The Butts
Nothing is taken from the car. That surprises people. The DPF sits fitted where it is and the work happens around it, on a driveway, in a works car park, any place it can wait for a couple of hours.
First a scan. Running ECU data, the soot load as a percentage and as a weight, the sensor feeds, the glow plugs, the associated components — all of it logged before any of it is started.
Then the treatment. A cleaning fluid goes in through the access point on that vehicle and spreads inside the filter, lifting the soot and ash a regeneration alone will never budge. A second pass is sometimes called for on severely blocked filters.
Next, a regeneration clears everything the clean lifted. Come with the motor and it becomes a monitored drive out of The Butts. Leave it and the regeneration runs on the spot, with real-time data verified once it is done.
A second check proves the change, clears the warning light and notes anything still outstanding. Both sets of figures are emailed, so you end up with the before and after figures to hand.
When a DPF clean is not the answer
One thing is what cleaning answers — a filter clogged with soot and ash. It does little for:
- sensors, pressure or temperature, reporting a blockage that is not real
- the EGR valve jammed open
- the AdBlue system playing up
- injectors or glow plugs that block a regeneration starting whatsoever
- turbo failure, with oil entering the filter
The first check is there for just that. If one of those turns out to be the fault, you learn of it up front rather than once the money has gone already.
Lastly, two things. A vehicle with the filter hollowed out will fail its MOT, and driving it is an offence, so that is no solution. What gets looked up as DPF renewal swaps nothing: your existing filter is cleared in place and goes back into use.
The cost of DPF cleaning across The Butts
A call-out charge applies whatever follows, and takes in the visit, the booking fee, the check and the advice offered. Cleaning itself starts from £299.
The number is fixed over the phone, once we have the vehicle and what the filter is going to need. No flat rate could be truthful. A pair of things change it: what you own, and where you are — The Butts itself, over at Alton, or otherwise out across the GU postcode area.
Where the diagnostic says a clean will not do it, you are not charged for treatment. The call-out charge still applies, because the visit, the check and the advice have been done.
Aftercare is taken in by a 30-day warranty: should the light return within it, an engineer comes back to The Butts.
From the first call until I got my key back DPF and Fixer fixed everything easy to book fantastic customer services quick response times most probably saved me thousands. Thank you.
Great work from Daz cleaning the DPF and all round great advice and information. And all done at home with their door to door service.
A friendly and professional service, I was particularly impressed with the stress placed on understanding the way in which the exhaust emission control system works and the importance of regularly topping up the AdBlue tank.
Vehicles we clean, and where we reach near The Butts
The filter is done where it sits on all of them: cars and estates, panel vans and light commercials, heavy goods vehicles, plant machinery, farm vehicles. Nothing is carried anywhere.
Nearly every week there is usually someone on Lincoln Green, so The Butts rarely means a journey of its own, and Alton, Chawton and the villages past Beech come with it. Even further out through Hampshire is nonetheless worth a call — coverage is UK-wide, and it is the diary rather than the distance that decides between one day and the next.
A note on The Butts
The Butts is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Hampshire, with a mix of detached housing and a population of around 4863 residents. The Butts sits at an elevation of 115 metres, approximately 15 miles from the city of Winchester and 44 miles from London. The Butts is located near other local areas such as Newtown, Mount Pleasant, and Alton, and is part of the wider South East region. The Butts has a relatively quiet setting, with the river running nearby.
Questions The Butts drivers ask about DPF cleaning
- Will a long drive clear it?
- It might, provided you get it early and limp mode has not begun. It needs a long run at motorway speed, not five minutes flat to M&S Foodhall and back.
- The visit runs how long?
- It is typically around 2 hours. A severely clogged filter can require a second clean, which adds to that.
- Price across The Butts — what is it?
- Starting from £299, with a charge for travelling that takes in the scan and advice on what to do next. The vehicle and your address both move the figure, so we quote on the phone.
- Do I have to be present?
- No. The motor wants somewhere to stand for a couple of hours; nobody expects you to stand with it. The regeneration can be carried out as a monitored drive if you would prefer to be there.
- How soon can someone get to The Butts?
- It is often same-day or next-day, depending on what is now in the calendar. Ring 0303 330 1830 and we will let you what is free across the GU area.
- Does the filter come away from the car?
- On the call-out service, no: the filter is treated in place. And neither does taking a filter off nor bolting one back on is work we do.
- Suppose the light comes back?
- An engineer travels back out to The Butts — the 30-day warranty takes in aftercare.
Arrange DPF cleaning in The Butts
Tell us through what the car is doing on 0303 330 1830, whether that is smoke, limp mode or the light. The quote is settled first, and so does the slot, before anyone sets off for The Butts. Anything passed to enquiries@dpf-fixer.co.uk outside hours is answered first thing.
Full public liability cover is carried by all our engineers, and we are ISO 9001 certified, SSIP Approved, ISO 14001 certified and SafeContractor approved.
As a trading name of DPF Fixer Ltd, Mobile DPF Cleaner operates under the company whose Trustpilot rating is 4.5 out of 5 from 1,989 reviews.