Noise, emissions and leaks
Diesel particulate filter clean
Checked on 30 July 2026.ClickMechanic, DPF cleaning, regeneration and replacement cost guide (as of 30 July 2026)
What does diesel particulate filter clean cost in the UK?
£160 to £500 fitted at an independent garage, VAT included, on a mainstream car. The midpoint of that range is about £330, and where you land inside it is decided by access, parts and wheel size rather than by the garage's postcode.
The garage first tries a forced regeneration on the diagnostic tool, running the engine hot enough to burn the soot off. If that fails, the filter comes off and is cleaned chemically or on a flow bench. ClickMechanic put cleaning and regeneration at £300 on average within £160 to £500 and around an hour and a half. Three things decide what you pay. Whether a forced regeneration is enough, which is the cheap end; whether the filter has ash rather than soot in it, since ash does not burn off and the filter has to come off the car; and whether the cause is a failed differential pressure sensor, a leaking injector or a stuck EGR valve, because the filter will block again if that is left. Replacement is the reason to bother with cleaning: a type approved filter is £300 to £500, while ClickMechanic put a new filter at £1,000 to £3,000 on some cars.
How this job compares
| Job | Area | Fitted price |
|---|---|---|
| Front wiper blades | Visibility | £19 to £45 |
| Diesel particulate filter clean | Noise, emissions and leaks | £160 to £500 |
| Exhaust section or full system | Noise, emissions and leaks | £100 to £1,200 |
Other noise, emissions and leaks work
| Job | Fitted price | Labour |
|---|---|---|
| Exhaust section or full system | £100 to £1,200 | Not published |
| Catalytic converter | £175 to £900 | 1.2h |
| Emissions failure, sensor or valve | £110 to £650 | Not published |
Common questions
- How much does diesel particulate filter clean cost?
- £160 to £500 fitted at an independent garage, including VAT, for a mainstream car.
- How urgent is it?
- Deal with it at the first warning light rather than the third. A blocked filter puts the car into reduced power and eventually stops it, and evidence that the filter has been tampered with is a major defect, so removing it is not a fix. A car that only does short cold journeys will keep doing this until the driving pattern changes.
- What moves the price within that range?
- Access, parts and wheel size, mostly. A job that needs the bumper or an arch liner off costs an hour more than the same job on a car where it does not, and a genuine part can be several times an aftermarket one.
- Is this price for one side or both?
- Treat the range as the job as the source published it. Where a part is replaced in pairs the detail below says so, and the second side adds less than double because the labour overlaps.
Sources
Every figure on this page was read off the publisher's own page on the date shown.