I'm picking up an 08 Octavia VRS CR170 this weekend which has good service history etc, 114k on the clock and having read a few horror stories my questions are; 

 

Is it worth doing a DPF clean (something like this http://terraclean.co.uk) asap to keep the car in good health or is it only really something to consider if/when the DPF warning light shows up on the dash? £110 seems a small price to pay verses the worst case scenario but is it actually effective?

Anyone had their DPF cleaned? 

Terraclean won't clean your dpf. It just cleans out the internals of the engine and removes all carbon deposits etc. which (presumably) get turned into soot and end up further blocking the dpf. Only way to clean a dpf is to remove it and flush it with some readily available acids (apparently) and then neutralise the acid with something else, then a power washer stuffed up the end of it to blow all the muck out and down the nearest drain. There are back street garages who are doing this for a reasonable price (again, apparently)...

cheers @Rustynuts 

Get someone with VCDS (or other VAG diagnostics) to check the measuring blocks for DPF loading. Unless you're close to the limit on oil ash you're probably as well to leave it be.

Our DPF was nearly full after some EGR/turbo/remap issues and the tuning place sent it to this place.

 

http://www.dpfdeepclean.co.uk

 

 

don't bother about DPF cleaning...it is like air filters placebo

 

use fuel additive designed for optimal burning of diesel such as Envirox DPF Assist (used by Czech Army), VIF or LiquiMoly.

 

do pre-emptive flat-out session in mountains and you will laugh about "horror" stories of misinformed public. You avoid damaged turbo, clogged DPF and so on...as my friend - one of the top car mechanic I know - once said "bloody hell man, your car have no time to build up any **** in engine, turbo, DPF" :-D

 

I've so called chipped ECU, OEM clutch and DPF and 230k km on ODO :-D But don't tell anybody because eExperts are everywhere !!!