I'm sure if I ever experienced a "full" DPF, I would delete it rather than pay thousands for a replacement. Deleting a DPF sounds exciting for performance gains but never persued it. Just thought I would post some data obtained by VCDS for my old Jetta V that did 85,000km over three years.

I have only twice experienced a DPF instrument light appear. Once it progressed immediately to limp home mode & was due to a faulty sensor, the other time it appeared then following a 5min drive it was no longer there on restart. Benefits of living in a rural area & in terms of DPF life, perhaps it wouldn't get much better.

Data obtained via VCDS from Engine, Measuring Blocks 106 & 108:


General Info - Shows at least 380km between passive regens



DPF had 10g of carbon, a smidge under half that needed for DPF intrument light to appear


DPF had 48ml of irremovable ash. 175ml suggests replacement needed (so mine was 28% full). Further information in VCDS suggests a nominal DPF lifespan of 170,000km. Using the ratio given, 48ml of ash suggests a milage of 49,000km yet mine was 85,000km at the time (so with the same usage & soot production, projected lifespan of my DPF would have been 305,000km ). Not too bad I suppose. Good luck for owner #2.

Might be of interest...perhaps.