You’ve probably already heard of the famous EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not always appreciated by drivers because it tends to create more problems than anything else… Indeed, depending on the use you are going to make of your vehicle, it can become clogged and cause you a lot of problems. If this is the case, you are probably wondering how to clean the EGR valve of your car? Don’t worry, we’ve prepared this article to help you with this process. To do so, we will first look at the purpose of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your car can cause and finally the part that will probably interest you the most, how to clean the EGR valve XXX?
How to Clean your car EGR Valve: Role and Operation
Purpose of the EGR valve
The EGR valve of your car has been added to diesel engines primarily to reduce pollution emitted by vehicles and to meet EURO standards on vehicles. It will therefore control the quality of exhaust gas output and eliminate toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.
Operation of the EGR valve
Before we learn how to clean the EGR valve on your car, we will take a look at how it works. As seen before, its mission is to clean the exhaust gases, so it will be positioned at the engine outlet, thanks to a valve, it will be able to return the unburned exhaust gases to the engine for a second burn which will eliminate all unburned toxic particles. It will operate mainly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is sufficient to burn all these gases.
How to clean your car EGR valve: Identifying faults
The EGR valve, although very useful to limit the pollution emissions of your car, will unfortunately tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will accumulate in its mechanism, which will eventually risk blocking the operation of the valve, until completely blocking the engine, here are the symptoms that a faulty EGR valve on your car can cause:
- Motor light on
- Power loss
- Technical inspection refused
- Black fumes
- Vehicle that grazes at low speed
- Low RPM settings
How to clean your car EGR valve: In practice
And now we’ll start the part you are most interested in, how to clean the EGR valve of your car. Here are the two techniques at your disposal.
Do it yourself
How to clean your car EGR valve system: Without dismantle
Although this technique is less effective, it is however possible to consider a “rough” cleaning of your EGR valve, in fact, you will only need to use fuel additives, similar to the products used to clean the injection. These specific products must be injected into the running engine, at the right operating temperature, diluted in about 20 litres of fuel and run the engine for 3 or 4 minutes in revolutions to clean the EGR valve of your car.
How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly
Here is the most effective technique, which will require sufficient access to the EGR valve to perform the operation yourself. If so, the operation is fairly straightforward. You will need to disconnect the electromagnet from the EGR valve, remove the few screws that hold it in place, and remove it. Once these steps are completed, now comes the time for cleaning. To do this, you will need to use a product such as solvent, petrol, oven cleaning product, which you will leave to act for ten minutes, then scrape off the rest using a scraper, finish cleaning with wire brush. If you want to go further, you can also clean the two conduits on which it is connected which may be scorched, for this, use a scraper and a vacuum cleaner to avoid dropping deposits in the conduits. You will only have to reassemble it and you will have finished cleaning the EGR valve of your car.
Have it done by a professional
If, your EGR valve is not accessible because of the series or the engine of your car and if removing it would cause too many complications (removing too many parts that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your car? In this case, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex site, you turn to an auto mechanic. He will be able to do the job more cleanly and will be able, if necessary, to change the valve if it is dead. The cost of cleaning depending on the difficulty of access is between 70 and 300 €.
Remove the EGR valve of your car
Finally, some people make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Rather than cleaning the EGR valve of their car, they simply prefer to block it in the closed position. This manipulation will have the consequence of greatly increasing the pollution emitted by the vehicle, of no longer complying with pollution standards, of having an engine warning light permanently on and ultimately risk fouling the engine. We strongly advise against making this choice. If you have other questions or want to learn more about your car, don’t hesitate to take a look at our dedicated page.
