You’ve likely previously read about the renowned EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not always appreciated by car owners because it tends to develop more trouble than anything else… In actual fact, dependent on the use you are going to make of your car, it can become blocked and bring about you a lot of trouble. If this is the situation, you are likely concerned about how to clean the EGR valve of your Acura TLX ? Don’t get worried, we’ve well prepared this article to help you with this procedure. To do this, we will first take a look at the role of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Acura TLX can trigger and to finish the part that will likely appeal you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Acura TLX?

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How to Clean your Acura TLX EGR Valve: Role and Operation

Goal of the EGR valve

The EGR valve of your car has been added to diesel engines primarily to reduce pollution emitted by automobiles and to match EURO specifications on Acura TLX . It will consequently control the quality of exhaust gas output and reduce toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.

Operation of the EGR valve

Before we learn how to clean the EGR valve on your Acura TLX , we will check out how it operates. As described before, its task is to clean the exhaust gases, so it will be placed 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 reduce all unburned toxic particles. It will perform mostly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is enough to burn all these gases.

How to clean your Acura TLX EGR valve: Identifying faults

The EGR valve, nevertheless very useful to limit the pollution emissions of your Acura TLX , will unfortunately tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will accumulate in its mechanism, which will finally risk blocking the functions of the valve, until completely blocking the engine unit, here are the symptoms that a faulty EGR valve on your Acura TLX can cause:

  • Motor light on
  • Performance loss
  • Technical inspection rejected
  • Black fumes
  • Automobile that grazes at low speed
  • Low RPM settings

How to clean your Acura TLX EGR valve: In practice

And now we’ll commence the part you are most interested in, how to clean the EGR valve of your car. Here are the two techniques that you can use.

Do it on your own

How to clean your Acura TLX EGR valve system: Without dismantle

Even though this process is less efficient, it is however possible to consider a “rough” cleaning of your EGR valve, actually, 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 high rev to clean the EGR valve of your Acura TLX.

How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly

Here is the best process, which will require enough access to the EGR valve to conduct the operation without help. If so, the operation is fairly simple. 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 achieved, 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 even 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 Acura TLX.

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 Acura TLX? In this case, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex procedure, you turn to an auto mechanic. He will be able to perform the job more cleanly and will be able, if necessary, to change the valve if it is dead. The cost of cleaning dependent on the difficulty of access is between 70 and 300 €.

Remove the EGR valve of your Acura TLX

At last, some individuals make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Instead of cleaning the EGR valve of their Acura TLX, they just choose to block it in the closed position. This treatment will have the effect of greatly increasing the pollution emitted by the car, of no longer complying with pollution standards, of having an engine warning light permanently on and eventually risk fouling the engine. We highly suggest against making this choice. If you have other questions or want to learn more about your car, don’t think twice to take a look at our dedicated page.

If you want more guides on the Acura TLX, go to our Acura TLX category.