You’ve likely already read about the famous EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not generally appreciated by drivers because it is likely to cause more concerns than anything else… Indeed, dependent on the use you are going to make of your vehicle, it can become blocked and cause you a lot of concerns. If this is the situation, you are likely wondering how to clean the EGR valve of your Audi A4 ? Don’t get worried, we’ve prepared this article to help you with this process. To achieve this, we will initially take a look at the intent of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Audi A4 can trigger and finally the section that will likely interest you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Audi A4?
How to Clean your Audi A4 EGR Valve: Role and Operation
Goal of the EGR valve
The EGR valve of your car has been integrated to diesel engines mostly to lower pollution released by automobiles and to meet EURO requirements on Audi A4 . It will as a result 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 Audi A4 , we will take a look at how it operates. As described before, its mission 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 eliminate all unburned toxic particles. It will perform mainly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is enough to burn all these gases.
How to clean your Audi A4 EGR valve: Identifying faults
The EGR valve, although very effective to limit the pollution emissions of your Audi A4 , will sadly 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 totally blocking the engine, here are the signs of illness that a faulty EGR valve on your Audi A4 can bring about:
- Motor light on
- Performance loss
- Technical inspection rejected
- Black gases
- Vehicle that grazes at low speed
- Low RPM settings
How to clean your Audi A4 EGR valve: In practice
And now we’ll start the section 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 Audi A4 EGR valve system: Without dismantle
Although this procedure is less efficient, 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 solutions 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 Audi A4.
How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly
Here is the strongest procedure, which will require enough access to the EGR valve to execute the process on your own. If so, the procedure 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 simple steps are accomplished, now comes the time for cleaning. To accomplish 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 as well clean the two canal 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 Audi A4.
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 Audi A4? In cases like this, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex process, you turn to an auto mechanic. He will be able to perform the job more cleanly and will be able, if required, 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 Audi A4
Finally, some individuals make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Rather than cleaning the EGR valve of their Audi A4, they just choose to block it in the closed position. This manipulation will have the consequence of greatly increasing the pollution released by the vehicle, of no longer complying with pollution requirements, of having an engine warning light permanently on and finally risk fouling the engine. We strongly recommend against making this choice. If you have other questions or want to learn more about your car, don’t hesitate to check out our dedicated page.
To discover more tips on the Audi A4, take a look at the Audi A4 category.
