You’ve almost certainly already heard about the famous EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not usually appreciated by motorists because it tends to develop more trouble than anything else… In actual fact, according to the use you are going to make of your car, it can become clogged and bring about you a lot of complications. If this is the situation, you are almost certainly concerned about how to clean the EGR valve of your Bmw 1 series ? Don’t be anxious, we’ve made this content page to help you with this operation. To do so, we will first check out the purpose of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Bmw 1 series can cause and to finish the section that will almost certainly appeal you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Bmw 1 series?
How to Clean your Bmw 1 series 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 released by automobiles and to meet EURO specifications on Bmw 1 series . It will as a result control the quality of exhaust gas output and eradicate toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.
Operation of the EGR valve
Before we discover how to clean the EGR valve on your Bmw 1 series , we will check out how it works. As described just before, its objective is to clean the exhaust fumes, 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 eradicate all unburned toxic particles. It will run principally at low speed because at high speed the combustion is sufficient to burn all these gases.
How to clean your Bmw 1 series EGR valve: Identifying faults
The EGR valve, even though very important to limit the pollution emissions of your Bmw 1 series , will regrettably tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will build up in its system, which will eventually risk blocking the functions of the valve, until entirely blocking the engine, here are the signs of illness that a faulty EGR valve on your Bmw 1 series can trigger:
- Motor light on
- Power loss
- Technical assesment rejected
- Black gases
- Vehicle that grazes at low speed
- Low RPM settings
How to clean your Bmw 1 series EGR valve: In practice
And now we’ll begin the section you are most interested in, how to clean the EGR valve of your car. Here are the two methods that you can use.
Do it yourself
How to clean your Bmw 1 series EGR valve system: Without dismantle
Although this procedure is less effective, it is however possible to consider a “rough” cleaning of your EGR valve, the reality is, 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 Bmw 1 series.
How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly
Here is the most reliable procedure, which will require sufficient access to the EGR valve to do the process on your own. 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 guidelines are completed, now comes the time for cleaning. To achieve 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 Bmw 1 series.
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 problems (removing too many elements that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Bmw 1 series? In this instance, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex operation, you turn to an auto mechanic. He will be able to accomplish the job more cleanly and will be able, if necessary, to change the valve if it is dead. The cost of cleaning according to the difficulty of access is between 70 and 300 €.
Remove the EGR valve of your Bmw 1 series
At last, a number of people make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Instead of cleaning the EGR valve of their Bmw 1 series, they just choose to block it in the closed position. This treatment will have the consequence of greatly increasing the pollution released 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 be reluctant to check out our dedicated page.
If you wish more tutorials on the Bmw 1 series, go to our Bmw 1 series category.
