You’ve probably previously heard of the well-known EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not usually appreciated by car owners because it tends to cause more problems than anything else… Actually, determined by the use you are going to make of your automobile, it can become clogged and cause you a lot of concerns. If this is the situation, you are probably concerned about how to clean the EGR valve of your BMW 5 Series ? Don’t worry, we’ve written this article to help you with this process. To achieve this, we will initially check out the role of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your BMW 5 Series can provoke and at last the section that will probably appeal you the most, how to clean the EGR valve BMW 5 Series?
How to Clean your BMW 5 Series EGR Valve: Role and Operation
Role of the EGR valve
The EGR valve of your car has been added to diesel engines primarily to lower pollution released by vehicles and to meet EURO standards on BMW 5 Series . It will as a consequence influence the quality of exhaust gas output and eliminate toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.
Operation of the EGR valve
Before we discover how to clean the EGR valve on your BMW 5 Series , we will have a look at how it functions. As seen before, its mission is to clean the exhaust fumes, so it will be located 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 work principally at low speed because at high speed the combustion is enough to burn all these gases.
How to clean your BMW 5 Series EGR valve: Identifying faults
The EGR valve, despite the fact very important to limit the pollution emissions of your BMW 5 Series , will unfortunately tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will accumulate in its system, which will finally risk blocking the functions of the valve, until completely blocking the engine, here are the symptoms that a defective EGR valve on your BMW 5 Series can trigger:
- Motor light on
- Performance loss
- Technical inspection refused
- Black gases
- Car that grazes at low speed
- Low RPM settings
How to clean your BMW 5 Series EGR valve: In practice
And now we’ll begin the section you are most intrigued by, how to clean the EGR valve of your car. Here are the two approaches that you can use.
Do it on your own
How to clean your BMW 5 Series EGR valve system: Without taking it apart
Despite the fact this procedure 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, equivalent to the products used to clean the injection. These particular 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 5 Series.
How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly
Here is the most efficient procedure, which will require enough access to the EGR valve to do the treatment 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 steps are achieved, now comes the time for cleaning. To get this done, 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 BMW 5 Series.
Have it done by a professional
If, your EGR valve is not reachable 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 5 Series? In this instance, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex process, you turn to an auto mechanic. He will be able to carry out the job more cleanly and will be able, if necessary, to change the valve if it is dead. The cost of cleaning determined by the difficulty of access is between 70 and 300 €.
Remove the EGR valve of your BMW 5 Series
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 BMW 5 Series, they just choose to block it in the closed position. This modification will have the effect of greatly increasing the pollution released by the automobile, of no longer complying with pollution requirements, of having an engine warning light all day on and ultimately risk fouling the engine. We highly advise against making this choice. If you have other questions or want to learn more about your car, don’t think twice to check out our dedicated page.
To get more tips on the BMW 5 Series, take a look at the BMW 5 Series category.
