You’ve almost certainly already read about the renowned EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not usually appreciated by motorists because it tends to create more concerns than anything else… In truth, determined by the use you are going to make of your vehicle, it can become congested and bring about you a lot of concerns. If this is the situation, you are almost certainly wanting to know how to clean the EGR valve of your BMW i3 ? Don’t worry, we’ve prepared this article to help you with this operation. To do this, we will initially check out the intent of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your BMW i3 can bring about and to finish the part that will almost certainly interest you the most, how to clean the EGR valve BMW i3?

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How to Clean your BMW i3 EGR Valve: Role and Operation

Role of the EGR valve

The EGR valve of your car has been integrated to diesel engines primarily to reduce pollution released by cars and to match EURO specifications on BMW i3 . It will therefore control the quality of exhaust gas output and get rid of toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.

Operation of the EGR valve

Before we discover how to clean the EGR valve on your BMW i3 , we will examine how it functions. As described before, its task 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 get rid of 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 BMW i3 EGR valve: Identifying faults

The EGR valve, despite the fact very effective to limit the pollution emissions of your BMW i3 , will unfortunately tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will accumulate in its system, which will ultimately risk obstructing the operation of the valve, until totally blocking the engine, here are the symptoms that a defective EGR valve on your BMW i3 can provoke:

  • Motor light on
  • Power loss
  • Technical assesment refused
  • Black gases
  • Automobile that grazes at low speed
  • Low RPM settings

How to clean your BMW i3 EGR valve: In practice

And now we’ll begin the part you are most excited about, 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 i3 EGR valve system: Without taking it apart

Although this approach is less efficient, it is however possible to consider a “rough” cleaning of your EGR valve, the truth 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 i3.

How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly

Here is the best approach, which will require sufficient access to the EGR valve to conduct the treatment without help. If so, the process 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 guidelines are carried out, 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 i3.

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 parts that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your BMW i3? 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 do the job more cleanly and will be able, if required, 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 i3

Finally, some individuals make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Instead of cleaning the EGR valve of their BMW i3, they simply prefer to block it in the closed position. This modification will have the outcome of greatly increasing the pollution released by the vehicle, of no longer complying with pollution standards, of having an engine warning light permanently on and eventually risk fouling the engine. We highly recommend against making this choice. If you have other questions or want to learn more about your car, don’t be reluctant to take a look at our dedicated page.

Whenever you have any further questions about the BMW i3, do not hesitate to consult our BMW i3 category.