You’ve almost certainly previously heard of the renowned EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not usually appreciated by car owners because it is likely to develop more concerns than anything else… Indeed, determined by the use you are going to make of your car, it can become congested and bring about you a lot of problems. If this is the case, you are almost certainly concerned about how to clean the EGR valve of your BMW X3 ? Don’t get worried, we’ve well prepared this content page to help you with this procedure. To do so, we will first check out the goal of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your BMW X3 can bring on and to finish the part that will almost certainly appeal you the most, how to clean the EGR valve BMW X3?
How to Clean your BMW X3 EGR Valve: Role and Operation
Goal of the EGR valve
The EGR valve of your car has been added to diesel engines principally to lower pollution released by vehicles and to fulfill EURO measures on BMW X3 . It will as a consequence influence the quality of exhaust gas output and reduce toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.
Operation of the EGR valve
Before we discover how to clean the EGR valve on your BMW X3 , we will have a look at how it functions. As seen before, its task is to clean the exhaust gases, 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 reduce all unburned toxic particles. It will perform mainly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is sufficient to burn all these gases.
How to clean your BMW X3 EGR valve: Identifying faults
The EGR valve, nevertheless very useful to limit the pollution emissions of your BMW X3 , will unfortunately tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will build up in its mechanism, which will eventually risk blocking the functions of the valve, until completely blocking the engine motor, here are the symptoms that a defective EGR valve on your BMW X3 can cause:
- Motor light on
- Performance loss
- Technical inspection rejected
- Black gases
- Vehicle that grazes at low speed
- Low RPM settings
How to clean your BMW X3 EGR valve: In practice
And now we’ll start the part you are most curious about, how to clean the EGR valve of your car. Here are the two ways that you can use.
Do it yourself
How to clean your BMW X3 EGR valve system: Without taking it apart
Despite the fact this methodology is less efficient, 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 X3.
How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly
Here is the most beneficial methodology, which will require sufficient access to the EGR valve to do the treatment yourself. If so, the procedure is fairly easy. 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 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 as well 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 X3.
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 BMW X3? In this instance, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex procedure, you turn to an auto mechanic. He will be able to carry out 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 X3
At last, some people make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Instead of cleaning the EGR valve of their BMW X3, they simply choose to block it in the closed position. This manipulation will have the result 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 strongly suggest against making this choice. If you have other questions or want to learn more about your car, don’t hesitate to take a look at our dedicated page.
To discover more tips on the BMW X3, take a look at the BMW X3 category.
