You’ve almost certainly previously heard of the popular EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not generally appreciated by motorists because it has a tendency to develop more problems than anything else… In reality, dependant upon the use you are going to make of your car, it can become blocked and bring about you a lot of trouble. If this is the case, you are almost certainly wanting to know how to clean the EGR valve of your BMW X6 ? Don’t be anxious, we’ve well prepared this content to help you with this procedure. To accomplish this, we will initially look at the intent of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your BMW X6 can provoke and to finish the part that will almost certainly appeal you the most, how to clean the EGR valve BMW X6?
How to Clean your BMW X6 EGR Valve: Role and Operation
Role of the EGR valve
The EGR valve of your car has been integrated to diesel engines mainly to reduce pollution released by cars and to match EURO requirements on BMW X6 . It will therefore influence the quality of exhaust gas output and reduce toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.
Operation of the EGR valve
Before we learn how to clean the EGR valve on your BMW X6 , we will have a look at how it functions. As seen before, its task 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 reduce 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 BMW X6 EGR valve: Identifying faults
The EGR valve, even though very effective to limit the pollution emissions of your BMW X6 , will sadly tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will build up in its mechanism, which will inevitably risk obstructing the functions of the valve, until entirely blocking the engine unit, here are the signs of illness that a defective EGR valve on your BMW X6 can cause:
- Motor light on
- Power loss
- Technical assesment refused
- Black fumes
- Car that grazes at low speed
- Low RPM settings
How to clean your BMW X6 EGR valve: In practice
And now we’ll begin the part you are most enthusiastic about, how to clean the EGR valve of your car. Here are the two techniques that you can use.
Do it yourself
How to clean your BMW X6 EGR valve system: Without dismantle
Even though this approach 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, equivalent to the products used to clean the injection. These particular products 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 X6.
How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly
Here is the strongest approach, which will require enough access to the EGR valve to accomplish the operation 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 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 X6.
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 X6? In such a case, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex procedure, 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 dependant upon the difficulty of access is between 70 and 300 €.
Remove the EGR valve of your BMW X6
At last, some individuals make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Rather than cleaning the EGR valve of their BMW X6, they just prefer to block it in the closed position. This modification 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 ultimately 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 think twice to check out our dedicated page.
If you need more guides on the BMW X6, go to our BMW X6 category.
