You’ve likely already read about the famous EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not generally appreciated by drivers because it tends to cause more trouble than anything else… In fact, dependent on the use you are going to make of your vehicle, it can become blocked and trigger you a lot of trouble. If this is the case, you are likely wanting to know how to clean the EGR valve of your Buick Enclave ? Don’t get worried, we’ve well prepared this article content to help you with this task. To achieve this, we will initially look at the intent of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Buick Enclave can provoke and finally the part that will likely interest you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Buick Enclave?

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How to Clean your Buick Enclave EGR Valve: Role and Operation

Goal of the EGR valve

The EGR valve of your car has been added to diesel engines mainly to lower pollution released by cars and to fulfill EURO requirements on Buick Enclave . It will consequently control the quality of exhaust gas output and eliminate toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.

Operation of the EGR valve

Before we learn how to clean the EGR valve on your Buick Enclave , we will check out how it works. As described before, its objective is to clean the exhaust gases, so it will be installed 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 run mainly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is sufficient to burn all these gases.

How to clean your Buick Enclave EGR valve: Identifying faults

The EGR valve, although very beneficial to limit the pollution emissions of your Buick Enclave , will unfortunately tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will build up in its mechanism, which will finally risk blocking the operation of the valve, until entirely blocking the engine motor, here are the symptoms that a faulty EGR valve on your Buick Enclave can provoke:

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

How to clean your Buick Enclave EGR valve: In practice

And now we’ll begin the part 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 Buick Enclave EGR valve system: Without dismantle

Despite the fact this process is less efficient, it is however possible to consider a “rough” cleaning of your EGR valve, in reality, you will only need to use fuel additives, similar to the products used to clean the injection. These specific 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 Buick Enclave.

How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly

Here is the strongest process, which will require sufficient access to the EGR valve to conduct the operation yourself. 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 simple steps are carried out, now comes the time for cleaning. To make this happen, 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 also 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 Buick Enclave.

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 difficulties (removing too many auto parts that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Buick Enclave? In this instance, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex task, you turn to an auto mechanic. He will be able to perform the job more cleanly and will be able, if required, to change the valve if it is dead. The cost of cleaning dependent on the difficulty of access is between 70 and 300 €.

Remove the EGR valve of your Buick Enclave

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 Buick Enclave, they just choose to block it in the closed position. This treatment will have the result of greatly increasing the pollution released by the vehicle, of no longer complying with pollution requirements, of having an engine warning light all day on and finally risk fouling the engine. We strongly advise against making this choice. If you have other questions or want to learn more about your car, don’t think twice to take a look at our dedicated page.

If you wish more guides on the Buick Enclave, go to our Buick Enclave category.