You’ve most likely previously read about the well-known EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not generally appreciated by motorists because it is likely to cause more problems than anything else… Indeed, based on the use you are going to make of your vehicle, it can become congested and trigger you a lot of complications. If this is the situation, you are most likely wondering how to clean the EGR valve of your Buick Lucerne ? Don’t stress, we’ve written this article content to help you with this process. To do this, we will initially check out the goal of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Buick Lucerne can provoke and finally the section that will most likely appeal you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Buick Lucerne?

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

Goal 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 meet EURO specifications on Buick Lucerne . It will as a consequence influence 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 Buick Lucerne , we will have a look at how it operates. As seen just before, its task is to clean the exhaust fumes, 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 get rid of all unburned toxic particles. It will work mostly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is enough to burn all these gases.

How to clean your Buick Lucerne EGR valve: Identifying faults

The EGR valve, even though very important to limit the pollution emissions of your Buick Lucerne , will unfortunately tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will build up in its system, which will ultimately risk obstructing the functions of the valve, until totally blocking the engine motor, here are the signs of illness that a defective EGR valve on your Buick Lucerne can cause:

  • Motor light on
  • Power loss
  • Technical inspection refused
  • Black fumes
  • Vehicle that grazes at low speed
  • Low RPM settings

How to clean your Buick Lucerne EGR valve: In practice

And now we’ll commence 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 Buick Lucerne EGR valve system: Without taking it apart

Despite the fact this methodology is less effective, it is however possible to consider a “rough” cleaning of your EGR valve, the truth is, 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 Buick Lucerne.

How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly

Here is the most reliable methodology, which will require enough access to the EGR valve to accomplish the operation without help. If so, the operation 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 finished, 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 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 Lucerne.

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 complications (removing too many parts that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Buick Lucerne? In cases like this, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex process, 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 based on the difficulty of access is between 70 and 300 €.

Remove the EGR valve of your Buick Lucerne

Finally, some people make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Rather than cleaning the EGR valve of their Buick Lucerne, they just choose 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 strongly suggest 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.

To discover more tips on the Buick Lucerne, take a look at the Buick Lucerne category.