You’ve most likely previously heard about the renowned EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not generally appreciated by car owners because it has a tendency to develop more concerns than anything else… In reality, based on the use you are going to make of your automobile, it can become blocked and bring about you a lot of trouble. If this is the case, you are most likely wondering how to clean the EGR valve of your Cadillac SRX ? Don’t be anxious, we’ve well prepared this article content to help you with this task. To accomplish this, we will initially take a look at the goal of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Cadillac SRX can trigger and to finish the part that will most likely appeal you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Cadillac SRX?

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How to Clean your Cadillac SRX 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 match EURO specifications on Cadillac SRX . It will as a consequence control the quality of exhaust gas output and eliminate toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.

Operation of the EGR valve

Before we discover how to clean the EGR valve on your Cadillac SRX , we will have a look at how it works. As described before, its mission is to clean the exhaust fumes, 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 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 Cadillac SRX EGR valve: Identifying faults

The EGR valve, even though very beneficial to limit the pollution emissions of your Cadillac SRX , will unfortunately tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will accumulate in its mechanism, which will inevitably risk blocking the operation of the valve, until completely blocking the engine unit, here are the signs of illness that a defective EGR valve on your Cadillac SRX can provoke:

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

How to clean your Cadillac SRX 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 approaches that you can use.

Do it on your own

How to clean your Cadillac SRX EGR valve system: Without taking it apart

Although this methodology 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 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 Cadillac SRX.

How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly

Here is the most reliable methodology, which will require sufficient access to the EGR valve to do the operation 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 steps are achieved, now comes the time for cleaning. To accomplish 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 Cadillac SRX.

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 difficulties (removing too many auto parts that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Cadillac SRX? 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 carry out 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 Cadillac SRX

At last, a number of people make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Instead of cleaning the EGR valve of their Cadillac SRX, they simply prefer to block it in the closed position. This manipulation will have the consequence of greatly increasing the pollution released by the automobile, of no longer complying with pollution criteria, of having an engine warning light permanently on and ultimately risk fouling the engine. We highly advise 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.

If you wish more tutorials on the Cadillac SRX, go to our Cadillac SRX category.