You’ve almost certainly already read about the famous EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not generally appreciated by car owners because it tends to cause more trouble than anything else… In actual fact, according to the use you are going to make of your car, it can become blocked and bring about you a lot of complications. If this is the case, you are almost certainly concerned about how to clean the EGR valve of your Cadillac XT5 ? Don’t stress, we’ve well prepared this content to help you with this process. To accomplish this, we will initially check out the goal of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Cadillac XT5 can bring on and at last the part that will almost certainly appeal you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Cadillac XT5?

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How to Clean your Cadillac XT5 EGR Valve: Role and Operation

Goal of the EGR valve

The EGR valve of your car has been integrated to diesel engines principally to reduce pollution released by vehicles and to match EURO specifications on Cadillac XT5 . It will as a consequence influence 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 XT5 , we will check out how it works. As seen before, its mission 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 eliminate all unburned toxic particles. It will function mainly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is sufficient to burn all these gases.

How to clean your Cadillac XT5 EGR valve: Identifying faults

The EGR valve, even though very useful to limit the pollution emissions of your Cadillac XT5 , will sadly tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will build up in its system, which will finally risk obstructing the operation of the valve, until completely blocking the engine, here are the symptoms that a faulty EGR valve on your Cadillac XT5 can trigger:

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

How to clean your Cadillac XT5 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 XT5 EGR valve system: Without taking it apart

Even though this approach 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 Cadillac XT5.

How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly

Here is the most reliable approach, which will require sufficient access to the EGR valve to accomplish the treatment without help. 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 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 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 Cadillac XT5.

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 troubles (removing too many elements that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Cadillac XT5? 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 perform the job more cleanly and will be able, if necessary, to change the valve if it is dead. The cost of cleaning according to the difficulty of access is between 70 and 300 €.

Remove the EGR valve of your Cadillac XT5

Finally, some people make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Rather than cleaning the EGR valve of their Cadillac XT5, they simply choose to block it in the closed position. This manipulation will have the effect of greatly increasing the pollution released by the car, of no longer complying with pollution criteria, of having an engine warning light permanently on and finally risk fouling the engine. We strongly recommend 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 get more tips on the Cadillac XT5, take a look at the Cadillac XT5 category.