You’ve most likely already read about the popular EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not usually appreciated by motorists because it tends to develop more trouble than anything else… In reality, determined by the use you are going to make of your car, it can become clogged and bring about you a lot of complications. If this is the case, you are most likely wanting to know how to clean the EGR valve of your Chevrolet Cobalt ? Don’t get worried, we’ve written this content to help you with this procedure. To do this, we will first check out the intent of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Chevrolet Cobalt can cause and to finish the section that will most likely interest you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Chevrolet Cobalt?
How to Clean your Chevrolet Cobalt EGR Valve: Role and Operation
Role of the EGR valve
The EGR valve of your car has been added to diesel engines primarily to reduce pollution released by vehicles and to fulfill EURO measures on Chevrolet Cobalt . 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 Chevrolet Cobalt , we will have a look at how it operates. As described just before, its objective is to clean the exhaust gases, 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 perform mainly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is sufficient to burn all these gases.
How to clean your Chevrolet Cobalt EGR valve: Identifying faults
The EGR valve, nevertheless very useful to limit the pollution emissions of your Chevrolet Cobalt , will unfortunately tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will build up in its mechanism, which will ultimately risk blocking the functions of the valve, until entirely blocking the engine unit, here are the signs of illness that a faulty EGR valve on your Chevrolet Cobalt can cause:
- Motor light on
- Performance loss
- Technical inspection refused
- Black gases
- Vehicle that grazes at low speed
- Low RPM settings
How to clean your Chevrolet Cobalt 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 ways that you can use.
Do it on your own
How to clean your Chevrolet Cobalt EGR valve system: Without taking it apart
Nevertheless this technique is less efficient, it is however possible to consider a “rough” cleaning of your EGR valve, in fact, 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 Chevrolet Cobalt.
How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly
Here is the strongest technique, which will require sufficient access to the EGR valve to conduct 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 guidelines are completed, 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 Chevrolet Cobalt.
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 auto parts that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Chevrolet Cobalt? In this instance, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex procedure, 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 determined by the difficulty of access is between 70 and 300 €.
Remove the EGR valve of your Chevrolet Cobalt
Finally, a number of people make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Rather than cleaning the EGR valve of their Chevrolet Cobalt, they simply prefer to block it in the closed position. This modification will have the outcome of greatly increasing the pollution released by the car, of no longer complying with pollution requirements, of having an engine warning light permanently on and in the end 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 hesitate to check out our dedicated page.
To get more tips on the Chevrolet Cobalt, take a look at the Chevrolet Cobalt category.
