You’ve probably previously heard of the famous EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not always appreciated by car owners because it tends to cause more trouble than anything else… In truth, determined by the use you are going to make of your automobile, it can become blocked and cause you a lot of trouble. If this is the situation, you are probably wondering how to clean the EGR valve of your Chevrolet Colorado ? Don’t be anxious, we’ve made this article content to help you with this operation. To do 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 Chevrolet Colorado can provoke and finally the section that will probably appeal you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Chevrolet Colorado?

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How to Clean your Chevrolet Colorado EGR Valve: Role and Operation

Purpose of the EGR valve

The EGR valve of your car has been integrated to diesel engines primarily to lower pollution emitted by vehicles and to match EURO standards on Chevrolet Colorado . It will as a result 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 Colorado , we will have a look at how it works. As described just 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 work mostly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is sufficient to burn all these gases.

How to clean your Chevrolet Colorado EGR valve: Identifying faults

The EGR valve, although very important to limit the pollution emissions of your Chevrolet Colorado , will sadly tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will accumulate in its mechanism, which will inevitably risk blocking the functions of the valve, until totally blocking the engine unit, here are the symptoms that a defective EGR valve on your Chevrolet Colorado can trigger:

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

How to clean your Chevrolet Colorado EGR valve: In practice

And now we’ll start the section 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 on your own

How to clean your Chevrolet Colorado EGR valve system: Without taking it apart

Nevertheless this methodology is less effective, it is however possible to consider a “rough” cleaning of your EGR valve, in reality, you will only need to use fuel additives, equivalent 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 Chevrolet Colorado.

How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly

Here is the strongest methodology, which will require sufficient access to the EGR valve to carry out the treatment on your own. If so, the process 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 do 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 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 Chevrolet Colorado.

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 elements that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Chevrolet Colorado? In cases like this, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex operation, you turn to an auto mechanic. He will be able to accomplish 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 Colorado

At last, some individuals make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Rather than cleaning the EGR valve of their Chevrolet Colorado, they simply prefer to block it in the closed position. This manipulation will have the result of greatly increasing the pollution emitted by the automobile, of no longer complying with pollution criteria, of having an engine warning light permanently on and in the end 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 think twice to take a look at our dedicated page.

In the event that you have any additional questions about the Chevrolet Colorado, do not hesitate to consult our Chevrolet Colorado category.