You’ve most likely previously heard about the popular EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not usually appreciated by drivers because it has a tendency to cause more problems than anything else… In reality, dependent on the use you are going to make of your vehicle, it can become clogged and cause you a lot of problems. If this is the situation, you are most likely concerned about how to clean the EGR valve of your Chevrolet Malibu ? Don’t stress, we’ve written this content to help you with this task. To do this, we will initially look at the goal of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Chevrolet Malibu can trigger and to finish the part that will most likely appeal you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Chevrolet Malibu?

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How to Clean your Chevrolet Malibu 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 match EURO specifications on Chevrolet Malibu . It will as a result control the quality of exhaust gas output and eradicate toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.

Operation of the EGR valve

Before we learn how to clean the EGR valve on your Chevrolet Malibu , we will check out how it operates. As described just before, its objective 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 eradicate all unburned toxic particles. It will operate principally at low speed because at high speed the combustion is sufficient to burn all these gases.

How to clean your Chevrolet Malibu EGR valve: Identifying faults

The EGR valve, despite the fact very useful to limit the pollution emissions of your Chevrolet Malibu , will regrettably tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will accumulate in its mechanism, which will inevitably risk obstructing the operation of the valve, until completely blocking the engine unit, here are the symptoms that a faulty EGR valve on your Chevrolet Malibu can provoke:

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

How to clean your Chevrolet Malibu EGR valve: In practice

And now we’ll commence the part you are most enthusiastic about, how to clean the EGR valve of your car. Here are the two methods that you can use.

Do it yourself

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

Despite the fact this approach 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, equivalent to the products used to clean the injection. These specific 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 Malibu.

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 yourself. If so, the operation is fairly simple. 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 simple steps are accomplished, 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 canal 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 Malibu.

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 Malibu? In such a case, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex task, you turn to an auto mechanic. He will be able to do the job more cleanly and will be able, if necessary, to change the valve if it is dead. The cost of cleaning dependent on the difficulty of access is between 70 and 300 €.

Remove the EGR valve of your Chevrolet Malibu

Finally, 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 Chevrolet Malibu, they just prefer to block it in the closed position. This treatment will have the result of greatly increasing the pollution released by the vehicle, of no longer complying with pollution criteria, of having an engine warning light all day on and eventually risk fouling the engine. We highly suggest against making this choice. If you have other questions or want to learn more about your car, don’t think twice to check out our dedicated page.

To get more tips on the Chevrolet Malibu, take a look at the Chevrolet Malibu category.