You’ve likely already heard of the popular EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not generally appreciated by motorists because it tends to create more problems than anything else… In actual fact, according to the use you are going to make of your car, it can become clogged and trigger you a lot of trouble. If this is the case, you are likely concerned about how to clean the EGR valve of your Chevrolet Silverado ? Don’t be anxious, we’ve written this content page to help you with this process. To do this, we will initially take a look at the role of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Chevrolet Silverado can provoke and at last the part that will likely appeal you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Chevrolet Silverado?
How to Clean your Chevrolet Silverado EGR Valve: Role and Operation
Role of the EGR valve
The EGR valve of your car has been integrated to diesel engines mostly to reduce pollution emitted by vehicles and to match EURO requirements on Chevrolet Silverado . It will consequently influence the quality of exhaust gas output and reduce toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.
Operation of the EGR valve
Before we discover how to clean the EGR valve on your Chevrolet Silverado , we will take a look at how it works. As described just before, its task is to clean the exhaust fumes, so it will be placed 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 reduce all unburned toxic particles. It will run mostly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is enough to burn all these gases.
How to clean your Chevrolet Silverado EGR valve: Identifying faults
The EGR valve, despite the fact very important to limit the pollution emissions of your Chevrolet Silverado , will unfortunately tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will build up in its mechanism, which will finally risk blocking the functions of the valve, until entirely blocking the engine unit, here are the signs of illness that a defective EGR valve on your Chevrolet Silverado can bring about:
- Motor light on
- Performance loss
- Technical inspection rejected
- Black gases
- Automobile that grazes at low speed
- Low RPM settings
How to clean your Chevrolet Silverado EGR valve: In practice
And now we’ll begin the part you are most excited about, 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 Silverado EGR valve system: Without dismantle
Although this methodology 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, 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 Silverado.
How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly
Here is the best methodology, which will require enough access to the EGR valve to execute the operation without help. If so, the process 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 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 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 Silverado.
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 problems (removing too many elements that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Chevrolet Silverado? In this case, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex process, you turn to an auto mechanic. He will be able to carry out 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 Chevrolet Silverado
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 Silverado, they simply prefer to block it in the closed position. This modification will have the result of greatly increasing the pollution emitted by the car, of no longer complying with pollution standards, of having an engine warning light all day on and ultimately 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 take a look at our dedicated page.
To get more tips on the Chevrolet Silverado, take a look at the Chevrolet Silverado category.
