You’ve most likely previously heard of the well-known EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not always appreciated by drivers because it is likely to develop more problems than anything else… Actually, determined by the use you are going to make of your vehicle, it can become clogged and bring about you a lot of complications. If this is the case, you are most likely wondering how to clean the EGR valve of your Chevrolet Trax ? Don’t be anxious, we’ve well prepared this content page to help you with this procedure. To achieve this, we will first look at the role of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Chevrolet Trax can bring about and finally the part that will most likely concern you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Chevrolet Trax?
How to Clean your Chevrolet Trax 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 automobiles and to fulfill EURO standards on Chevrolet Trax . It will as a consequence influence 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 Trax , we will examine how it functions. As seen before, its goal 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 eradicate all unburned toxic particles. It will operate mainly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is enough to burn all these gases.
How to clean your Chevrolet Trax EGR valve: Identifying faults
The EGR valve, even though very effective to limit the pollution emissions of your Chevrolet Trax , will sadly tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will accumulate in its system, which will ultimately risk obstructing the functions of the valve, until totally blocking the engine unit, here are the symptoms that a defective EGR valve on your Chevrolet Trax can provoke:
- Motor light on
- Performance loss
- Technical inspection rejected
- Black fumes
- Car that grazes at low speed
- Low RPM settings
How to clean your Chevrolet Trax EGR valve: In practice
And now we’ll start 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 Trax 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 fact, you will only need to use fuel additives, similar to the products used to clean the injection. These particular 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 Trax.
How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly
Here is the more effective approach, which will require enough access to the EGR valve to carry out the treatment yourself. If so, the operation is fairly straightforward. 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 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 Chevrolet Trax.
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 problems (removing too many parts that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Chevrolet Trax? In such a case, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex procedure, 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 determined by the difficulty of access is between 70 and 300 €.
Remove the EGR valve of your Chevrolet Trax
Finally, some people make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Rather than cleaning the EGR valve of their Chevrolet Trax, they just choose to block it in the closed position. This treatment will have the outcome of greatly increasing the pollution emitted by the vehicle, of no longer complying with pollution standards, of having an engine warning light permanently on and ultimately risk fouling the engine. We highly recommend 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.
If perhaps you have any further questions about the Chevrolet Trax, do not hesitate to consult our Chevrolet Trax category.
