You’ve probably already heard of the popular EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not usually appreciated by motorists because it tends to create more trouble than anything else… In fact, based on the use you are going to make of your vehicle, it can become blocked and bring about you a lot of trouble. If this is the case, you are probably wanting to know how to clean the EGR valve of your Fiat 500 ? Don’t worry, we’ve made this article to help you with this procedure. To do so, we will first take a look at the intent of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Fiat 500 can provoke and to finish the section that will probably appeal you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Fiat 500?

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How to Clean your Fiat 500 EGR Valve: Role and Operation

Goal of the EGR valve

The EGR valve of your car has been integrated to diesel engines mainly to lower pollution emitted by cars and to match EURO measures on Fiat 500 . It will consequently control the quality of exhaust gas output and reduce toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.

Operation of the EGR valve

Before we learn how to clean the EGR valve on your Fiat 500 , we will check out how it operates. As seen just before, its mission is to clean the exhaust gases, 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 operate principally at low speed because at high speed the combustion is enough to burn all these gases.

How to clean your Fiat 500 EGR valve: Identifying faults

The EGR valve, nevertheless very beneficial to limit the pollution emissions of your Fiat 500 , will regrettably tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will build up in its system, which will ultimately risk obstructing the operation of the valve, until totally blocking the engine, here are the signs of illness that a defective EGR valve on your Fiat 500 can bring about:

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

How to clean your Fiat 500 EGR valve: In practice

And now we’ll start the section you are most serious about, how to clean the EGR valve of your car. Here are the two solutions that you can use.

Do it on your own

How to clean your Fiat 500 EGR valve system: Without dismantle

Nevertheless this procedure is less efficient, it is however possible to consider a “rough” cleaning of your EGR valve, the reality is, you will only need to use fuel additives, similar 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 Fiat 500.

How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly

Here is the most beneficial procedure, which will require enough access to the EGR valve to execute the treatment on your own. 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 steps are achieved, 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 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 Fiat 500.

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 complications (removing too many parts that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Fiat 500? In this 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 perform the job more cleanly and will be able, if required, to change the valve if it is dead. The cost of cleaning based on the difficulty of access is between 70 and 300 €.

Remove the EGR valve of your Fiat 500

At last, 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 Fiat 500, they simply prefer to block it in the closed position. This manipulation will have the effect of greatly increasing the pollution emitted by the vehicle, of no longer complying with pollution standards, of having an engine warning light all day 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 be reluctant to check out our dedicated page.

If you want more guides on the Fiat 500, go to our Fiat 500 category.