You’ve most likely already been aware of the popular EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not usually appreciated by motorists because it has a tendency to cause more trouble than anything else… In actual fact, according to the use you are going to make of your car, it can become congested and bring about you a lot of complications. If this is the case, you are most likely wanting to know how to clean the EGR valve of your Ford E Series ? Don’t get worried, we’ve well prepared this content to help you with this process. To do so, we will initially take a look at the role of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Ford E Series can bring about and finally the section that will most likely appeal you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Ford E Series?

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How to Clean your Ford E Series EGR Valve: Role and Operation

Goal of the EGR valve

The EGR valve of your car has been integrated to diesel engines mostly to lower pollution emitted by vehicles and to meet EURO specifications on Ford E Series . It will as a consequence control 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 Ford E Series , we will have a look at how it functions. 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 reduce all unburned toxic particles. It will run mostly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is sufficient to burn all these gases.

How to clean your Ford E Series EGR valve: Identifying faults

The EGR valve, even though very effective to limit the pollution emissions of your Ford E Series , will unfortunately tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will accumulate in its mechanism, which will eventually risk obstructing the operation of the valve, until totally blocking the engine unit, here are the symptoms that a defective EGR valve on your Ford E Series can cause:

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

How to clean your Ford E Series EGR valve: In practice

And now we’ll begin the section you are most intrigued by, how to clean the EGR valve of your car. Here are the two ways that you can use.

Do it yourself

How to clean your Ford E Series EGR valve system: Without taking it apart

Despite the fact this approach is less effective, 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 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 Ford E Series.

How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly

Here is the strongest approach, which will require sufficient access to the EGR valve to carry out the process without help. If so, the procedure 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 accomplished, 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 even 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 Ford E Series.

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 difficulties (removing too many auto parts that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Ford E Series? In such a 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 do 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 Ford E Series

Finally, some people make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Rather than cleaning the EGR valve of their Ford E Series, they just choose to block it in the closed position. This treatment will have the consequence of greatly increasing the pollution emitted by the car, of no longer complying with pollution criteria, of having an engine warning light permanently on and ultimately risk fouling the engine. We strongly advise against making this choice. If you have other questions or want to learn more about your car, don’t hesitate to take a look at our dedicated page.

To discover more tips on the Ford E Series, take a look at the Ford E Series category.