You’ve likely already read about the well-known EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not always appreciated by car owners because it tends to create more problems than anything else… In reality, according to the use you are going to make of your vehicle, it can become blocked and trigger you a lot of trouble. If this is the case, you are likely wondering how to clean the EGR valve of your Ford Escape ? Don’t get worried, we’ve written this article to help you with this process. To accomplish this, we will first check out the role of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Ford Escape can provoke and finally the part that will likely interest you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Ford Escape?
How to Clean your Ford Escape EGR Valve: Role and Operation
Role of the EGR valve
The EGR valve of your car has been added to diesel engines mostly to reduce pollution released by automobiles and to meet EURO measures on Ford Escape . It will consequently influence 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 Ford Escape , we will examine how it works. As described before, its goal is to clean the exhaust fumes, so it will be located 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 perform principally at low speed because at high speed the combustion is sufficient to burn all these gases.
How to clean your Ford Escape EGR valve: Identifying faults
The EGR valve, nevertheless very useful to limit the pollution emissions of your Ford Escape , will unfortunately tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will build up in its system, which will ultimately risk obstructing the functions of the valve, until completely blocking the engine, here are the signs of illness that a faulty EGR valve on your Ford Escape can cause:
- Motor light on
- Power loss
- Technical assesment rejected
- Black fumes
- Vehicle that grazes at low speed
- Low RPM settings
How to clean your Ford Escape EGR valve: In practice
And now we’ll begin the part you are most curious 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 Ford Escape EGR valve system: Without taking it apart
Nevertheless this approach 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 Ford Escape.
How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly
Here is the best approach, which will require sufficient access to the EGR valve to execute the operation on your own. 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 guidelines are done, 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 Ford Escape.
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 auto parts that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Ford Escape? In cases like this, 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 required, 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 Escape
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 Ford Escape, they simply prefer to block it in the closed position. This treatment will have the effect of greatly increasing the pollution released by the vehicle, of no longer complying with pollution requirements, of having an engine warning light permanently on and finally risk fouling the engine. We strongly 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 you need more tutorials on the Ford Escape, go to our Ford Escape category.
