You’ve likely previously heard of the popular EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not always appreciated by car owners because it is likely to cause more trouble than anything else… Indeed, dependent on the use you are going to make of your car, it can become congested and trigger you a lot of complications. If this is the situation, you are likely concerned about how to clean the EGR valve of your Ford F 550 ? Don’t be anxious, we’ve prepared this content page to help you with this process. To achieve this, we will first check out the role of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Ford F 550 can bring on and finally the part that will likely concern you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Ford F 550?

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How to Clean your Ford F 550 EGR Valve: Role and Operation

Goal of the EGR valve

The EGR valve of your car has been integrated to diesel engines primarily to reduce pollution emitted by cars and to fulfill EURO standards on Ford F 550 . It will therefore control 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 Ford F 550 , we will take a look at how it operates. As described just before, its task is to clean the exhaust fumes, so it will be installed 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 work principally at low speed because at high speed the combustion is enough to burn all these gases.

How to clean your Ford F 550 EGR valve: Identifying faults

The EGR valve, nevertheless very useful to limit the pollution emissions of your Ford F 550 , will sadly tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will accumulate in its system, which will eventually risk obstructing the operation of the valve, until completely blocking the engine motor, here are the symptoms that a defective EGR valve on your Ford F 550 can provoke:

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

How to clean your Ford F 550 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 yourself

How to clean your Ford F 550 EGR valve system: Without taking it apart

Although this technique is less effective, it is however possible to consider a “rough” cleaning of your EGR valve, the truth is, you will only need to use fuel additives, similar 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 Ford F 550.

How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly

Here is the strongest technique, which will require enough access to the EGR valve to conduct the process on your own. If so, the procedure is fairly easy. 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 simple steps are achieved, now comes the time for cleaning. To get this done, 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 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 F 550.

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 complications (removing too many elements that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Ford F 550? In this instance, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex process, 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 dependent on the difficulty of access is between 70 and 300 €.

Remove the EGR valve of your Ford F 550

At last, some individuals make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Rather than cleaning the EGR valve of their Ford F 550, they just choose to block it in the closed position. This modification will have the consequence 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 finally risk fouling the engine. We strongly suggest 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.

To discover more tips on the Ford F 550, take a look at the Ford F 550 category.