You’ve probably previously heard about the famous EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not generally appreciated by drivers because it has a tendency to cause more trouble than anything else… In reality, based on the use you are going to make of your vehicle, it can become clogged and cause you a lot of complications. If this is the situation, you are probably concerned about how to clean the EGR valve of your Ford Fiesta ? Don’t get worried, we’ve written this content page to help you with this task. To do so, we will first check out the goal of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Ford Fiesta can reason and finally the section that will probably concern you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Ford Fiesta?

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How to Clean your Ford Fiesta EGR Valve: Role and Operation

Purpose of the EGR valve

The EGR valve of your car has been added to diesel engines mostly to lower pollution emitted by vehicles and to fulfill EURO measures on Ford Fiesta . It will consequently control the quality of exhaust gas output and eradicate toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.

Operation of the EGR valve

Before we discover how to clean the EGR valve on your Ford Fiesta , we will check out how it functions. As seen just before, its task 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 eradicate all unburned toxic particles. It will function mainly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is enough to burn all these gases.

How to clean your Ford Fiesta EGR valve: Identifying faults

The EGR valve, although very important to limit the pollution emissions of your Ford Fiesta , will sadly tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will build up in its mechanism, which will finally risk obstructing the operation of the valve, until totally blocking the engine unit, here are the signs of illness that a defective EGR valve on your Ford Fiesta can provoke:

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

How to clean your Ford Fiesta EGR valve: In practice

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

Do it on your own

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

Even though this procedure is less efficient, it is however possible to consider a “rough” cleaning of your EGR valve, in reality, 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 Fiesta.

How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly

Here is the most effective procedure, which will require enough access to the EGR valve to execute the operation 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 guidelines are achieved, 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 Fiesta.

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 troubles (removing too many elements that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Ford Fiesta? In cases like this, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex task, 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 Ford Fiesta

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

If you need more tutorials on the Ford Fiesta, go to our Ford Fiesta category.