You’ve almost certainly previously read about the famous EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not usually appreciated by motorists because it has a tendency to create more trouble than anything else… In fact, dependant upon the use you are going to make of your automobile, it can become blocked and cause you a lot of complications. If this is the situation, you are almost certainly wanting to know how to clean the EGR valve of your Ford Flex ? Don’t be anxious, we’ve made this content 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 Flex can bring on and finally the section that will almost certainly interest you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Ford Flex?
How to Clean your Ford Flex EGR Valve: Role and Operation
Purpose of the EGR valve
The EGR valve of your car has been integrated to diesel engines primarily to lower pollution emitted by vehicles and to fulfill EURO requirements on Ford Flex . 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 Flex , we will check out how it works. As described just before, its mission 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 eradicate all unburned toxic particles. It will operate mostly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is enough to burn all these gases.
How to clean your Ford Flex EGR valve: Identifying faults
The EGR valve, even though very important to limit the pollution emissions of your Ford Flex , will sadly tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will build up in its system, which will finally risk blocking the operation of the valve, until completely blocking the engine motor, here are the symptoms that a faulty EGR valve on your Ford Flex can trigger:
- Motor light on
- Performance loss
- Technical assesment rejected
- Black fumes
- Vehicle that grazes at low speed
- Low RPM settings
How to clean your Ford Flex EGR valve: In practice
And now we’ll start the section 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 Flex EGR valve system: Without taking it apart
Despite the fact this procedure is less effective, it is however possible to consider a “rough” cleaning of your EGR valve, in fact, you will only need to use fuel additives, equivalent 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 Flex.
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 conduct the process without help. 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 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 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 Flex.
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 troubles (removing too many parts that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Ford Flex? 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 do the job more cleanly and will be able, if required, to change the valve if it is dead. The cost of cleaning dependant upon the difficulty of access is between 70 and 300 €.
Remove the EGR valve of your Ford Flex
Finally, some people make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Instead of cleaning the EGR valve of their Ford Flex, they just prefer to block it in the closed position. This treatment will have the consequence of greatly increasing the pollution emitted by the automobile, of no longer complying with pollution requirements, 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 hesitate to check out our dedicated page.
Whenever you have any additional questions about the Ford Flex, do not hesitate to consult our Ford Flex category.
