You’ve almost certainly previously been aware of the popular EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not always appreciated by drivers because it has a tendency to develop more problems than anything else… In actual fact, dependant upon the use you are going to make of your vehicle, it can become blocked and bring about you a lot of trouble. If this is the situation, you are almost certainly wondering how to clean the EGR valve of your Ford Focus ? Don’t stress, we’ve prepared this content page to help you with this process. To achieve this, we will first look at the intent of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Ford Focus can cause and finally the section that will almost certainly interest you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Ford Focus?
How to Clean your Ford Focus EGR Valve: Role and Operation
Role of the EGR valve
The EGR valve of your car has been integrated to diesel engines primarily to lower pollution released by vehicles and to meet EURO standards on Ford Focus . It will as a result control the quality of exhaust gas output and get rid of toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.
Operation of the EGR valve
Before we discover how to clean the EGR valve on your Ford Focus , we will take a look at how it operates. As described just before, its task is to clean the exhaust gases, 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 get rid of all unburned toxic particles. It will operate mainly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is enough to burn all these gases.
How to clean your Ford Focus EGR valve: Identifying faults
The EGR valve, although very important to limit the pollution emissions of your Ford Focus , 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 totally blocking the engine, here are the symptoms that a defective EGR valve on your Ford Focus can trigger:
- Motor light on
- Power loss
- Technical inspection rejected
- Black gases
- Automobile that grazes at low speed
- Low RPM settings
How to clean your Ford Focus EGR valve: In practice
And now we’ll begin the section you are most serious about, how to clean the EGR valve of your car. Here are the two solutions that you can use.
Do it yourself
How to clean your Ford Focus EGR valve system: Without taking it apart
Although this approach is less efficient, it is however possible to consider a “rough” cleaning of your EGR valve, in fact, 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 Focus.
How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly
Here is the most reliable approach, which will require enough access to the EGR valve to execute the operation 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 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 as well 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 Focus.
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 auto parts that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Ford Focus? 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 dependant upon the difficulty of access is between 70 and 300 €.
Remove the EGR valve of your Ford Focus
At last, some people make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Rather than cleaning the EGR valve of their Ford Focus, they just prefer to block it in the closed position. This modification will have the consequence 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 eventually 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 think twice to check out our dedicated page.
To get more tips on the Ford Focus, take a look at the Ford Focus category.
