You’ve likely already heard about the renowned EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not always appreciated by car owners because it tends to create more concerns than anything else… Actually, dependent on the use you are going to make of your car, it can become blocked and cause you a lot of trouble. If this is the situation, you are likely wanting to know how to clean the EGR valve of your Ford Ranger ? Don’t worry, we’ve written this content page to help you with this task. To do so, we will initially check out the role of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Ford Ranger can cause and to finish the section that will likely appeal you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Ford Ranger?

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

Purpose of the EGR valve

The EGR valve of your car has been added to diesel engines primarily to lower pollution released by cars and to meet EURO standards on Ford Ranger . It will therefore control the quality of exhaust gas output and reduce toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.

Operation of the EGR valve

Before we discover how to clean the EGR valve on your Ford Ranger , we will examine how it operates. As seen before, its objective is to clean the exhaust gases, 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 mainly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is enough to burn all these gases.

How to clean your Ford Ranger EGR valve: Identifying faults

The EGR valve, although very effective to limit the pollution emissions of your Ford Ranger , will unfortunately tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will build up in its mechanism, which will inevitably risk blocking the functions of the valve, until totally blocking the engine unit, here are the symptoms that a faulty EGR valve on your Ford Ranger can trigger:

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

How to clean your Ford Ranger EGR valve: In practice

And now we’ll begin the section you are most excited about, how to clean the EGR valve of your car. Here are the two approaches that you can use.

Do it yourself

How to clean your Ford Ranger EGR valve system: Without dismantle

Although this technique 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 products 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 Ranger.

How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly

Here is the more effective technique, which will require enough access to the EGR valve to carry out the operation 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 accomplished, 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 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 Ranger.

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 difficulties (removing too many parts that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Ford Ranger? In this instance, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex task, you turn to an auto mechanic. He will be able to accomplish the job more cleanly and will be able, if necessary, 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 Ranger

At last, some people make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Instead of cleaning the EGR valve of their Ford Ranger, they simply prefer to block it in the closed position. This treatment will have the effect of greatly increasing the pollution released by the car, of no longer complying with pollution requirements, 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 hesitate to take a look at our dedicated page.

To get more tips on the Ford Ranger, take a look at the Ford Ranger category.