You’ve most likely previously been aware of the popular EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not always appreciated by motorists because it has a tendency to create more problems than anything else… In truth, dependant upon the use you are going to make of your automobile, it can become blocked and cause you a lot of trouble. If this is the case, you are most likely wondering how to clean the EGR valve of your Honda Pilot ? Don’t stress, we’ve prepared this article content to help you with this task. To accomplish this, we will first look at the purpose of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Honda Pilot can bring about and finally the section that will most likely interest you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Honda Pilot?

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How to Clean your Honda Pilot EGR Valve: Role and Operation

Purpose of the EGR valve

The EGR valve of your car has been added to diesel engines mainly to lower pollution released by automobiles and to fulfill EURO measures on Honda Pilot . It will as a result 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 Honda Pilot , we will examine how it functions. As described just before, its goal 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 function mainly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is enough to burn all these gases.

How to clean your Honda Pilot EGR valve: Identifying faults

The EGR valve, although very important to limit the pollution emissions of your Honda Pilot , will regrettably tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will build up in its system, which will ultimately risk obstructing the operation of the valve, until completely blocking the engine unit, here are the symptoms that a defective EGR valve on your Honda Pilot can cause:

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

How to clean your Honda Pilot EGR valve: In practice

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

Do it on your own

How to clean your Honda Pilot EGR valve system: Without dismantle

Even though this procedure is less effective, it is however possible to consider a “rough” cleaning of your EGR valve, the reality is, you will only need to use fuel additives, equivalent 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 Honda Pilot.

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 conduct the operation without help. If so, the process 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 simple steps are finished, now comes the time for cleaning. To accomplish 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 Honda Pilot.

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 complications (removing too many elements that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Honda Pilot? 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 carry out the job more cleanly and will be able, if necessary, 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 Honda Pilot

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 Honda Pilot, they just choose to block it in the closed position. This modification will have the result of greatly increasing the pollution released by the automobile, of no longer complying with pollution criteria, of having an engine warning light permanently on and in the end risk fouling the engine. We strongly advise against making this choice. If you have other questions or want to learn more about your car, don’t be reluctant to take a look at our dedicated page.

If you wish more tutorials on the Honda Pilot, go to our Honda Pilot category.