You’ve most likely already been aware of the well-known EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not generally appreciated by drivers because it is likely to cause more problems than anything else… In truth, dependant upon the use you are going to make of your car, it can become congested and cause you a lot of problems. If this is the situation, you are most likely wanting to know how to clean the EGR valve of your Hyundai Santa Fe ? Don’t worry, we’ve well prepared this article content to help you with this procedure. To do so, we will first look at the goal of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Hyundai Santa Fe can bring on and at last the section that will most likely concern you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Hyundai Santa Fe?

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How to Clean your Hyundai Santa Fe EGR Valve: Role and Operation

Role of the EGR valve

The EGR valve of your car has been integrated to diesel engines mainly to lower pollution released by automobiles and to match EURO standards on Hyundai Santa Fe . It will therefore control the quality of exhaust gas output and reduce toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.

Operation of the EGR valve

Before we learn how to clean the EGR valve on your Hyundai Santa Fe , we will have a look at how it operates. As seen before, its goal 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 reduce all unburned toxic particles. It will work mainly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is sufficient to burn all these gases.

How to clean your Hyundai Santa Fe EGR valve: Identifying faults

The EGR valve, even though very useful to limit the pollution emissions of your Hyundai Santa Fe , will unfortunately tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will build up in its system, which will inevitably risk obstructing the functions of the valve, until completely blocking the engine motor, here are the symptoms that a faulty EGR valve on your Hyundai Santa Fe can trigger:

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

How to clean your Hyundai Santa Fe EGR valve: In practice

And now we’ll begin the section you are most curious about, 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 Hyundai Santa Fe EGR valve system: Without dismantle

Although this methodology is less effective, it is however possible to consider a “rough” cleaning of your EGR valve, actually, 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 Hyundai Santa Fe.

How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly

Here is the most reliable methodology, which will require sufficient 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 carried out, 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 Hyundai Santa Fe.

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 Hyundai Santa Fe? In this instance, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex procedure, 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 Hyundai Santa Fe

Finally, some people make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Instead of cleaning the EGR valve of their Hyundai Santa Fe, they simply prefer to block it in the closed position. This modification will have the result 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 in the end risk fouling the engine. We highly 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 guides on the Hyundai Santa Fe, go to our Hyundai Santa Fe category.