You’ve almost certainly previously heard of the renowned EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not generally appreciated by motorists because it is likely to cause more trouble than anything else… Actually, dependant upon the use you are going to make of your vehicle, it can become clogged and bring about 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 Mazda 3 ? Don’t be anxious, we’ve written this article to help you with this procedure. To do this, we will first look at the role of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Mazda 3 can trigger and to finish the part that will almost certainly interest you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Mazda 3?
How to Clean your Mazda 3 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 automobiles and to meet EURO requirements on Mazda 3 . It will therefore 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 Mazda 3 , we will take a look at how it functions. As described 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 eradicate all unburned toxic particles. It will work principally at low speed because at high speed the combustion is enough to burn all these gases.
How to clean your Mazda 3 EGR valve: Identifying faults
The EGR valve, even though very important to limit the pollution emissions of your Mazda 3 , will sadly 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 totally blocking the engine, here are the signs of illness that a defective EGR valve on your Mazda 3 can cause:
- Motor light on
- Power loss
- Technical assesment refused
- Black fumes
- Automobile that grazes at low speed
- Low RPM settings
How to clean your Mazda 3 EGR valve: In practice
And now we’ll begin the part you are most serious about, how to clean the EGR valve of your car. Here are the two approaches that you can use.
Do it on your own
How to clean your Mazda 3 EGR valve system: Without taking it apart
Nevertheless this approach 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 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 Mazda 3.
How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly
Here is the more effective approach, which will require enough access to the EGR valve to carry out the process yourself. 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 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 as well 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 Mazda 3.
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 problems (removing too many auto parts that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Mazda 3? In cases like this, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex procedure, 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 Mazda 3
At last, a number of people make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Rather than cleaning the EGR valve of their Mazda 3, they simply choose to block it in the closed position. This treatment will have the effect of greatly increasing the pollution released by the vehicle, of no longer complying with pollution standards, of having an engine warning light permanently on and finally risk fouling the engine. We highly 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 find more tips on the Mazda 3, take a look at the Mazda 3 category.
