You’ve most likely previously been aware of the famous EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not always appreciated by drivers because it has a tendency to create more problems than anything else… In fact, determined by the use you are going to make of your automobile, it can become congested and cause you a lot of problems. If this is the situation, you are most likely concerned about how to clean the EGR valve of your Mercedes Benz S Class ? Don’t get worried, we’ve made this article to help you with this operation. To do this, we will first look at the goal of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Mercedes Benz S Class can reason and finally the section that will most likely appeal you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Mercedes Benz S Class?

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How to Clean your Mercedes Benz S Class EGR Valve: Role and Operation

Purpose of the EGR valve

The EGR valve of your car has been integrated to diesel engines mostly to lower pollution emitted by cars and to match EURO requirements on Mercedes Benz S Class . It will as a consequence influence 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 Mercedes Benz S Class , we will take a look at how it operates. As seen just before, its objective 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 perform mainly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is enough to burn all these gases.

How to clean your Mercedes Benz S Class EGR valve: Identifying faults

The EGR valve, nevertheless very effective to limit the pollution emissions of your Mercedes Benz S Class , will sadly tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will accumulate in its system, which will finally risk obstructing the operation of the valve, until totally blocking the engine unit, here are the symptoms that a faulty EGR valve on your Mercedes Benz S Class can cause:

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

How to clean your Mercedes Benz S Class EGR valve: In practice

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

Do it yourself

How to clean your Mercedes Benz S Class EGR valve system: Without taking it apart

Even though this methodology 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 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 Mercedes Benz S Class.

How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly

Here is the more effective methodology, which will require enough access to the EGR valve to execute the operation yourself. If so, the operation 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 completed, 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 even 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 Mercedes Benz S Class.

Have it done by a professional

If, your EGR valve is not reachable 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 Mercedes Benz S Class? In such a case, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex operation, 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 determined by the difficulty of access is between 70 and 300 €.

Remove the EGR valve of your Mercedes Benz S Class

At last, a number of people make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Instead of cleaning the EGR valve of their Mercedes Benz S Class, they just prefer to block it in the closed position. This modification will have the outcome of greatly increasing the pollution emitted by the automobile, of no longer complying with pollution criteria, 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 think twice to take a look at our dedicated page.

If you need more guides on the Mercedes Benz S Class, go to our Mercedes Benz S Class category.