You’ve likely already heard of the famous EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not generally appreciated by drivers because it is likely to develop more problems than anything else… Actually, according to the use you are going to make of your vehicle, it can become blocked and bring about you a lot of complications. If this is the situation, you are likely concerned about how to clean the EGR valve of your Mini Countryman ? Don’t get worried, we’ve well prepared this content page to help you with this operation. To do so, we will initially take a look at the role of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Mini Countryman can bring on and finally the part that will likely appeal you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Mini Countryman?

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How to Clean your Mini Countryman EGR Valve: Role and Operation

Goal of the EGR valve

The EGR valve of your car has been added to diesel engines principally to reduce pollution released by vehicles and to meet EURO measures on Mini Countryman . It will therefore control the quality of exhaust gas output and eradicate toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.

Operation of the EGR valve

Before we learn how to clean the EGR valve on your Mini Countryman , we will take a look at how it works. As seen before, its task is to clean the exhaust fumes, 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 eradicate all unburned toxic particles. It will function mostly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is enough to burn all these gases.

How to clean your Mini Countryman EGR valve: Identifying faults

The EGR valve, nevertheless very useful to limit the pollution emissions of your Mini Countryman , will sadly tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will accumulate in its system, which will finally risk obstructing the functions of the valve, until totally blocking the engine motor, here are the signs of illness that a faulty EGR valve on your Mini Countryman can bring about:

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

How to clean your Mini Countryman EGR valve: In practice

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

Do it yourself

How to clean your Mini Countryman EGR valve system: Without taking it apart

Even though this process is less effective, 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 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 Mini Countryman.

How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly

Here is the strongest process, which will require enough access to the EGR valve to accomplish the treatment 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 done, 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 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 Mini Countryman.

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 elements that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Mini Countryman? In cases like this, 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 necessary, to change the valve if it is dead. The cost of cleaning according to the difficulty of access is between 70 and 300 €.

Remove the EGR valve of your Mini Countryman

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 Mini Countryman, they simply choose to block it in the closed position. This manipulation will have the outcome of greatly increasing the pollution released by the vehicle, of no longer complying with pollution requirements, of having an engine warning light all day on and ultimately 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 be reluctant to take a look at our dedicated page.

To find more tips on the Mini Countryman, take a look at the Mini Countryman category.