You’ve almost certainly previously read about the popular EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not generally appreciated by drivers because it tends to cause more trouble than anything else… Indeed, dependent on the use you are going to make of your automobile, it can become clogged and bring about you a lot of trouble. If this is the case, you are almost certainly wanting to know how to clean the EGR valve of your Subaru Crosstrek ? Don’t get worried, we’ve prepared this content page to help you with this process. To achieve this, we will initially take a look at the role of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Subaru Crosstrek can trigger and to finish the part that will almost certainly interest you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Subaru Crosstrek?
How to Clean your Subaru Crosstrek EGR Valve: Role and Operation
Goal of the EGR valve
The EGR valve of your car has been integrated to diesel engines principally to lower pollution emitted by vehicles and to match EURO standards on Subaru Crosstrek . It will consequently influence 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 Subaru Crosstrek , we will take a look at how it operates. As seen just before, its goal 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 run mostly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is enough to burn all these gases.
How to clean your Subaru Crosstrek EGR valve: Identifying faults
The EGR valve, despite the fact very beneficial to limit the pollution emissions of your Subaru Crosstrek , will regrettably tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will build up in its mechanism, which will eventually risk blocking the operation of the valve, until entirely blocking the engine, here are the signs of illness that a defective EGR valve on your Subaru Crosstrek can cause:
- Motor light on
- Performance loss
- Technical inspection rejected
- Black gases
- Vehicle that grazes at low speed
- Low RPM settings
How to clean your Subaru Crosstrek 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 on your own
How to clean your Subaru Crosstrek EGR valve system: Without taking it apart
Although this process is less efficient, it is however possible to consider a “rough” cleaning of your EGR valve, the truth is, 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 Subaru Crosstrek.
How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly
Here is the more effective process, which will require enough access to the EGR valve to perform the operation yourself. If so, the procedure is fairly simple. 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 guidelines 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 Subaru Crosstrek.
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 problems (removing too many parts that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Subaru Crosstrek? In this case, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex process, you turn to an auto mechanic. He will be able to accomplish the job more cleanly and will be able, if necessary, to change the valve if it is dead. The cost of cleaning dependent on the difficulty of access is between 70 and 300 €.
Remove the EGR valve of your Subaru Crosstrek
At last, some people make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Rather than cleaning the EGR valve of their Subaru Crosstrek, they just prefer to block it in the closed position. This treatment will have the effect 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 eventually 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 take a look at our dedicated page.
To discover more tips on the Subaru Crosstrek, take a look at the Subaru Crosstrek category.
