You’ve almost certainly already been aware of the famous EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not generally appreciated by drivers because it tends to develop more problems than anything else… Indeed, according to the use you are going to make of your vehicle, it can become congested and cause you a lot of complications. If this is the case, you are almost certainly wondering how to clean the EGR valve of your Toyota Camry ? Don’t stress, we’ve made this article content to help you with this task. To do so, we will first check out the role of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Toyota Camry can bring on and to finish the part that will almost certainly appeal you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Toyota Camry?

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How to Clean your Toyota Camry EGR Valve: Role and Operation

Role of the EGR valve

The EGR valve of your car has been integrated to diesel engines principally to reduce pollution released by vehicles and to match EURO requirements on Toyota Camry . It will consequently control the quality of exhaust gas output and eliminate toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.

Operation of the EGR valve

Before we discover how to clean the EGR valve on your Toyota Camry , we will have a look at how it works. As seen just 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 eliminate all unburned toxic particles. It will operate mostly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is sufficient to burn all these gases.

How to clean your Toyota Camry EGR valve: Identifying faults

The EGR valve, although very important to limit the pollution emissions of your Toyota Camry , will unfortunately tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will accumulate in its mechanism, which will finally risk obstructing the functions of the valve, until totally blocking the engine unit, here are the signs of illness that a defective EGR valve on your Toyota Camry can cause:

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

How to clean your Toyota Camry EGR valve: In practice

And now we’ll begin the part you are most intrigued by, 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 Toyota Camry EGR valve system: Without dismantle

Although this methodology 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 Toyota Camry.

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 do the treatment 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 simple steps are achieved, now comes the time for cleaning. To make this happen, 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 Toyota Camry.

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 auto parts that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Toyota Camry? In this instance, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex task, you turn to an auto mechanic. He will be able to perform 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 Toyota Camry

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 Toyota Camry, 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 criteria, of having an engine warning light all day on and in the end 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 hesitate to take a look at our dedicated page.

To discover more tips on the Toyota Camry, take a look at the Toyota Camry category.