You’ve most likely previously read about the famous EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not generally appreciated by car owners because it tends to cause more trouble than anything else… In fact, determined by the use you are going to make of your car, it can become blocked and trigger you a lot of trouble. If this is the situation, you are most likely concerned about how to clean the EGR valve of your Toyota Prius ? Don’t worry, we’ve written this content to help you with this process. To do so, we will first look at the intent of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Toyota Prius can reason and to finish the part that will most likely appeal you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Toyota Prius?
How to Clean your Toyota Prius EGR Valve: Role and Operation
Role of the EGR valve
The EGR valve of your car has been added to diesel engines mainly to reduce pollution emitted by cars and to fulfill EURO requirements on Toyota Prius . 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 Toyota Prius , we will have a look at how it functions. As seen just before, its task 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 eradicate all unburned toxic particles. It will function mostly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is sufficient to burn all these gases.
How to clean your Toyota Prius EGR valve: Identifying faults
The EGR valve, despite the fact very beneficial to limit the pollution emissions of your Toyota Prius , will regrettably tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will build up in its system, which will finally risk obstructing the operation of the valve, until entirely blocking the engine motor, here are the symptoms that a defective EGR valve on your Toyota Prius can bring about:
- Motor light on
- Performance loss
- Technical inspection refused
- Black fumes
- Car that grazes at low speed
- Low RPM settings
How to clean your Toyota Prius EGR valve: In practice
And now we’ll start the part you are most serious about, how to clean the EGR valve of your car. Here are the two methods that you can use.
Do it on your own
How to clean your Toyota Prius EGR valve system: Without taking it apart
Despite the fact this approach is less efficient, 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 particular 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 Toyota Prius.
How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly
Here is the best approach, which will require sufficient access to the EGR valve to carry out the process without help. 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 accomplished, 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 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 Toyota Prius.
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 parts that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Toyota Prius? In such a 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 carry out 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 Toyota Prius
At last, some individuals make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Instead of cleaning the EGR valve of their Toyota Prius, they just choose to block it in the closed position. This manipulation will have the result of greatly increasing the pollution emitted by the car, 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 think twice to take a look at our dedicated page.
Whenever you have any further questions about the Toyota Prius, do not hesitate to consult our Toyota Prius category.
