You’ve probably already heard of the well-known EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not usually appreciated by drivers because it tends to develop more problems than anything else… In fact, dependent on the use you are going to make of your automobile, it can become clogged and bring about you a lot of complications. If this is the situation, you are probably wondering how to clean the EGR valve of your Toyota RAV4 ? Don’t be anxious, we’ve well prepared this content page to help you with this operation. To achieve this, we will initially take a look at the intent of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Toyota RAV4 can provoke and at last the section that will probably interest you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Toyota RAV4?
How to Clean your Toyota RAV4 EGR Valve: Role and Operation
Goal of the EGR valve
The EGR valve of your car has been integrated to diesel engines mainly to lower pollution emitted by vehicles and to fulfill EURO measures on Toyota RAV4 . It will consequently control the quality of exhaust gas output and eliminate toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.
Operation of the EGR valve
Before we learn how to clean the EGR valve on your Toyota RAV4 , we will take a look at how it functions. As seen before, its goal is to clean the exhaust fumes, so it will be installed 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 enough to burn all these gases.
How to clean your Toyota RAV4 EGR valve: Identifying faults
The EGR valve, nevertheless very important to limit the pollution emissions of your Toyota RAV4 , will regrettably tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will build up in its mechanism, which will inevitably risk obstructing the functions of the valve, until entirely blocking the engine motor, here are the symptoms that a faulty EGR valve on your Toyota RAV4 can bring about:
- Motor light on
- Performance loss
- Technical inspection rejected
- Black gases
- Car that grazes at low speed
- Low RPM settings
How to clean your Toyota RAV4 EGR valve: In practice
And now we’ll begin the section you are most interested in, 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 RAV4 EGR valve system: Without taking it apart
Although this methodology 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, equivalent to the products used to clean the injection. These specific 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 RAV4.
How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly
Here is the best methodology, which will require enough access to the EGR valve to execute the treatment on your own. If so, the procedure is fairly easy. 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 do 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 RAV4.
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 auto parts that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Toyota RAV4? 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 dependent on the difficulty of access is between 70 and 300 €.
Remove the EGR valve of your Toyota RAV4
Finally, 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 Toyota RAV4, they simply prefer to block it in the closed position. This treatment will have the result of greatly increasing the pollution emitted by the automobile, of no longer complying with pollution standards, of having an engine warning light permanently 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 be reluctant to check out our dedicated page.
To find more tips on the Toyota RAV4, take a look at the Toyota RAV4 category.
