You’ve almost certainly already been aware of the famous EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not usually appreciated by motorists because it tends to create more concerns than anything else… Actually, according to the use you are going to make of your car, it can become blocked and cause you a lot of concerns. If this is the case, you are almost certainly wondering how to clean the EGR valve of your Toyota Sienna ? Don’t worry, we’ve written this article to help you with this procedure. To do so, we will initially check out the goal of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Toyota Sienna can cause and finally the section that will almost certainly appeal you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Toyota Sienna?

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

Purpose of the EGR valve

The EGR valve of your car has been added to diesel engines mainly to reduce pollution released by automobiles and to fulfill EURO specifications on Toyota Sienna . It will as a consequence influence the quality of exhaust gas output and get rid of toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.

Operation of the EGR valve

Before we discover how to clean the EGR valve on your Toyota Sienna , we will examine how it works. As seen just before, its mission is to clean the exhaust gases, 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 get rid of all unburned toxic particles. It will work mainly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is enough to burn all these gases.

How to clean your Toyota Sienna EGR valve: Identifying faults

The EGR valve, nevertheless very effective to limit the pollution emissions of your Toyota Sienna , will regrettably tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will accumulate in its mechanism, which will eventually risk blocking the functions of the valve, until entirely blocking the engine unit, here are the symptoms that a defective EGR valve on your Toyota Sienna can cause:

  • Motor light on
  • Performance loss
  • Technical assesment refused
  • Black gases
  • Automobile that grazes at low speed
  • Low RPM settings

How to clean your Toyota Sienna EGR valve: In practice

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

Do it on your own

How to clean your Toyota Sienna EGR valve system: Without taking it apart

Despite the fact this technique is less efficient, it is however possible to consider a “rough” cleaning of your EGR valve, actually, 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 Sienna.

How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly

Here is the strongest technique, which will require enough access to the EGR valve to carry out the operation on your own. If so, the procedure 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 simple steps are carried out, 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 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 Sienna.

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 complications (removing too many auto parts that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Toyota Sienna? In this case, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex procedure, you turn to an auto mechanic. He will be able to accomplish the job more cleanly and will be able, if required, 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 Sienna

Finally, a number of people make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Rather than cleaning the EGR valve of their Toyota Sienna, they just choose to block it in the closed position. This manipulation will have the result of greatly increasing the pollution released by the car, of no longer complying with pollution requirements, 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 hesitate to check out our dedicated page.

To get more tips on the Toyota Sienna, take a look at the Toyota Sienna category.