You’ve likely already heard of the famous EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not generally appreciated by motorists because it is likely to develop more trouble than anything else… Indeed, depending on the use you are going to make of your automobile, it can become congested and trigger you a lot of complications. If this is the situation, you are likely wanting to know how to clean the EGR valve of your Vauxkhall Astra ? Don’t get worried, we’ve prepared this article content to help you with this procedure. 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 Vauxkhall Astra can bring about and finally the section that will likely interest you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Vauxkhall Astra?
How to Clean your Vauxkhall Astra EGR Valve: Role and Operation
Goal of the EGR valve
The EGR valve of your car has been added to diesel engines primarily to reduce pollution emitted by automobiles and to meet EURO specifications on Vauxkhall Astra . It will therefore control the quality of exhaust gas output and get rid of toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.
Operation of the EGR valve
Before we learn how to clean the EGR valve on your Vauxkhall Astra , we will have a look at how it works. As described before, its mission 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 get rid of all unburned toxic particles. It will perform mainly at low speed because at high speed the combustion is sufficient to burn all these gases.
How to clean your Vauxkhall Astra EGR valve: Identifying faults
The EGR valve, nevertheless very useful to limit the pollution emissions of your Vauxkhall Astra , will sadly 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 motor, here are the symptoms that a faulty EGR valve on your Vauxkhall Astra can provoke:
- Motor light on
- Performance loss
- Technical assesment refused
- Black fumes
- Automobile that grazes at low speed
- Low RPM settings
How to clean your Vauxkhall Astra EGR valve: In practice
And now we’ll begin the section you are most excited about, 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 Vauxkhall Astra EGR valve system: Without taking it apart
Despite the fact this approach is less effective, it is however possible to consider a “rough” cleaning of your EGR valve, the truth is, you will only need to use fuel additives, equivalent to the products used to clean the injection. These particular 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 Vauxkhall Astra.
How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly
Here is the strongest approach, which will require sufficient access to the EGR valve to do the operation on your own. If so, the operation 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 done, 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 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 Vauxkhall Astra.
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 auto parts that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Vauxkhall Astra? In this instance, it would be better rather than launching yourself into an overly complex procedure, you turn to an auto mechanic. He will be able to carry out the job more cleanly and will be able, if necessary, to change the valve if it is dead. The cost of cleaning depending on the difficulty of access is between 70 and 300 €.
Remove the EGR valve of your Vauxkhall Astra
Finally, some people make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Rather than cleaning the EGR valve of their Vauxkhall Astra, they just prefer to block it in the closed position. This modification will have the consequence of greatly increasing the pollution emitted by the automobile, of no longer complying with pollution requirements, of having an engine warning light permanently 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.
Whenever you have any further questions about the Vauxkhall Astra, do not hesitate to consult our Vauxkhall Astra category.
