You’ve most likely previously heard about the renowned EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not generally appreciated by drivers because it is likely to develop more concerns than anything else… Indeed, dependant upon the use you are going to make of your car, it can become clogged and cause you a lot of concerns. If this is the situation, you are most likely concerned about how to clean the EGR valve of your Volkswagen Golf ? Don’t worry, we’ve made this content to help you with this procedure. To do so, we will first look at the goal of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Volkswagen Golf can bring about and to finish the part that will most likely appeal you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Volkswagen Golf?

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How to Clean your Volkswagen Golf EGR Valve: Role and Operation

Purpose of the EGR valve

The EGR valve of your car has been added to diesel engines mostly to reduce pollution emitted by cars and to fulfill EURO requirements on Volkswagen Golf . It will as a result control the quality of exhaust gas output and reduce toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.

Operation of the EGR valve

Before we discover how to clean the EGR valve on your Volkswagen Golf , we will take a look at how it functions. As seen 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 reduce all unburned toxic particles. It will run principally at low speed because at high speed the combustion is sufficient to burn all these gases.

How to clean your Volkswagen Golf EGR valve: Identifying faults

The EGR valve, despite the fact very effective to limit the pollution emissions of your Volkswagen Golf , will unfortunately tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will build up in its system, which will ultimately risk blocking the functions of the valve, until completely blocking the engine unit, here are the signs of illness that a defective EGR valve on your Volkswagen Golf can cause:

  • Motor light on
  • Power loss
  • Technical inspection rejected
  • Black gases
  • Vehicle that grazes at low speed
  • Low RPM settings

How to clean your Volkswagen Golf EGR valve: In practice

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

Do it yourself

How to clean your Volkswagen Golf EGR valve system: Without dismantle

Despite the fact this methodology 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 Volkswagen Golf.

How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly

Here is the strongest methodology, which will require sufficient access to the EGR valve to perform the operation without help. 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 done, now comes the time for cleaning. To get this done, 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 also 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 Volkswagen Golf.

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 elements that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Volkswagen Golf? 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 carry out the job more cleanly and will be able, if necessary, to change the valve if it is dead. The cost of cleaning dependant upon the difficulty of access is between 70 and 300 €.

Remove the EGR valve of your Volkswagen Golf

At last, some individuals make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Rather than cleaning the EGR valve of their Volkswagen Golf, they just prefer to block it in the closed position. This treatment will have the outcome of greatly increasing the pollution emitted by the car, of no longer complying with pollution criteria, of having an engine warning light permanently on and finally risk fouling the engine. We highly advise against making this choice. If you have other questions or want to learn more about your car, don’t be reluctant to take a look at our dedicated page.

If perhaps you have any further questions about the Volkswagen Golf, do not hesitate to consult our Volkswagen Golf category.