You’ve probably already been aware of the popular EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not always appreciated by car owners because it has a tendency to cause more concerns than anything else… In truth, dependant upon the use you are going to make of your vehicle, it can become blocked and trigger you a lot of complications. If this is the case, you are probably concerned about how to clean the EGR valve of your Volkswagen Rabbit ? Don’t be anxious, we’ve written this content to help you with this procedure. To do so, we will initially look at the intent of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Volkswagen Rabbit can bring on and at last the part that will probably appeal you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Volkswagen Rabbit?

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

Goal of the EGR valve

The EGR valve of your car has been integrated to diesel engines mainly to reduce pollution emitted by vehicles and to match EURO measures on Volkswagen Rabbit . It will as a consequence influence 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 Rabbit , we will check out how it operates. As described just before, its task is to clean the exhaust gases, 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 reduce all unburned toxic particles. It will operate principally at low speed because at high speed the combustion is enough to burn all these gases.

How to clean your Volkswagen Rabbit EGR valve: Identifying faults

The EGR valve, even though very effective to limit the pollution emissions of your Volkswagen Rabbit , will sadly tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will accumulate in its system, which will finally risk obstructing the operation of the valve, until entirely blocking the engine motor, here are the signs of illness that a defective EGR valve on your Volkswagen Rabbit can trigger:

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

How to clean your Volkswagen Rabbit EGR valve: In practice

And now we’ll begin the part you are most enthusiastic about, how to clean the EGR valve of your car. Here are the two approaches that you can use.

Do it yourself

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

Even though this approach is less effective, 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 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 Volkswagen Rabbit.

How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly

Here is the most effective approach, which will require enough access to the EGR valve to conduct the process 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 achieved, 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 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 Rabbit.

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 Volkswagen Rabbit? 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 do the job more cleanly and will be able, if required, 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 Rabbit

At last, 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 Volkswagen Rabbit, they simply choose to block it in the closed position. This modification will have the consequence of greatly increasing the pollution emitted by the vehicle, of no longer complying with pollution standards, of having an engine warning light all day on and ultimately 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 Volkswagen Rabbit, do not hesitate to consult our Volkswagen Rabbit category.