You’ve likely already heard about the well-known EGR valve, the anti-pollution valve. It is not generally appreciated by motorists because it tends to develop more concerns than anything else… In actual fact, according to the use you are going to make of your vehicle, it can become blocked and bring about you a lot of trouble. If this is the case, you are likely wanting to know how to clean the EGR valve of your Volkswagen Routan ? Don’t be anxious, we’ve prepared this content page to help you with this operation. To do so, we will first take a look at the goal of the EGR valve, then what are the failures that the EGR valve of your Volkswagen Routan can bring about and to finish the part that will likely interest you the most, how to clean the EGR valve Volkswagen Routan?
How to Clean your Volkswagen Routan EGR Valve: Role and Operation
Purpose of the EGR valve
The EGR valve of your car has been integrated to diesel engines mostly to reduce pollution released by cars and to fulfill EURO standards on Volkswagen Routan . It will consequently influence the quality of exhaust gas output and reduce toxic particles, mainly Nitrogen Oxide.
Operation of the EGR valve
Before we learn how to clean the EGR valve on your Volkswagen Routan , we will have a look at how it functions. As described before, its goal 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 operate principally at low speed because at high speed the combustion is enough to burn all these gases.
How to clean your Volkswagen Routan EGR valve: Identifying faults
The EGR valve, nevertheless very effective to limit the pollution emissions of your Volkswagen Routan , will sadly tend to clog up because of soot/gas deposits that will accumulate in its system, 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 Volkswagen Routan can trigger:
- Motor light on
- Power loss
- Technical inspection refused
- Black gases
- Car that grazes at low speed
- Low RPM settings
How to clean your Volkswagen Routan 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 ways that you can use.
Do it yourself
How to clean your Volkswagen Routan EGR valve system: Without dismantle
Despite the fact this approach is less efficient, it is however possible to consider a “rough” cleaning of your EGR valve, in reality, you will only need to use fuel additives, equivalent to the products used to clean the injection. These specific 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 Routan.
How to clean your car EGR valve: With disassembly
Here is the best approach, which will require enough access to the EGR valve to perform the operation without help. If so, the operation 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 simple steps are done, 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 Volkswagen Routan.
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 problems (removing too many elements that hinder access for example), how to clean the EGR valve of your Volkswagen Routan? 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 carry out the job more cleanly and will be able, if necessary, 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 Volkswagen Routan
Finally, some individuals make a more radical decision to limit the risk of a failed valve. Instead of cleaning the EGR valve of their Volkswagen Routan, they just choose to block it in the closed position. This modification will have the consequence of greatly increasing the pollution released by the vehicle, of no longer complying with pollution criteria, 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 check out our dedicated page.
Whenever you have any further questions about the Volkswagen Routan, do not hesitate to consult our Volkswagen Routan category.
