Do EGR valves need cleaning?

OpenToSuggestions · 21 Jul 2012 at 16:55

Hey all.

A conversation with a friend was about cars and how to maintain them.
He mentioned the exhaust gas recirculation valve and how they should be cleaned.
I quick google shows that there are sprays that you can squirt into them to flush all the **** out.

On my car (2007 Focus TDCI 2.0 78000 miles) EGR blockages are one of the more common issues.

So, is it a case of clean it out, or 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'?

bullit in head · 21 Jul 2012 at 19:23

I did mine at 30k just to have a look, there was a light dusting of soot on the inside, 1.5 dci Renault

Bullit

233 · 21 Jul 2012 at 19:30

Really depends on the car and how it's driven we run 2 vectra taxis one has never needed and egr valve cleaned in over 100k
Miles the othe gets done every 20k or so

Dave L · 21 Jul 2012 at 21:44

If it is working, leave it well alone!

DannyW · 22 Jul 2012 at 11:16

mine at 140,000 - volvo s60 d5

i cleaned it out but didnt notice much difference afterwards

Matt82 · 22 Jul 2012 at 11:27

And all that **** builds up in the intake manifold too

rodenal · 22 Jul 2012 at 11:52

Ill be doing mine soon on the civic, will take some photos of how manky/otherwise it is.

I have no real reason for doing so other than I've seen how some look with about 50k and I'm coming up towards 80. Oh and I believe the sprays shouldn't really be used - or only be used to help loosen the material that you're scraping out anyway . Careful with the inlet manifold ifyou clean it -anything dropped in there means taking it off, a ballache on most cars

lemonade · 22 Jul 2012 at 14:48

I think it depends on the car. On my car they get clogged up and can effect the performance of the car. I plan on checking mine at some point.

Heres a pic from club forums of how they can get clogged up with carbon deposits.

DannyW · 22 Jul 2012 at 19:51

Matt82 said:
And all that **** builds up in the intake manifold too

that got cleaned too wasnt too bad

Matt82 · 22 Jul 2012 at 20:26

I did the clean up to a few 1.9pd lumps years back, made a huge diff but they were 120k mile ish

Brookert · 22 Jul 2012 at 20:36

Do EGR get serviced/replaced as part of the manufacturers servicing schedule?

DannyW · 22 Jul 2012 at 20:45

no not unless they break

*Moangroan* · 22 Jul 2012 at 22:24

Brookert said:
Do EGR get serviced/replaced as part of the manufacturers servicing schedule?

It will not even get a look in unless the fault codes are read on the car. Not sure if they do this on a service.

If it did throw a code they will replace with new at your cost even if it did just need cleaning

Twentymac · 22 Jul 2012 at 23:08

lemonade said:
I think it depends on the car. On my car they get clogged up and can effect the performance of the car. I plan on checking mine at some point.

Heres a pic from club forums of how they can get clogged up with carbon deposits.

Wow thats quite bad, What car is that?

lemonade · 22 Jul 2012 at 23:20

^ MK6 Honda Accord. They are a common sight, worse thing is they clog the holes that go into manifold, which overtime can cause idle and performance issues, all this useless junk to meet emissions target set by the green brigade.

Check this vid from around 3.30, see how the holes are completely clogged: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8N-SE047VY&feature=plcp

Edit: Just reliased the title of the thread is EGR Valve

OpenToSuggestions · 23 Jul 2012 at 00:36

The bloke in the link creates really good tutorial videos

.