EGR valve preventive cleaning?

Soldato
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If you can be bothered, almost like any other service part you could take it off every few years and clean it, I dunno how best to do that, maybe submerge it in engine oil.

It certainly cannot hurt, I'd probably not bother but, it depends how much your time and willingness for hassle Vs peace of mind is.
 
Soldato
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Use V Power, i used it on my old Mondeo TDCi & i took it off to clean & even after 100k miles it wasn't really bad at all.
 
Soldato
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Depends what manufacturer your car is.

On some of the VAG models, the EGR is notoriously known for being a weak part, and causing problems, probably no matter how much care you take with it.
 
Soldato
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I did take it off my old Yaris just after i bought it at around 70k miles and it was caked in soot, cleaned it all out with brake cleaner. Took it off at about 110k and it was as clean as when i'd put it back on, i was doing motorway miles so i guess everything was working as intended, it was probably used for short journeys before.

It wasn't causing me issues but for the 10 mins it took to clean i feel it was worth it. Wouldn't want a big chunk of soot shooting back through the engine ideally.
 
Associate
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Service the car regularly with genuine parts (especially air/fuel/oil filters) and use quality oil, fill with quality fuel, try not to do too many short journeys in succession, occasionally give it a blast (up to red line) through the gears - but only when the engine is at operating temperature.
 
Soldato
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I've read lots of times that cleaning or blanking can cause problems too. Better to replace with an original part.

But could be the case of, there's a problem lets shout about it on the net and that's what I keep reading, rather than the success story.

My tranny van is starting to kick out some smoke when I put my foot down in first gear. My mechanic is saying it's probably the egr and he can clean it, but it would be better to replace.

If you can't do it yourself (like me) you could end up paying twice.
 
Man of Honour
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Depends what manufacturer your car is.

On some of the VAG models, the EGR is notoriously known for being a weak part, and causing problems, probably no matter how much care you take with it.

People talk about DPF a lot with diesels especially in the context of short journeys but it was the EGRs that were going if anything did on our old VW vans at work - currently mostly Mercedes and haven't been as "bad" for that (didn't happen commonly).
 
Associate
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well if its the right thing when i changed the engine on our honda diesel i took the egr valve off and pipework and went to local poundland type home bargains place and purchase 2 cans of there finest(cheapest) oven cleaner foam. gave everything a good coating inside and out and left them on the yard for 30 mins. came back and a good hosepipe clean most of the carbon was gone did it a second time to clear the rest, but the engine had done over 200k so was pretty gunked up .
 
Soldato
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The concept behind an EGR valve is bonkers in terms of longevity of the engine, it only leads to blocking of the intake manifold and gunking up the valves.
 
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Associate
OP
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Never had a problem with the DPF in any of my cars and most had done more than 100k. EGR valves was another story. I like the idea of using oven foam - should theoretically work fine.
 
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