EGR Valve Cleaning

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I have a 2004 Mercury Marauder that obviously has an EGR Valve on it, deleting it will probably cause some problems so that may be out of the question.

I ran a bottle of Amsoil PI last summer and I am now doing a Maintenance Dose with Lucas Gas Treatment. I am wondering if the Amsoil PI is good for cleaning the deposits in the EGR Valve, and if this maintenance dose of Lucas Gas Treatment will prevent future deposits.

I am wondering if Redline Fuel Injection Cleaner would be a better product to use once a year to clean the EGR Valve.

Has anyone on here deleted there EGR Valve, I did it on my El Camino, but that does not have a computer on it.

Let me know if I am on the right track to use Amsoil PI every year or maybe I need to use it every 4000 miles instead. Also let me know any thoughts again on Lucas preventing any EGR Valve deposits.
 
Originally Posted By: c3po
I have a 2004 Mercury Marauder that obviously has an EGR Valve on it, deleting it will probably cause some problems so that may be out of the question.

I ran a bottle of Amsoil PI last summer and I am now doing a Maintenance Dose with Lucas Gas Treatment. I am wondering if the Amsoil PI is good for cleaning the deposits in the EGR Valve, and if this maintenance dose of Lucas Gas Treatment will prevent future deposits.

I am wondering if Redline Fuel Injection Cleaner would be a better product to use once a year to clean the EGR Valve.

Has anyone on here deleted there EGR Valve, I did it on my El Camino, but that does not have a computer on it.

Let me know if I am on the right track to use Amsoil PI every year or maybe I need to use it every 4000 miles instead. Also let me know any thoughts again on Lucas preventing any EGR Valve deposits.


LOL!

granted that your engine burns clean, I simply cannot see how adding combustible additives pre-combustion will help in cleaning EGR valve.

If deposits is of concern to you, and assuming that you want your car in it's very best shape, I would (a) take the engine up to temperature as often as possible: i.e. take it on an extended highway drive for hours, and (b) use high quality detergent gasoline, (c) keep your short driving trips to an absolute bare minimum.

Otherwise, you may have to do the manual scrubbing methond.

Q.
 
I have a notoriously problematic EGR on one of my vehicles, and I have used electrical contact cleaner on with sucess. It fails before I clean it and passes (barely) after. I like contact cleaner because it does not leave residue. My engine is a GM 4.3 with CPI. The EGR gets pretty carboned up and I have to pull it off to clean it.
 
I always make sure that this car gets up to temperature when I drive it, no short trips.
 
EGR only has exhaust going through it. Any fuel system cleaner wouldn't even reach it until it had passed through the combustion chambers and been burned. If you want to clean the EGR valve, you'll have to remove it.

That said, if you put in the effort, chances are you'll be pretty satisfied with yourself after having accomplished it. There's just something about washing hard gunk away with vicious solvents...

If you want to prevent future clogging, the best way is to make sure your engine burns cleanly. A good fuel system cleaner might help with that. Also try to use good quality fuel and a low-SAPS oil, and make sure your tune is good.
 
On my 4.6L (which I used to have) it takes less than five minutes to remove, inspect, and reinstall. But it never got dirty.

On my 302 from '91 vintage, it would get clogged up with carbon. I just used my one remaining clean finger to wipe it out, but I suppose you could also spray something in there.

What it is, is just carbon sitting in there, which causes the valve to not operate properly. Seriously, it's just a matter of wiping it out.

The trouble might be, once you have it off hopefully the gasket will still be good when you go to put it back on. Again, on my 4.6 the gasket held up fine and I was able to reuse it.
 
Originally Posted By: d00df00d
EGR only has exhaust going through it. Any fuel system cleaner wouldn't even reach it until it had passed through the combustion chambers and been burned. If you want to clean the EGR valve, you'll have to remove it.


EGR valves rarely go bad. Problems with the EGR valve are commonly due to a clogged (carbon) EGR passage. Shops will gladly sell you a $400 EGR valve, though.
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An EGR passage can be cleaned out with an electric drill and a length of frayed wire (old speedometer cable etc). If you then polish the EGR passage to have a smooth like glass finish, the passage will remain usually free of deposits.
 
Does anyone know about this BG EGR Valve Cleaning Service. I think they put some chemical in the EGR ports to clean them out, has anyone tried this.

Also, does anyone know how much it costs.
 
Why don't you test the EGR valve before you go ahead and damage or destroy its diaphragm with a solvent?
 
I cleaned the one on my 6.8L V10 F250. It was a pain to get off. Once off it is a really neat little device.

I took a few q-tips, dipped them in solvent and scrubbed. keep getting fresh q-tips with new solvent. After about 15 Q-tips the thing was like brand new.

Take apart you throttlebody and scrub that with solvent and rags. Make sure you scrub the butterfly plate real good.

Unplug the battery so the computer can remap air/fuel ratio with clean equipment, and BAM!!
Your engine runs smoother, and gets slight better MPG!
 
If the EGR valve is clogged with carbon, I bet 9:1 that the EGR port and passage are also clogged. Unless those areas are properly cleaned and polished you can clean the EGR valve until the cows come home. The "insufficient flow" code that often pops up is usually a clue at a clogged EGR passage. Shops LOVE to sell you a new EGR valve, though. They know you'll be back soon.
 
I go through this every year, no joke..on my 95 neon SOHC, i do alot of shor trips..Every year, my EGR cel goes off, so i remove the EGR, and the EGR tube and clean em out.. Whn i first took off my EGR tube,( wa like 5 years ago and had 60,000 miles) it was 95% closed up wtih thick black and dark grey caly looking matter...last year, the cell went off, but the tube was completely clean...so i sprayed valvoline and stp throttle body cleaner into the EGR, some naty black stuff comes out...I wonder why it goes off every year?
 
what mori said. almost always, it's the passage. a new egr valve will do nothing if the passage is clogged. i used to probe with a piece of hanger wire, and if plugged, i did exactly as mori said -- a length of speedo cable wire in a drill. not my idea, but it worked very well. every time, it was the the passage, and this cleaning job avoided buying a new part. this was done many times on friends/ family members' vehicles over the years. usually, a 3 beer job.
 
Someone very knowlegeable recommended that I use Amsoil Power Foam to clean the EGR passages.
 
Originally Posted By: c3po
Someone very knowlegeable recommended that I use Amsoil Power Foam to clean the EGR passages.


Then why bother asking all us amateurs here?
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Unless AMSOIL Power Foam polishes the EGR passage to have a smooth-as-glass finish, the passage will clog again sooner or later. Since you are unwilling or unable (removing the EGR is somewhat of a bother to the layman) to take a close look at the involved parts for yourself, I totally understand that you wish for a fix in a bottle. Don't we all?
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