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Cleaning EGR Valve

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Paulie102003

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Location
Hampshire
Car
Honda Accord
Hello all,

I used to work on petrol cars back in my younger days, paid my way through uni repairing them, including accident damage etc, however diesels are a new kettle of fish to me and I am still learning about them. I was speaking to a mechanic friend who has advised me that one of the leading issues on diesel cars across all manufacturers are clogged up EGR valves. Never had any exposure to these before so I have been doing some research however just want a bit of advice really. My mechanic mate says its really easy to clean them, but I havent done car mechanics, other than servicing the car which I do regularly, for over 10 years (since uni days), so I am feeling slightly hesitant - one due to not working on cars for a while, and second, being diesel.

My car, touch wood, is perfect - no mechanical problems whatsoever but I am considering cleaning the EGR valve as a precaution and a preventative step more than anything. How sensitive is this valve? Is it best just to leave it alone until it gives trouble? Where exactly is it located on the CDTi engines, how hard is it to remove (dont have workshop access anymore, so I can only do bits n bobs on the driveway), and what is best to clean it with?

Youtube has been virtually useless other than just generic videos, but I know that the accords are fussy things and dont like being messed around with too much. Basically, I am looking more for a guide as such on removing and cleaning it.

Any advice would be appreciated
 
Can't be cleaned on the Honda, all you will be able to clean is the inlet pipe. If it's not giving you any trouble then leave it alone. If you want a permanent fix, we offer an EGR OFF solution which disables the valve as part of a remap.
 
What are the advantages of turning it off?
 
The car smokes more :D

I can fully recommend Fahad doing a remap, the EGR off will prevent future problems from occuring - read the hesitation threads on this forum! Once you get a stuck valve you need to replace it you can't remap it after it's failed. If you also go for the stage 1 (or 2) remap you get a much smoother acceleration and a bit more power and torque as well.
 
How long does the car smoke for? Is it just for a few initial miles whilst it cleans itself out or is it a prolonged thing?

£225 notes? Sounds quite reasonable. I am not too far from Halifax. Might take a drive up there and get it sorted before the missus knows anything and starts coming out with other ideas of what to do with the money!!. Does that also include a diagnostic check of everything as well? To be fair, the car needs a good check over.
 
On mine it's clean and normal most of the time, but if I drive sustained for any more than say 20 minutes (like on motorway or around town on low throttle) then the next time I stick my foot down it smokes quite a bit for 1 or 2 seconds - after that it's fine again until the next time I'm driving at sustained throttle. Only guess is all that crud that would normally be going into the inlet on sustained lowish throttle is instead building up in the exhaust manifold, only to be blasted out when I put my foot down - I'm glad it's not all going into the engine though TBH.
 
The EGR valve can be cleaned can be cleaned here's a DIY for it. Soak it in IPA fluid to dislodge the carbon build up.

If you get the remap apart from the additional smoke on acceleration you will also need to budget for a new clutch as it will wear out far quicker.
 
I'd agree with Matt on the clutch, although I'd budget for one anyway if I owned an ICTDI - they like to fail for fun (although it's never a catastrophic failure - more an annoying in gear slipping which eventually becomes unbearable).

Regarding Carl's EGR cleaning thread, if you read it again you will see that effectively he is cleaning the ports, but not the internals of the valve itself. I stand by what I originally said, and have seen quite a few people attempt this now with some actually damaging the actuator (it's very sensitive and not designed to be manually opened and closed).

Soaking it in IPA fluid or thinners might help dislodge some deposits but it's not a guarantee of cleaning it.

I would suggest if it's ok, don't mess with it unless you are confident in handling sensitive pieces of engine kit.
 
I won't mess with it then as it is behaving itself. I was thinking more as a preventative measure. Clutch was changed about 8k ago as it was slipping. I don't drive the car hard anyways as most of the time, the kids are in it. I tend to potter about really.

I think the engine can do with checking over anyways for clearances, calibrations etc to make sure she is running as she should as I have only serviced it myself yearly.

f6had - I might try your remap tor better economy as long as the smoking isn't too bad. I have read some nice reviews of your mappings on this forum and would be nice as well if car did idle a little quieter and drove smoother. How much faster does it chew the clutch up bearing in mind I don't drive it hard but being smoother would be nice
 
If you've had the clutch replaced, then go with the Stage 1 EGR OFF. It's a nice linear power curve and if driven sensibly, should be handled just fine with the clutch. How quickly will it chew it up is not an easy question to answer, but I've done plenty of Stage 1's with stock clutches without issue (even some Stage 2's with the new revised Honda clutches).

Drop me an email if you are interested.

Cheers
 
When I had my 7th gen as Fahad said I only cleaned the ports.
Unless you no 100% what you are doing don't mess with anything else
 
brett said:
When I had my 7th gen as Fahad said I only cleaned the ports.
Unless you no 100% what you are doing don't mess with anything else
Click to expand...

Now, I'm confused. I had the EGR out on a diesel last week (the ****** was sticking) and I was able to strip it fully. Ok, this was the electronic solenoid one, I was even able to actuate the value to open and close. No problem cleaning it either.

I ***ume when you say the "ports" you mean the in/out section? But you can see the valve from here and clean it... what's the difference?
 
Totally different setup mate and located in different places on the pre facelift and post facelift engines. Once you try and split the vacuum operated unit, my understanding is from people that have tried it is that the valve becomes inoperative - presumably as a result of damage to the actuating diaphragm.

I'm only saying it can't be done as i'm yet to see it done, successfully. Happy to be proven wrong.
 
F6HAD said:
I'm only saying it can't be done as i'm yet to see it done, successfully. Happy to be proven wrong.
Click to expand...

Oh not here to be contentious, I have limited exposure to these and can only refer to my recent experience which was a different setup (pre-facelift) to the vacuum operated ones.
 
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