Stop using oven cleaner to clean EGR valves!

Рет қаралды 56,948

Күн бұрын

It will eat the aluminium of your EGR valve!
There are plenty of videos showing cleaning of EGR valves with oven cleaner. These will include variety of oven cleaners, Mr muscle foam and gel and other brands. Most EGR valves are made of aluminium, it is a great heat conductor. Most oven cleaners are made of potassium hydroxide (KOH) or sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or a combination of both. KOH and NaOH will react with the aluminium of your EGR valve and will dissolve it.
Stop using oven cleaners to clean your EGR valves. Use dishwashing liquid and a toothbrush. In this video I will show you what happens when you use oven cleaner to clean your EGR valve.
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Пікірлер: 115

@michaelbasher Жыл бұрын

Excellent advice appreciated. Oh, and you're a natural with your video presentation. Very good educator/ teacher...

@moremolecules Жыл бұрын

Many thanks indeed Michael, rather appreciated!

@lesleyavery7166 10 ай бұрын

Brilliant Explanation and a good warning to everyone including me!!!

@user-qe2iy3zi4d 2 жыл бұрын

Користм прилику,,гледам ваше видео прилоге,Феноменални су,поучни,мени је жао немам превод,користим логику и ваш рад.поздрав ,Сртбија

@chrisbutcher4497 9 ай бұрын

Thank you for the video and love the comedy. Saved me over 300 pound. 👍

@bobnicholls Жыл бұрын

Brilliantly explained, thank you. Would you use a proprietary Carbon Cleaner, or always detergent?

@shamrozanjum Жыл бұрын

Most people don't change a toothbrush enough, use this opportunity 😂

@ox-cetane4887 Жыл бұрын

best advice I have heard on youtube

@veerrajutv1642 2 жыл бұрын

After applying the oven cleaner, immediately brush it with toothbrush inside or outside, and clean with water within 5 to 10 minutes to avoid damage to the aluminum body. Mr.Muscle will mix with the dirt immediately, so better to start brushing immediately and avoid damage to the metal. Today I have cleaned my scooter engine, which is having a lot of grease and dirt. Within 5 minutes I could able to remove the entire dirt and see my entire scooter engine clean and new. After washing the scooter engine, I cleaned with a good towel. I am very happy with Mr. Muscle's oven cleaner, but as you said rightly, we should allow the oven cleaner to stay longer duration. Another observation is it will eat away rubber seals in the engine head. I had a very bad experience with oven cleaner during my motorcycle head cleaning. Now I am very careful and do not spray on rubber parts.

@moremolecules 2 жыл бұрын

I mean yes you can use it. I only made the video for people to be aware of what can happen and what is happening. There will be some aluminium eaten away, but if you are quick enough it will work. I prefer dishwashing liquid, it is much safer, but requires a bit more scrubbing with a toothbrush 🙂

@BarryBollox. Жыл бұрын

I Might try that elbow grease stuff. I heard it was good for mr muscle.

@rolandoxsandoval6943 2 ай бұрын

Very good! I didn't know thank you for sharing 👍

@RichieRich845 20 күн бұрын

The oven cleaner you used contains Sodium Hydroxide, yes it eates aluminium, try using Mr Muscle Oderless Oven Clean contains Alkaline Salts doesn't eat aluminium. Test on aluminium foil for one hour, no problems. I just cleaned my EGR and my EGR Cooler. I soaked the cooler overnight with petrol over night and placed in the ultrasonic cleaner for two hours and thought it was clean, until I used packing tapes to seal both ends, made a tiny hole in each end, used a different spray nozzle from my WD-40 with a straw and sprayed through one of the small hole until it came out of the other hole and it came out black. Mr Muscle Oderless Oven Clean is foaming and expands so it reached ever area of the intercooler and I left it in for an hour, rinsed with warm water until the water came out clear. Looking inside it was shiny like new.

@erzincanli Жыл бұрын

There is some various water based products on the market. Some of them are only for clean, some of them for clean and shine, some of them only for oven and also for carbon clean. The only thing should do put in a container warm water and add the product 1:3 or 1:1 ratio depends on how much part will need and leave the piece in for quarter or half hour, use in ultrasonic clean if you have, leave it for a day if carbon as thick as a finger, then rinse it with a tap water. You don't have to use mechanical clean. Carbon will be all gone and the piece will shine like a new part. This is for aluminium parts only. You can use it on engine wash with spray bottle too.

@jamesconnelly927 Жыл бұрын

very good video well explained

@curiosity2314 10 ай бұрын

Good advice.

@mesutkaya275 5 ай бұрын

bro, you are amazing !

@MrTeknown 9 ай бұрын

I've used Oven Degresear. It is liquid and makes a white foam, it cleans good. The disolved stuff gets into the foam and makes it like a brown liquid. Used it for EGR valve, for EGR cooler, even for the plastic maniforld and it did a great job. It says highly concentrated to remove grease and scorced grime. It is called Sano Forte Plus, don't know if you have it in your contry.

@west_park7993 6 ай бұрын

dude: oven cleaners are all alkaline. they will damage aluminum, but not plastic and not steel. go check your chemistry books.

@MrTeknown 6 ай бұрын

It is an aluminum block, not aluminium foil. It barely cleaned the black stuff and there is no visual loss of material, it just looks cleaner.

@west_park7993 6 ай бұрын

@@MrTeknown so, what is the difference between aluminum and aluminum? the foil is thin and will corrode much faster. the block material will corrode too. especially if you leave it long enough. so, why would you run corrosive solvent if you dont have to?

@MrTeknown 6 ай бұрын

@@west_park7993 the thing is that you will not put a hole in it by cleaning it. It is not gallium or something to really break it. There are of course other cleaning methods and solutions, but this is cheap and effective, decently fast and practical. You are not cleaning precision tools or microprocessors with it, but exhaust components. The valves will keep proper seal if you worry about it. You will not clean it daily, I did the cleaning for the full intake and egr valve and cooler on my A6 2.0 TDI 2010 (caha 170hp) at 245 000, used the spray oven cleaner and washed it with water.

@west_park7993 6 ай бұрын

@@MrTeknown there are mating surfaces, flanges. and there are surfaces where the piston moves and slides. these will corrode and will lose its geometry. anyway, do as you please.

@peteyourdoom 8 ай бұрын

Good warning!

@familieaa1968 Жыл бұрын

شكرا جزيل

@FlyHighWavesSounds 2 жыл бұрын

People are using Mr Muscle Foam and nothing work like it. No EGR cleaner. I tested all. I tested many chemicals on aluminium. After a rinse with an acid can even protect the aluminium like is made in Anodising. That drain cleaner can be acid like other ones up to 97% sulphuric Acid. Not Mr. Muscle but cleaning it right after will be fine. I cleaned my intake manifold, egr, and the valve and everything is fine. The worst thing is that will be a darker color if left for 24 hours but we are talking about minutes and nothing works better. I even tried to engrave aluminium with saturated Sodium Hydroxide that is in the oven cleaner and without success. It only goes on microscopic level on surface and in hot water a bit faster but i don't think will affect the build up. In the same way oil can enter in pores and can make the surface slippery.

@moremolecules 2 жыл бұрын

I agree that doing it quickly should work, but the reaction happens straight away and some aluminium will be eaten. If it is quick it will not do that much damage. I generally use any dishwashing liquid and a toothbrush, but I suspect that Mr muscle will clean it well inside where I cannot reach with a toothbrush.

@Way2Do 6 ай бұрын

I used hot water and two tabs of the dishwasher and a bit of Natron

@MichTuning 3 ай бұрын

very useful video. But I have a question: what can I use to clean the plastic intake manifold of a BMW? There is no aluminum present in these varieties

@moremolecules 3 ай бұрын

yes, absolutely, go for it

@jbone1383 2 ай бұрын

😂 yeah, what he said, go for it!! 🤷‍♂️

@owainglyndwr16 2 жыл бұрын

Never use tap water as a final rinse. Use De-ionised water. The mineral residue left by tap water causes oxidisation and the carbon sticks to the mineral residue. I have 3 EGR valve used in rotation between each service. 👍

@moremolecules 2 жыл бұрын

Hahaha, I assume that is ironic, but you may want to recalibrate your 3 EGR valves ;-) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ZtljbNeXztrTo6M.html

@captango 11 ай бұрын

Rain water is just as good.

@michaelbasher Жыл бұрын

I understand if the aluminium is hot, it won't be affected. Only affects cold aluminium.

@moremolecules Жыл бұрын

It is a chemical reaction, the hotter the components the faster the reaction. If it isvery cold then yes, the reaction will be slower.

@manueltereso3551 Жыл бұрын

And car light weels cleaner? Its for aluminium and reacts with other things. will you make a video?

@moremolecules Жыл бұрын

Ahh, not too sure about it. I can check it of course. The easiest is to use dishwashing liquid and an old toothbrush, it is just cheaper. TBH, anything will work that can dissolve carbon and it does not work on the aluminium.

@99ron30 Жыл бұрын

"cillit bang burnt on degreaser" works very well, I got my egr mostly clean with it. But then I got stupid and obsessed to try and remove every piece of carbon. So I also tried "oven pride gel", and straight away you see a reaction with the aluminium. It goes white colour at first and then I waited 45 minutes, rinsed it and now egr is dark in colour and the metal feels slightly rough as you described. Lesson learned.

@krazed0451 4 ай бұрын

How about mag wheel cleaner? :-)

@jamesruan913 Ай бұрын

I know this is a old video but I’d say it’s more of an educational lesson than ,what can we clean our EGR with ,the real subject really is aluminium manufactures coat the aluminium but people are unaware of this for many reason but just recently 2024 my chip pan which is coated with fix grease ,but manufactures coat with a “something” I decide to soak it overnight in Soda crystals and wonderful job of cleaning the grease started off as shiny aluminium but now it’s a dull colour electric fryer ,wonder at first to whether your still able to eat the fried items ,we cautiously eat and found no difference in taste - but a 2nd round in years to come maybe all another story.

@moremolecules Ай бұрын

Many thanks indeed for the comment. The video was meant to be kind of satire a bit.

@zeshanhussain1715 Жыл бұрын

TFR (non caustic) are better option. Just soak the cooler without any electical parts in a tub with some TFR(traffic film remover) which is used to was carbon film from lorries and vans. It works as a treat the soot falls out after few hours of soak. No need for scrubbing and it doesn't dissolve aluminium parts.

@moremolecules Жыл бұрын

Have not heard of TFR, but will definitely chek it out.

@christianrazvan Жыл бұрын

Yes the reaction is something but keep in mind that is just aluminum foil which is very thin and you left it in the product long enough, now compare it with the body of the egr which is several 100 s bigger and the time is short

@moremolecules Жыл бұрын

Yes, I agree that there is a mass of aluminium in the EGR valve and I have not said that the whole EGR valve will be dissolved. Nevertheless, the surface does not get just polished with the KOH/NaOH. You get molecular throughs, dimples and so on. So, these imperfections accumulate more carbon as the surfaces are not smooth enough. In other words, you get a lot more carbon if you treat the EGR valve with KOH/NaoH, kind of defeats the purpose, no?

@christianrazvan Жыл бұрын

@@moremolecules Well if that much carbon acumulates in 10 years with the polished surface and after the NaOH clean it gets dirty faster because of the microspores but say it holds at least 2-3 years before it fill up againg with carbon then is a fair trade off before you need to buy a new unit or scrap the car

@moremolecules Жыл бұрын

@@christianrazvan I agree that if one does not care too much or you expect to replace the car then it is alright. But the problem is that the next owner will have to deal with the more frequent cleanings of the EGR. I am on the opinion that a job has to be done well, not perfect but to a decent standard.

@jupiteradventure5284 Жыл бұрын

One issue. The foil is not pure aluminium, or else it wouldn't bend around your oven chicken. I think your test is extremely flawed by using foil as a base sample.

@backroadhustler8687 Жыл бұрын

Hes using thin aluminum foil, turbos are a hell if a lot thicker than that. And your not soaking your turbk in 100 oven cleaner. If your not putting water intk a squirt bottle and diluting your cleaner your doing it wrong. This guy clearly doesn't pay attention to how this job is supposed to be performed. Squirt bottle. Diluted oven cleaner. Spray every couple seconds for about a min. Then flush every couple seconds for another min. Done

@tonyrice3348 2 жыл бұрын

Hi, great video as usual, I followed your guide to remove my egr. I've replaced it 3 times, 2 second hand egr, none worked. I put a brand new egr on the car, my question is, do I need diagbox, or will a garage with a good autel scanner be able to program it?

@moremolecules 2 жыл бұрын

Yes, you would need diagbox with any EGR that was not there to begin with, second hand or new. I am not aware of any other software that can do it, apart from diagbox unfortuntely.You could be lucky though, the purpose of the recalibration is to tell the ECU the lows and highs of the new EGR, but a new one or second hand one could be within a few percentage points off from your old one, so kind if being lucky, but it will be stil not quite there.

@tonyrice3348 2 жыл бұрын

@@moremolecules thank you for the reply. I bought a new one from a parts shop it was £125 I think the brand is beckerman. I have a topdon artidiag and it fails anytime I try to program it. I have it disconnected for now I will get it to a garage with a better scanner, I will let you know! Keep the videos coming they are some of the best and most informative on KZfaq. Greetings from the North of Ireland 👍😁

@moremolecules 2 жыл бұрын

@@tonyrice3348 Thank you, really appreciated! Hope you will be able to program it. You only need the interface, the diagbox you can download from variety of torrents.

@tonyrice3348 2 жыл бұрын

@@moremolecules I had diagbox I paid £100 for it, I tried to program egrs with it and it failed every time. So I got rid of it and bought the topdon. It won't program them either haha. Now I must say it was used egrs and one new from eBay but the new one was a cheap aftermarket it only cost £55 I think, the diagbox wouldn't program any of them. There's a local Citroen specialist near me I will go see him next week.

@moremolecules 2 жыл бұрын

@@tonyrice3348 I also used an aftermarket one, the original was waaay too expensive. Hella, it was fairly cheap, but have not had problems with it for the last 3-4 years. Previously I bough a Haas (as in F1) one and from new it was non-stop giving me errors. It was sticking from new, the surfaces were not machined too well. The diagobx is a bit temperamental, depends on the version and other stuff. Once I programmed mine, I have not touched it and it runs on a very old XP laptop only for that, hahaha. The Citroen specialist should be able to program it fairly easy and hopefully cheaply. It is ~30min job, probably less.

@dieseltips 2 жыл бұрын

Awesome. You're not using the catch can any more?? Greetings.

@moremolecules 2 жыл бұрын

Not I do not, I had an annual car check (MOT in the UK) and had to remove it. I have not put it yet on the car. They will fail it because I have an emissions stuff on the car. I will have to do a video of the efficiency of oil catch cans, it is on the list of videos to do.

@gilbert643 Жыл бұрын

Use brake cleaner and it's OK. DECAPFOUR is the best.

@aplsms 7 ай бұрын

few notes: 1. EGR valve body made not from aluminum, but from aluminum alloy. 2. the body is a bit more "massive" than the aluminum foil 3. you can use "foam" oven cleaner, it is a very little working liquid that will apply to the valve. (better -- use special liquids) 4. there are a lot of special carbon cleaners and degreasers in the auto store. use them first. 5. TSP (heavy-duty cleaner) works slower, but better. 6. you should not do just soaking you need some mechanical work. Just notes -- you can ignore them.

@moremolecules 7 ай бұрын

I agree with these, but even though an alloy, still quite fragile and can be degraded.

@gesheepistemology8050 3 ай бұрын

What about the cooling pipe... logically that is smaller and first place to cool so it will have more carbon than EGR, ASV and Intake Manifold.

@moremolecules 3 ай бұрын

Yes, that would be clogged as well, but generally the first bit the gasses hit is the EGR, so most of the carbon will end up there, but the other will also be pretty clogged up. Need to do that one day.

@gesheepistemology8050 3 ай бұрын

@@moremolecules Thanks for reply. Just logically, it is 4 things that need to be decarbonized...I am waiting on the gaskets and rings, well just the rings now. I think cooler/EGR/ASV are a must and 40k km.... Inlet every 80k km. Haven't got to exhaust system yet... next bloody rabbit hole!!! Great little cars but some things that make it a pain in the arse.

@moremolecules 3 ай бұрын

@@gesheepistemology8050 Yes, these needs to be decarbonised, which is on my to do list for quite some time now, haha

@queensapphire7717 Жыл бұрын

Rinse with denatured alcohol.

@dennisvandinter3700 6 ай бұрын

HAHAHA🤣🤣🤣 "Good opportunity to change toothbrush"

@queensapphire7717 Жыл бұрын

Mopar sells an EGR cleaner

@S40TBS Жыл бұрын

You could use the wife's toothbrush 😂

@moremolecules Жыл бұрын

Yeah, could do next time😁

@alekseikurepin1433 Жыл бұрын

Да, да. Я все понял. 👍

@martinsrc8752 9 ай бұрын

Could I use petrol on the plastic manifold like this?

@moremolecules 9 ай бұрын

Yes, petrol works

@martinsrc8752 9 ай бұрын

@@moremolecules big fan of your channel Mr.! I'm doing a big job on this engine now. I'm not a mechanic but I have no choice..

@moremolecules 9 ай бұрын

@@martinsrc8752 Good luck with the job(s).

@martinsrc8752 9 ай бұрын

@@moremolecules discovered that the tip of glow plug fell in the chamber and damaged piston and head

@moremolecules 9 ай бұрын

@@martinsrc8752 Yeah, that could happen and it is tough, head off to get them out.

@agondokusumo-111 Жыл бұрын

What about baking soda?

@moremolecules Жыл бұрын

Good question and while I am not a chemist it does some that baking soda also reacts with aluminium. I would say the safest probably is just dishwashing liquid and good old elbow grease.

@johngibson1256 3 ай бұрын

Yes but is that aluminum foil caked in 100.000 miles of caked oily soot. No. Is the EGR valve coated. Yes.... Okay I figure since it's solid cast aluminum and coated a soak ion Mr Muscle overnight will only remove the sooty oily carbon build up.. Never did any harm in my Skoda fabia 1.9 Tdi or Golf 1.9 GTD It helped with the limp mode problems.

@madcat4563 Жыл бұрын

The oven cleaner thing got a 🤨, reaction from me the first time I saw it. There's a reason you don't find oven cleaner in automotive store.

@curtisj2165 Жыл бұрын

That Surf detergent in your cupboard would make an even better job of cleaning an egr valve. The biological powders eat grime

@moremolecules Жыл бұрын

Yeah, probably would be good as well. I prefer the dishwashing liquid, but the surf might work just as well.

@achohan8760 Жыл бұрын

What about WD40 is that ok to use on a egr valve ?

@moremolecules Жыл бұрын

I would not use it, it might get to a more sludgy mixture combined with the carbon from the exhaustl

@ianmaclean3422 Жыл бұрын

Cleaned my egr valve and then rinced with wd40 and dried off

@markymark9176 Жыл бұрын

CocaCola

@nicholasroberts6954 Жыл бұрын

You never know . . .in days to come . . Manufacturers may develop casting and finishing techniques for making the internal airways of EGR valves as smooth as a baby's bottom . .. . . which would, at a stroke, reduce carburetion and intake faults caused by carbon accumulation and this would . . . .at the cost of a few UK pounds per piece . . .increase customer satisfaction (Shock ! Horror !) . . . .give 'em a chance though, they've only had over 100 years to work the problem. (Satire this time). i've heard, from an unimpeachable source, that when the AI bots completely take over the VW/Skoda engine design department, re-designing the EGR manufacturing process or even dispensing with EGR valves completely will be top of tneir agenda . . No wonder they're trying to ban AI (More painful Satire !)

@moremolecules Жыл бұрын

Hahaha, this made me really laugh. In the name of customer satisfaction...🙂

@thecomanche1 8 ай бұрын

Go in first with dish soap and hot deionized water, then use muscle if there are tough deposits. Rinse out quickly with hot deionized water.

@dominicanwar363 3 ай бұрын

The word is gelatinous. If you have aluminium components in your engine less than 0.2 mm wall thickness, you have bigger problems than this. Oven cleaner FOAM works just fine, you are a funny fella. Are you Russian?

@bluebull399 11 ай бұрын

I've owned audis for 20 years and have always used Mr Muscle oven cleaner. My EGR will last 100k after a clean. Also use it to clean sticky turbo vanes and the intake manifold. Of course people are going to slate it. They want to sell you expensive snake oil and engine cleaning services.

@moremolecules 10 ай бұрын

I am not selling anything actually if you follow that video or any other videos of mine. I was only pointing out that this is a potentially dangerous thing to do. I also said that if one does it quickly then it should be ok, but I would not do it myself. Your argument that you have always used it is like the argument that my grandfather smoked 3 packs a day and lived till 100, it does not negate the overall damage done.

@queensapphire7717 Жыл бұрын

Buy a new one for $80

@moremolecules Жыл бұрын

A decent one is a lot more than $80.