slam2316
05-08-2003, 08:35 PM
ok, heres the deal. the EGR's in these cars SUCK... something about it and the engine just creates a lot of carbon buildup.
I had this problem and I still have the problem occasionally. I changed the EGR the first time, 180 dollars. that didnt
fix the problem. Someone on the old boards emailed me a fix for it. I finally got around to doing it. Believe me it is a
major Pain in the a$$. If you have a bad carbon buildup like i had you HAVE to take off the throttle body. its a bit of a
pain because there is a coolant line running right below it that is bolted to the throttle body. it will come off you just
have to work with it and use an open ended wrench a socket will not work.
*take off the throttle body(make sure to get a new gasket before doing this, most auto parts places and dealers do not keep
stock on this so you will have to order it.
*take off the egr valve (make sure you have a new gasket, you may be able to get one of these at the last minute.)
* in the top hole (right in the middle of the horseshoe shape) is the passage with the buildup
*my suggestion is to soak it with carb cleaner and start using an unbent clothes hanger to start working the carbon out.
*right directly inside of the throttle body is that same passageway, start working on that with a thin screwdriver
*the process of cleaning will probably take between 1-2 hours depending on how bad the carbon is stuffed in there.
*most likely if you have a carbon buildup in the EGR passage there will be carbon everywhere inside of the throttle body and
directly inside of the intake manifold. you make want to clean all of that out.
*when you finally get everything cleaned up and you are sure that the EGR passage is clear you can start putting everything
back together.
*give it time for all of the carb cleaner to dry and then start the car. Note - It may die the first time. It needs to
breathe and on the first time it sucked down carb cleaner (I'm sure you would choke if you sucked down a mouthful of carb
cleaner too, lol.) Hopefully this should fix your problem. If you still get your MIL (Malfunction Indicator Lamp) Warning
after this you may want to check and/or replace your EGR.
Here are the instructions for checking your EGR valve.
(Posted by Majorly)
You'll need a voltmeter for this and a couple jumper wires.
First things first.. Do this at your own risk! It's a tad tricky in some places and if you short something out... Don't sue
me.
On the top of the Digital EGR is a "Y" chaped connection which contains 4 pins. 1 Pin is the voltage, the other 3 are the
returns to ground through the ECM.
First off... the best thing to test is the "FUSE". Locate the ERLS fuse in your fuse box and confirm it is good.
Second... Pop the connection off the top of the EGR. Looking at the "Y" shape, the HOT/Voltage is at the very BOTTOM of the
"Y". With your meter to ground and the ignition on (But not started), Confirm that you have 12 volts on that pin on the
"CONNECTOR". (Not the Valve). If you do, GREAT! If not, recheck the fuse, If that's ok then a wire in your harness is broken
somewhere out to the EGR valve. You can continue with the next test if you want.
Turn the ignition back off but leave the connection off.
Now, be careful here.. Using 2 jumper wires and I'd hope alligator clips on one end... connect them to the battery and make
sure they are not going to fall off. Take the one connected to the RED terminal of the battery and touch the pin ON the EGR
that is at the BOTTOM of the "Y" and hold it there. Now, With the other wire, touch each of the other pins in turn (Be DAMN
careful NOT to short out the two wires!). When you touch each pin you should hear the thing shift in it's housing with a
click. Believe me, you WILL hear it. If you hear all three going CLICK. Great! Your EGR valve is probably OK.
If you get to one that does not click and you are getting fault codes for "that" solenoid. The coil inside it is burnt or
the wire is broken that leads to it inside the thing. You may be able to replace just the one coil if you try hard enough.
If not, just replace the entire thing.
If you are getting a fault for a single solenoid, but it checks out ok with this test.. you may have a broken wire in the
harness.
If you are getting all THREE faults from your OBD and the EGR checks out fine and the fuse does too... It's probably plugged
somewhere. I'm hoping we can get the instruction to clean EGR's up somewhere on this site.
Alot of Digital EGR's are the same, I'm not saying this will work with ANY car... but it's worth looking into so save
everyone some money. You can't trust all mechanics to tell you the truth. Just the damn good ones.
I had this problem and I still have the problem occasionally. I changed the EGR the first time, 180 dollars. that didnt
fix the problem. Someone on the old boards emailed me a fix for it. I finally got around to doing it. Believe me it is a
major Pain in the a$$. If you have a bad carbon buildup like i had you HAVE to take off the throttle body. its a bit of a
pain because there is a coolant line running right below it that is bolted to the throttle body. it will come off you just
have to work with it and use an open ended wrench a socket will not work.
*take off the throttle body(make sure to get a new gasket before doing this, most auto parts places and dealers do not keep
stock on this so you will have to order it.
*take off the egr valve (make sure you have a new gasket, you may be able to get one of these at the last minute.)
* in the top hole (right in the middle of the horseshoe shape) is the passage with the buildup
*my suggestion is to soak it with carb cleaner and start using an unbent clothes hanger to start working the carbon out.
*right directly inside of the throttle body is that same passageway, start working on that with a thin screwdriver
*the process of cleaning will probably take between 1-2 hours depending on how bad the carbon is stuffed in there.
*most likely if you have a carbon buildup in the EGR passage there will be carbon everywhere inside of the throttle body and
directly inside of the intake manifold. you make want to clean all of that out.
*when you finally get everything cleaned up and you are sure that the EGR passage is clear you can start putting everything
back together.
*give it time for all of the carb cleaner to dry and then start the car. Note - It may die the first time. It needs to
breathe and on the first time it sucked down carb cleaner (I'm sure you would choke if you sucked down a mouthful of carb
cleaner too, lol.) Hopefully this should fix your problem. If you still get your MIL (Malfunction Indicator Lamp) Warning
after this you may want to check and/or replace your EGR.
Here are the instructions for checking your EGR valve.
(Posted by Majorly)
You'll need a voltmeter for this and a couple jumper wires.
First things first.. Do this at your own risk! It's a tad tricky in some places and if you short something out... Don't sue
me.
On the top of the Digital EGR is a "Y" chaped connection which contains 4 pins. 1 Pin is the voltage, the other 3 are the
returns to ground through the ECM.
First off... the best thing to test is the "FUSE". Locate the ERLS fuse in your fuse box and confirm it is good.
Second... Pop the connection off the top of the EGR. Looking at the "Y" shape, the HOT/Voltage is at the very BOTTOM of the
"Y". With your meter to ground and the ignition on (But not started), Confirm that you have 12 volts on that pin on the
"CONNECTOR". (Not the Valve). If you do, GREAT! If not, recheck the fuse, If that's ok then a wire in your harness is broken
somewhere out to the EGR valve. You can continue with the next test if you want.
Turn the ignition back off but leave the connection off.
Now, be careful here.. Using 2 jumper wires and I'd hope alligator clips on one end... connect them to the battery and make
sure they are not going to fall off. Take the one connected to the RED terminal of the battery and touch the pin ON the EGR
that is at the BOTTOM of the "Y" and hold it there. Now, With the other wire, touch each of the other pins in turn (Be DAMN
careful NOT to short out the two wires!). When you touch each pin you should hear the thing shift in it's housing with a
click. Believe me, you WILL hear it. If you hear all three going CLICK. Great! Your EGR valve is probably OK.
If you get to one that does not click and you are getting fault codes for "that" solenoid. The coil inside it is burnt or
the wire is broken that leads to it inside the thing. You may be able to replace just the one coil if you try hard enough.
If not, just replace the entire thing.
If you are getting a fault for a single solenoid, but it checks out ok with this test.. you may have a broken wire in the
harness.
If you are getting all THREE faults from your OBD and the EGR checks out fine and the fuse does too... It's probably plugged
somewhere. I'm hoping we can get the instruction to clean EGR's up somewhere on this site.
Alot of Digital EGR's are the same, I'm not saying this will work with ANY car... but it's worth looking into so save
everyone some money. You can't trust all mechanics to tell you the truth. Just the damn good ones.