Egr Valve Cleaning...

[tallahasseegreys]

I cleaned my egr valve after getting the 2-4-1 code several times over the course of a few weeks. I followed the instructions here on bay13. Excellent instructions.

I'd would recommend getting a mirror and setting it beneath the intake manifold after you remove the egr valve. This allows you to see the hole you're trying to clean out from the bottom. This helped me tremendously. It took me over an hour to actually clean this hole out. It was caked full with seemingly rock hard carbon deposit/goo. I actually ended up "digging" the gunk out from both the top and bottom of the hole with one of those paint can openers they give you at Lowe's when you buy a gallon of paint. It took lots of carb cleaner to loosen that stuff up. After I got the gunk out of the hole I soaked the end of a rag in carb cleaner, fed it through the hole and then "polished" the inside of the hole. The mirror also helps you to remove the egr valve gasket.

Also, if you don't have a hand vacuum pump to verify that the valve moves...you can just shine a flashlight into the hole where the temp sensor screws in while sucking on the vacuum port. Obviously this is not an OSHA approved method and you'll want to make sure it's kinda clean, but it'll get the job done. It's a bit awkward and you really have to look out of the corner of you eye cause it's so close to your face, but I was able to do it.

The worst part of this job was actually cleaning out the hole in the manifold. I was surprised by how much gunk was actually in there.

Thanks bay13.