Pics: EGR pipe at 230k miles

I'm a big deliver in the "don't fix it if it's not broken", do you think this car NEEDS a OCC?

 

It's got the pool of oil below throttle body. At next oil change I'll maybe take the PCV to intake manifold hose right off, see if that oil starts draining out. If it does, yeah, I'd consider cleaning it up and installing OCC. I'm kind of wondering if I could cobble something, say from an old Kirkland peanut butter jar lol. At least for starters, just to see what it catches.

 

I would say your usage scenario probably doesn't lend itself to a clogged EGR system, but there's no better time to do it if the cowl is already off. You do have to be a bit of a contortionist to do the job though. You have been warned.

 

How long did this take you? Being an amateur contortionist LOL

 

About 7 hrs. Got up early the next day to replace the cowl and refill coolant so wife could use the car. I still thought the EGR cooler could have been cleaner. *sigh* When symtoms return, I'm just going to replace with new assembly.

 

That's what I do.

Have one in the hole ready and waiting for entry .

 

How did you and Mike get spares?

Honda minivan, go figure

 

Went to the local salvage yard and for $100 for the egr valve and cooler, I was good to go.

A Honda from a Lexus . That equation is reversed, but to your benefit .

 

$100. great deal.

Needed more seats...

 

It actually works well as one has already been swapped at one of our meetups. Maybe @mmmodem will want to do his at 150 k miles soon. The way his wife is piling on the miles, that might be early next year.

A minivan instead of a limited HyHi?

 

eBayed from a 2015 salvage with 18k miles. $123 shipped.

 

of course....eBay

 

Having a spare cooler on hand saves having to rush the cleaning, if minimizing downtime is paramount. But what if it isn't? How long does a leisurely/thorough cleaning take? Would soaking in solvent for a day, with a few hours more intensive rinsing and running a wire through the passages do the trick?

 

Since I have no idea.......what kind of metal are these coolers made of? .......would "Super/Heating" be a possible way to clean......similar to cleaning a barbecue/grill?.......

 

A cleaning in a day can be done.

But sometimes life gets in the way of the best laid plans (especially when a job needs to get done to allow for mobility), so I plan ahead.

For a job that comes around every 100 k miles, I can prepare for it and minimize potential downtime.

 

Appears to be stainless to me.

Remember coolant is flowing on the shell side at ~195 F, so how much hotter do you want to go? And on the radiator side, the exhaust gases are well north of that.

 

Mendel, for you 15 or 20 minutes and a can or 2 of Brakleen (red can without yellow band around top, chlorinated, tetrachloroethylene - I can't speak for non-chlorinated green can or Cali red can with yellow band) would get your valve and cooler very clean. The solvent soak would vary based on product but Purple Power certainly has a decent rep for this application. I'd probably try acetone since generic brake cleaners seem to be based on it. Again, in your case, I'm guessing a day soak or an overnight would be fully effective and the wire drill not needed other than to satisfy curiosity.

Your car would add an interesting data point being low mileage and mostly low speed driven?... I'd expect the EGR circuit to be not bad at all but who knows. Tracksyder's PiP wins the low-mileage head gasket failure contest at ~31k, so low it almost seems throw away to me with regard to the data pool.

One thing is clear though, I don't think you will rest easy til you've seen your EGR circuit in the for real. I get it, though, and think it's time for you to dig in!

 

The only other data point on here that was low mileage (71k miles) is @mjoo 's and his was badly clogged. But it was used for many experiments prior to his ownership, so that may have played into it.

2 cans of Brake Kleen does the charm for me.

 

Another option might be ultrasonic cleaning. Would likely cost about the same as a used cooler on EBay though.

 

It's hard to beat the $4 a can of Brake Kleen option.