The EGR service is a bit beyond my talents. What can I expect to pay?

1000 bucks

 

You can do it!

It's the 3rd gen rite of passage...

 

agree on the one large

 

What I’d do is buy the spare parts for each piece then engage a mechanic to do the swaps .

Then you’re ready for the next time.

Good luck and keep us posted .

 

New parts you're looking at around $500, at least: way overpriced. Used, you can get valve and cooler together, for around $100.

Even cheaper: clean what you've got, if mechanic can put up with your car for a day or two, or comes to you.

Still, it's really not that hard, read the EGR cleaning thread right through.

EGR & Intake Manifold Clean Results | PriusChat

 

A reasonable price for the plugs would be parts plus maybe $75.

Watch the @NutzAboutBolts video? It's just a lot of pita parts removal for access. Dry thread torque is 15 ft/lb, and socket size is 9/16" or 14 mm.

 

I will charge 300 if your willing to drive to Columbia

 

FWIW -- my local Hybrid repair shop was going to charge $460 total for cleaning the (1) Throttle Body (2) EGR Valve (3) Intake Manifold.
And, I just did my plugs & coils over the weekend for $100 and 1.5hrs of labor. It really is easy. The bulk of the job is really just unscrewing the upper/lower cowl. Seriously, 15 steps.

That's here in SC -- don't know about other areas, but there ya go.

 

I paid my local mom-and-pop's mechanic to take off the parts, let me clean them overnight, and then install them the next morning.

Total cost was about $250.

 

That's incredible. I figured the labor for removing and re-installing all the parts would've made it at least twice as much.

 

$300 + gas to get to Columbia.

 

It took me a good while.

1. Remove wipers, motor/linkage and cowl, maybe an hour. I'm slow, lol.

2. Drain 2 liters of coolant from the radiator, to drop level below the complete EGR system, maybe 1/2 hour. Sneaky thing to do, works a charm. When done, pour the coolant back into the reservoir.

3. Remove the engine air filter box and snorkel, and the EGR pipe, maybe 1/2 hour.

4. Remove the EGR valve/cooler assembly, maybe another hour. Mostly fighting for access, the nut on a stud on the underside of the cooler. Impossible to see, barely possible to touch, really hard to get a grip on it with a socket, extension and ratchet. You will be loosening adjacent stuff, taking breaks, swearing. Sneaky thing number two: when reassembling, leave that one #!@& nut off, it's plenty solid still.

Also, be ready to catch the gasket when separating the cooler from the exhaust connection, it has no retention clips. Which leads to:

5. If you drop anything, you'll likely need to jack up the front and remove the engine underpanel, so add an hour for good measure.

So, in total, about 3 hours, to get the egr valve/cooler in your hands.

Budget an 8 hour day to babysit it, soaking in Oxi-Clean, if you go that route. Or 1/2 hour for @Raytheeagle 's pressure wash technique.

And likely another 2~3 hours to get everything back together.

Then, turn your attention to the intake manifold...

 

I keep the lower nut off of the cooler from each one that I do .

Maybe that’s my calling card?

But solid advice on leaving it off .

And the pressure washing method works well.

 

Slacker.

I contemplated leaving it off after the second time it fell but I persevered.

How much pressure/force does the cooler experience?

 

You asking about internal or external pressures ?

Since it rests on the stud, no difference .

Since there are 5 other fastening mediums, one less ain’t that big of a deal.

 

@Ragingfit has the entire EGR system, from the EGR pipe's connection to the intake manifold, back to the EGR cooler's connection to the exhaust pipe, free-spanning. Basically a bridge, it passes by the (4th gen) engine without touching it.

 

Let's read both, since you posited so nicely.

I would agree but Toyota might not. It's always a good thing to end up with extra nuts from a repair job.

 

I'll chime in on the idea that if you can manage it, do it yourself (or get helpful friends) and save the money.

I just finished a couple hours ago doing my EGR cooler/pipe/intake manifold cleaning along with putting in a new PCV valve and installing a oil catch can.

I took my time, gathered parts and tools on Saturday, started pulling apart the car on Sunday morning had the parts off by lunchtime and took a break to take care of some other stuff, came back later in the afternoon once it had cooled down and started spraying down the EGR cooler with oven cleaner, letting it sit for 30 minutes and spraying in some more, repeating that till the entire can was soaking inside the cooler for the rest of the night.

This morning I took it to the local spray wash and blew out all the gunk, so. much. gunk. Good as new. Manifold is very easy to clean with part cleaner and a brush kit I picked up at Harbor Freight Tools, make sure to clean out those EGR passages inside of each of the 4 ports. 3 out of 4 of mine were basically blocked and the 4th was not far from it. PCV valve is super easy since you have the manifold already off as well as the catch can install. All back together by 6 PM. Cleaned myself up and took the car for 60 mile spin on the highway and I can totally tell a difference in the power and how smooth the engine is sounding.

Good luck!