EGR & Intake Manifold Clean Results

Thank you Rebound for that explanation! That answers some questions I had not asked!

The oil was on the bottom...the tops were clean. I was hoping it would be something relatively simple such as valve cover gasket...

The coolant level has never deviated from full in the past. I will be sure to watch the oil and coolant closely going forward.

Are there any other symptoms I should look out for in regards to a head gasket? I am aware of milky oil and coolant level dropping.
That is good to know that the engine can last a long time with bad piston rings.

In regards to the EGR valve, how can I test function of this? Just by removing the connector to see if the engine runs smoother?

 

I wonder if you over sprayed your throttle body with the cleaner and made the vehicle ran rich.

 

Thanks to everyone for all the great info in this & the other EGR threads (I like to THINK I read most of them - also, thanks to NutzAboutBolts, those videos add a tremendous amount of value to the community.

Will be diving into this Tuesday and will likely take the approach here (draining enough of the engine coolant to have it not all spill out when I disconnect/remove EGR components. One question - what do you mean by "burped the larger coolant pipes"? Can you elaborate on exactly how one does that? I will be leaving the bleed screw open while I refill & don't want to miss anything. Thank you again! -Dom​

 

Pour coolant back into the reservoir, say about half, with the vent open, keeping an eye on it. At some point coolant will start to flow out, and then you should shut it.

And then just give the larger coolant hoses, say the main ones at the radiator, a squeeze or two (the burp). Then pour a bit more, give them another squeeze, and so on.

I don't know useful that really was, but I'd like to think it chased the bubbles out a bit. Again, it got back to normal with a day or two of driving, reservoir level per usual.

 

Ugh - had a lengthy response all typed out and lost it when I tried to add a photo. Brass tax - this was HARD, but not impossible. Extra coolant spilled out as I removed the coolant hose (UNDERNEATH the EGR cooler) that goes to engine - this made getting to lower nut easier (for me - seemed like I could not get a long socket to sit properly & almost stripped it) but I dropped about a cup of additional coolant after that (seemed to be held at bay by vacuum). I had lost little to none with the four 'normal ones' but I had drained abut two quarts prior to starting, per Mendel. MANAGLED my hands, arms & body (had to lay ACROSS engine to get exhaust to cooler nuts & threaded bolts - NOT comfortable to lay on). Obscenities to Toyota and the world in general could be heard with some frequency. Longest part was the same as everyone else - back two nuts between exhaust and EGR cooler and underneath mounting nut. Re-assembly was comparably easy

Car not completely back together but this is the worst EGR valve I've seen. Also cleaned out IM & TB. Putting back together tomorrow.

Car stats - 2010, 137k (had it for 5+years & 92k), diligent on scheduled maintenance, burns about 1 quart every 5k (was worse until I did the BGR 44 treatment recommended by RaytheEagle), about 43 MPG (but speed on highway here is about 80 MPH, so I consider that quite good. Will advise once is all back together, bled, and tested. Thank you again, enjoy the photos!

 

What is "BGR 44 treatment"? I tried to look up. I would be happy for only 1l/5k mile... :/

Yep, that is pain, but lately I saw a video how to clean the VW 2015 2L TSI Intake, man, that looked like pain compared even to the Prius EGR. Now I can take off -almost- easily. I'm sure my back would hurt, but the first time was real pain, true.

 

Just leave that damn bottom nut on the egr cooler off, when reinstalling.

(I should have done that, will next time.)

Exposure and focus on your cooler pics makes it hard to discern, but I can just see: that is terrifically clogged, looks like hardly anything was getting through.

I've raised the shadows some:

 

It's EPR by BG109 (sorry, butchered the name), recommended by RaytheEagle in post #106, I think? Worked great for me...

 

"Exposure and focus" are relative terms on an iPhone - and ones I am altogether unfamiliar with..... I press the screen, let it autofocus & hope for the best.... Thank you for the improvement on the pic - a skill I lack...

Anyway, interesting thing is that, except for the OCCASIONAL rattle (once every two-three months, I'm GUESSING?), it ran GREAT. Also, aside from the oil in the manifold (more pics below - tried to include in order/as job progressed), the intake ports on the actual engine were relatively clean compared to others I've seen here. Intake manifold cleaned up nicely, as did the EGR pipe. I was lazy and bought a new EGR valve & cooler ('lazy' in the sense that I did not want to wait days for testing solutions & patient cleaning to clean the existing parts AND that I was too lazy to take it all apart again if something went wrong with my cleaning . Less left to chance, I guess. I will likely see how clean I can get what came off & see if it worth selling (but now I can take my time on it & do it right). Also changed spark plug and PCV valve while it was apart. Thoughts on the plugs?

Took it out for a drive today, NO errors (yet) - drives great & no leaks, that's all I was hoping for!! HUGE thank you to the people on this thread (Special mention to Mendel, Raytheeagle, & Nutzaboutbolts for responding to specific questions & those GREAT videos). Happy motoring!

Edit: updated with some spark plug pics

 

@dom1172

FWIW: Thoroughly enjoyed your excellent pictures.

 

One trick, you need both hands free though: compose the picture, then tap where you want good exposure (and focus). With the EGR "coal mine" pic, if you've done it right, you'll see it brighten right up.

Not doing that, it's setting exposure (and focussing) on the much brighter outer flange.

Funny thing: I'm loaded for bear photograhically, have multiple full function digital slr's. And what do I use? My iPhone...

 

Start your own collection.

I’m up to 9.

Soon to be 10 at the next meetup it sounds like .

 

Update: Have about 150 miles on car now, running EXCELLENT with no check engine lights!! My wife has been driving it (she has more of a lead foot LOL), so I have not checked MPG for a couple of days. Will update on any MPG changes in a couple more weeks

One question for those recommending OxyClean for EGR cooler - it's just the regular OxyClean powder with the laundry detergent, right? What ratio/mix do people find most effective? Thank you!

 

Should be enough to make a necklace now, no?

 

Yes, just regular powdered laundry additive. Figure out the volume of the cooler, mix a little less than that, as concentrated as you can make it. It likely won't all dissolve, so shoot in an little extra water, swirl it around and add it. Use as hot of tap water as you have. Typically that'd be a couple of heaping tablespoons per session?

Let it soak for close to an hour, before rinse and repeat. It took me about 6 sessions thus, to have it like new. That was only about 70K kms though. With high miles and heavy clogging you likely need to run wire through more. And/or pressure washer??

 

Here are the inlet and outlet of mine, as best as my phone can get pictures, at 92k miles. A reasonable amount of flashlight gets through.

Now if I can just get it all back together right tomorrow. This is deeper engine surgery than I've ever attempted before.

 

Hello everyone. Thank you for all the valuable info that you put into this thread!

I’ve also had rattle and rough engine during an idle and when pressing the gas lightly. The rattle goes away when I press the gas till the end. The codes were P0300 P0301 P0302 and P219A(Bank 1 air-fuel ratio imbalance)

Here is the things I’ve done so far:

- replaced spark plugs
- replaced PCV valve
- cleaned out all the EGR parts. They all had blocked carbons inside especially the EGR cooler radiator. Used purple power, brake cleaner, pressure washer and with metal wire.

- my close friend replaced the head gasket(he has successfully done this to 2-3 Prius’es already).

I’m still having the same codes after all these works. I have saw the comments about IM small EGR channel could be blocked. But I tested with faucet water into IM’s EGR hole and I saw water coming out from all 4 holes. Anyways I tried clean IM’s EGR passages and saw some dirt came out with the brake cleaner fluid.

I was hoping that IM’s EGR passage was blocked but it looks like it is not completely blocked though. Now I’ll put back the cleaned IM and try again. If it doesn’t fix... I’m running out of ideas. Could be fuel injectors?

 

After cleaning, it went back together just fine, with no trouble codes. Those NutzaboutBoltz videos greatly raised my confidence. And I used Mendel's path of draining a couple liters of coolant first, instead of clamping off the coolant hoses.

After initially flushing it with brake cleaner, lacking a power washer, the most time consuming portion was repeatedly soaking and flushing the cooler with the concentrated OxiClean solution. Soak, flush, repeat many times over 18 hours, but the strong coffee color water and coke-pepper flakes just kept coming out endlessly, even though the fins close to the openings appeared clean. Needing to begin reassembly, I did one more flush with brake cleaner, then clean water flushes starting coming sorta clear right away. A power washer for the flushes would likely have sped up the process significantly.

I'm putting off the intake manifold cleaning, PCV valve replacement, and OCC install until spring, when it is warmer in the garage and I have a longer block of time to recover from any missteps.

 

I’ve cleaned the IM EGR passageways with a brake cleaner, purple power and cleaned the passage 20 inch brush and pressure washed. And put a new IM gasket while working on it. Unfortunately it didn’t help. I saw a YouTube two weeks old video from Gasket Master about disconnecting EGR valve connector to test if EGR is the culprit. And I did that but still shaking

Can someone suggest what could be the issue?