Best way to clean EGR

How much money do you want to spend? How much time do you want to spend?
The pressure washer pretty much clears it out. Oven Cleaner eats the carbon.
30 minutes or so after the pressure washer and then pressure washer again to clean it out.

Depending on how bad it is, an hour or so to clean it out. If it really really bad, then it will
take a lot longer and more work. This is why it's BEST to get it early while it's still just soot.

If you have a spare cooler, you can let it soak in bucker of carb cleaner, or vinegar, or any of the
many different ways people spend hours and days doing.

 

If the EGR is completely blocked then brake cleaner isn't going to help much. I'd recommend pressure washer after loosening up the clog with any of the other methods.

 

I use brake cleaner, rags and brushes on everything but the cooler. Went well. On the cooler I started with brake cleaner, got nowhere fast, and had a big pool of brake cleaner to dispose of. Then tried repeated, one hour soaks-and rinses with concentrated/hot "oxi-clean versatile stain remover" solution. That got the cooler like new.

 

Putting aside the one hour soak/rinses, how long did disassembly and re-assembly take you? On a scale of 1 to 10, how difficult/hassle?

 

For disassemble/reassemble, maybe 3~4 hours for EGR components; there’s so much fiddly stuff. The intake manifold 1~2.

On scale of 1-10, maybe 8.

 

I found the best method is to run a coat hanger through every orifice and then rinse with water afterwards. I can see the light of day after

 

If you slip and that pressure washer hits your hand you're going straight to the OR

 

Super random but I used bicycle spokes to clean out the cooler. Standard 14g bike spokes that are at least 200mm long will fit in between the holes and they are stiff enough you can push it through and get most of the carbon out. A coat hanger wasn’t stiff enough for it to work for me. You can get them any any good bike shop you only needs a few in case you bend them.

 

I guess I forgot to go to the er then. I hit myself with the pressure wash all the time.
I guess it depends on the type of nozzle you use and how high the pressure is.
Mine is only 3200 psi.

 

I had very good success with pouring in a full gallon jug of purple power and very hot water into a 5 gallon bucket. Let the cooler soak while I set up my OCC. After soaking for about an hour or so I blasted it out with a pressure washer. Perfectly clean and easy. The egr pipe and valve is really easy to clean with just some brake clean. You can also soak the intake manifold in the purple power solution as well (I just replaced mine with a new one to save time). I would also recommend getting a bottle of MAF cleaner as you can use it to clean the throttle body MAF, and MAP sensor.

 

If purple power is caustic, it’ll likely react with the embedded metal inserts; unlike the cooler they’re not stainless steel. Do rinse very well, and maybe hit the inserts with brake cleaner or wd40 after.

 

Good point. I know they banned purple power and simple green from aviation usage (at least at the ANG base I work for as their environmental compliance guy) for corrosion. But talking with people it seems to only be an issue if you don’t clean it off. Has anyone had success putting the pressure washer in the egr port on the IM to blast out the carbon? I still have my old IM and never cleaned it. I’m willing to experiment with it.

 

Lol, I've never experienced a pressure washer that intense or I'm just not that clumsy. I used my local car wash and it took two trips; the first had me covered in water and carbon and only one clean passageway, the second trip I went back smarter and used a large plastic zip lock back with a hole cut in the bottom for the washer nozzle. The bag redirected the splash-back into the drain until the water could punch through the other side and I methodically worked it around until the entire thing was clean. It also helped to wedge the EGR cooler into part of the drain and kept a foot on it to make sure it stayed put.

 

Purple power is a strong base. It's sodium hydroxide like oven cleaner. It will melt brass and aluminum.

 

Nothing wrong with being coordinated, careful, and lucky. But let's not be cavalier about it:

The Underlying Danger of Pressure Washer Injuries EMRA

 

If you come in with a pressure washer injury to a confined space like the hand or foot I send you straight to the OR. Orthopedic has to do the surgical debriedment and insertion of a drain with vacutainer and IV antibiotics. I don't even need an x-ray to make the decision to consult ortho. Be warned: Do not use a pressure washer on an item that you hold with your hand

 

I don't really know the area of the point of a typical nail, but according to this it's about 1/100 of a square inch.

So a possible 3200 psi experiment would be to stand a common nail on its point on the skin of your hand, and lay 32 pounds of weight on the head of the nail, and see whether the nail enters your skin and deeper tissues.

I haven't tried this experiment, but I think if I were going to, I'd want a really clean nail.

 

From watching the video, this is over my head, definitely.

The independent mechanics where I live are worse than the dealer (hard as that might be to believe).
Is this something the dealer would do or would they just say, "we don't clean, only replace?"

Is this mostly a thing for older Gen3's before the ring modification or do the models with the updated rings require it also?

 

If you can manage an oil change, you can do this. Start by getting the #$&! nut off the stud, at the lower/rear bracket on the EGR cooler. You can do that with out disturbing anything else, and it won't be missed, you can leave it off. Better: back out the stud as well (takes an E8 torx socket), and leave it off permanently as well. The latter will facilitate removal of the cooler, allow you to leave on the two rearmost studs at the exhaust connection.

I managed this. I've never done suspension work, just basic maintnenace, like engine/transmission oil changes, spark plugs. I did valve clearance checks on our Hondas; that's about the most involved. Read the link in my signature, for tools required, tips and links.

That's exactly what they'll say.

That's been proposed here. I doubt it makes much difference; think it's the EGR system that's the main problem.