Hello all, I'm new here, this is my first post. I drive a 2012 v and currently going through EGR and cooler clogging issues as well as oil in the intake. I took it to the dealer and they are going to replace the parts. The quot is sooo expensive. It's not being worked on right now and I was thinking about having it towed back to my house where i might could replace these parts myself. Is it a big job to replace the EGR, Cooler, Intake, and Spark Plugs? That is what they were going to do. Thank you for reading.
Its pretty big especially getting the egr off and then cleaning it. But there are several youtube videos on it. If you have to tow it there are other problems. Egr and oil in the intake won't keep it from driving.
What’s the miles? Why does it need towing; it’s not mobile? What symptoms happening? Dealerships are hopeless. If money is tight (even if it wasn’t), DIY is pretty much the only way. Toyota is no help on this, dealerships will only replace parts, at sand-pounding expense. See first couple of links in my signature. I’ve just in the last month done ours a second time. In a nutshell: 1. Drain and save two liters engine coolant 2. Remove wipers and cowl 3. Remove engine air intake air filter box 4. Disconnect and tie off throttle body (no need to disconnect coolant lines) 5. Remove intake manifold 6. Remove EGR pipe and valve/cooler 7. Clean intake manifold and EGR components. (Good to also clean throttle body, and clean or replace PCV valve.) 7. Reinstall all 8. Pour save fluid back into engine coolant reservoir. (It’ll be a little high, should settle with drive or two)
Thank you for the replies and advice. It just hit 150k. I do door dash deliveries with this car so I've been putting the miles on quick the past few months. I didn't get it towed because it drove fine now. Drove it back home no issues. The reason i got it towed in the first place was because it was shaking real bad when the engine turned on. No lights came up so I thought it was something more serious. I've decided to replace the parts myself as I did look around youtube and found some helpful stuff. The parts replaced will be: egr and cooler, spark plugs, pcv, coils, and, corresponding gaskets. The intake manifold will be cleaned out. One of the videos i watched said it should get the software updated. Is that advised?
You can do this cheap. I did replace intake manifold gaskets when doing this (for second time) recently, at much lower miles, but old and new gaskets looked very similar condition. EGR valve and cooler can be cleaned, save you about $500. Then you’re really unleashing the parts cannon, with the coils; there’s likely nothing wrong with them. And spark plugs: were they already changed on schedule, 12 years or 120K miles. If yes, I would not touch them. I believe that’s only required if you replace EGR valve with revised version. My 2 cents again: just clean what you’ve got. First time I did this, my ONLY expense was cleaners: a can of brake cleaner, and a few scoops of Oxi-Clean Versatile Stain Remover (powdered laundry additive, mildly caustic, only use on stainless steel cooler). Second time sim, except about $30~40 CDN additional outlay for intake manifold gaskets. see first couple of links in my signature.
I DID IT! took all day but i replaced the egr/cooler and spark plugs. The intake manifold was cleaned the best I could do but it still was a little gross. Maybe another time I'll really get in there and make it sparkle. The plugs had never been changed I don't think. Not since I've owned it and doesn't show up on the Carfax. That was a battle today but I came out on top. Minus one 12mm socket which dropped into the ether. My concerns: I forgot to drain the coolant and ended up topping it off with some auto store 'Peak" antifreeze. I hope it can play nice with the Toyota stuff. Is it worth it to do a oil catch can? Does that help prevent this mess? I used NGK plugs but pulled out Denso. Should I have bought the latter? Are they better? I will wait on the coils. They seemed fine/clean. Other than that, it works good now, no more shaking! Thanks again!
I would wait a couple weeks to ensure your maintenance has resolved the rattling. At that point, I would consider changing the coolant to the recommended Toyota formula.
Clean the old ones. oil catch can on the PCV circuit will help with the intake “soup”. See first link in my signature.
That likely depends on whether you used a Peak version specifically labelled as equivalent to modern Asian coolant formulas.
Denso and NGK are both good brands. More important will be whether the NGKs you bought are really NGKs. They probably are, if you bought them from a dealer or a known brick-and-mortar auto parts place with a good reputation.
