Pics: EGR pipe at 230k miles

+1.

I am just thankful I don't deal with other car companies. The Prius is so low in maintenance needs, these activities while somewhat fiddly, are leaps and bounds better than what other car owners deal with.

As long as you are aware, you'll be a step ahead.

 

It also helps that we have a Prius chat community. I tried looking for my Honda Accord forum community and I can't seem to find any reliable ones to hang around at. So I'm pretty happy that we have priuschat with active members.

 

There is a lot of good information and friendly members here!

I just joined Club Lexus a couple of weeks ago and find Prius Chat more informative. They have a lot of "chatter", but lacks people doing a lot of their own maintenance (at least in the 4th Gen RX section where I hang out), which leads to less videos.

Makes it tough on the Tou tube mechanics.

A good community goes a long way.

 

So would I - when the 2010 hits 100K I would gladly pay for a full EGR/manifold/PCV cleanse. The coolest part would be participating in the service so I could learn from a pro so when the car hits 200K I could do it myself!

 

We (Canadians) got an EGR "warranty enhancement program" notice, back in May, for the "EGR Valve Assembly", good till 10 years or 240K kms. Myself, by 10 year mark I'll be lucky to pass 100K kms, and probably still be ok, so a moot point I guess.

But it gives pause, to think IF I did need remedy, it would amount to out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new, of the valve only, the mechanics keeping their blinders on, paying no attention to the adjoining cooler, pipe or intake manifold. I suppose to do so would be an admission that the whole concept is hooped.

My feeling is getting the dealership on it would be an exercise in frustration, you're way better off to DIY the remedies.

And the EGR valve in particular, there is NO reason to replace it, just clean it. D.O. for the intake mainifold and connector pipe. D.O. for the cooler, though that will take significantly more effort, depending on how coked-up it is.

 

One option since you are in the Bay Area would be to come out to one of the meet ups:

Possible Monthly install meets. Bay Area-Fremont

We've done the complete egr circuit cleanse once (2 meet ups ago).

We're no pros in the truest sense of the word, but smart enough to be dangerous .

 

It would be a lot of fun to hang out with a bunch of mechanically-inclined Prius nerds - I'll definitely try to make one of the meet-ups in the future.

 

Not all of us are Prius nerds:

https://attachments.priuschat.com/attachment-files/2017/08/130651_20170812_140328.jpg

 

time for the cooler if you haven't and see if it looks bad. Maybe the intake manifold too F it, PCV too

 

Waiting on that oil catch can video. Just wish they were a little cheaper.

 

oh I know...

 

who's the nerd he's next to?

 

Just wanted to chip in on this thread as I just pulled my EGR assembly and cleaned the other day. Special thanks to NutzAboutBolts for his removal video. I had previously cleaned the IM and the EGR pipe, so now it was time to complete the rest of the job. I'm at 167k miles, btw.

The cooler was fully clogged. The valve was pretty nasty, too. Since I didn't have another cooler on hand, I had no choice but to get to work cleaning it up. I took a page from Danlatu's book and used my battery powered drill and and a straight length of wire cut from a coat hanger to clean the passages. Worked perfectly, but took a looong time to go through them all. I used two cans of carburetor cleaner plus I plugged one end of the cooler with a wine cork and filled it with gas to let it soak for a while. Sorry no pictures of the finished product as I was running out of time and Mrs. Maroon was wondering if she would have her car the next day.

Now that I have EGR flow, the knocking/pinging under acceleration and when the traction battery was down to two bars has gone away and my gas mileage has increased 2-3 mpg to the high forties now. Next up I have to add an OCC to keep the intake clean and remove the excess oil from the exhaust which accelerates clogging of the EGR cooler.

 

How many miles?

 

I like that the car has a pre warning system built-in where the battery drops to two bars and the shaking gets noticeable

 

Planning to do this? LOL

 

I've only got 70K km's, and coming up on 7 years ownership this fall. In the Canadian schedule the coolant changes are 160K kms or 10 years. Spark plugs are 192K km's or 12 years. At 10 years we'll be lucky to 100K kms, but I'll probably do the coolant, and accelerate the plug interval, do them at same time, which requires the windshield cowl to come off. So, with coolant drained and cowl off, a good time to clean the EGR cooler too.

I'm thinking to do Oil Catch Can sooner though.