P0401 code help needed

Step away from it before you strip them. Visit the local hardware store for a "hand impact driver".



This is a thing you hold with one hand, twisting it in the 'loosen' direction, and bop on the end with a hammer. The impact bops the bit down against the screw so it doesn't slip, and also twists in the direction you're turning.

It normally just takes a couple bops to start these loose (and then they come out just as nice as you please), but they are very easy to strip and give yourself bigger headaches, if you don't use this tool.

 

Second time I had the valve in my hands I used an impact screw driver like that pictured above, did the trick. I also replaced the screws, with socket head cap screws. They were M5x16 (diameter x length in mm) IIRC. I’ll check and confirm.

 

What you need is an Impact Screwdriver

moto g power ?

 

This is what I got:

alternative EGR valve screws

 

I loosened those balky screws successfully using a Harbor Freight ratcheting right-angle screwdriver, which lets you apply a lot more torque than you can with a conventional straight screwdriver. It helped that the tip was new and sharp.


I'd be wary of hammering too hard on them.

 

I’m trying to post a &$%#£?! Amazon link, so far without success. I will prevail, might just have to post screen grabs.

 

Yeah it’s M5x16, 50 pack for about $15 CDN currently.

 

Where in Maryland do you live?

I own one of these impact tools and would let you use it to get the screws loose on the old EGR valve.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I live in York, PA.

I think that we could work it out. This sounds like something that does not need to be done right now. I will send you a PM latter today.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

You don't hammer hard on them at all. Just a couple bops on the impact tool with the hammer.

There is nothing massively stuck about these screws at all. There is a bit of initial stiction, which the impact tool surprises them out of, and then you can spin them out with your fingers.

Once you see how easy it is with the right tool, any urgency to replace them with other types of screws or other types of heads just kind of evaporates.

 

The socket size on the heads is 4 mm, and due to adjacent evap line I needed to resort to a T-handle 4mm hex driver (I just happened to have), and it worked nicely. Very easy to break them loose or snug down.


(I did add washers.)

 

Another option if you don't need to pass emissions is to unplug the egr valve electrical connector and forget it exist. If you need to pass emissions, you need to get that valve replaced though.

 

Or even if you care about emissions, whether or not you 'have to' pass them.

Or if you're not sure you want to drive permanently with bad-EGR-fallback ignition timing.

Or if you'd like to be able to use your check-engine light to know when the engine needs checked.

 

Is the egr disabled in power mode? Enabled in econ mode ?

 

The engine control module doesn't even know which of those "modes" you're in. Those are just inputs to the power management control ECU (car's orchestra conductor), which also sees the go pedal input.

It just uses those "modes" to change how it translates different amounts of pedal input to amount of power requested. (ECO mode also tweaks the HVAC some, but that's a different story.)



All the ECM gets from the power management control ECU is a request for "please give x kW of engine power".