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2014 Prius 105k miles do I need to clean the egr system and the intake manifold?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by bootsncats24, Jul 12, 2022.

  1. bootsncats24

    bootsncats24 Junior Member

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    Little confused if it’s something that needs to be done. I’ve been having trouble finding a dealership or an indie shop that can clean it if it needs to be cleaned out. One indie shop wanted 1050 to do but they did it in a package and wanted change my spark plugs to which I’ve already changed myself.

    Dealership claims it doesn’t need to be done and I spoke to an indie shop with a tech thats been working on Toyota and Lexus for 30 years and he said it doesn’t need to be done and wouldn’t effect gas mileage. He recommended cleaning the throttle body making sure my tire pressure is good and to put premium gas in since it’ll cause less carbon build up.

    I have no issue spending the money to get it cleaned just for the amount it cost I would like to know if it’s something that needs to be done and if someone has a shop in Southern California area riverside, San Bernardino or Orange County area to recommend that will do a good job cleaning it that will be great. I had a 2011 that I paid to get cleaned and the head gasket went. The shop I took it to repair the head gasket showed me the intake manifold and egr and said it doesn’t even look like they attempted to clean it and if they did they should’ve let you know it was to clogged to be cleaned.

    trying not to make the same mistakes.
     
  2. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    Can you DIY? See what's involved, first link in my signature.
     
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  3. AzusaPrius

    AzusaPrius Senior Member

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  4. bootsncats24

    bootsncats24 Junior Member

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    Don’t feel comfortable. I’ve seen a couple videos on it and seems a little bit out of skill set.
     
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  5. bootsncats24

    bootsncats24 Junior Member

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    Thanks I saw them online their website confused me couldn’t tell if it was a repair shop or parts place.

     
  6. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Asking the car about its EGR flow is a super easy way to find out where you currently stand on the path to developing blockage in the system. Done from sitting in the driver's seat and plugging in a scan tool. No getting hands dirty.

    The one thing that can't tell you about is the condition of the small passages in the manifold. Those can only be checked by taking the manifold out for a look-see. But that is a much easier job than the rest of the EGR system, on the order of 20 minutes for someone who's done it before, and that simple job might possibly feel within your DIY capabilities even if the full EGR ordeal does not.
     
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  7. bootsncats24

    bootsncats24 Junior Member

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    Awesome thanks I'll look into that first and I can def do the manifold that seems more within my capabilities. If I remove the throttle body and the manifold isn't dirty do I still need to remove it?
     
    #7 bootsncats24, Jul 12, 2022
    Last edited: Jul 12, 2022
  8. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    You can't see the four small EGR passages in the manifold without taking the manifold off.
     
  9. bootsncats24

    bootsncats24 Junior Member

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    Thanks. Planning on doing it this week. I was going to take to a dealer to get the EGR flow test done but decided against it. I'm thinking its better to take a look with my own eyes instead of trusting the dealer. Plus I need to the spark plugs anyways
     
  10. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Does that mean you will be looking with your own eyes at the manifold, and using your own scan tool to obtain the EGR flow numbers?

    Those two things are both worth doing. The car's built-in flow test uses an actual sensor in the manifold to actually quantify how much the overall EGR flow has decreased. Without that, even when people look with their own eyes, we only have their impressions of how occluded it 'looked', and we have very thin data for translating those kinds of impressions into numbers.

    But the one thing the flow numbers can't tell you is what's going on with the manifold's own four small passages, so that's why those do need to be looked at with your own eyes.
     
  11. bootsncats24

    bootsncats24 Junior Member

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    I wasn't planning on using my own scan tool. From my understanding I had to use Toyotas. Can I trust the dealership do the flow-test right? I'm concern with spending the $150 to have the dealership do the flow test and have them come back to telling me its normal and then I have issues down the line from not cleaning out the egr system.
     
  12. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    It isn't anything anybody has to "do". The EGR flow self-test is being done by the car, every time you drive.

    When you plug in a scan tool—any scan tool that can display "mode 6 monitor results", it's a perfectly standard OBD-II thing—and ask for the result, it just shows you the result from the most recent time the car did the test.

    That's all there is to it.