EGR Cleaning: What did I get myself into?

Pure sodium hybroxide, aka drain cleaner, aka lye, seems to be off the shelfs in hardware stores. I believe it can be used in meth production? Anyway, it is readily available on Amazon, an essential ingredient in soap making.

 

Drain cleaner is a good idea. I use oven cleaner. Spray it in and let it spray out hte other side.
I let it sit for about 30 minutes than use the pressure to clear it out. I usually do it until it starts
showing clear water. Easy to do. And I have a spare ready!

 

Rent one at an equipment rental place or at Home Depot. Or take your cooler to a manual car wash.

 

I Don't get what people do here. It is an exhaust gas it will always full of carbon shoot no matter how you clean it. As long as it is not clogged, fully coated with dry carbon is fine, it works. No need to crazy cleaning it like your teeth.
Spend more time on cleaning the intake manifolds and do it as regular maintenance every 80k miles. If you have no oil consumption, 120k miles is also fine.

 

Agree

 

The passages inside the EGR cooler are very small so as to maximize cooling surface area. And I would expect the build-up of soot to be exponential rather than linear -- meaning that the more soot that's built-up, the more quickly it will accumulate.
You're right in that it's not necessary to have the EGR cooler spotless clean in order for it to function, but since you have it off, doesn't it make sense to get it as clean as possible? A clean cooler will pass more air, will cool that air more efficiently, and will allow a longer interval between removal/cleanings.
The two times I removed mine for cleaning, the cooler was 100% clogged. When I applied 100psi compressed air to it, it passed no air at all.

 

Do you have some oil consumption issues or rarely drive on highways? I checked mine at 100k miles, Everything looks dirty but no clogging. Just blew it with compressed air and the dirt is blown away without issue. It may be related to the 0 oil consumption I currently have.

 

I sold the car, but yes it drank like a sailor on shore leave. (oil).

 

If I can clean the EGR cooler like new, with a few Oxi-Clean soaks, I'm gonna do it. Especially considering the rigamarole it takes to get the damn thing out. Better for the environment than brake cleaner too.

 

And what do you do with the waste from the oxi????? Throw it down the drain? Drive way?
Road? Either way, there is waste. And it's minor.
Mine goes down the driveway and evaporates....
The earth can take care of itself. It's been doing it for 7 thousand years...

 

Well that escalated quickly.

 

I didn't mean it in a harsh way, or yelling.... Just asking a question and making a statement..

 

Which Gen 3 do you have? Just curious if you have a '14 or '15 with the updated piston rings.

 

2015-Up has updated piston rings and piston. 2014 only piston. So get 2015 or 4th gen Prius if you can. I have 0 oil consumption on my 2015 3rd gen engine. Zero oil consumption, less gunk on the EGR and intake manifolds, less detonation, cooler engine, longer life head gasket, and catalytic converter. However, 75k-100k miles EGR cleaning is still recommended.

 

I’m guilty of starting that , but what almost certainly happened is pistons AND rings changed in tandem, part way through model year 2014. The service bulletin for excessive oil consumption notes the VIN at which change occurred.

Addendum:

Attached TSB has the the VIN's, presumably at which pistons/rings were revised. The rings are a different width, wouldn't fit in the old pistons, or vice versa: the old rings would be loose in the new pistons.

 

I just wanted to know which model you had. 2015's with clean EGRs at 100k miles is good data to have here with all of our discussions about it.

 

I think this bodes well for rebuilt engines using the updated pistons and rings. It sounds like EGR cleaning and OCCs won't be as necessary if needed at all. Assuming one isn't completely negligent with engine maintenence.

 

The Gen4 / Prime has this configuration I believe.

Guess what still happens (see post 252):

What did you do to your Prime today? | Page 13 | PriusChat

And that amount of spooge on the can is from about 3k miles on the oil (I used to be at about 70% EV).

Can't speak for the egr circuit yet as I am only at 55k miles on our 2019.

But data will come when the spark plugs are due.

 

I wouldn't say it is clean, but it is not clogged. I have 2015, 3rd gen engine. We still need to clean the pipe to the intake manifold and clean the intake manifold EGR small 4 passages. They are also dirty but not clogged. The intake always have some wet oil+fuel residue from PCV valve and the injectors area.
I still believe cleaning the intake, throttle body, EGR lines and passages as part of 100k miles or 7 years maintenance together with Coolant and ATF. Removing the underbody clips is very annoying.

 

If they've been on there a long time without being touched, and/or broken/lost by "professionals".

I've done all my oil changes (Roughly 23 now? Every 6 months, going on 12 years this fall.), and have taken that panel off each time, plus a few extras. Say at least 30 times. Takes me an extra 5~10 minutes, for removal or install. More info on tactics in the oil change link in my signature.