EGR Valve, cooler, pipe...oops

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Start Friday evening! Then continue Saturday morning. You can do the cooler cleaning Saturday afternoon. Hopefully you will be
able to start reassembly Saturday evening. If not, you could start Saturday evening and finish Sunday.
I've been there, done that!

 

Cooler cleaning is basically filling it with strong oxi solution, then letting it sit for an hour, rinse and repeat. A number 3 rubber stopper is handy.

 

That’s in Rancho Cordova .

I picked mine up in their yard and avoided shipping.

They have plenty of choices .

 

Having just cleaned out spare egr cooler with a pressure washer in 15 minutes, I know what I’ll do the next time.

1700 psi whipped the cooler right into “like new” condition .

 

Hopefully doesn't distort/break the internal structure. Sounds like you're good though.

 

Seeing as I'm in Florida, I couldn't go by and pick it up. But they have free shipping.
I phoned a few junk yards around here but they said they don't have any Prius parts. REALLY?
I might try the pressure washer on this one. After soaking it in gunk.
I had thought about putting it my self cleaning oven and running it through that, but not sure if that would
be a good idea.

 

The good thing is you can visually inspect to see and you’re in control.

We use hydroblasting as a way to clean equipment where I work with pressures up to 40 k psi. Sometimes that doesn’t even work.

But I’ve seen what high pressure washing can do to equipment and what to be mindful of.

No signs of damage or distortion at the 1700 psi level.

 

Ultrasonic cleaning might work too.

But hey, oxi-clean, and 5~6 hours: works, gets in all the corners, no drama, that's enough for me.

 

Hmmm... Ultrasonic cleaning and oxi-clean...

At the same time...

Maybe I'll beat @Raytheeagle's 15 minute time...

 

I received the EGR Cooler today. It is in pretty good shape. I can actually see through it!
So it's not clogged. It should be easily cleaned. I'll plug one end and fill it with gunk!
I think it was worth the $55!
What a pain trying to get a photo!

 

Go with Oxi-Clean, better for the environment, and very effective. I learned the hard way: dumped a can of braklean through mine first, with lacklustre results. I doubt Gunk would that different. I could be wrong but hey: Oxi works, and it's something you can do in the laundry sink, water-based.

 

I am NOT cleaning this thing in MY sink! EWWW
I don't use oxiclean. I KNOW gunk works because I used it on my original on last week.
Frankly, I don't care about the environment. It's been taking care of itself for over 7000 years.
I'm not dumping billions of gallons of gunk into the ground.
It will be dumped on the driveway and evaporates. That's the good thing about gunk! It mixes
with water and evaporats.
Remember when that tanker wrecked and leaked millions of gallons of crude oil off the coast of Alaska?
Everyone said it will take hundreds of years before it's cleaned up. It was less than 10 years I think. Some organism
eats oil! Go figure!
And, I also used oven cleaner. I used it on my RD350 when I decarbonized it. That does a good job also.

 

You could always pressure wash it.

That’s just water too for our environmentally conscious folks.

Does a great job.

 

Oven cleaner is similar to oxi I think, just a little more caustic.

 

I also thought about the pressure wash, along with gunk. I need to pressure wash the house anyways.
Oven cleaner is not similar to oxi.
There is a so called "safe" gunk, it's a foam. It is totally worthless! It doesn't even clean off normal dirt.
I just don't know how they can keep selling it.
Gunk cuts the grease. I would buy kerosene if I could find it because it would be cheaper.

 

I've still got a can of the old gunk, purchased in mid eighties?

 

Hi all, hate to interject myself into this convo, but why aren't folks deleting the EGR system altogether? Especially on older cars that are out of warranty..

On diesels we do it all the time (for the same reason, they clog, blow cores, etc.) - can be as simple as unplugging the valve. Obv, you get a cel, but afaik it doesn't affect operation of the engine negatively (aside from emissions I suppose).

 

I’ve tried a myriad of options (brake Kleen, oven cleaner, oxy clean, pressure washers, etc) and the pressure washer was by far the most effective .

Other each had their short comings.

But if you have a spare egr cooler, the world is your oyster.

 

I'm sure there are several ways to clean it. I just like to find the least expensive.
Brake Cleaner is good, but LOT's of money, many cans. Gunk and oven cleaner are inexpensive.
By starting with those, and then using the pressure washer it should really shoot the soot out!
The more options the better. If one doesn't work, you can try another one.