EGR Valve

Hello,

I've been having some trouble with my EGR valve, and was just curious
if someone could provide me with some perspective. The valve has thrown
a code three or four times now, which lights up my CEL. When the code is
cleared, all is fine for several weeks, at which point the CEL comes on
again and displays the same code. I'm just curious if this is a sign that
the valve is on its way out, or if something else may be afoot? I don't
want to pay $300 for nothing (I just passed my CA smog test anyway), but
then again if it gets more frequent, I don't want to be reseting the ECU
every other day!
If you could also clue me in as to possible sources of failure for the
valve, I'd appreciate it (i.e. is it just carbon buildup, or can there be
other problems too?) Any insight is appreciated - thanks in advance!

 

------------------------
Aspiring,

Please tell the GROUP the Make, model, year, mileage, and transmission
type of your vehicle..... Some of your past service history sometimes
helps too.

Signed,

Aspiring Psychic Troubleshooter

--------------------------

 

LOL - sorry about that! I've got a 1999 Honda Prelude (base model)
with manual transmission and ~80k miles. To my knowledge, the EGR
valve has not yet been replaced.

I've recently had a brief period of CEL trouble. The first time, it
gave a code for the EGR, which - when cleared - didn't resurface.
However, it came on again within a few weeks, signalling that the O2
sensor was bad. I replaced that, and two weeks later, CEL for the EGR
valve again. I had it cleared and it didn't come on again until a
week (and ~2000 miles) later, when it again indicated bad EGR valve.
I had it cleared, and a few weeks later, the light is on again...

Well, hopefully that helps - thanks for taking a look Curly!

 

I had the same problem for a time before I did a lot of work on my Passport.
One thing I did come across, however, as I was rebuilding the car was that
the EGR pipe and the valve itself was full of carbon buildup. So I sat down
in my shed with an awl and an air compressor and I dug all that carbon out
of there and blew the rest out with the air compressor. I used a bit of
degreaser as well for the job. Put it all back together and, what do you
know, no more light.

Of course if you keep getting the light and you KNOW everything is working
fine, you could always remove the little bulb.

Spend the couple of hours and remove the EGR valve and pipe and I'll just
bet you'd be amazed at how much buildup is in there. Be sure to replace the
EGR pipe gaskets leading to the exhaust manifold and the valve itself.

Also, before I close, I just remembered. When I did this job, I discovered
also that the hole in my intake plenum from the EGR valve was entirely
closed off with carbons. This HAD to be the root of the problem.

Check it out.

AJPDLA