ERG Trouble

I own a 2001 Prelude. I started getting "bad egr valve" code from my
car's computer. I bought a mew egr valve ($180) and light came back on
same code. I have a friend that is a mechanic at my local Honda
dealership. He told me to drill to remove 4 melal plugs from the intake
manifold and clean the ports underneath those plugs. Honda sells
replacemrnt plugs for like $.15 each. Worked like a charm. Removed
large amount of carbon with air hose.
While putting the replacement plugs in the holes I knocked one of the
too far and it fell down into the manifold. Can this be a problem?????

 

I don't know how the manifolds are designed on a 2001 'lude but it's
conceivable that if the plug is in the intake manifold that it might work
it's way into a cylinder. The results would be disastrous. Can you see the
plug? If so, can you grab it with a spring type claw tool such as
http://tinyurl.com/ebwfy ? I realize that this might not be possible due to
the small access hole that you have available. If the plug is loose and
rolling around, then the safest approach would be to remove the manifold and
get the plug out. This would probably be the procedure I would follow if it
were my car.

Eric

 

yes definitely! that sucker will get sucked into the cylinder and ruin
your day. gotta take the manifold off and shake it out i'm afraid.

but good job on getting the egr system sorted out - that'll make the car
run like new.

 

*&^%$ yes!

John

 

Holes are too small to retrieve the plug through where it came from. I
am going to try removing the EGR vale and incerting a small hose
attached to a shop vacuum through there. That opening is a bit larger.
Also the check engine light keeps returning although the car is running
great. I keep taking a battery post off to reset the computer.It will
run for about 2-3 hours before light returns but, it always returns.
Could the plug be disrupting the air flow causing egr light?