EGR port cleaning

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jbeazell

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Hi all,

I took off my throttle body this morning to clean out the EGR port on the bottom of the upper intake. I was getting P0401 (EGR System Flow Insufficient). The port was completely blocked. I managed to clear up as much as I could see, but I wasn't able to get around the bend and back up into where the EGR connects. Am I going to need to pull the uppper intake to get in there and do a better cleaning? You can see the complete blockage in the attached image.

I suppose I could take it for a couple test drives to see if it comes back, but I'm mostly just curious if blockage also occurs further up the port and closer to the ERG valve.

thanks!
 

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It's the 3.4, not the 3.1. The EGR is different between the two. By the looks of this video, the EGR passage is straight to the throttle body. on the 3.4, it goes down, and then makes an 80 degree (or so) bend upwards into the bottom of the throttle body. I can't see beyond the hard bend to see if the rest of the passage is blocked, too, and was curious about other's experiences with that port.

Also, just spraying this gunk with throttle body cleaner did nothing. It was rock solid, and didn't dissolve at all with the spray. I had to use a coat hanger to poke at it until it broke apart.
 
The underside of the upper intake is a good shot of that passage. I couldn't get a good visual of what it looks like. I have no issues tearing it down, I just don't want to. Also, I don't have issues with taking the EGR valve off, but again, I don't want to.

I just curious how far up that passage the carbon deposits will cake in. I suspect I'll need pull the EGR off again, along with the throttle body, and just keep sticking my coat hanger in there until stuff stops coming out :)
 
awesome! Thanks ! I think I was able to get my coat hanger up about that far into the bend!
 
For those curious, and if you are also getting code # P0401 (EGR System Flow Insufficient), the steps to correct this aren't terrible:
1) remove the throttle body and the intake hoses attached to it
2) clean the throttle body while you have it off. Use carb or throttle body cleaner and get into the IAC port well. I took my IAC off and cleaned it with qtips and a rag. This fixed a rough idle condition.
3) Get a piece of 10 inch coat hanger wire.
4) pick an poke at the EGR port on the bottom of the intake plenum that is just behind the throttle body. This will take some work, and you'll loosen all kinds of nasty stuff from in there. I used shop vac to clean up the deposits I loosened.
5) Remove the PVC port from the top of the plenum so that you can poke straight down into the port from the top. This helps get good leverage.
6) when you get the port cleaned well, make a bend in the last 2 inches of your coat hanger so that it looks like hook. It doesn't need to be more than a gentle hook, and shouldn't come back like a fishing hook. It will want to be like a quarter of a circle.
7) with that slight bend, get the coat hanger up and around the bend at the bottom so that you can get it up as far as possible, poking as much of the carbon out of there as you can. Keep using the shop vac to clean out the deposits
8) Saturate the EGR port with throttle body cleaner so that it sits in there like a pool. I let this sit there for about 20 minutes
9) I used a bunch of rags along with the coat hanger to clean out the cleaner and the port even more
10) put everything back together... don't forget all the plugs.

I've put 400 miles since the work, and the code hasn't returned. I'm getting 2+mpg better gas mileage and I have a much smoother idle than before.
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