Cleaning the EGR tube

[Andrews-bad-SE]

I'm about to embark on the magical journey of cleaning out my EGR tube, the intake side of the valve in particular (as I seem to have neglected that out of my own stupidity.)

I'm going to remove the valve and tube, and clean everything up with a pipe cleaner and some TB spray but I was just wondering if there are any tried and true methods that anyone onhere seems to favor.

[Sponsor]

[Magus2727]

Time... let the tube soak. make sure you use a small enough pipe cleaner to go through the constrictor otherwise you may push gunk into it and end up clogging it.

have compressed air so you can force air through.

when installing use appropriate anti-seize so future removal is easy that nut becomes difficult to remove with the heat and thermal cycles it sees.

The tube should be fairly clean given how much actually is able to flow back into the intake.

[zpellicone]

Im curious if I should do this. What is the outcome when you do this? Smoother idle, better gas mileage?

[Magus2727]

no real reason to worry about it. It is not a "dirty" part. You would not crack open your exhaust system to clean them out. I would only clean it if you had it out or replacing it for some other reason.

[amc49]

Absolutely worthless to clean it until clogged enough the passage gets smaller than the restriction hole in there...................

[Andrews-bad-SE]

Mine's just throwing the P0401 still and I've cleaned/replaced everything... but I forgot to clean the tube that goes into the intake from the valve (Zetec 2.0 engine btw). I'm just afraid that I might accidentally push some crap into the intake and the engine would suck it all up.

[Magus2727]

You have replaced the DPFE with a Ford one? Aftermarket ones are not so great at this... Have you replaced the EGR valve or just try to "clean" it?

P0401 - EGR Flow Insufficient Detected
The EGR system is monitored during steady state driving conditions while the EGR is commanded on. The test fails when the signal from the DPF EGR sensor indicates that EGR flow is less than the desired minimum.
Vacuum supply
EGR valve stuck closed
EGR valve leaks vacuum
EGR flow path restricted
EGRVR circuit shorted to PWR
VREF open to D.P.F. EGR sensor
D.P.F. EGR sensor downstream hose off or plugged
EGRVR circuit open to PCM
VPWR open to EGRVR solenoid
D.P.F. EGR sensor hoses both off
D.P.F. EGR sensor hoses reversed
Damaged EGR orifice tube
Damaged EGRVR solenoid
Damaged PCM
Perform KOER self-test and look for DTC P1408 as an indication of a hard fault. If P1408 is not present, look for contamination, restrictions, leaks, and intermittents.



Define "Crap" If you have crap that go in there then you have larger issues then just EGR codes. The EGR is a quasi closed system. It only routes a small portion of pre CAT exhaust into the intake after the TB. Any "Crap" would also be coating your catalytic converter and plugging the honeycomb or building up over time a thicker and thicker layer on the exhaust manifold.

[amc49]

With automatic mixture control EGR parts stay quite a bit cleaner than they used to. I remember the days when you could cake up half inch diameter pipes solid as a rock with carbon.

Probably DPFE sensor, especially if the very short stub hosed one. I had to make up a workaround on mine when water kept getting into sensor to fault it.

[don627]

Check for VAC leaks especially the one that attach to the dpfe sensor.

[Andrews-bad-SE]

I'll look into the DPFE sensor then. That seems to be a tricky little bugger. Thanks for the help!