How To: EGR Removal and Cleaning for Rough Idle Fix

[protegeric]

i know the heads of the screws are weak. to anyone having trouble taking the screws out and stripping the heads... simply use some pliers, grab the head and do it that way. easy squeezy.

I don't know if another 'me-too' post is necessary but I'm gonna...

I've got around 75,000 miles on my '02 P5 and have been religious with it's maintenance. Then out of the blue one day the thing started idling rough and would barely keep running at idle. I found this thread and proceeded on doing the egr cleaning. So far, so good, that seems to have been the problem.

I do have to say, it was NOT a 30 min. job for me. Every bolt and screw under my car's hood is corroded and siezed. For the first four years of it's life it was on MI roads so maybe all the road salt in winter has something to do with that.
Anyway, it was a real pain to actually get the egr apart. Those screws just didn't want to come out. Ended up having to drill em out and replace em. At least next time, it 'should' be a thirty minute job. ;-)

Thanks for the How-to!

 

[Skoozul]

Well I did this mod and I found the a small 1/4 wrench with a 12mm socket fit quite nicely but it was an awkward angle. My car ran awesome but then I ended taking a very mean mountain road uphill and by the end the car started running like S#*T again. So once again I'll clean it, and see if it helps a second time.

 

[jsahyoun]

I wonder if this is my problem. My car is hard to start up without giving it gas. And it does not want to idle at all. If i leave it alone it sounds like it is severly sputtering or wheezing. ANy ideas??

 

[jflo]

following up on this how-to...when i fixed it in...april, it was fine for 150 miles, but after that it went bad again and threw the same CEL. i guess i'll have to go back and take it apart again. crap

 

[Hughes412]

following up on this how-to...when i fixed it in...april, it was fine for 150 miles, but after that it went bad again and threw the same CEL. i guess i'll have to go back and take it apart again. crap

yep me too. It has started to idol ruff again. But the good thing is it didn't take but 15-20 mins to do.

 

[ZoomThis]

Thanks for the posting.....helped me out

 

[Protege52003]

Thanks for the posting.....helped me out

you got yourself in trouble when you said that your EGR valve has not giving you trouble when I told you that I had to clean mine a couple weeks ago (for the secind time)........

-R

 

[ZoomThis]

you got yourself in trouble when you said that your EGR valve has not giving you trouble when I told you that I had to clean mine a couple weeks ago (for the secind time)........

-R

Yep, you Jinx me. I blame the bad New England gas....never had a problem in Wisconsin

 

[jmv]

heh, i had someone who had done it before help me and it took a long time. Mostly from accidentally dropping the bolts and having to find them though. We also did another MSP at the same time, and had to have 2 guys grab the block and pull it forwards in order to fit in the ratchet, whereas mine gave us no problems (once we were able to find the bolt heads straight on). We stripped out one of my screws, but some vice-grips took care of that easy.

 

[dasayheykid]

Thank you Thank you Thank you...This post has saved me $450 CDN...this worked like a charm!

Thank you for putting this up.

 

[SoonP5ismine]

i also would like to thank the original poster for the instructions but it would have been alot better if in the instructions you mentioned that it is almost impossible to get the 2 12mm bolts out unless you remove the battery. also afer doing that the bolts are extremely hard to budge. i lost a 12mm socket somewhere under the egr and its still missing and i have no clue where. it hit 3 places before it dissapeared. also the 4 phillips screws were very rusted on my car and one snapped while i tried to take it out and i did have a good quality screwdriver. i went to home depot and got 4 new zinc plated hex bolts and i soked them in wd40 for a few hours before i put them back on the solenoid. overall im happy with the job but im just wondering how long will this last this time. i soaked the egr valve piston and the whole thing in carb cleaner overnight and then dried it and was pushing on the spring part like for half hour straight while soaking it in wd40. at the end i wd40 lubed it where it makes metal to metal contact and reassembled. this whole job took me about a day to comlete since the phillips bolt snapped and it was too late to go to home depot.

well thanx again.

 

[altspace]

Ok, I follow the write up. Car has 28K miles. Never had a CEL issue, no header, only intake/muffler. Car runs perfect but since I was doing this with another P5 I'd thought why not clean it anyway. Everything done and checked, drove about 20 miles and bam!...my first CEL came on. Had it cleared twice and same issue. About 20 or so miles later it comes on again, but she runs no different, it's smooth and perfect as before. Any ideas? The code is PO455.

 

[KD7000]

Another successful EGR cleaning here. After 60,000 miles, my P5 started to have the crappy idle and stalling issue. New spark plugs & wires didn't help, so EGR was next on the list.

For "easier" access, I removed the battery and used a small 1/4" drive ratchet & 12mm socket to get at the mounting bolts. It was still a pain in the ass, but I got it out eventually and gave it the carb cleaner bath.

The car is idling smoothly now.

Thanks for a great How-to writeup.

 

[CrazyCaker]

After only 30k kms, mine is ****** again. This is definitely only a temp fix, but I've heard that Mazda has an improved EGR replacement available. I heard this through a local Mazda tech. Does anyone have any info on this?

 

[altspace]

Opps...nevermind. PO455 is a Evaporative Emission Control System Leak Detected (gross leak). Most likely my gas cap....doh!

 

[KD7000]

but I've heard that Mazda has an improved EGR replacement available. I heard this through a local Mazda tech. Does anyone have any info on this?

Given that an aftermarket EGR valve is close to $200, I'd guess whatever revised / improved valve Mazda has is probably over $300. Great if it's covered under warranty, but I think I'd rather pull mine and clean it in another 60k.

If yours is clogging after only 30,000 km, I think you might have some additional problem going on.

 

[SoonP5ismine]

i keep strict logs of all work done to my car by me and if that ever happens by someone else. ill be sure to post it here to let you all know when im having this problem again. i cleaned the s*** out of it alot like overkill i soaked it and worked it with my hands for a long time so i really hope it will last me a long long time. im anal about alot of s*** and especially my car so im hoping it will last me past 100000 miles since this time it crapped out at 50200 miles. spmeone told me that if you do alot of short distance driving mostly in the city the carbon builds up alot more. i live exactly 20 seconds from a major interstate here in jersey and the shortest distance i ever go on it is about 20 minutes at highway speeds at least twice daily i do this trip so i guess thats why mine crapped out at 50200 miles. alot of other people i talked to had theirs fixed way within warranty coverage time. so anyway i still am gald i did it myself and not have to spend a shitload of money. im unemployed now so this helped.

 

[adedude]

Brilliant! I had rough idle for about 10k miles (68K total right now) and following the guide helped get rid of it! Either that or resetting the ECU helped a lot...

Anyway, I have a 1.6L ZM-DE engine and I took a couple pictures to help other 1.6's find and clean their car. Sorry about the quality. These pics are from my cell phone, but I am hoping they should still help a little.



TIPS AND PICS FOR 1.6L Proteges with ZM-DE engines!

DSC00168.JPG - removing the intake throttle body will help a lot. This involves removing 4 screws and two connectors. EGR in far upper right.

DSC00169.JPG - can you find the EGR? It's hidden just a little to the upper right of the center of the photo.

DSC00170.JPG - closeup picture of the EGR. You can see the 4 screws you will have to take apart later. Also shows the connector.

DSC00171.JPG - view from the same height as the EGR. You can see one of the bolts you have to take apart and the gasket sticking out the bottom. Don't let the gasket slip away from you!

Good luck!

 

[P-Funk!]

One More: I did it cheap/easy. I removed the EGR and ddin't remove the &*^%screws/solenoid. I just soaked the metal valve part in SeaFoam and finished it with brake cleaner. PIcked out what i could with a screwdriver....Re-installed - no problems. I wasn't idling/stalling ruff yet, i just did it as preventative maintenance.

I don't recommend it - BUT if you can't get the screws off -or don't have a gasket this is better than nuthin'...

 

[protegeric]

as far as the screws go... i had problems with one also, i just used a pair of pliers. u guys could try that, u dont need channel locks or needle nose or vise grips really. just some regular pliers. i installed one screw this way.

heers a question though... if my gasket fell off and i did not reinstall it, how much problem would i be having? im still having a little problem with stalling, not too bad, just a little. because im not sure that the gasket was reinstalled properly or at all. oops. would the problem be pretty bad, or does it sound like im missing the gasket?

One More: I did it cheap/easy. I removed the EGR and ddin't remove the &*^%screws/solenoid. I just soaked the metal valve part in SeaFoam and finished it with brake cleaner. PIcked out what i could with a screwdriver....Re-installed - no problems. I wasn't idling/stalling ruff yet, i just did it as preventative maintenance.

I don't recommend it - BUT if you can't get the screws off -or don't have a gasket this is better than nuthin'...