P0401

So the car threw a CEL and it's P0401 - insufficient flow in the exhaust gas recirculation system. *&^%ing EGR valve again - I only cleaned it 10K ago - grrr - I hate the damn thing - I'm sure the engineers at Mazda could have made it just a little harder to get off and on if they'd tried...

Anyway, I noticed that there's also an "excessive flow" code - I assume one means the thing is stuck open and the other means it's stuck closed - I wonder which is the most common?

The dreaded 0401. I have one on my MSP now. My car feels like s*** and I hate having to clean the EGR out. Its a huge pain. Good luck

falsedawn said:

So the car threw a CEL and it's P0401 - insufficient flow in the exhaust gas recirculation system. *&^%ing EGR valve again - I only cleaned it 10K ago - grrr - I hate the damn thing - I'm sure the engineers at Mazda could have made it just a little harder to get off and on if they'd tried...

Anyway, I noticed that there's also an "excessive flow" code - I assume one means the thing is stuck open and the other means it's stuck closed - I wonder which is the most common?

Click to expand...

Yes indeed - can't see a damn thing down there - have to feel around for everything and with big hands it is not fun. And it's flippin freezing here today. Typical.

Yeah its like 5 degreees and I have to do an oil change and work on the EGR. I hate it. This car is a total love hate relationship

I would look for why you are running so rich. Have you checked you pluggs? You shouldn't have to clean it that often.

The car isn't running rich at all - last time I swapped plugs they were a perfect tan color with few deposits.
The fact that pretty much _every_ protege has EGR problems at some point should be a clue that it's just a design flaw.

This time it _only_ took 4 hours - I managed to drop one of the bolts - the bastard disappeared God knows where - had to buy another, and my fingers and toes are only just starting to thaw out.
Oh, and I managed to snap one of those stupid long thin bolt/screw things that hold the top of the EGR unit to the base, so I'm probably going to buy a new one when it clogs up again...

The only thing that keeps me doing jobs like this is knowing it'd cost $hundreds at a garage.