How To: EGR Removal and Cleaning for Rough Idle Fix

There is no reason to block or eliminate the EGR valve. The ECU expects it, and I have even heard some very wise people say that it helps fight detonation as a nice side-effect (by displacing some of the mixture and lowering the cylinder temps). You are also helping the environment a lot more than any potential performance you will gain from removing it. A lot of people think that the exaust gases raise the cyninder temps, when in reality it lowers them by displacing some of the A/F mix. You're better off just compressing it a little more and letting the engine burn off more of the "bad stuff".
 
122 Vega said:
6. Lube the shaft inside with a drop or two of oil and also lube the outside beneath the spring.
Britt

Nice write-up... what kind of oil are we taking about here? Your standard 3-in-1 that comes in the red & white can or motor oil?
 
To anyone that's been keeping up with my car or has seen me recently, you may know that lately, my car has been having large issues starting. When the car ever did start (normally after 13-15 cranks), it may have also stalled right out. I was associating this with the low compression issues.

Well, I tried this today for the hell of it and immediately upon reassembling everything, I went to start the car and it started nearly immediately. The idle also immediately smoothed out and the car did not stall or even try. I turned the car back off and tried it again with the same results, more than once. This helped considerably so far and I'll also vouch on how much buildup came out.

Let me just add that you need a nice quality screwdriver to remove the four screws. They've kind of soft, as the screws to the fuel pump cover are. It takes a bit before they finally "pop" off and start unscrewing, so be sure you do not strip the head out.

Yet another great write up, Vega. Thanks.
 
hey t3ase, when you unscrewed the actual egr valve, what kind of wrench did you use and how did you do it, i dont have the msp (i have a 2.0 ES) but i had almost no room to unscrew it
 
giz said:
hey t3ase, when you unscrewed the actual egr valve, what kind of wrench did you use and how did you do it, i dont have the msp (i have a 2.0 ES) but i had almost no room to unscrew it
12mm wrench. it was extremely tight but a socket wouldn't fit.
 
DeadAir said:
Nice write-up... what kind of oil are we taking about here? Your standard 3-in-1 that comes in the red & white can or motor oil?
anyone?
mine is in two pieces as of now... hope 5w-30 works ;)
 
T3ase, glad it worked for you. If the valve is stuck open with deposits, it creates a vacuum leak and that causes the rough idle and stalling.

Yes I used standard motor oil, you could use lithium grease or 3'n'1.

Britt
 
clean the red, green, blue or both?
lube red, green, blue or both?
 

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im at about 21k and mines been doin it since about 18 or 19 cant remember, but mine idles rough 1min after i start my car everytime thought it was the spark plugs so i hda them replaced it helped like for 20 starts then it started to idle rough again so ill try this when it gets warm down here in va thanks for the how-to!
 
my tube has been disconnected from the manifold for about 600 miles now. I have the spool manifold and it didnt come with a part to screw the egr tube back on. Havent had any problems that I know of
 
ya I havent disconnected any plugs. Im thinking of putting a fitting in where the plug goes so I can put an air filter on where the EGR valve sucks air from. Is there any thing wrong with sucking air in that way or should I get a block off plate and remove the EGR valve completely?
 
Bump for an awesome how to.

I just cleaned mine yesterday, since my car was dipping rpms enough for the dash lights to come on every time I push the clutch in.

After doing this, my car is riding soo much better. It actually seemed to help with a few things.
1. On cold start, my car would bog badly at low rpm, like casually shifting 1st to second, my car would lurk back, and throttle response was badly delayed. This is now gone.
2. My car seems to be less sensitive to lurching back and forth when riding very slowly in 1st or 2nd(traffic jam style cruising).
3. Shifting and rev-matching seems easier than before, I was starting to think I was a bad driver becuase I couldn't drive this thing smoothly around town, but now I can rev-match again. I guess the rpms are more predicatble or something.
4. Strangely, the one thing it didn't fix was the idle dropping very low, although it may have helped slightly. I have many other mods done that could be to blame for this problem though.

It seems like their is much less drag from the engine when letting off the accelerator, this is probably what helped with points 2 & 3.

I'm hoping my mileage will go up a bit too, but we'll see. I've only taken it for a couple short drives since I did it. I'll keep posted on mileage gains if any.
 
Just pulled my manifold off to clean EGR and remove VTCS. Will post an update once it's all back together.
 
cleaning egr

i wonder if removing the egr tube and spraying some intake cleaner in the hole will help remove build up. i do plan on replacing the tube. i just want to clean out the valve.
 
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