Hey everyone, just wondering if I could get any pointers or how to's on cleaning an egr valve. My engine light came on, and I spent the money and had it diagnosed and it turns out the egr valve is periodically sticking causing the code to come up. The price of a new one is $289.00 and to be honest by the time the dust settles I figure it will be close to $500 to have a garage put a new one in. I picked up a can of Seafoam and am going to spray it in to the throttle body and with any luck it will clean everything up and stop it from sticking, but I know I will probably have to remove it from the throttle body to do so, just being optimistic on this one lol, but will spraying Seafoam in the throttle body cause any damage to the MAF sensor? and is there an easy way to do this whole procedure?

As always any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Hi `Ken,
Until one of our expert tech member's reply p.s. I'm a believer in SeaFoam 4-Sure...Hope it helps, I know it can't hurt..


Check out the below link Good Luck

• Part 4 -How to Test the GM EGR Valve (P0401, P0403, P0404 ...
  
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  The next step is to remove the EGR Valve from its base on the Intake Manifold (or the ... Re-install the EGR Valve, clear the EGR Valve Fault Codes (that were lighting up the CheckEngine Light [CEL]), and road test the ... Regal 3.1L, 3.8L.
  
  

 

If you need to change the EGR, I think you just need a 10mm socket and you can do-it-yourself.

You really are limited to what you can do to clean it. I've taken the EGR off, flipped it upside down and sprayed carb clean in it, let it soak a couple hours and then drain the cleaner off and fine something that I could safely brush it with.

Out of curiousity, what codes are you getting (actual numbers) and/or what is it doing that points to the EGR. It's rare the EFR fails (that's why I'm curious).

 

When I go out to the car I will post the codes, as long as they are written on the work order.
The car runs and drives great, there is a periodic surging between 35 and 60 kmh where it appears that the torque converter is locking up in od, but the car needs to be in second, this is periodically and when I shut the car off and let it sit for 5 minutes it is perfectly fine again, doesn't happen every time I drive the car maybe once a week sort of thing. There is no rough idle, no high revs, no misfire, a brand new gas cap has been put on two days ago (as before I had the codes read I know these cars are famous for gas cap malfunctions so thought I would attempt that first and installed then put around 300 kms on it cruising around at all different speeds allowing the computer to run it's cycle in the hopes it would knock out the light, but no luck) and no smoke out the exhaust, no knocks, pings or other strange noises, to be honest if the light wasn't on you wouldn't know there was a problem with the exception of the periodic surging

 

Ok grabbed the paper and here's what it says

"code's set:P1811 Tranny, P0404 egr, P0742 Tranny, 2XP1404 egr valve or circuit, likely, the best place to start would be the EGR valve"

I have also never heard of an egr valve failure, at least not in any of my vehicles, or anyone that I know

 

I cross referenced the codes with the one listed in this thread https://montecarloforum.com/forum/ge...de-list-17144/ and they do say it is an egr problem, so any help is greatly appreciated

 

FYI - Thanks for posting the codes. I will see if I can cross reference them in the shop book soon (it may take a couple of days, I have a lot going on at the moment).
If someone else here has a moment, perhaps they can cross reference some helpful information.

 

Thanks for any and all assistance. No rush as I don't have time to fix the car this weekend anyways, plus like I said, the thing drives perfectly.

 

Well I was out of the office today and picked up and egr valve and installed it, and did the reset of the engine light by removing the positive terminal for approx 30 mins and then went for a good long drive around the country side to see some clients.

So far it has not come back on, but I know it probably hasn't cycled through everything within the pcm yet, so I still have my fingers and toes crossed that it is resolved.

On the positive the surging it was periodically doing has not happened since swapping the egr valve, and the shifts haven't been hard like they were when it was acting up. But I will hopefully give her a real good run tomorrow night and make sure the computer cycles through in the hopes that it doesn't come back on

Oh should have added that the check engine light came back on earlier this week, which prompted me in to getting the egr valve sooner than later

 

The following drive cycle procedure offers the various load conditions the vehicle needs to be subject to in order to insure all monitors are in ready state:

General Motors Driving Cycle