DIY EGR cleaning made easy

If you get a lot of blow-by from stuck rings, wouldn't that lower manifold vacuum, then would that throw off the EGR pressure diff test?

SM-A536V ?

 

So after 24 hours in the OxiClean mean green mix the cooler that came with the JDM engine is still 50% or 60% stopped up The gold tube that goes from the EGR or the cooler to the intake manifold is clean as a whistle You can see light shining through it just from the ambient sunlight in the sky the intake manifold if I blow water through where the gold hose attaches I get 18 in of spray from a standard garden hose out of each port on the intake manifold they're all equal one's not squirting higher water than the other this is all off the JDM engine I'm shocked that the cooler is this clogged The cooler off my American spec engine stayed in the solution about an hour and a half and looks brand new and there's no clogging internally You can hear it when you blow air through it the JDM one is massively stopped up and green brownish crap is still trying to come out of it so I'll leave it soaking but we're certainly not going to use that mofo. I guess I could possibly believe a cooler being this clogged and blocking off this much EGR might cause a power problem in this engine design We I guess will soon see this is too funny. I would not expect a suppose it engine that has 65 to 100,000 mi on it to be this clogged up no matter what part of the world it's in I mean this is unreal stopped up but I don't have a whole lot more of them to clean and test to see what's more normal I can't wait to get another one of these engines with $150,000 miles US blown up and see how clogged it is but the JDM spec motor is supposed to have 65 to $90,000 on it generally speaking that's how it works but this thing is clogged up like some I don't know man 200,000 mi engines here I guess it's really weird oh well.

 

Tom you're slipping; I see a period halfway through the above.

 

That sounds about the severity of my engine at ~68k miles. I had to drill it out with doorbell wire before soaking with degreaser and oxyclean. A non-oil burning engine.

SM-A536V ?

 

You might as well just remove it, and connect the cooler hoses
together. And get rid of the egr valve and plug the hole for the intake.

 

Getting rid of the valve and plugging the hole in the intake would be the same as a fully clogged system, and if you belong to the that's-what-causes-HG-failure school of thought, then you'd probably expect that to cause HG failure.

It will certainly cause a P0401 code, and you'll be driving around with fail-safe ignition timing all the time.

 

It might be marginally better: would you then avoid some cylinders running leaner than others, due to unevenly clogged EGR passages in the intake manifold?

 

Now we know which school of thought you belong to.

 

I think a gutted egr cooler would simply allow much hotter exhaust gasses into the intake probably at a higher volume. The plastic intake may not like to be treated as badly as his extremely hot exhaust cousin. Might shorten the life of the egr valve as well.

 

The car was designed and built to work with the egr. Even though it's not a perfect system,
it still needs to work with it. Removing creates problems with the computers because they're
not getting the reading they're expecting.
If you maintain it, the car will work the way it was designed to work.

 

Thanks for the tip, to those who are based in the USA, could you be so kind to share what is the active ingredients in the mean green and oxy clean product and in what quantity to recreate this mix somewhere else in the world? Would be appreciated

 

The composition is indicated on the packaging, but details may be hidden to protect against counterfeiting.



There is also information on the website.
OxiClean - Wikipedia

 

Argh damn, thought it would be more straight forward, thank you though

 

I may try lye (sodium hydroxide) solution next time (see post 7). Several here have used oven cleaner (presumably in pump spray bottle) which has lye, albeit quite dilute. Goes without saying but: straight lye solution is strongly caustic, will burn skin, wear rubber gloves, eye protection, apron.

Note: lye may be hard to come by in Oz, it is thus in the States, albeit more lax in Canada.

I'm always taken aback by DIY'rs that'll do these soaks in a massive bucket of solution. Just corking one end of the cooler and filling it with the solution (about a cup, if that) is all that's needed. Smaller end hole of the cooler is roughly 21 mm ID. Plug it with an appropriate-sized white rubber stopper (#4 IIRC), pour in solution, prop in corner of laundry sink, let bubble for about an hour, rinse and repeat.

Inspect after a few sessions with a point light at the end you're inspecting. It's always impressive/gratifying to shine the light through from the other end, but easy to overlook the stubborn patina of carbon that remains. With patience you can get it close to near-new shiny. Any coating is going to reduce it's cooling efficacy I think.

See top two links in my signature for info (on a phone turn it landscape to see signatures).

 

Oven cleaner, and a pressure washer...

 

Just remember: only yellow EZ off oven cleaner is actually lye. The others are something else and verrry dilute. Probaly wouldn't touch the EGR gunk much.

 

My attempts at using spray on oven cleaner was futile, the EGR cooler was too clogged. The oven cleaner only penetrated the first half inch or so on both ends, I had to use a stainless steel wire chucked into my drill to even start getting through the carbonized channels, and even then, the wire was getting beat up and worn at the business end doing the busting of the carbon.

Once I had some channels cleared, I corked the end and filled it with straight up extra strength drain cleaner solution and let it soak for a couple of hours, pour out the drain cleaner and rinse with hot water till the rinse water ran somewhat clear, then repeat it over and over till the rinse water stopped coming out looking like old greasy coffee.

Took me several days of multiple soaking/rinsing, as I had no access to a pressure washer, only had a "high pressure nozzle" attachment purchased from the garden center.

It's a good thing I was cleaning out a used EGR cleaner bought from eBay. I didn't start taking the Prius apart till I had a clean EGR cooler to install.

SM-G781V ?