DIY EGR cleaning made easy

Yes, my sweetie (marine bio person, oceans oceans oceans and used to have several aquariums) mentioned that. Chloramines remain a while in water supplies. However, having done a bit more research I am not concerned about that avenue of risk:

* Typical SS (18-8 304) has no issues below 100ppm chlorine/chloride
* US EPA permits up to 4ppm at the water treatment plant. Typical home drinking water result is up to 0.2-0.4ppm

So typical municipal drinking water chlorine isn't an issue. Pools and other situations, particularly rural wells etc... That's different. (we had a well and had to do chlorine shock treatments regularly...)


Chloride/Chlorine Levels and Stainless Steel Alloy Selection - Penflex

Chlorine ppm Levels in Drinking Water - AlpHa Measure

 

Good to know.

Next time around I'm going to try lye solution, on the cooler.

The pipe between EGR valve and intake manifold is also stainless steel, but absurdly easy to clean.

 

Sorry for resurrecting this thread, but I have to add I have now multiple times used a natural Pine ”oil” based household cleaner, in Sweden called Såpa.

It seems to be called pine soap outside of Scandinavia and this is a 100% natural pine tar that has been soaped chemically.

Its dissolves soot and carbon like magic, as natural compounds from organisms used to forest fires often do.

In Scandinavia it’s used for many household cleaning tasks, including ovens and dried out carbon deposits (as in an EGR). It also does not harm platsics at all, which seem relevant for that EGR manifold…

With the help of a drill brush my EGR pipe and manifold feels and looks like new, and smells like a damp forest day.

 

That's sounds interesting.... Does it actually work???
Just soaking is enough or do you have to scrub? Can't scrub INSIDE the cooler...

But if it's inexpensive enough, and you can just let it soak for a few hours and it clears the cooler,
that would be great! Even better than oven cleaner and drain cleaner.

 

How about the EGR valve and cooler, have you cleaned them?

 

No, I have not cleaned the more complex parts, yet. I just mainly did the easy cleaning ie the one NutzandBolts showed, the pipe and the mounting spots that connect the pipe and a quick manifold brushing . The pipe was most sooty, but not excessive in my mind considering its exhaust passing thru.

But I was very fascinated this pine soap solved the soot so effectively (I have used it for my fireplace etc before). I did use friction ie a soft brush, and used hot water with perhaps 30% pine soap. I did not soak since the brush reached thru the pipe. In Sweden pine soap is sold as a very cheap liquid (it’s a byproduct from the forest/cellulose industry).

 

The pipe is stainless steel, but the metal embeds in the intake manifold are not, and can corrode if caustic soap residue is not throughly cleared. I found that happening after soaking the intake manifold with oxi-clean solution. I’d revisit the intake manifold before too long, check for crusties on the embeds, and if it’s happening brush well, then a little brake clean and then a spritz of something like wd40.

it’s best to stick to brake cleaner for everything but the cooler; caustic cleaner on anything else is either corrosion prone, or overkill.

 

Well, I have a special focus to use way less harmful chemicals if possible, and I doubt those chemicals mentioned are required to dissolve basic soot - and they sure are not good for any kind of plastics.

Also worth a mention, pine soap is known to leave a residue that prevents soot from sticking.

I know many (all?) people love brake cleaners for removal of any carbon deposits and the like. I am always looking for milder and less man-made compunds. This is soot. It occurs naturally in nature.

Pine-Sol is a registered trade name of the Clorox Company for a line of household cleaning products, used to clean grease and heavy soil stains. Pine-Sol was based on pine oil when it was created in 1929 and during its rise to national popularity in the 1950s.[3] By 2016, Pine-Sol products sold in stores no longer contained pine oil, which was done to reduce costs?

Pine-Sol - Wikipedia

According to this wiki entry the product in the Americas has removed pine oil…