Hi,

i was in the process of removing the EGR for a cleanup and lucky me, i broke the lower EGR-to-cooler 8mm bolt (yellow). Apparently it was rusty,

but I had no space to spray it with a penetration fluid. Now i wonder how the heck am i going to find space to drill and remove the damn thing.. 

Sofar i have removed the cowl to see how much access i can gain. Well.. i did gain a lot, but not sure how i'll drill a hole in the bolt (3/4 blindly) then run a screw extractor - again semi blindly.. 

 

Sub-question: would it be unwise to drive around with the bolt like that? Judging by the pic, it seems to hold alright.

I'm not sure what my options are...i just hope it won't come down to removing the engine..  

 

Things were going juuust fine

. . .

 

You can just unbolt the EGR cooler and do it on a bench instead.

Will obviously need to drain some of the coolant or clamp the pipes first.

Thanks for the idea. Seems so obvious now duh. . 

I wouldn't be comfortable clamping such thick ol' pipes..seems like looking for trouble?

so i would drain and renew the coolant completely. I think the car needs it anyway.

 

but luckily, the way the bolt broke allowed me to get the EGR out! I just needed to get a better pic for a better view to see i was lucky. Problem diluted to the usual rusty bolt removal procedure. 

. . . . Out of the dark .  .  .                                                . . . into the light . . . 

 

Off to the wash machine! 

 

But still, i now have TWO questions :

1.) Does it make sense to get the EGR cooler out anyway, for a good clean? The black stuff kinda gets on my nerves...I mean, if i clean the EGR, will it get dirty quicker because of the dirty cooler a.k.a will it last longer if i clean the cooler aswell ? It's quite an additional hassle...so would it be worth it? (i am keeping the car for another 160k miles if it lives upto it)... I'm just leery of one of them bolts snapping :\ the i DO have to take the engine out to get it fixxxed. (those look like nuts on studs, on the cooler? that might be good for drenching them with pen.fluid)

 

 

Hey, i've got an funny idea. While i'm down there, i might as well replace the glow plugs? ? ? .. o dear...o my..   (not sure i should wrestle this...the car starts just fine in the winter...i know - don't fix it if it works...but ... i'm so near the damn things... I need a backup car so i can meanwhile pour aceton/atf mix on the plugs for three weeks...wait for the full moon then go at it slowly... 

Is it worth the risk? 

 

I guess i miscounted, i've got another one:

What's the sticky black foam tape under the cowl called? I'll need it when reassembling..

Can you get it at the dealer... or what kind of a product is it? Can i substitute it with something available? 

 

Many thanks!

 

 

15 minutes ago, monkey×wrench said:

Hey, i've got an funny idea. While i'm down there, i might as well replace the glow plugs? ? ? .. o dear...o my..   (not sure i should wrestle this...the car starts just fine in the winter...i know - don't fix it if it works...but ... i'm so near the damn things... I need a backup car so i can meanwhile pour aceton/atf mix on the plugs for three weeks...wait for the full moon then go at it slowly... 

Is it worth the risk? 

I don't know what the climate is like where you live, but modern Direct Injection Engines, especially Common Rail ones do not really need Glow Plugs to start unless the temperature is well below 0, even then it may take a few seconds more to start.

In UK cars they are there more for Emissions and possibly for DPF Regeneration depending on how a particular Engines DPF Regeneration has been designed to operate.

Somewhere under the eastern part of Alps. The winters have been getting weaker..

 

But the regeneration probably is aided by the plugs i guess, since i'm almost certain there is no extra injector/vapouriser in the DPF.

Found that the EGR position "sensor" aka pot has no response... it measures some 87kΩ across and the middle - signal does not respond in change of resistance when i actuate the valve from one end to the other .. Also when i put 5V ref across it (1-5), the wiper does not vary the signal (6)voltage, it just stays at ~0.9 Vdc.

Safe to say it's kaput? It's a Delphi EGR..I've been trying to get it open, to see if i can clean the carbon tracks or move the wiper (supposedly it works on some types of EGRs), but it's been a tough cookie opening the actuator ... anyone ever tried?