goofinoff

I did the clean up on the EGR, it seems to be working good now. The idle was very rough before, now it is running a lot smoother. The real test will be when I go back through emissions, to see if I pass. I'll post my results. You need to pull the complete EGR off the car. It is held on by two 12mm bolts. Also, beware when you pull it off, there is a thin metal gasket between the assembly and the manifold that may fall loose, keep an eye out for it. Once you get the whole assembly off it will be easier to access the screws. The phillips head screws you are referring to hold the solenoid onto the valve. What I did was, lay the assembly on my work bench, then wire brush the screw heads, then get your best phillps and tap it down into the screw head with a light hammer, try to get it locked in as best as possible, then try turning out the screw. Then follow the cleaning instructions in the thread. It took me more than 30 minutes, cause I'm pretty meticulous and didn't want to have to pull it off again. You can squeeze the valve open and closed by squeezing on the spring, it will help if you do this a bit while cleaning and spraying in the carb cleaner. Note, I also pulled off the throttle body, (2 12mm bolts and 2 12mm nuts) and found the small port down inside the manifold that had a lot of carbon buildup around the opening. This port goes down to the EGR valve, so when you clean and blow it out, the air should come out where you pulled off the EGR. For a real thorough cleaning and fix for the code P0402, you should also do this. I re-used original gaskets and haven't found any leaks. My car has 118,000 miles, so this all made a great difference for me.

KrayzieFox

Oh I see ... so the two screws I was referring to aren't the ones that hold it in place are they, but instead they hold the EGR together right? So I'm guessing they're located right under the throttle body then huh?

goofinoff

You are right about the phillips head screws, they hold the EGR solenoid onto the EGR valve. The whole assembly needs to come off if you want to clean it properly. The EGR assemby is held on by two 12mm bolts, you need to unhook the wires, unplug the gray plug. Then feel around down there for the two bolts. Don't loose the gasket when you unscrew the 2 bolts! There are actually four phillps head screws holding the solenoid (black ****) to the valve, you'll see all this once you get the assembly off the manifold. Good luck

goofinoff

Took the Protege thru emissions after the cleaning - it passed! Thanks for the help guys.

Trig

Just want to THANK you for your help through replies and providing links

I had ago at cleaning the EGR valve... The valve had some carbon deposits but not much of it... still I cleaned it by soaking the valve in Kerocine for 20 minutes, then brushing the deposits off with a toothbrush.

I reset the ECU after fitting the cleaned valve back.

The car feels SMOOTHER with no hesitation on acceleration. Can't tell about the mpg and I doubt if it will make a difference!

Some photos:


1- Before Cleaning




2- Separating the elec. part



3- Soaking in Kerocine for 20 minutes



4- Cleaned, assembled and ready to fit back

goofinoff

Nice pic.s..Wonder if Kraziefox ever got his cleaned up. Like I mentioned earlier, this clean-up worked good for me, noticeable difference in performance, and even got me thru emissions!!

mitchman

Do you need to purchase/replace any gaskets to clean it? They look like they hold together well. Maybe they're not made of paper?

arabamer2004

hey guys awsome write ups btw!!! Anyhow im having problems with the cel coming on. last year in the summer i got it diagnost and the dealer said it was my egr valve...they cleaned it for free and told me that i might hav to replace it in a few months. well as time would hav it..the cel light came on again. Any solutions to this problem i hav a protege 99 1.6L dohc. also if someone can tell me where it is so that i can save myself the $89.00!!

KrayzieFox

No I didn't ... I tried taking it off one day but the bolts wouldn't come loose at all, and it sucks workin in that little tiny cramped space. I gotta soak them in some WD-40 next time I get some free time and try it again ...

Da P-Funk!

Yeah! Follow the advice and clean it yourself!

i will do mine soon...

GREAT write-up!

goofinoff

Arabamer, first you need to find out why the CEL came back on, so you will know exactly what your dealing with. Autozone will give you a free reading, if the trouble code is a P0402, this thread may be of help. You will need to go back to the first page of this thread. On your '99 the EGR won't be located in the same place as the picture in Trig's post. Check out Bellydawgs link (I think he was about the 6th post in this thread). In Bellydawgs link, the first pic shows a black **** looking thing with a gray plug on it, located below the throttle body - thats about where your EGR should be located, a little below and to the right of the throttle body. You need to remove the big air cleaner pipe, when you do, there is a hose on the top of it that connects to the intake, be careful taking this hose off cause it has plastic elbows at each end that can break off easily. I even removed my battery, since it needs to be disconnected anyway. There are a couple of other hoses that can then be easily unplugged and moved out of the way. Now you will have good access to the two 12mm bolts that hold on the EGR assembly. Read all the posts in this thread one more time before you begin, everything you need to know should already be here. Let us know if you get in a bind - good luck, its worth the effort.
MITCHMAN - the gasket on my EGR is thin metal, I reused the old one - be careful when you remove the EGR so you don't lose it.

nazabe

Hi, I wanna try my luck here before I spend $90 on a diagnosis. My 2000 protege 1.6L, 102,000 miles just has the CEL on Monday and there are noise, like leaking air from broken muffler, from the front of the engine, around the area where exhaust pipe connects to the engine . Could it be a broken EGR or some vacuum valve? Thanks.

goofinoff

I wouldn't wanna spend $90 bucks on a diagnosis either. If I were you, I'd give a tug at my exhaust pipe and manifold and check for cracks on the exhaust system when the car cools down, see if there's anything obvious. For the CEL, Autozone, and other parts stores can give you a reading off your computer, they'll give you a trouble code, most will do that for free. Once you get the trouble code, do a search on it here in the forums, most likely someone will have started a thread on it somewhere.
PS, at 102,00 miles, you may want to clean the EGR anyway, mine was at 118,000 and it needed the cleaning BADLY. good luck

nazabe

Hey, thanks for your reply. I found out this Weekend the noise was from the spark plug socket. There is no thread to hold the plug and I need to rethread the socket. I've tried rethread kits from Checker and Autozone, they are too short to reach the hole. Any suggestion?