3G Protege: EGR valve removal and cleaning procedure
 

I'll add pictures to this the next time I do this (probably the first week of June, no time right now :( ). If you go through the guide and are a kind individual, take pictures along the way and send them to me via a PM or an e-mail :)

Introduction:

On the 3rd Gen Proteges (2.0 litre FS-DE, gods greatest gift to mankind), the EGR valve gets gummed up with carbon deposits thanks to how woefully rich the cars run on the stock ECU. When this happens, people report a rough idle, and if it gets very bad (due to high mileage, bad gas, different driving style, etc) it can cause the car to stall at idle and throw a check engine light code (EGR insufficient flow or something similar).

Warning: Using harsh cleaners (such as the brake cleaner everyone uses) on the EGR valve will shorten the timespan between cleanings, eventually to the point where you find that you need to clean it every 3k miles when you change your oil. If I find out about a cleaner that can clean it well without that side effect, I'll update this.

Note: There is a revised EGR valve part number (note to kansei: look this up), but from what I've been told the revised part in no way fixes this "problem". Never fear, cleaning the EGR valve is pretty simple after the first time you've done it.

Tools/Supplies:
- 12mm 6-point socket: shallow socket, and no huge ratchet heads
- 10mm or 8mm socket, optionally a phillips or flat screwdriver (for removal of intake).
- Optional: 10mm deep and 17mm (14? confirm this) sockets for removal of battery tie-down, battery terminals, and strut tower brace.
- Brake Cleaner: non-chlorinated so that you don't die.

Procedure:

A. Before starting, disconnect the terminals on the battery using a 10mm wrench (a 10mm deep socket works). Pump the brake pedal to ensure that the car's electrical system is discharged. Safety first!

1. Begin by gaining access to the EGR valve. The more modded your car is, the easier this will probably be. The EGR valve is located on the underside of the intake manifold, near the throttle body.
a. Obviously, the intake needs to get out of the way. If you have an aftermarket intake, chances are the hose clamp will use an 8mm socket or a screwdriver to loosen it. For the stock intake, I'm going to guess a 10mm, but I haven't seen my stock intake in over three years so I'm honestly not sure. You just need the pipe closest to the throttle body removed so you can reach under the throttle body to get at it with a socket wrench.
b. Using a clean rag, protect the throttle body from any debris. Alternately, a latex/nitrile/vinyl glove stretched over the throttle body works great too.
c. Depending on how much of a contortionist you are, you may find that removing the battery (2 10mm nuts on the top battery bracket, plus 4 17mm (or is it 14mm) nuts to remove the strut tower brace.

2. Ok, so where is it? You likely can't even see it, and won't actually see it until it is removed from the car. Start by following the small wiring bundle traveling under the throttle body until you find the plug. Unplug the plug on the EGR, it's one of those "squeeze the tab and yank" plugs. Getting that out of the way makes it a lot easier to access the bolts.

3. With the 12mm socket on your wrench, feel around for the two bolts. You'll find that they are oriented with one on the driver's side of the valve, and the other on the passenger side of the valve. If you've never removed these bolts before, put on some mechanics gloves so your knuckles don't get bloody (I'm not kidding). Once you bust the first bolt loose, move on to the second one, you'll find that once they are started, the rest can be done by hand. The bolts are long since they go through the entire body of the EGR valve, be prepared to catch them so they don't fall into the abyss of your front crossmember, steering linkage, lower tie bar, and axles.

4. With the two bolts removed, the valve should just come off into your hand. Make sure you get the gasket too, it will likely be stuck either on the EGR valve or still on the underside of the intake manifold.

5. I'm sure at this point you can see why that valve was causing a problem. They get so gunked up with carbon deposits that the plunger inside the valve gets stuck.

6. Optional: Spray the four screws attaching the two halves of the valve together with pb blaster and let it sit for a while. Carefully remove the four screws and separate the pieces. I wasn't careful, and two of the screws on mine are stripped. You can clean the valve without removing these, just be careful of the electrical connections.

7. This will make a mess: go at the carbon with the brake cleaner, thoroughly rinsing out both sides of the chamber. A small brush such as your roommate's toothbrush may allow you to more easily remove the carbon. I usually just stuff rags in there and swirl them around on the walls. You probably won't get it looking silver on the inside ever unless you use a Dremel with a polishing wheel. It's ok though, any little bit helps.

8. Before beginning to reinstall the valve, make sure it is completely dry. Install in the reverse order of the removal, making sure the gasket is properly installed (it is keyed, and you'll notice from the markings on the valve body which way it was oriented). To facilitate an easier installation, I recommend putting both bolts through the valve body and putting the gasket on with the valve still out of the car. Take the assembly and reach it under the intake manifold, feeling around for the bolt holes and starting the bolts by hand. Make sure you get the bolts nice and tight, but not so tight that you break them because that would ruin your day (note to kansei: look up FSM torque numbers). Remember to plug the connector back on to the EGR and reconnect the battery :)

9. When you first start the car up, it will idle high and might sound funny because the ECU is re-learning everything since you sucked the life out of it's brain earlier. When the car is fully warmed up, take it for a quick jaunt around the block to make sure everything runs ok. If your idle doesn't seem any better or is worse than before you cleaned it, either the gasket is missing, not in the right position, the bolts aren't properly tightened, or the EGR is permanently damaged and cleaning it was futile (I haven't heard of this happening).

zoom-zoom
--Kansei

*reserved*

i did clean egr valve for my 2000 mazda protege and install back but after two days check engine light came on again , i went to autozone to check it they told me its egr valve, if anyone has any suggestion plz let me know

I did clean egr valve for my 2000 mazda protege and install back but after two days check engine light came on again , i went to autozone to check it they told me its egr valve, if anyone has any suggestion plz let me know

Mine is permanently damaged I think, I cleaned the crap out of it, then in less than 1000 km it started "Bucking" again, pardon my french :D
150$+ for a new egr really sucks, I wanna get a block off plate as in Québec I don't have to pass emissions, just an overall safety check.
Edit: I'll try cleaning it again soon, maybe with Goo Gone this time, then I'll tell you how it works.

EGR Replacement
 

Hi:

Just to chime in with my experiences:

My Protege now has 150k miles. It's currently semi-retired (relegated to mostly winter use ). Last fall I had the typical stumbling problem at Idle as described by others. It would almost stall, and rpms would bounce erratically.

I did a bunch of reading, and looking under the hood. I opted to start with cleaning the IAC first. This seemed to solve my problem - which made me happy, b/c I really didn't relish the idea of dealing with trying to get the EGR valve out.

Then, last week, I had to use the Protege for the first time in a few months, and the idle problem was worse than before. I 'hoped' it was bad/old gas, but with a bit of driving, it became clear that it wasn't. I cleaned the IAC again, but wasn't so lucky this time.

I don't really know why, but many others have reported great variation in intervals of time for which a 'cleaning' is effective. Perhaps, as suggested above, it's related to the chemicals used to clean...

After much struggling, I got the EGR valve out. Overall, I would say that it's easy, but there just is no room to squeeze much of your body (hands) in where you need to direct the socket onto the bolt. (I was lucky that the bolts loosened with relative ease).

Now, I'm as much a New England Yankee (i.e. thrifty) as anyone - but the call I made was to replace the EGR valve - and it made all the difference in my case. (The thought of having to get in there again (potentially as soon as 5,000 miles according to some accounts) was enough to cause me to spend the $150 for a new valve.)

I did tear my old one apart, and it was pretty bad. The valve would not move freely, and the spring was unable to overcome the resistance of the gunk inside the valve.

My word of advice: If you're going to go through the pain and frustration of trying to get the valve off: have a new one ready to go back on. If the removal was easy for you, clean the original and return the new one. If (like me) you were really annoyed and frustrated by the process - put the new one on and hope that it'll be someone else's problem next time around...

Good luck,
Eric

Check the vacuum ports
 

Thanks for the great forum. It just saved me a bunch of money. I was getting a MAP sensor error on my check engine light. A new MAP sensor is about $200 around here.

I just took apart my 99 Protege and cleaned the EGR. I knew the hole inside past the throttle body was clogged, so I pushed a wire into it to break up the clog. I also found a clog on the port where the vacuum line runs over to the MAP sensor. These 2 clogs were actually what was causing my Protege to run poorly.
With the EGR valve and throttle body off, blast air through the vacuum port and the EGR ports to make sure you have proper airflow and no clogs. I also blasted some air through the hose to clear it out. Pull the other end off the MAP sensor before you do. Once I got all the parts back on, my lights went off and the car ran great.

thanks for the great tutorial. Only thing is you mentioned "no huge ratchet heads". I feel this should have said "the smallest 1/4 ratchet head in creation.". haha just kiddin, the passenger side bolt is obstructed by the motor mount, unless I am mistaken and that is the lower strut brace you mentioned (that I clearly didn't remove).

maybe this can be done without removing it by grinding down a 12mm bit, you only need about 1/4" covering the bolt head.

I just bought mine and it looks like no one could figure out the problem, there are a lot of new parts and I paid bottom line book price. Can't thank you enough for this :)

I spent half the afternoon trying to get at those dang bolts, and only managed to get one. I was starting to think that no one could ever get a socket in there to remove the second bolt, but obviously it's just extremely difficult to get at.

Does anyone have specific suggesions on how I might get to the passenger-side bolt? My 2000 Protege has the 1.8L engine and is bone-stock. I removed the battery tryig to get at the EGR, but not the strut brace.

Thanks for helping out a longtime Protege owner, Mazdaspeed3 wannabe, and forum newbie...