xtremex626

iTrader: (1)

I know everyone is going to flame me for this and believe me, I have searched the whole forum on how to clean the egr on an '03 TL-S and haven't found any yet. I've only seen years '99 and '00, and the 02-03 tl-p if iirc. I've never seen a DIY specifically made for the TL-S and I was disconnecting all the connections and hoses.. I was like.. what the hell do I do next..? I've used the DIY here: https://acurazine.com/forums/2g-tl-1999-2003-98/diy-thermoblok-spacers-install-egr-cleaning-615644/, but that obviously isn't for the TL-S. The hoses and connections are in different places. The top IM plate is different as well.

Does anybody have a detailed DIY on cleaning the EGR on a TL-S? I don't wanna hear it's the same thing.. cause I've already unplugged everything and I was going to take off the bolts on top but I'd like to make sure what I'm unbolting is correct..

xtremex626

iTrader: (1)

here are some pics to explain what i mean:

IM plate; i know it's obvious to most people, but i myself am not mechanically inclined so i would like to know what to remove for sure.



^ are those all i have to remove or is there more?



^ and what about these?

hANDYcaptd

iTrader: (5)

Sorry to say, but it IS basically the same as the DIY's you've seen.

Remove the bolts in your first pic and remove the cover plate. Under that are the bolts to remove the IM itself.

The bolts in the second pic are optional. You can remove them to get the plenums off for a more thorough clean.

gold2003tl (90)

its not necessary to remove the bolts in the second pic, if you spray enough carb cleaner down into the IM it should clean it out enough. plus those allen key bolts happened to be very tight (possibly have thread lock) and its easy to strip the hex. I never removed them when i cleaned mine out.

as hANDYcaptd said, after you remove those 10mm bolts that hold the top plate in, remove the plate, it will expose a bunch of 14mm bolts that hold the IM onto the runners. remove those as well and carefully lift IM out for cleaning.

use proper TQ specs and TQ'ing order on all of the bolts.

xtremex626

iTrader: (1)

just took off the IM plate and i dont know how to remove this thing..

xtremex626

iTrader: (1)

^ as you can see from that pic.. there are 3 different bolts.. i dont know which one to remove.. and there are like two philips head screws as well

hANDYcaptd

iTrader: (5)

IIRC, only the far left bolt holds the bracket for the IMRC cable. You only need to take that off. Unhook the IMRC cable similarly to how you did the TB cables.

01tl4tl

yep- rotate the spring assembly by hand and slide the cables barrel end out the opening
Simple

fsttyms1

Rotate the cable assembly by hand, notice the round piece attached to the cable, that slides out from the sprocket. Remove the 1 bolt that holds the bracket to the intake.

xtremex626

iTrader: (1)

i got it guys. thank you for all your help. i used 4 cans of carb cleaner and cleaned most of the gunk out. also used a knife to scrape the nasty black stuff outta there too. took awhile because i kept going back and forth to autozone for carb cleaner.. thought 2 was enough at first.. but ended up getting 1 more.. then another one.

by the time all that was done.. it was already dark.. so im waiting on tomorrow to put everything back on. btw .. do any of you guys know what torque specs for the 14mm bolts that go on the intake manifold and the torque specs for the 10mm bolts that go on the intake manifold plate?

hANDYcaptd

iTrader: (5)

16 ft-lb for the 14mm
8.7 ft-lb for the 10mm

01tl4tl

dont we have in about every 3rd post on egr cleaning: requires 3 cans carb cleaner

or solvent tank for those so equipped

xtremex626

iTrader: (1)

thanks guys. installed everything back on 3am last night and everything runs fine. well here's how it started.. i turned the car on this morning and it turned on fine.. idle was perfect. then after it warmed up.. i gave it some gas and right when i let off, the rpms dipped lower than 800rpm and as i kept gassing it to keep it from stalling.. i let go again and rpms dipped to 0 and my car stalled..

i turned it back on and everything seemed fine.. shifted from p to r, n, and d. idle seemed fine (i cleaned the iacv while cleaning the egr port). went for a 15 mile drive just to see if the cel would come on (it didnt) and to see if it would stall again and it did couple of times. it's like on and off. sometimes my idle would be normal.. and at other stops.. it would dip lower than normal and hesitate and almost seem like its about to die.

any ideas what happened? this happened before i did seafoam and egr cleaning. maybe spark plugs?? but they've only had 15k on them.

01tl4tl

as long as you are running the correct NGK plugs- thats barely broken in miles on them
What exactly are you using?

did you drive it after starting, so it got to blow out loose crud, like a seafoam drive?

recheck all your hoses and connections- vac line at tb has its clamp, TB snout to air filter tight etc
Use carb cleaner to look for vac leaks

It almost sounds like when you install the upper cover gasket upside down- covers an important port,, but looks right
Must set it on upper cover to match, not to lower side

anyone agree who had that problem?

xtremex626

iTrader: (1)

^"upper cover gasket upside down" sounds exactly the same situation that happened when i first got my car. i found out that the previous owner had the gasket installed upside down and it triggered a CEL.. flipped it the other side and it was gone.. weird.

my idle problem has gone away. i think i just had to drive it around for awhile and get everything cycling through the engine again.