zoope

Hi guys,

So I got three errors, even the dreadful check sh-awd. Went to the dealer and they replaced my Exhaust Gas Recirculation valve. Good thing my warranty was still live. They gave me the explanation of what went wrong and now I'm wondering if I should use those gunk removers for my next few fill-ups. My exhaust tips are pretty dirty, too. Thanks in advance.

Professor

My indicators all lite up and it was for some component near the cup holders and tranny shifter. Seems beverage spillage caused the short...about a $500 fix.

zoope

I don't know if I should be glad it's not an electrical problem. I'm worried my engine is dirty which may cause some loss of power. Do you guys use those STP fuel additive products year round?

oo7spy

A fuel additive will do little to nothing for the EGR system. This system takes some of the exhaust and circulates it back into the intake so the detonation temperature of the gas is lower. This allows for less emissions to be released. I had a problem with this on Legend #1, and I took the valve off and cleaned it with carb cleaner. Still, that wasn't the major issue. The problem lied within the EGR pipe which was completely clogged with carbon. I was unable to detach it from the intake manifold and was unable to clean it so my problem never went away. I know they changed somethings around on this engine, but if everything is still there, you probably need a good intake manifold and EGR pipe cleaning. It's pretty work intensive.

EL19

iTrader: (4)

Yea fuel additive isnt going to clean the gunk out of the egr valve. You'll need to pull the manifold off and get a tooth brush with some throttle body cleaner and clean it out. I had to do this on my TLS

oo7spy

Here is your intake manifold. Part 7 is the EGR pipe.



That actually looks conveniently located for cleaning. The garage should have a service manual that would step you through this. On the 2nd gen Legends, this was between the engine and the firewall just above the transmission. PITA to get to with out removing a shit ton of parts or dropping the whole manifold.

zoope

Holy! I'm really not handy. The dealer changed the EGR valve. Does that not fix the problem? Should I get rid of this pronto? I love the car but would hate to get saddled with more bills in the thousands.

oo7spy

The EGR valve and pipe clogging will do nothing to harm the engine. Some people actually plate off this hole b/c they think they get better performance without recirculated exhaust. For the intake manifold, a little carbon will only rob performance. I don't think you have to worry about hurting your engine. The only reason for the EGR system is emissions. That's why the check engine light will come on if there is a problem with it. It just doesn't function up to the standards the gov set for the manufacturer. Honestly, cars run for 100s of thousands of miles without manifold cleaning. However, I would like to clean mine sometime after 100k mi. (I'm at 39k now.) I think your car will be fine, but you may consider saving up to have someone clean the system sometime. How many mi do you have?

kssod

have dealer check TSBs. This is a known issue and is caused by a faulty fuel injector

zoope

Thanks, oo7spy. It's got ~58k miles. I thought there'd be more power, but I don't have a lead foot. Some magazines say 0-60 in 6.7 seconds, some say 7 seconds and change. When I rev it, the car gets a little shaky in the beginning. I'll check with the dealer next time about the TSB and the fuel injector. It's tough because I just paid $1400 to get 4 tires replaced.

gcook

I got this and it turned out to be low oil. The oil was getting burned and they replaced some part of my engine can't remember what part, but see my previous posts. I paid 200 to have computer reset then happened again and figured car was very low on oil, but not empty. Turned out engine was burning oil ao had it fixed under powertrain warranty.