EGR valve lifespan

tegnamo

Member
I'm noticing that my EGR valve is leaking a bit more oil than usual, and upon removal of the black plastic cover, I have another concern.

When I rotate the actuator arm, the piston (with roller) does not get smoothly pushed into the valve housing. Rather, it sort of cocks to one side and jams. If I help it along for the first few millimeters of travel, the actuator arm seems able to push the valve in the rest of the way.

That said, perhaps I am misinterpreting how the valve works? If there is a suction/vacuum that pulls the valve into the valve housing, then I can imagine the jamming won't occur, since the actuator arm is simply "allowing" the valve to move, and not actually pushing it, per se.

Lastly, I managed to find a used EGR valve with about 90,000 miles for $160. Would that be an acceptable replacement for my EGR valve with 350,000 miles? Granted, there are less miles, but if I can expect the same behavior and leaking from a 90,000 mile EGR valve, then perhaps I shouldn't bother.

Thanks!
 

d_bertko

Active member
The egr on my 02 got has never made it to 90k without showing serious signs of wear. One complete failure at the initial 85k and then replaced again about 80k later---still working but lots of excess play per Herr Doktor.

Don't know if your 03 has one of the series of upgrades...

Dan
 

surlyoldbill

Well-known member
Remove and clean your EGR everytime you change the oil. I have 130k, noticed oil dripping at 60K, and everything works just fine. I attached a 1/4 tube to the weep hole (the EGR is designed to let excess oil drip out the bottom) so the manifold and engine compartment stays clean. The bottom part of the chassis now gets the oil gunk. I suppose you could route the tube to a cllection container of some sort...

Anyway, when I clean it out it doesn't drip for a long time. Some people have mentioned that the type of motor oil you use effects the amount of weeping, I use Delo. People who use Mobile-1 say they get less weeping. I don't know for sure if it makes any difference, but on my last long trip I used higher than normal concentration of Diesel Clean, and I had hardly any weeping at all even though I was 9k past the last EGR cleaning.
 

talkinghorse43

Well-known member
I'm noticing that my EGR valve is leaking a bit more oil than usual, and upon removal of the black plastic cover, I have another concern.

When I rotate the actuator arm, the piston (with roller) does not get smoothly pushed into the valve housing. Rather, it sort of cocks to one side and jams. If I help it along for the first few millimeters of travel, the actuator arm seems able to push the valve in the rest of the way.

That said, perhaps I am misinterpreting how the valve works? If there is a suction/vacuum that pulls the valve into the valve housing, then I can imagine the jamming won't occur, since the actuator arm is simply "allowing" the valve to move, and not actually pushing it, per se.
On one side of the valve, the pressure is manifold pressure and on the other it's exhaust pressure, so depending on what the engine's doing (rpm, load, etc.), it could either be forced open or closed. Since you don't report any obvious problems with engine operation, it's probably not jamming. On my '02, some conditions result in the valve rattling against the seat, so the valve can be pretty active at times.

Lastly, I managed to find a used EGR valve with about 90,000 miles for $160. Would that be an acceptable replacement for my EGR valve with 350,000 miles? Granted, there are less miles, but if I can expect the same behavior and leaking from a 90,000 mile EGR valve, then perhaps I shouldn't bother.

Thanks!
Very impressive service from that valve! If you can accept the oil drip (I can't), then a 90k valve for that price is a good deal IMHO. My first valve went 30k miles before I had it changed under warranty. After that (should have changed it again under the 100k mile emission warranty), I modified the valve by adding a hose to the drain to get the drip down to the road. After about 150k more with that valve, Doktor A noticed it was throwing codes, even though it was working fine (but starting to drip oil up top again). So, I bought and installed a new one. I kept the old one and plan to rebuild it to reduce the oil drip and reinstall after my third one starts to drip too much. Then, I plan to rebuild and reinstall alternately as long as the electric operators hang in there. AFAIK, the OM612 EGR (even a new one) is guaranteed to eventually drip oil, so I decided to deal with it.
 

tegnamo

Member
Thanks for the information regarding the valve behavior. I went ahead and ordered the used EGR valve, but will probably try giving my existing one a good cleaning and see how much more I can get out of it.
 

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