Black Death or bad EGR?

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indigoE

Member
After nearly 200,000 miles, my Sprinter has used four EGR valves. The original one was retired due to play in the mushroom-stemmed valve guide. I have been rotating the other three (remove; replace; clean) every 10,000 miles.

Lately there has been a whiff of raw diesel in the cab while sitting at a traffic light, and am hoping it is not a symptom of “Black Death” (have not looked under the injector-cover as of yet). Wondering if a sooty or faulty EGR could be the cause. No visible leaks anywhere in the lines or fuel filter.
 
2

220629

Well-known member
indigoE said:
... Wondering if a sooty or faulty EGR could be the cause. No visible leaks anywhere in the lines or fuel filter.
Click to expand...
Nope. Not unless your injectors are dumping huge amounts of fuel. The EGR Recirculates Exhaust Gas.

indigoE said:
After nearly 200,000 miles, my Sprinter has used four EGR valves. The original one was retired due to play in the mushroom-stemmed valve guide. I have been rotating the other three (remove; replace; clean) every 10,000 miles.

Lately there has been a whiff of raw diesel in the cab while sitting at a traffic light, and am hoping it is not a symptom of “Black Death” (have not looked under the injector-cover as of yet). Wondering if a sooty or faulty EGR could be the cause. No visible leaks anywhere in the lines or fuel filter.
Click to expand...
Check under the black plastic cover.

:cheers: vic
 
P

Patrick of M

2005 T1N 2500 (NA spec)
4 egr in 200,000 miles means something is not right. I suggest u work out what. Also all that soot is probably coking up your valves and head.
 
I

indigoE

Member
Patrick of M said:
4 egr in 200,000 miles means something is not right. I suggest u work out what. Also all that soot is probably coking up your valves and head.
Click to expand...
Some clarification: I thought it would be good to have a cleaned spare EGR ready to install. so I had two; then the Freightliner dealer included a new EGR when I had the Manifold Recall work done several years ago. So now I have three, which I rotate, but they are all appear to be functional. I believe extensive soot build-up is normal for the 2002-2003 EGR valve (they don't self-clean).
 
NobleOne

NobleOne

Learning Curve Climber
Removing the black plastic cover is super easy. What's holding you back? Also, you could always do an EGR delete.
 
B

billintomahawk

Guest
'02 Freightliner.

First EGR failed at 55K miles.
At 92K I pulled the second one off.
It was dirty and the face was eroded where it attached to the intake manifold.

The intake manifold was half clogged with soot so I ran a shop vac hose/pipe down it and sucked out the soot.

Nasty.

I saved my money for a Green Diesel Engineering tune and now my beast runs nicer and stronger.
They tell me my EGR valve will last forever with the tune(I hope so)....

They say my NOX is up but my CO2 is down?

Well maybe...still, pray for me.

bill in tomahawk
 
MillionMileSprinter

MillionMileSprinter

Millionmilesprinter.com
billintomahawk said:
'02 Freightliner.

First EGR failed at 55K miles.
At 92K I pulled the second one off.
It was dirty and the face was eroded where it attached to the intake manifold.

The intake manifold was half clogged with soot so I ran a shop vac hose/pipe down it and sucked out the soot.

Nasty.

I saved my money for a Green Diesel Engineering tune and now my beast runs nicer and stronger.
They tell me my EGR valve will last forever with the tune(I hope so)....

They say my NOX is up but my CO2 is down?

Well maybe...still, pray for me.

bill in tomahawk
Click to expand...
Bill.
Who is "they" who says your EGR should last forever?
If its GDE, ask if they have eliminated the automatic cleaning cycle.
Last I spoke with them, they had NOT eliminated the automatic cleaning cycle and so every time the van was shut off, the EGR valve opened and closed a few times, as per the MB programming in the ECU. I have personally seen this cleaning cycle be the cause of EGR valve failure ON A VAN WITH THE GDE TUNE ALREADY INSTALLED.
I do not want to speak poorly of GDE. I think what they do with ECU tuning is amazing. I am just speaking from personal experience of a flaw in their (lack of) programming that led to an EGR valve failure.
Seems a shame to have people spending 6 or 7 hundred dollars to "bulletproof" their EGR valve when it really doesn't.
Joel
 
I

indigoE

Member
NobleOne said:
Removing the black plastic cover is super easy. What's holding you back? Also, you could always do an EGR delete.
Click to expand...
I guess I'm afraid of what I might find under the cover! But seriously, I appreciate the encouragement and will have a look!
 
B

billintomahawk

Guest
MillionMileSprinter said:
Bill.
Who is "they" who says your EGR should last forever?
If its GDE, ask if they have eliminated the automatic cleaning cycle.
Last I spoke with them, they had NOT eliminated the automatic cleaning cycle and so every time the van was shut off, the EGR valve opened and closed a few times, as per the MB programming in the ECU. I have personally seen this cleaning cycle be the cause of EGR valve failure ON A VAN WITH THE GDE TUNE ALREADY INSTALLED.
I do not want to speak poorly of GDE. I think what they do with ECU tuning is amazing. I am just speaking from personal experience of a flaw in their (lack of) programming that led to an EGR valve failure.
Seems a shame to have people spending 6 or 7 hundred dollars to "bulletproof" their EGR valve when it really doesn't.
Joel
Click to expand...
Joel,
You said the magic words. I'll be back at them for more information.

My EGR is a time bomb and not of my making.

Ugg.

bill
 
Last edited by a moderator:
ECU

ECU

2006 T1n 118 Sprinter
indigoE said:
I guess I'm afraid of what I might find under the cover! But seriously, I appreciate the encouragement and will have a look!
Click to expand...
The fuel leak from injectors doesn't have to mean black death. I had fumes so bad I had to drive with the windows open. Yet there was no black death.
 
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