What are some symptoms of a bad egr valve?

 

Check engine light getting coded for it? haha

I know some people that were having codes for the EGR valve thrown would sometimes randomly have their truck stall out when idling or running really low RPMs. This happened to me once as well, but never since and the light turned itself off so maybe that is why.

 

My gas mileage went way down, and it smelled heavily of exhaust when I got out of it. The RPM's would dance when cruising w/ the cruise set. Power seemed to be lost when entering the highway.....and of course the CEL w/ the bad EGR code. From the posts I've seen here, I think a Hemi w/ 40k on the clock is another symptom, as that is when mine and many others seemed to fail.

 

Im getting all those symptoms but no CEL...... i had a CEL about 6 months ago but i do not remember what the code was,,, it had to do with gas cap or vac. leak i found a cracked vac. line and it went away but the sypmtoms your stating are still around, smells real rich when i get out of the truck after starting the truck if i dont drive asap it will dump the RPM's and stall.

How much is an EGR?

Will you always get a CEL?

 

Seems like they are around $40 and no you won't always get a cel but most of the time.

 

Yeah you can find one for around $40 usually. They are pretty easy to replace, right on top of the engine

 

My truck doesn't smoke, or bog, or show any symptoms of any engine problems.

I had a CEL light go off about a month ago, but I ignored it after checking things...I figured it may be anything and is more than likely non-critical.

So, my vehicle registration is up for renewal and has to be done by this Friday. It has to pass an emissions test before it can be registered. I take the truck to a local place (non-dealer) so that they can do a diagnostic, replace whatever part that needs to be replaced, and do the emissions test.

The diagnostic costs $99 (I get a $20 discount due to me being an employee of Verizon, which is right across the street from this place). They do the diagnostic, then give me a call to tell me that it is a bad EGR. The part is cheap, but they tell me that the ECU will have to be reflashed to accept the EGR, which is a newer part than the current EGR. I tend to either do my own maintenance or have local small places do maintenance (I don't really trust dealers), so I'm pretty sure that a lot of parts have been revamped and added to the OEM parts pool that are non-conducive to the current ECU code. Apparently, after speaking with the engineer, the reflash is mandatory in order for the new and revised EGR to be accepted by ECU. The reflash is $400 and will be done by the dealer.

The engineer has offered to drive the truck to the local dealer to get this done instead of me doing it. This is cool of him, especially since I dug into to him deeply when I found out that this will amount to $500+.

So, I'm going to get this fixed but I'll be remembering stuff like $40 EGRs that make overall costs skyrocket to $400 because of a mandatory reflash of ECU code to get the ECU to work properly with the new part. That's 100% bull**** to me and will be a deciding factor in me keeping this truck. If I'm going to spend that type of money, I may as well own a real Mercedes instead of something that isn't Mercedes but has Mercedes parts.

EDIT: After doing some research, I'm not seeing other people here having to get ECU reflashes after replacing the EGR? Is this needed or am I being snowballed. I actually called the mechanic again and asked him this same question and he swore up and down that an ECU reflash was needed to accept this part. As much as I grilled him, he's (and his store) going to be in real trouble if I find out that this isn't needed.

 

I'm sure unixfool, that you can pull the EGR and give it a thorough clean out using brake cleaner and re-install.
I'm sure this works as I did it on a GM vehicle (Lord did I just say GM ????) I had a looooong time ago.
It's only carbon and crap build up that stops it from working.
It might save you $500????
Try it.
Al.

 

I'v replaced the EGR on my truck and I replaced the EGR on my buddies 04 and neither had to be "reflashed" and both are running great!

 

It's already being done. I was on the fence on whether I should tell them 'no' and do it myself or have them do it, especially since I'm on a tight deadline.

I will check with several dealers and see if a reflash is required for EGR replacement, though. I really think someone is lying, but want some type of evidence first. If someone is lying, I'm not gonna let this one go. I can afford $400 for this but that doesn't mean I don't care about forking over that amount...I've SOME principles.

Thanks for the feedback, guys.