My wife was cool enough to run the van into Autozone today because the CEL came on. Guy told her it was the EGR valve- Code P0404. It's an 05 SXT 3.8 ltr with 108K on it. My question is could it be a simple matter of taking it off and cleaning out the carbon build up (I know not to use brake cleaner- just air) or what is the likelyhood of the issue being further up in the system and this just happens to be where it gets detected?

Thanks, Dan

 

I don't think air alone will do much. My understanding is that you don't want solvent to get up into the actuator. When you take it off, see if the shaft moves freely up and down. If not, use carb cleaner to spray upwards to dissolve the carbon.

 

Usually, once the valve starts to stick, good luck cleaning it and getting it to work right. There isn't much access to the valve to clean it very well so you probably have to bite the bullet and replace it.

 

I appreciate it guys. Is it safe then to assume that the EGR is going bad and it's not something further up in the system?

 

Just need to replace the valve

 

Check to see that you even have an EGR Valve. Some vehicles don't, depending on the State they were destined for when new. It's fastened to the block near the alternator with a tube running up to the air intake.

 

It wouldn't set a code for it if it didn't have it

 

I appreciate the direction.