What does this process mean? Apparently, this lower radiotor coolant intake on the motor is leaking and bubbling coolant, so when they were in there, the EGR tube cracked because it was "rusted through", so theres another $200 on top of thr $600, on top of $300 for the radiator. If that EGR tube was rusted through, what are some other things that are going to be equally messed up?

 

The EGR tube often will rust out. It is subject to hot exhaust gases and sometimes corrosive deposits. I have had a few do this and essentially the metal becomes brittle and crumbles if you exert any pressure against it.

Usually the only other items affected might be the EGR itself may be bad or sticky, and sometimes there is a Pressure Feedback Emitter(or some other name) that controls the EGR often goes bad too.

If you are doing this, be careful not to loose the thin metal shim/gasket that is often used on the EGR tube. It is usually small and very thin and easy to drop and not notice. Most of the replacement (I've only done this a few times) EGRs do not come with the shim.

Some EGR systems also have rubber hoses that "corrode" or crumble over time, so I would replace any of these that I found while I was at it. Hoses are cheap.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

Would this leak in this lower radiotor intake, and this rusty EGR tube, after this is all fixed, could this mean a noticiable power gain.

 

A bad EGR will significantly affect driveability, power economy etc.

The radiator leak won't do much unless the engine was running very hot which would decrease power etc.

Looking back at your prices, seems awful high for what I consider to be minor work. But I have never needed to pay anyone to do this kind of work.

I have not done EGR work on my truck but the few that I have had to do, took maybe 30 minutes and cost maybe $50-$80 in parts. But it has been a long time since I had an EGR failure.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

Thanks Jim, yeah it wasnt getting hot, but the dealer is claiming that is was loosing compression because of it, hence the hard starts after it was warm, and the clunking into gear out of first because the motor was hesitating. Anyway, would this bad EGR tube explain some of that stinky exhaust in the cab? I have a complete new exhaust on there, so its not a bad system, but i never knew why it stunk so bad. I hope this is the last of the kinks in this truck

 

Could be all sorts of reasons for stinky exhaust, a leaky EGR would possible be one of them. Depends on how rich your engine was running and how much was leaking out of the EGR tube.

A little strange loosing compression because of a water leak. I would suspect other reasons before a coolant leak. Assuming he is talking about cylinder compression, that is only affected by the pistons/rings, cylinder wall condition, valves and valve guides and maybe the cam timing being off a bit. None of this is affected by short term coolant leaks. Overheating a lot would cause more effect on these parts. Other thought is maybe the computer is seeing some temperature issues and trying to run as if it was cold. Wild guess is that as coolant leaks out the pressure goes down and allows the coolant to boil off a bit which would cool the engine while it is sitting. Then when you start up I am guessing the computer sees colder coolant than it should and starts up as if the engine was cold. Like I said a guess. Also could make it rich which would make for stinky exhaust.

Hmm new exhaust system. Are you sure it is properly sealed and that you didn't lose any smog controls? A de-smogged engine can makes some nasty smells and a leaky system speaks for itself.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

Thanks Jim....Yeah...I will see how she runs...What something I could do to see if the timing is off? If I go to someone, whats something i could have them check to see if the computer and timing is right.,?

 

On the newer computer controlled engines, you may have to put it on a shop scope to see what the ignition timing is doing. Or you might got to a parts shop and see if they have a good timing light. What you are looking for is the timing to be off from spec by a good number of degrees. Also you are looking for timing that jumps around or does not advance.

I do NOT really think this is your problem. If it is cam timing, you will need to go into the front of the engine and replace the gears and or chain. The other stuff I mentioned like pistons, valves etc are also projects that will require some semiseriour to serious engine work.

Start with the easy cheap stuff first unless you know the exact problem. All you might need is a tune up. Don't jump to conclusions that will cost you a lot of money just on my say so. I have not looked at your engine so it could be all sorts of things. The "loosing compression because of a water leak" sounds a bit hokey to me.

I think once you get the EGR fixed and stop the leak you will notice better driveability and probably power and mileage. A bad EGR causes many problems. A leak just looses water.

Have you noticed a power decrease all of a sudden or over time? Could just be your engine is pretty old and or old enough model that had lower power than the newer ones.

A compression check will tell you a lot about the cylinders, pistons, rings, valves, valve guides etc. If the dealer is seriously claiming you lost compression, I would do a check. If you have a guage, it is relatively easy to do this check. Just a little harder than changing the spark plugs.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

Well, I don’t have much background on the motor itself, or the one prior to it. We bought the truck in May 2006. The motor was so bad we had to replace it June of 2006, we have had since. That same month for precautionary measures we had a complete tune up on the motor, and had all fluids flushed and changed. So, I really haven’t had any prior comparison to what the motor used to run like, it seemed to be running pretty good, would idle great, and just a gas hog...But my pops said he could smell coolant burning, so I had it checked out, and the dealer said it was the upper and lower motor coolant intakes were leaking, and the radiator. so as of next Tuesday, the radiator, the lower intake, the EGR tube, and now last night I got a call from the dealer, keep in mind they have had this truck in there shop since 2/12/07, and said it wont be done till next Tuesday 2/20/07, because they keep saying their running into problems, they said part of the EGR tube was frozen in the head, and it they needed to order new head gaskets now, so I think there running into quite a few problems. This motor is a 1997, when we bought it, it had 89.000 miles on it, and we have put about 10,000 miles on it since last June. Is it seem like its faulty, I don’t though, and it looks and runs great...maybe just some minor aging evidence?

 

Oh boy, head gaskets??!!, You know this is going to cost you right? I think the going rate to remove the heads and put in new head gaskets is well over $1000.

Seems a bit odd they need head gaskets. I haven't had to play with the EGR on my Ford truck, but all the EGRs I have ever worked on(Datsun, Nissan, Mercury, Chebby, Taurus) had the EGR tube going to somewhere on the back surface of the head no where near a head gasket. Essentially just a port in the head channeling exhaust gases to the tube. Maybe they have to remove the head to get the broken tube out in a machine shop.

EGR tubes do tend to wear out in say 80 to 100K miles.

Running into problems is part of what happens with old engine and also dealers will almost always find something new to fix. Old engines will always have something that could be replaced.

Good Luck, sounds like you got yourself a money hole. Or the dealer is taking you for a ride.

Jim Henderson

 

yes, we call this truck the blackhole, up to $12,000 in repairs alone....But, because there taking so long, he did tell me he is keeping the orginal bid of $590...so I am just going to let it ride...Ahh, hope to be able to move on, but basically our family expects to spend $1,500 a month on this thing, its a sure thing, this thing has been nothing more than a test of how much money we can waste lol...but at the same time i am so fasinated with it, it looks like a show truck with the new paint job, tires, shocks, clear headligts, uhhh, its sweeet, sorry i am babbling, but could have bought a new truck for how much we have put into this supernova..