BowTieHatr, on the last EGR valve that was replaced on my truck the tech tried cleaning it but it still didn't work. He said the piston looked bent. I asked him how that could have happened and he said he's seen gravel sized carbon chunks in these EGR systems before and thought maybe one of those might have got jammed in there and bent the piston. When I said I didnt realize the EGR valve was strong enough to bend itself he just shrugged. Can an EGR valve piston get bent like that?

 

Yes you can try this as no harm will come from the procedure. However that being said, i believe that it is a total waste of time. If you look at the pipe (EGR cooler) from the exhaust y-pipe to the EGR valve, it is a straight shot, then you have the two intake manifold rails after the EGR valve. Leaving the EGR valve out and running the engine is only going to effect the exhaust flow from the exhaust y-pipe to the EGR valve with a slight increase in flow. If there are any loose particles in the EGR cooler a few may be blown out but these particles will normally pass through an open EGR valve anyway so you have accomplished nothing IMO. You will not get an increased flow of exhaust through the intake manifold so you will do nothing in the way of cleaning it. Furthermore if you look at how carbon & coke deposits are formed (by unburned fuel and other contaminants in the exhaust that leave wet deposits on the EGR valve which do to the temperatures in the EGR system form hard coke deposits on the valve). Cleaning and EGR valve on any engine is tedious at best and rarely produces lasting results. FMC tried cleaning EGR valves to save money, but found in short order that cleaning the EGR valve cost more money than it saved and resulted in customer complaints do to the cleaned EGR valve failing in short order, hence the reason FMC when back to replacing the EGR valve instead of cleaning it.

The EGR valve on any engine has a tough job and it is more difficult on a diesel do to the contaminents present in the exhaust. When a diesel engine idles it cools off (unlike a gas motor) and so you get more unburned fuel and wet contaminents in the exhaust stream that coat the EGR valve, then when the truck is driven and the engine temperatures rise coke deposits are formed on the EGR valve as these wet deposits are heated.

The best thing you can do for any diesel engine with an EGR system is to not idle for extened periods and use the best quality fuel you can find. The new ULSD fuel should reduce the amount of coking and contaminents in the exhaust stream and allow EGR valves to last longer. All EGR valves eventually become plugged up and fail, be it on diesel or gas motors. FMC & Navistar were the first to use EGR systems in the general light truck diesel market and so they have the most experience compared to the other manufactures with there inherint weaknesses and short commings. FMC & Navistar have done several things since the 03-04 MY EGR system to try and improve its functionality and longevity. Starting with the 05 MY the EGR valve was made more robust (unfortunately this valve cannot be retrofitted onto an 03-04 motor). With the 6.4 PSD not only were the EGR valves made more robust but an EGR Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (EDOC) was added to the exhaust stream feeding the EGR system to help remove the unburned fuel & other wet contaminents in the exhaust stream before they reach the EGR system and valve. Will the changes on the 6.4 EGR system lead to increased service life of the EGR valve, only time will tell (FYI the EDOC is also cleaned during the regen cycle used to clean the DPF).

Personally i feel that the implementation of the EGR system on a diesel engine was bad science & engineering, was chosen as a cheap stop gap solution to meet EPA emissions requirements (the EGR system is not limited to FMC & Navistar vehicles). Hopefully in the future better science & engineering will result in clean running diesel engines that do not require and EGR system.

IMO opinon the best thing you can do is drive your truck normally, limit the idle time, use quality ULSD fuel and when the EGR valve fails, replace it with a new unit. Going through the effort to routinely clean the EGR valve is a waste of time and energy and if not done carefully can prematurely damage the EGR valve. If you want to completely eliminate the problem then install and EGR up-pipe delete, but understand that this is against federal and many state laws, will require a tuner with custom tunes on many 6.0 engines to properly address the changes and will void the engine warranty.

 

Thanks alot blackhat, you pretty much answered any EGR question I will ever have

 

Ditto, Blackhat! That was another excellent and informative post. I wish I could give you some ++ rep points. Anybody got some to spare for this terrific resource we have here??

 

Thanks for the post's! After reading I have decided to take the $6.00 gasket kit and put them in the dash for safe keeping for when/if the time comes to replace the valve. Seems like at one time all the hipe was to clean these, apparently not so now and with all trouble free miles I have had, I'm not tinkering with murphys law .

 

Yeah I thought the dealer ship told me 300! And thats in tax free New Hampshire!

 

moebdick, the egr valve is not strong enough to bend the piston. now, the 64 valve is strong enough to crush the carbon rocks.

 

thanks for all the info i was goin to take mine out this weekend and clean it but now will wait till it fails and replace it with the one from ebay. One ? though how do we know it is going or about to go does the check engine light come on??

 

No CEL or any other warning when mine went (twice). First time it acted up intermittently. Second time it got stuck while I was merging onto an interstate. Valve just suddenly got stuck, massive loss of power and mucho smoke out the exhaust. Not a good formula for merging into interstate traffic.

 

I have a 03 KR 6.0 that just hit 100,000. Can anyone give me the part number for the EGR. I know there is a difference between mine and the late 04-07.
Thanks

 

It takes all of about 20 seconds to do, and if you've never tried it, how do you know it is a total waste of time?

BTW, once the engine starts, I put the engine to wot. That really gets the exhaust flowing and blows the loose stuff out.

 

What are you really cleaning, the EGR cooler is a straight shot. You clean nothing in the intake manifold. If it makes you happy fine, but it is accomplishing very little and the few loose particles in the EGR cooler will normally go through the engine anyway, you are not breaking any coke deposits loose. So for people to just remove the EGR valve and clean it as a supposed preventative, it is just a waste of time. Greater chance of damaging the EGR valve from cleaning it than just leaving it alone.

FYI running an engine at WOT with the transmission in neutral/park with no load on the motor is a good way to over rev the engine and cause serious damage.

 

I thought you might have been a diesel technician until that last statement. Look up the procedure for checking oil aeration. You could put a brick on the accelerator pedal of any healthy diesel engine for as long as you wanted to with no problems.

 

That has got to be the most ignorant statement posted on FTE in a long time. You are going to tell the general membership on FTE to put a brick on the accelerator pedal and let the engine run indefinitely at WOT with no problems incurred. You really don't have a clue.

Here is the Oil Aeration test you asked for:
Oil Aeration Test
• If oil aeration is suspected, install a valve and hose into the oil system at either the EOT or EOP sensor.
• Note: All materials being used should be rated above 300 psi and 300°F.
• Run the engine until the oil is at a normal operating temperature.
• Run the engine at high idle for approximately one minute and then return to idle.
• With engine at idle open the valve and drain a sample of oil into a clear container and observe for air or foam in the oil.
• Caution: Oil will be hot and under
pressure

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