I have a check engine light and I took my car to my mechanic and he pulled the code and said the EGR valve needs replaced. Is the EGR valve something that should be replaced right away or can I go for a few months with out fixing it. What exactly does it do is I gues what i'm asking. I would rather aks a member of the org encase my mechanic just tells me it has to be replaced because he wants my money.

 

Egr valve's hardly fail, Diagnose CEL yourself by turning the ecu screw, (check how to stickies) if you get 0302 (egr hi/low flow) post back.

 

thanks for the post but my cars at the mechanic now i was woundering what i should tell the mechanic to do (nothing and I'll come pick it up or replace it) I just wanted to know if its going to put wear and tear on the engine if I dont get it replaced.

 

egr stands for exhaust gas recirculation. its for emissions controls. it recirculates exhaust gases back into ur air intake system to burn off any excess fuel that was not burned before hand. u can go without fixing it for a while, unless ur area has emissions test

 

thatks yellowninja. I dont mean to nag you guys but how long is a while I want my car to last as long as possible so i dont want to put any stress on any parts of the engine.

 

I had Egr issues (0302 code) 2 yrs ago..my problem was resolved by replacing EGR solenoid valve, others had to clean out their Egr passages,maybe these threads may help:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=350528
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=393527

EGR troubleshooting guide:
http://img52.photobucket.com/albums/v158/evilBIGD/EGR/

 

It's not going to do anything to your engine. I drove with mine not working for the better part of 8 months. HOWEVER, if your mechanic replaces the valve and th elight comes back, you will have wasted your money. There is a tube that connects the EGR valve to the throttle body and it's probably clogged. Half a day and some tools and you can do this yourself. I did it last month. NO more light.
Go here and look at the pics labelled EGR and you can see what happens over time.
http://target.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph.../ph//my_photos

 

actually it doesnt recirculate gas to Help Burn "unburned fuel"
it is an emission control device...what it does is bring some exhaust gas into the combustion chamber to lower the combustion chamber's temperature.
i know it doesnt sound right but think about what type of temperature the combustion chamber is running at in comparison to the exhaust gasses....yea u see it all makes sense huh!!

anywho by helping bring down the combustion temperature u reduce the amount of NOx produced during combustion...which of course is what causes smog and all that dirty stuff u get to breathe when ur outside...

so its not bad to not repair it yet.....but a non-operating EGR system can actually give u worse gas mileage....and well...u cant really pass smog without it....what else.....oh yeah since ur combustion chamber is running hotter theres a higher chance of detonation....so hmm.....if it gets bad enough....u actually can say bye bye to ur engine in the long run

 

sounbwoy, thanks for those pictures.
did your gas mileage improve at all after cleaning out the EGR system?

 

Thats not true. There are a few guys on here without an EGR system totally, including me when I my new motor goes in this week.

As long as you use good gas, you dont have to worry about detonation with a non-exsiting EGR system since the EGR system doesnt even activate under WOT or vaccum, only while your cruizing. If you worry about passing emissions, I would keep it on.

-matt

 

I did not notice a difference. Even WITH the clog, I was still getting around 400 miles on a tank of gas in mixed driving.
It does seem to idle a little smoother tho, but that may just be me...

 

I need to clean out my tubes as well, i looked at the place where it enters the manifold and it was really clogged there!

What do you use to clean out the tubes and stuff? Water? Break bruid? a screw driver?

And did you have a manual or some guide you followed for cleaning that stuff out?

 

good question i need to clean mines 2 what do you use

 

I used Sea Foam "Deep Creep" to clean.
My manual was advice from the Org and just looking at it. The hardest part is getting that pipe off.