Hi everyone! ok so there have been a lot of posts regarding egr problems but none that I can tell really pertain to the voltage that goes to the sensor. here is a brief run down of whats been going on:

got p1402 code --> cleaned out egr tube & cleared code
code comes back after 1k miles --> replace egr temp sensor
no code since...

here is the catch, the check engine light decided to turn off after a few hundred miles of it coming back on. i accidentally drove it from the auto parts place to a buddies house with it unplugged, however, the ses light didn't come on in that time period. i would assume having a sensor unplugged should throw a code almost immediately, so my thought is that the power going to the sensor is bad. i popped in the new sensor and havent gotten any codes since, however the car seems to run really rich from time to time. sometimes it doesnt smell at all, other times you can smell a sweet fuel smell from 5 feet away.

i work a delivery job so the car gets turned on and off alot. i find the smell is the worst when it hasnt been started for a few minutes or more and is usually ok when it warms up. gas mileage seems normal, about 22 around town.

my goto thought is check the voltage going to the sensor to make sure it is doing the right thing, but i can't find any info on what it should read. any other recommendations on what i should check? i need to pass colorado emissions in a few weeks and would like to have this cleared up by then IF this is an issue

thanks for any help! 1998 nissan max, 5 sp, about 130k on engine, 250k on car.

-Tim

 

If you were running rich, the ECU would throw a code.
You don't have any codes and on top of that claim 22 mpg.
No codes, 22mpg around town = running pretty damn good!

Conclusion - There's nothing wrong with your car.

The reason the service engine soon light didn't come on is because the error has to happen twice (once each consecutive drive cycle) to set that code. If you only ran the engine once with it disconnected, it would have been a pending code.

 

Ok I appreciate it. I'll let you know if anything funky happens with emissions. I guess the question still stands though, why is the fuel smell strong some times and other times almost non-existant?

Either way, thank you for your help and patience!

 

Overly rich doesn't smell sweet. Coolant in the exhaust does.