Quote:
Originally Posted by Grench
OK. So the primary loom behind the EGR. When we replaced the head gasket, I found my harness was toasty there too. That area is a whole lot easier to work in if the EGR valve is out of the way. However, getting it out of the way is a bit of a PITA.
If you need to remove the EGR valve, a quick tip. Loosen the nuts about 3/4 of the distance off the stud, then double nut them and remove the studs. The EGR valve won't come off without the studs removed. Seriously... and yes that's whacked.
Good luck and keep us posted!
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Thanks for the tip.
Yes, its the primary loom. I changed all the firewall hoses last fall and IIRC the loom was covered with a silver-gray heat wrap and it seemed to be solid. Now it is brittle and I was able to poke my finger through it to expose the wires. It also has black-peppered look to it now and I assumed that it was exhaust. However, maybe that's just how it looks when it gets old.
After spending some time looking at it in the school parking lot, I couldn't see anything that appeared to be leaking. So I hooked everything up, crushed a diet coke can (that I scrounged out of a garbage can) and placed it over the loom just in case anything failed on the 4.3 mile trip home.
The trip home was uneventful. She drove how she normally does and I didn't even see a drop in MPG with the P0401 code (I use 0.25-0.27 gallons depending on which route I take). Luckily I will be able to use a spare family vehicle tomorrow and hopefully I will have more time tomorrow night to start diagnosing the problem or disabling the system (whichever one I have time for).
I won't have another emissions testing for at least another 1-2 yrs, so I might just disable it. However, I read in the FSM that the EGR system was designed to 1)Lower emissions and 2)Lower combustion temperatures. The latter kind of has me worried if I were to disable it.