Hello, my check engine light has been on, and I had it scanned today and was told that my egr valve is sticking. What exactly does that mean, and is there a cheap easy fix without having to replace it?
I just replaced mine, it was sticking open and causing bad acceleration after a partial coast down. You just have to replace it with a new one. The sensor can be re-used.
Take it off and use some carb cleaner or brake cleaner and clean it out. Then again, it could be the sensor, or a clogged passage. The code doesn't mean that's what it is, only points you in the direction.
I took mine off and used a hand vacuum pump to open it and let off the vacuum real slow and it would stick open every time. You can try to clean it but I didn't want to mess with it.
cleaning=temp fix... Also it is not always the valve. That sensor on the back (evp) also goes bad. Do you remember the exact code. Usally is pfe/evp greater than or less than expected. Pull of the valve test it with a vacuum hand pump see if it sicks or not. If that looks fine youll probably need a evp senor.
I personaly usally replace them in pairs because of the high failure rate. I dont wanna replace a evp then two weeks later the valve fails you kow what i mean.
CODE: 31 (KOEO) - EVP circuit below minimum voltage.
Vref (5 volt reference voltage supplied by the computer) missing or broken wire or bad connection in circuit. Use a DVM to check for 5 volts on the orange/white wire. If it is missing, look for +5 volts at the orange/white wire on the TPS or MAP sensor located on the firewall near the center of the car. Use the black/white wire for the ground for the DVM.
With the sensor removed from the EGR and still connected, press the plunger and watch the voltage change on the brown/lt green wire. Pull the passenger side kick panel and measure the voltage at the computer. You will need to remove the plastic cover over the wires and probe them from the backside. A safety pin may prove very useful for this task. Use pin 27, EVR input (brown/lt green wire) and pin 46, signal ground (black/white wire) to measure the voltage. The orange/white wire is Vref and should always be 5 volts -/+ .25 volt. Be sure to measure Vref at the EGR sensor to rule out any broken wires or bad connections.
Let’s put on our Inspector Gadget propeller head beanies and think about how this works:
The EGR sensor is a variable resistor with ground on one leg and Vref (5 volts) on the other. Its’ resistance ranges from 4000 to 5500 Ohms measured between Vref & ground, depending on the sensor. The center connection of the variable resistor is the slider that moves in response to the amount of vacuum applied. The slider has some minimum value of resistance greater than 100 ohms so that the computer always sees a voltage present at its’ input. If the value was 0 ohms, there would be no voltage output. Then the computer would not be able to distinguish between a properly functioning sensor and one that had a broken wire or bad connection. The EGR I have in hand reads 700 Ohms between the slider (EPV) and ground (SIG RTN) at rest with no vacuum applied.