Exhaust valve

rugbyken

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My motorhome has cut out on me several times expert advice 3 different mechanics, says it is related to an Exhaust valve I was assured that using a redex additive every 6 months would solve it but the problem seems to be getting worse, on my recent trip to Italy it has cut out 5 times usually after a refuel and on a downhill slope the first time it happened I had a redex shot with me and put it in but still happening, the van is 7 yrs old and only done 40,000 mls but don't feel I can trust it now not a problem to pay to get the valve renewed but no one interested????
 
Hi rugbyken,

Are the mechanics saying the exhaust valve is sticking so put in redex to cure it or do you have a burnt valve or valve seat that would need regrinding and the head off.You don't say what van it is.You may have a tight tappet that could be adjusted, but without knowing the engine it wold need looking up.When I used to have work done on my own engines i used to take them to a motor engineer direct as most large garages use fitters to dismantle and reassemble your van and get qualified engineers to repair and regrind them.I use a local guy that has all the cutting and boring machines and when you go into his workshop he has racks of heads engines etc all marked up from the local main dealers to pick up with their name on them and not just the fords a vauxhalls type garages.If you look up motor engineers and builders you will find many of them will recondition your head for you.But If you have to have the head off to do one valve it would pay you to have a head decoke and all valves checked and reseated.

Regards Snowbirds.




My motorhome has cut out on me several times expert advice 3 different mechanics, says it is related to an Exhaust valve I was assured that using a redex additive every 6 months would solve it but the problem seems to be getting worse, on my recent trip to Italy it has cut out 5 times usually after a refuel and on a downhill slope the first time it happened I had a redex shot with me and put it in but still happening, the van is 7 yrs old and only done 40,000 mls but don't feel I can trust it now not a problem to pay to get the valve renewed but no one interested????
 
It may be the mechanic is taking about the exhaust gas recirculating valve (or EGR). These often stick and cause running problems. They are usually simple to replace and relatively cheap (~£100). They can be stripped down and cleaned though your fingers will be black for weeks afterwards if you do :lol-053:

Keith
 
yes it would be handy to have the details of the van .
 
He definitely means the EGR valve and forte EGR cleaner is one of the better ones to use, nearly empty fuel tank, put in the additive and give the engine some welly, some of the older vehicles can have the EGR valve removed and blanking plate fitted, some would need a tweak of the ECU to achieve this,
Need more info on make/ model/ year/ engine type.?
 
He definitely means the EGR valve and forte EGR cleaner is one of the better ones to use, nearly empty fuel tank, put in the additive and give the engine some welly, some of the older vehicles can have the EGR valve removed and blanking plate fitted, some would need a tweak of the ECU to achieve this,
Need more info on make/ model/ year/ engine type.?

If it was clogged up like mine on the car, I doubt that any cleaner you fill in the tank would clean it. I almost needed a chisel to clear it!

The more modern the engine is, the more fuss will be involved to get rid of it.
 
Wrong end of spanner

Hi,

I may have got the wrong end of the spanner trying to rebuild you engine for you.:scared::bow::bow:

Snowbirds.
 
Thanks guys yes it's the EGR valve if I can find someone to renew it for around £100 well worth while for peace of mind , it's a Ducato 2007 2.3 only done 40,000 problem may be when I bought it at 4 years old it had only done 10,000 and most diesels do like to work .
 
Same problem in my engine and mechanic freed off. Will find out where it is so I can, if possible, do it myself. I like these post where we all learn.
 
Quite a common mod is to blank the EGR valve using a solid plate.

People doing so report better MPG and power (not massive, but noticeable)

However, with some engines it can throw up the engine management light.
Searching on vehicle/badge specific forums may well yield the answers you're looking for.

Might also be worth investigating Terraclean - again, I've heard a lot of positive reports about it.
 
Quite a common mod is to blank the EGR valve using a solid plate. .....

absolutely right, a no cost solution and it worked perfectly with my old Ford Diesel and i never again had a problem with that blxxdy EGR.

Bernd
 
absolutely right, a no cost solution and it worked perfectly with my old Ford Diesel and i never again had a problem with that blxxdy EGR.

Bernd


what do you exactly mean with blanking off? I thought taking the EGR out and fit a piece of pipe instead?
 
yes many blank the egr but you can end up with your eml light permanently on as the ecu thinks theirs a problem which there is the egr is blanked of .ive cleaned mine on my car its easy remove the unit and blast it with oven cleaner ,like mr muscle .leave it a few mins and then rinse it out and all will be ok, if not then you need a new unit .
 
what do you exactly mean with blanking off? I thought taking the EGR out and fit a piece of pipe instead?

Attention...horrible english now:scared:.....

When you take out the EGR and fit a pipe instead you allow an uncontrolled "used air" exhauster gas stream into the fresh air system of the engine. This is the wrong method.

I mean blocking the "exhauster gas stream" which passes the EGR and its pipe. The EGR is simply a valve inside a connection pipe between exhauster and fresh air intake, which allows a "controlled gasstream" of "used/burned" old exhauster gas to mix it with fresh air. At medium engine rotation this method obviously makes the "exhauster gas" cleaner at all, but only at a specific medium engine rotation, therefore a rotation controlled valve, which operates with vakuum.
Blocking the EGR gasstream with a metal plate at the foot of its connection pipe no exhauster gas will be mixed additionally into the fresh air stream and the engine will work fine with pure fresh air only. For me the EGR philosophy is contradicting in itself...mixing used/burned gas into fresh air stream this is contradicting and crazy....but "they" say that it is "green".
What i said is only applicable for older diesels. I do not know how electronically controlled modern diesels do react. But any way you can remove the blocking plate at any time and then repair/exchange the EGR. The engine will not be damaged as far as i understood the system. An engine cannot be damaged by using fresh air only.

Please excuse my horrible english, don´t kill me, i know it´s bad, but my "language performance" in these technical matters is not the best.:scared: :scared:

Bernd
 
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Attention...horrible english now:scared:.....

When you take out the EGR and fit a pipe instead you allow an uncontrolled "used air" exhauster gas stream into the fresh air system of the engine. This is the wrong method.

I mean blocking the "exhauster gas stream" which passes the EGR and its pipe. The EGR is simply a valve inside a connection pipe between exhauster and fresh air intake, which allows a "controlled gasstream" of "used/burned" old exhauster gas to mix it with fresh air. At medium engine rotation this method obviously makes the "exhauster gas" cleaner at all, but only at a specific medium engine rotation, therefore a rotation controlled valve, which operates with vakuum.
Blocking the EGR gasstream with a metal plate at the foot of its connection pipe no exhauster gas will be mixed additionally into the fresh air stream and the engine will work fine with pure fresh air only. For me the EGR philosophy is contradicting in itself...mixing used/burned gas into fresh air stream this is contradicting and crazy....but "they" say that it is "green".
What i said is only applicable for older diesels. I do not know how electronically controlled modern diesels do react. But any way you can remove the blocking plate at any time and then repair/exchange the EGR. The engine will not be damaged as far as i understood the system. An engine cannot be damaged by using fresh air only.

Please excuse my horrible english, don´t kill me, i know it´s bad, but my "language performance" in these technical matters is not the best.:scared: :scared:

Bernd

makes complete sense to me. Blocking off the EXHAUST connection of the EGR I mean. But not blocking off the whole EGR, there would be no more air going in the intake.
What I was talking about was to take the whole EGR housing out and replace it with a pipe to derestrict the airflow and of course blanking off the now redundant pipe coming from the exhaust.
You are correct, "older" diesel (think pre2004 or running Euro3) will not have the engine warning light triggered but as soon as there is an electrical connector on the EGR you may be in trouble. But there is always somebody with a laptop and a fix somewhere.
Another nuissance because of the EGR is the DPF. Now with the cleaner emission thanks to the EGR trick, the bloody thing smokes more than before and with EURO4 the DPF was introduced. Another troublemaker.......
 
an egr valve only works on start up for a limited time it reintroduces exhaust gasses into the inlet manifold to enable a quick warm up of the engine and helps with emissions, if your egr valve is clogged with carbon it will stick and under certain conditions will make the engine cut out,
i havnt heard about using oven cleaner before but a litre of meths from homebase works wonders, remove egr valve pour meths into bucket throw in the egr and leave overnight keep some meths back for a bit of rinsing the following day before refitting, 95% of egr valves will turn by 120 degrees to internally block off this also keeps the electronics connected so ecu is fooled into correct emission status, so if you are stuck in middle of knowwhere and need to sort it out undo the mounting bolts turn it through 120degrees and using one bolt refit. Cheers andy
 
egr valves

just getting rid of my 2005 duratorque 2 litre transit as its been rubbish from new. 3 egr valves fly wheel pullyss diuel mass clutch(850 quid) full air con system although that was fixed under warranty which broke a gain outside warranty(3 times) still broke.I could go on and on,cost me thousands in repairs and lost earnings.in 9 years 180,000 miles thats nothing for these once upon a time good motors.it replaced my 1999 transit which did 185,000 miles in 5 years by me from new,still on the original clutch.A few ball joints etc were replaced,its life ended by being T boned by a drunk driver,it was a great van(2.5 smily face) in my view the last of the proper transits......ive got a car now to carry on working although that has a dpf on it so im not out of the woods yet.
 
Does anyone have a diagram and / or pictures of the EGR valve in situ and taken off?
 
My experience of diesels in age order is

1988 Fiat Hymer 2.5 with retro fitted turbo, simple no EGR no DPF, low pressure turbo, bit a pain to start but lots of low down power struggles on hills.
2001 Alfa Romeo 2.4 5 cylinder diesel with variable vane turbo and DPF, blanked off DPF years ago, lots of power everywhere, occasional issues with the variable vanes :)
2013 Fiat Doblo 1.3 with DPF and EGR, relies loads on the turbo so can leave you waiting for it to spin up, every few weeks its EGR gets blocked and it has to be cleared by going through a routine that involves the van sitting revving at 2,000 rpm for up to 10 minutes.

So it seems as they get newer and more complicated they cause more problems. :(
 
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