Best product to clean intake EGR passages

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Since I have the day off tomorrow, I'm going to disassemble & clean the throttle body/upper intake plenum on my wife's '97 Expedition 4.6L with 120k miles.

The EGR passages on it are carboned up very badly, it has had DTC code P0401 forever, & I want to give the EGR passages a thorough cleaning.

What is the best product on the (retail) market to use for this? I plan to let the part soak in the solution for a few hours minimum. Then I'll take a few bore brushes to the EGR passages to get 'em nice & smooth.
 
A bit off-topic, but can you post-up what you find in your upper plenum? I'm betting that it will have a lot of oil in there, I've seen a few modded plenums that were extremely oily, but haven't seen any stock ones to compare.

BTW - I recently replaced my EGR and DPFE. The EGR was pretty fouled, didn't seem like it was worth cleaning. We used a bore brush to clean the EGR tube.

I bet FP60 would be good to clean the EGR but I don't know if you have any of that laying around.
 
Castrol Super Clean. It's a lye-based cleanser that degreases very well, essentially like Oven-Off, except in spray form. You have to be careful using it on aluminum. It'll oxidize the surface and form white chalky layer if left on too long.

Don't expect to get the parts whistle-clean. I've tried cleaning things like egr passages, and often find you can only begin to clean it using mechanical methods, such as using a metal brush.
 
What is FP60? Will it disolve carbon deposits? My son and I have tried for years to find something to get carbon deposits out of VW heat riser tubes, so far to no avail.
 
Ream out the EGR passage with a steel stranded cable (like from a mechanical speedometer) and an electric drill. Then vacuum all the bits and pieces of carbon.
 
My guess is that the EGR deposits will be right at the end of each EGR passage (port) where it enters the intake. This is where the EGR gasses and the PCV vapors meet.....and create the black tar. Yes, there will be a black surface coating on down through the EGR passages, but they will not cause any problem.
So, if you clear each EGR port, you will be fine.
Also, double check the EGR pipe, that goes from the exhaust to the EGR valve, for any rust holes, and also double check the connections from the pipe to the DPFE.

You don't want to let fluids and / or crud get on down into the lower manifold.
Some have cleaned EGR ports with just a small screw driver and a vaccum cleaner hose to suck up the crud as they pick it loose.

Fuel system cleaners, in the gasoline, such as FP60 are great products. However, they will not clean (when used in the gas tank) the EGR ports, as this is in the air passage BEFORE the gasoline (containing the cleaner) is introduced.
Also, spray cleaners sprayed into the air intake, will not really help with the EGR ports.
So, tearing in and physically cleaning them is the only real way to get them clean.

The DPFE can also be defective.
 
Deep Creep.
patriot.gif
 
quote:

Originally posted by wiswind:

Fuel system cleaners, in the gasoline, such as FP60 are great products. However, they will not clean (when used in the gas tank) the EGR ports, as this is in the air passage BEFORE the gasoline (containing the cleaner) is introduced.
Also, spray cleaners sprayed into the air intake, will not really help with the EGR ports.
So, tearing in and physically cleaning them is the only real way to get them clean.


True.
But using, say, FP60 to soak or spray onto the components undiluted, I think this would work as well.
 
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