Friday, September 14, 2012

Second cleaning of EGR valve

The first time when my car's EGR valve had to be cleaned was 3 years ago (Aug 2009) when the car was 2 years old and had run about 20,000 km. I had written about it in detail and had also posted some pics at http://dmandhismarutisuzukiswiftvdi.blogspot.in/2009/09/problem-with-egr-valve.html

After another 25,000 km of running (about 45,000 km on the odo), I needed to get the EGR valve cleaned for the second time recently. SVS light was not going off after 4 seconds and MIL light was coming on. Diagnostic investigations at MASS revealed Error Code PO400, i.e., 'EGR Flow'. It was clear that EGR nozzle and / or EGR cooler were clogged and EGR flow was reduced.

I must mention that apart from the warning lights there were NO OTHER SYMPTOMS, i.e., the car was running perfectly at all speeds. I even drove the car on the highway for about 400 km at speeds upto 110 kmph with the warning lights ON and didn't find the slightest difference either in engine performance or fuel consumption.

I got the defect rectified at PEBCO Service Centre at Sonari, Jamshedpur. As expected, both the EGR nozzle and the EGR cooler were clogged with a mixture of soot and oil. The EGR valve itself was not very dirty. Additionally, the Intercooler (after Turbocharger) was also dismantled and cleaned. Cleaning of Intercooler is a part of the 'EGR system cleaning package' at MASS.

The EGR system cleaning package cost me Rs 1520, including a few washers and gaskets that were replaced.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Dear Mr DM.
I have suffered through foolish situation, my swift Ldi 08 battery discharged suddenly so I tried to charge it for 3hrs but it couldn't help , impatiently I tried to start it by pushing the car but no success , finally unaware of strength of cross bar I tied it with rope to get pulled but with jerk the bar got bent , so I had stop this act and wait for battery to get charged to full for a night now that battery was installed again . I tried to start the car but it doesn't start at all and only alternator took few revolution and no help, the lamp showed a service indication blinking so I asked a mechanic to check it with diagnostics tool , it showed 8 errors one which is p1191 rail pressure not plausible , now I am in big problem, to find such consequence of pulling car to start apart from front bars damages, does it happen that rail disturbs in such way, I had Icicilombard insurance but they do not consider this as an accident for which I can claim.
would you suggest some solution for this .

thanks in advance
Niraj
pune.

Unknown said...

Dear Debashis da
My Swift Ldi 2008 will clock 60000 kms shortly. Please advise what ask the SA in the MAS to take special care of. Further I had done the EGR cleaning after the car had clocked 33000 kms. Do I need to have the EGR cleaned again at 60000 kms? I have never got any error in the odometer. Please advise. Siddhartha Saha Calcutta

Debashis Mukherjee said...

Dear Siddhartha,

I no longer own a Swift and therefore I am a little out of touch with its maintenance aspects. However, I would advise you to study the Maintenance Schedule of your car and ensure that the MASS carries out all the important routines which are specified by Maruti at 60,000 KM.

As regards EGR cleaning, my advice is not to do anything till EGR related warning comes on. As you would learn from my blog, even when EGR valve becomes clogged there is no immediate perceptible change in the car's performance. So an EGR related fault warning is never an emergency situation. It is therefore better to wait for a fault to actually occur before cleaning the EGR valve.

Unknown said...

Now my car swift zdi is running 90000 km what I can clean egr valve no light in dash botad so guide me

Debashis Mukherjee said...

Dear Mr. Unknown,

Since there is no warning light and car is working fine, there is no immediate need for cleaning the EGR valve. However, please check the maintenance schedule and if EGR cleaning is due then get it done during next service.

Unknown said...

Hi my ertiga vdi done 40000km a month back my car performace is low mileage is very low too but no dashboard light blinking what is the solution shud i go for egr cleaning

Unknown said...

Hi, my swift Vdi abs 2014 model has been driven by me 85000km then I will be proper way changing all servicing part even time to time but I recently change my clutch plate in the another service center after I fill the mileage is my car very poor city mileage 11km
and on the highway almost 11km.what is the reason I don't know but I am change
All servicing kit like air filter is new, engine oil gear oil each and every part is new, recently I changed the thermostat part new.