QuestionTold when we bought the car that it had stalling issues sometimes at stop lights, or after driving "in town" for long periods of time. But on the highway this car runs great....until now.
Originally read on MSN AUTOS that the EGR Valve is a problem on this model, but found it can be cleaned, and after having to physically cut the exhaust pipe that runs into the bottom of the EGR Valve (the top nut on this exhaust pipe was impossible to budge, and the bottom nut is nearly impossible to reach), I soaked the lower portion of the EGR Valve in Carb cleaner overnight. And no change in the stalling issue.
So I changed the fuel filter and the car drove GREAT for 24 hours, not stalling anywhere. And it was good for over 50 miles with "in town" driving, and then it is back to having trouble turning over and stalling worse then ever before and misfiring because it seems that the throttle body/valve is not staying open.
So now it takes almost 15-20 seconds until it tries to turnover, and then once started it only stays running if you keep your foot on the accelerator pedal. I have heard there is a way to bypass the EGR Valve system entirely, but I dont want to damage the engine by doing so, nor do I want to release those engine vapors into the air anyways.
And we bought fuel injector cleaner today, because someone said that now our injectors could be clogged after changing the fuel filter, but we have not put the Gum Out injector cleaner in yet because the car has half a tank of gas now and the cleaner needs to be dumped into a nearly empty gas tank.
SO where do we go from here?
I have some extra Sea Foam leftover, and have removed the EGR Valve again, and the filters in the EGR Valve Modulator are clean.
I also did NOT properly seal the exhaust pipe running into the EGR Valve properly after having to cut it....I simply took some aluminum foil, tape, and a hose clamp and wrapped it around the spot where I cut the pipe and ran my hand around the area to make sure there was no air leaks. There were none.
I am so glad to have found you, because I have donated money to 2CarPros countless times to get no good answers, they just ask questions in return then refuse to answer without more donations.
AnswerYou said the the car ran great after replacing the fuel filter this leads me to believe that there is a problem with fuel dilivery, most likely there may be some water or debris in the tank that is clogging up the new filter again, water will usually stay at the bottom where the fuel pickup is, what can you do? Add some stuff to the tak that will remove moistureto see if it helps, maybe remove the fuel filter and pump some gas into a clear container to see what it looks like, look for rust particles or water contamination.
